British Championship Congress 2022

[Geoff Chandler]

I see one player has gone into the reverse Budapest Queen trap v the Caro Kann.

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d3 dxe4 4. Ng5 exd3 5. Bxd3 Nf6 6. Nxf7 Kxf7 7. Bg6+ hxg6 8. Qxd8

Black played ...Nbd7 and is trying to trap the Queen. (British Rd.3 Board 28)

Edit: White gave the Queen back coming out of it a piece up. 1-0

Edit 2: the full game.

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d3 dxe4 4. Ng5 exd3 5. Bxd3 Nf6 6. Nxf7 Kxf7 7. Bg6+ hxg6 8. Qxd8 e5 9. Nc3 Nbd7 10. O-O a5 11. Bg5 Rg8 12. Rad1 Be7 13. Qc7 Ne8 14. Rxd7 Nxc7 15. Rxe7+ *

[J T Melsom]

Roger will have to play out of his skin to retain the title.

I've played and sometimes beaten most of the top half before, but the winner is going to be John Nunn unless he self destructs in a couple of games. .

I like to keep an eye on Roger's progress if only to see what opening wrinkles he might adopt next season. His weekend loss to Mathew Dishman completing a father and son set of losses caused me to reflect on how many father & son combinations might have beaten Roger over his extended career. Just with Bucks connections I came up with Peter and Simon Finn, Wiliam Claridge-Hansen and his father Hans. Ezra Kirk's father Jason drew with Roger in a league match some twenty years ago in a one off appearance, but Jason was a formidable junior and might have Roger's scalp from before then. Ezra incidentally probably the strongest player to have been partly educated in High Wycombe but didn't play for the club.

And today Peter Finn and Stephen Dishman are on adjacent boards - Wycombe and Hazlemere fantasy chess team!

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Ezra incidentally probably the strongest player to have been partly educated in High Wycombe but didn't play for the club."

Does High Wycombe not approve of complete education?

[J T Melsom]

"Ezra incidentally probably the strongest player to have been partly educated in High Wycombe but didn't play for the club."

Does High Wycombe not approve of complete education?

I don't claim to speak for the population as a whole, and the selective system might not be popular with all, but I just meant the family moved during the time Ezra was in the educational system

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Whatever the online assessment may say, history shows that John tends to win these kind of positions with whatever colour he is playing."

Yes - but well done David for going for it.

@ JTM - ah, silly me!

[Roger de Coverly]

In round 1, Black against David Fryer, John essayed a Najdorf but after 6 Rg1 John thought for four and a half minutes. It has continued 6...e6 7 g4 b5 (somewhat unusual) 8 g5 Nfd7 and I think they are now in Keres variation territory but this is not a line in my repertoire. Whatever the online assessment may say, history shows that John tends to win these kind of positions with whatever colour he is playing.

I did wonder whether it was some unpublished material from "Beating the Sicilian"

[Paul Cooksey]

I'm just catching up with the games now. I'm assuming Bob Eames didn't see Bc1 until it was on the board. A good chance for Gormally this year. Nice game today by Nigel Davies too.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

You have to feel a bit for Martin G. Walker who got to 0/2 by losing to GM Chris Ward and recent junior Oscar Pollack, and then ended up paired against GM Peter Wells in round 3 (who had lost twice) and so Walker got to 0/3. Congrats to the two players who beat Peter Wells!

[Graham Borrowdale]

I'm just catching up with the games now. I'm assuming Bob Eames didn't see Bc1 until it was on the board. A good chance for Gormally this year. Nice game today by Nigel Davies too.

I suspect that assumption is correct - it’s a tricky line (g5 in the French), but Gormally’s play looked close to a refutation. I am not sure where black went wrong, apart from getting his Queen trapped. Bob’s reward is Nick Pert in round 4. Nigel Davies also looking as if he could be in the mix, and Brandon Clark playing Gormally on top board tomorrow.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"You have to feel a bit for Martin G. Walker who got to 0/2 by losing to GM Chris Ward and recent junior Oscar Pollack, and then ended up paired against GM Peter Wells in round 3"

Yes - he's a nice guy and deserves better! But he's a fighter as well, he'll be back.

[Roger de Coverly]

I like to keep an eye on Roger's progress if only to see what opening wrinkles he might adopt next season. His weekend loss to Mathew Dishman completing a father and son set of losses caused me to reflect on how many father & son combinations might have beaten Roger over his extended career. Just with Bucks connections I came up with Peter and Simon Finn, Wiliam Claridge-Hansen and his father Hans. Ezra Kirk's father Jason drew with Roger in a league match some twenty years ago in a one off appearance, but Jason was a formidable junior and might have Roger's scalp from before then. Ezra incidentally probably the strongest player to have been partly educated in High Wycombe but didn't play for the club.

I only ever played Jason once, in the 2003 match.

Other local combinations were Ron and Stafford Scopes, George and Michael Trent, the Alsters, Jack and Robert, Peter and Matthew Rose. For that matter there were also the Niedzwiedskis.

I never lost to Jack Alster. the other fathers were not usually strong enough even to be paired against me.

For name dropping I can throw in the Littlewoods (John in the Hammersmith Open of 1971 and Paul in the English Seniors of 2022) I also played the Parrs (Frank and David) but honours were broadly even. I played in a London League team where I was on board one or two and George Hodgson was the captain, his son Julian was bottom board. I never played George although I lost a couple of games to Julian a few years later.

Deespite being a school and university contemporary of Paul Niedzwiedski, I never played him. I played Alex several times.

[Tim Harding]

In round 1, Black against David Fryer, John essayed a Najdorf but after 6 Rg1 John thought for four and a half minutes. It has continued 6...e6 7 g4 b5 (somewhat unusual) 8 g5 Nfd7 and I think they are now in Keres variation territory but this is not a line in my repertoire. Whatever the online assessment may say, history shows that John tends to win these kind of positions with whatever colour he is playing.

I did wonder whether it was some unpublished material from "Beating the Sicilian"

Did your game really end at 22...Bd4, Roger, and if so, why?

I was really enjoying David's brave effort until he played 14 f3 which, though not bad in itself, reminded me of a couple of my own past games against GMs where I obtained good positions only to screw up. Clearly that move was what John was hoping for and the move he probably feared was 14 0-0-0. You know it leaves the e-pawn en prise and may wonder what you will do if he takes it, but the opponent is the GM and he sees all the reasons why it's not safe to take it.
Sometimes against GMs you need to let them do the worrying, And if he does take the pawn he's probably gambling and you go into a deep think and find your best shot. Stockfish was showing all kinds of beautiful lines.
Even after 14 f3 David was still better if he had castled queenside in the next move or two but that Bc1 was a horror-show.

[Event "65+ Chessable British Senior Ch"] [Site "Torquay"] [Date "2022.08.15"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Fryer, David W"] [Black "Nunn, John D M"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "1875"] [BlackElo "2577"] [Annotator "Harding,Tim"] [PlyCount "64"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "England"] [BlackTeam "England"] [WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"] [BlackTeamCountry "ENG"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Rg1 {I don't think this was a known line against the Najdorf was John was writing his Beating the Sicilian books.} 6...e6 7. g4 b5 8. g5 Nfd7 9. Be3 Bb7 10. Qe2 Be7 11. a3 Nb6 12. h4 N8d7 13. Bh3 Nc5 14. f3 $6 (14. O-O-O $1) 14... Qc7 15. h5 $6 (15. O-O-O) 15... g6 16. Qf2 (16. O-O-O) 16... Nc4 17. Bc1 $6 Rd8 18. h6 $2 e5 19. Nde2 O-O 20. b3 Nb6 21. Bb2 Ne6 22. Bxe6 fxe6 23. Qg3 Qc5 24. Bc1 Rf7 25. Bd2 d5 26. Rc1 Nd7 27. Nb1 Rdf8 28. Bb4 Qe3 29. Bd2 Qxf3 30. Qxf3 Rxf3 31. exd5 exd5 32. b4 Bd8 0-1

[Joey Stewart]

I play that line a bit for white and you just can't afford to do a slow positional build - if you don't go for broke and try to hack black to pieces it ends up a total bust (obviously, I wouldn't expect John Nunn to go down to a bunch of unrefined cheapos but I'd prefer my chances doing that then letting him bully my pieces to the bank rank as white)

[Roger de Coverly]

Did your game really end at 22...Bd4, Roger, and if so, why?

My opponent resigned somewhat prematurely. The lichess Stockfish doesn't think.. Bd4 was the best move preferring .. f5. It scores advantage Black, but there's still play.

I've had the position at move 6 several times. It's the first time I've gone for mad by charging the h pawn before playing e5 or c5.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nge2 0-0 6. Ng3 h5

[Nick Ivell]

Let me be frank about the Keres. It is simply bad for Black. Lack of space and an unsafe king are a toxic combination.

John gained in the above game from the redundant Rg1 (it was only a Keres by transposition). Even so, he was worse and I bet he felt uncomfortable. I cannot tell you how many times I have had that feeling in the Schev!

White then committed the cardinal sin of blocking the K-side, so game over.