| August 2000 | Newsletter of the British Chess Federation | Online Edition |
RIVERSIDE STUDIOS, LONDON TO HOST WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPBrain Games Network have announced that the long-awaited World Chess Championships will be held at The Riverside Studios, London in October - where the World's top player Garry Kasparov will be defending his crown against world number two Vladimir Kramnik. They will be playing for a $2,000,000 prize fund, and Asprey and Garrard have been commissioned to design The Howard Staunton Memorial Trophy that will be presented to the new champion.
Brain Games Network PLC is a global sports events company whose revolutionary move is to make World Championship events accessible to the whole planet via the Internet. Commencing with the $2,000,000 World Chess championships in London this October, BGN is to run a series of world championships in all the great strategy games - Chess, Checkers (draughts), Chinese Chess, Japanese Chess and Go. Ron King is set to defend the World Checkers Title in New York next April and the World Chinese Chess Championships is scheduled to take place in Beijing in June 2001. The BGN World Chess Championships will take place from 8th October and will run until Saturday 4th November, 2000. All games will start at 3.00pm, playing on Tuesday's, Thursday's, Saturday's and Sunday's. For further information on ticket prices, ringside seats and the championship visit www.braingames.net or Contact: Jamie Cotter Craig or Cassandra Meehan at Suzanne Martin Associates on 020 7494 2479 or sma@btconnect.com. |
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Staffordshire Millennium Chess FestivalThe Staffordshire Millennium Chess Festival 2000 was held at the Guildhall in Bore Street, Lichfield, from 6-14 July, and was sponsored by Hadens Solicitors. The chess events were part of the Lichfield Arts Festival and included a category 8 GM tournament, a category 3 IM event and a FIDE-rated all-play-all. In the GM event Aaron Summerscale produced an irresistible performance, winning convincingly with a score of 7½/9 and obtaining a rating performance of over 2700. Brian Kelly (IRL) also impressed in coming equal second with Scottish GM Paul Motwani. Kelly's score of 6½/9 was enough to secure a GM performance norm. The IM event was won by top seed Sipke Ernst (NED), who scored 6½/9. Christophe Philippe (FRA) came second on 6/9, scoring an IM norm in the process.
The event was organised by Lawrence Cooper and David Anderton. Cooper began the tournament as organiser and spectator, but his role swiftly changed to player when Alan Crombleholme withdrew from the Open Section 40 minutes into Round 1. Then in Round 3, Jana Bellin withdrew so Cooper cut short his game in the open and took over in the IM section for the last seven rounds. Sadly, no-one withdrew from the GM section so he didn't get a chance to play in that! One mistake that the press has made in reporting the tournament is to mention that Irina Krush missed an IM norm by half a point after declining a draw on move 8 against Summerscale in the final round and then losing four moves later. Whilst this is true, she has already completed her IM title and is awaiting ratification from FIDE.
First prize in the Saturday blitz event was shared by Mark Hebden, Paul Motwani, Aaron Summerscale and Brian Kelly, who all scored 7½/10. Mark Hebden led on 6/6, but in accordance with the pre-tournament stipulation that the number of rounds would be adjusted to fit the available time, at the start of round 7 it was announced that it would be a 10-round, rather than a 9-round, tournament. This meant that Mark needed not 7/9 for a maximum Grand Prix score but 8/10. Hebden subsequently lost to Summerscale, beat Arkell, lost to Motwani and drew with Irena Krush's trainer Krogius in the last round. Krogius had been bizarrely named as top seed in the draw, which lead to Hebden finishing with a double black against Motwani and Krogius. In fact, four players (Hebden, Summerscale, Kelly and John Richardson) all reached 7/9 but no-one managed 8/10. Other notable players in the tournament were Jonathan Parker, Matthew Turner, Danny Gormally, Irina Krush and Valer Krutti. One of lasting memories will be Danny Gormally's impersonation of players in the tournament, especially as he had the knack of doing them just as the individuals concerned walked into the room. Lawrence Cooper won't mention any names but as a future project he's considering organising a tournament full of players that Danny & Keith can impersonate. Prepared with the help of Lawrence Cooper Aaron Summerscale - Keith Arkell
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20 Rxf5!
20 Rfe1 Nxg2 21 Kxg2 is also better for White,
but this temporary rook sacrifice is even stronger.
20...Nxf5 21 Bh3 Bc6
Another possible line is 21...Kd7 22 Bxf5+ Kc6 23 e5 Ba8 24 cxb6 axb6
25 Na4+ Kb5 26 Bd3+ Kxa4 27 Rc4+ Ka5 28 Bb4+ Kb5 29 Rd4+ and White
wins.
22 Be5 Nge7 23 Bxh8 Rxh8 24 exf5
White has regained the
rook and now has a decisive two pawn advantage.
24...Kb7 25 cxb6 axb6 26
Re1 Rh7 27 f6 Nc8 28 Ne4 Bd5 29 Rc1 Na7
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30 Nd6+ Kb8 31 Re1 Nc6 32 Re8+ Black resigned 1-0
EditorialOne way or another it promises to be an intriguing second half of the year in the chess world. The Kasparov-Kramnik match in London may well be one of the closest and hardest fought World Championships in years. Most experts are still plumping for Kasparov, some believe it's the turn of the new generation. Whilst it's true that Kramnik has a poor record in matches (in the past he's lost to Kamsky, Gelfand and Shirov), out of all the possible challengers, he's the only one who really believes he is Kasparov's equal, and this is reflected in his quite reasonable personal score against the World Champion. I hope you enjoy this on-line edition of ChessMoves. Remember, if you have any contributions, questions or opinions send them to me at jemms@ukgateway.net |
Late NewsMcShane collects Final GM NormLuke McShane scored his 3rd and final GM norm at the Politiken Cup in Copenhagen, which took place from 17-28 July. McShane's other norms came at Lippstadt in 1998 and at the Reykjavik Open in April of this year. If his title is ratified by FIDE at the congress this autumn then Luke will be the youngest ever British player to obtain the Grandmaster title. Glorney & Faber Cups
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European Individual Championship
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Forthcoming Events#@30 Jul - 13 Aug 00 SMITH & WILLIAMSON BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS
- The 87th Annual Championships of the British Chess Federation
Millfield School, Street, Somerset
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Advertisement Cover: Michael Adams British Chess
Magazine |
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TERENCE CHAPMAN
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| GRAND PRIX | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Summerscale | 185.8 |
| 2 | M Hebden | 176.4 |
| 3 | K Arkell | 172.6 |
| 4 | M Turner | 170.3 |
| 5 | B Lalic | 144.0 |
| 6 | D Gormally | 135.6 |
| JUNIOR PRIX | ||
| 1 | S Williams | 69.7 |
| 2 | N Pert | 55.7 |
| 3 | B Kelly | 52.2 |
| 4 | C Hanley | 38.9 |
| 5 | RM Taylor (U16) | 35.5 |
| 6 | T Nixon (U14) | 35.0 |
| PRIXETTE | ||
| 1 | A Partington | 44.9 |
| 2 | H Richards | 37.7 |
| 3 | T Khoo | 36.9 |
| 4 | L Broomfield | 33.5 |
| 5 | E Rutherford (U18) | 29.2 |
| 6 | S Chidi | 28.7 |
| AMATEUR PRIX | ||
| 1 | D Patrick | 37.1 |
| 2 | D Hartley | 32.3 |
| 3 | M Kobylka | 28.0 |
| 4 | A Dasaolu | 27.0 |
| 5 | I Baros | 26.5 |
| 6 | J Wagenbach | 25.3 |
| SENIOR PRIX | ||
| 1 | J Sherwin | 39.4 |
| 2 | M Franklin | 26.8 |
| 3 | I Baros | 26.5 |
| 4 | J Wagenbach | 25.3 |
| DISABLED PRIX | ||
| 1 | D Hartley | 38.7 |
| 2 | G Lilley | 35.2 |
| 3 | C Kreuzer | 14.7 |
| 4 | J Whitfield | 10.0 |
| For full details of the 2000 Terence Chapman
Grand Prix, visit http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/ news/grandprix9900.htm |
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England has as many as seven representatives in the the World Championship Zonal Tournament, which is to be held at the Hotel Residencia Cemar, Mondariz, Spain - some 15kms from the town of Vigo.
 Jon Speelman - One of seven English players making the trip to Mondariz |
Jon Speelman and Julian Hodgson qualified by right, both having a rating above 2600. England's other representatives are Tony Miles, John Emms, Stuart Conquest, Jonathan Parker and James Plaskett.
This event is a qualifier for the FIDE World Championship Finals which will be held in New Delhi and then Teheran later this year. Already qualified for these stages are England's Michael Adams and Nigel Short.
The tournament is a swiss event of 11 rounds, with a prize fund of 20,000 swiss francs. Round 1 is on September 3 and round 11 on September 14. Any tie-breaks required will take place on September 15. The six highest placed players will qualify for the FIDE world championship finals.
 James Vigus |
The Masters was won jointly by Richard Bates and Andrew Webster, the latter taking first place on tiebreak. This year the IMs were generally ruthless, galvanised partly by the lack of appearance fees but also by the win bonus scheme (a prize of £25 for every win after the first two wins). Bates in particular made an impressive start, showing few signs of rustiness as he swept to sole lead on 4½/5. Good positional play and a modicum of luck in the form of a fifth round win on time against Simon Williams put Bates well ahead of the pack.
The top seed, Nick Pert, was in poor form and conceded too many early draws, and Williams also fell behind in the chase. The only overseas IM, Oleg Gladyszev of Russia, relentlessly gathered points with White, while drawing solidly with Bates and Webster. Gladyszev was always a little too keen to draw with Black, though, and in the last round he surrendered his chance to share first place by offering Williams a draw when the English IM appeared to have little compensation for a speculative pawn sacrifice. The game which effectively decided the tournament came in round 7, when Webster exploited Bates' early errors in an English Opening to win in typically uncompromising fashion. After defending well to secure a draw against Gladyszev's assiduously prepared opening in round 8, Webster's last game was against Middelburg as White. He struggled to prove an advantage against Middelburg's Slav Defence and fell behind on the clock, but finally squeezed home to victory in a complicated endgame. That kind of fighting chess was typical of the tournament in general and of Webster in particular - there were very few grandmaster draws, least of all on the top boards.
 Andrew Webster |
No-one ever quite threatened to make an IM norm: James Vigus, Igor Bitanski (Israel) and the Dutch pair Tom Middelburg and Jan Werle were all impressive at times, but were hampered by the relatively low ratings of certain opponents. Whilst players such as Sam Collins (Ireland, 2172) and Matthew Broomfield (2193) completely justified their inclusion in the tournament, the organisers were understandably disappointed not to have been able to attract more highly rated norm-seekers. Webster and Broomfield both generously stepped in as reserves when a couple of the foreign entrants failed to turn up: it may become an unfortunate necessity to charge deposits to those players receiving free entry, as the effect of last-minute withdrawals on a tournament like this can be disastrous. Certainly the organisers, Peter Purland and Alec Webster, deserve the gratitude of all the players for making the event run smoothly in spite of various logistical obstacles. As Peter Turner, BCF Director of Junior Chess, commented at the prizegiving, the Smith and Williamson is the premier junior event in our chess calendar, and generations of young players have benefited from it.
The youngest this year were Koneru Humpy of India, and our own Murugan Thiruchelvam. Both may be slightly disappointed by their results (5 and 4 points respectively), but at the same time both showed themselves more than capable of competing at this level. Murugan will benefit from a more aggressive approach as he increases in experience and confidence - he is already very difficult to beat. Finally, a word for Richard Palliser: although he had - unusually - a poor tournament, never quite recovering from his first round blunder in a level position against Nick Pert, he was an excellent Press Officer, chiefly responsible for the event's much-visited website (www.swyoungmasters.co.uk).
 Richard Bates |
1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 c6 3 g3
A quiet opening, but Bates
gathers many points with such lines. In Bates-Vigus, Rd 9, I also failed to
equalise: 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 g3 c6 4 Bg2 Bf5 5 0-0 e6 6 c4 Nbd7 7 b3 Bd6 8 Bb2
Qb8?! 9 Nc3 0-0 10 Nh4 Bg6 11 Nxg6 hxg6 12 e3 b5 13 Rb1 Qb7. Here a draw was
agreed, which was sufficient to give Bates equal first place. But the plan of
c5 and f4 would leave White a free hand on the kingside, with Black's
counterplay minimal. Middelburg suffers similarly.
3...Bg4 4 Bg2 Nd7 5
0-0 e6 6 Nbd2 f5
Black tries to take advantage of White's slow opening.
With the bishop outside the pawn chain this may look like a good Stonewall
set-up for Black, but...
7 c4 Ngf6 8 Qb3 Qb6 9 Ng5!
How does he
defend the e6 pawn? 9 Ng5 effectively forces a favourable exchange of
queens.
9...Qxb3 10 axb3 Ke7 11 f3 Bh5 12 Nh3
White's knight
manoeuvres in this game are excellent, but here prophylaxis is not required and
the direct 12 e4 improves.
12...Bf7 13 e4 g6 14 Nb1!? Bg7 15 Nc3
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15...Ne8?
Black waits, avoiding pawn captures because
his king may become vulnerable in the centre. But while Black still has
counterplay against the d4 pawn, he should try 15...Nxe4! 16 fxe4 Bxd4+ 17 Kh1
dxe4 with a safe king and three strong pawns for the piece.
16 Be3 Nc7
17 Rad1 Nb6 18 Bf4 Ne8
Ugly, but the knight's mission to c7 has proved
abortive.
19 cxd5 cxd5 20 Rfe1 Kd7 21 Be5! Bxe5
Black, reduced to
passivity, prefers to open the d-file rather than watch a White knight spring
to e5.
22 dxe5 Nc7 23 exd5 exd5 24 f4 h6 25 Nf2 Ke7 26 Ne2 Be8 27 Nd4
Ne6 28 Nxe6 Kxe6 29 Nd3 Bc6 30 Nc5+ Ke7 31 b4 a6 32 b3!
Typically
patient.
32...Rhd8 33 Kf2 Nd7
This combined with 35...b5 is a
panicky plan which prods White's knight back to where it wants to go. But
Middelburg faces a slow death on the kingside in any case.
34 Na4 Ke6 35
Rd2 b5 36 Nc3 Nb6 37 Ne2 Bb7 38 Nd4+ Ke7 39 h3! h5 40 Bf3 Rac8 41 g4 hxg4 42
hxg4 Black resigned 1-0
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An early resignation, but 42...fxg4 (42...Rf8 43 gxf5 gxf5 44 Rh1 with relentless threats) 43 Bxg4 Rc3 44 f5 is a decisive breakthrough.
1 d4 e6 2 c4 f5 3 g3 Nf6 4 Bg2 Be7 5 Nf3 0-0 6 0-0 d6 7 Nc3 a5
More usual is 7...Qe8. 7...a5 is a Williams speciality, mainly designed
to provide his queen's knight with a home on b4 - or, in this game, c5.
8 b3 Ne4 9 Bb2 Nxc3
If 9...Qe8 10 Qc2 would force this capture
anyway.
10 Bxc3 Nd7 11 Qc2 Qe8 12 e4
Black hopes to play... e5,
so White grabs the centre first.
12...f4! 13 e5
Hoping to stifle
counterplay - but the Black pieces soon leap out.
13...dxe5 14 dxe5 Qh5
15 h3 Nc5 16 g4 Qh6 17 Kh2?!
After my first long think of the game. I
had prepared using the game Parker-Williams, 4NCL 1999/2000, which continued 17
a3 Bd7 18 b4 Bc6 19 bxc5, when Black captured on f3 and then h3. I assumed that
this sacrifice was unsound, stopping my analysis there; but now, over the
board, matters did not look so clear, and Simon had played all the same moves
again very quickly and confidently. I decided to put the knight on d4 and the
bishop on f3 and so played 17 Kh2 to defend h3. However, this positionally
desirable plan is slow, like many of my positionally desirable plans. Without
doing anything obviously wrong White has drifted into a remarkably awkward
position.
17...Bd7 18 Nd4 f3!
Black must burst out at
once.
19 Nxf3 Qf4+ 20 Kg1 Bc6 21 Bd2
21 Ne1 might have been
better, with hindsight.
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21...Qxf3!
A forced, but sound sacrifice.
22
Bxf3 Rxf3 23 Kh2 Nd3!
The first stage in Black's grand plan to
establish his dark-squared bishop on the h2-b8 diagonal. White's queen is
surprisingly helpless against the swarming minor pieces.
24 Be3 Nxe5 25
c5
Forced.
25...Raf8
25...h6! would be very hard to meet:
...Bf6, ...Ng6 and ...Be5+ is the plan.
26 Qe2! Ng6 27 g5!
Again, forced.
27...b6?
Simon is good at putting his
opponents under pressure by moving quickly in critical positions. But here he
is too hasty: more thought might have produced 27...h6!, eg 28 gxh6 Bf6! when
Black's slightly open king position is unimportant in view of the time gained.
28 Rad1 bxc5 29 Qc4!
Any bishop which arrives on the d-file will
be immediately chopped off.
29...Kh8 30 Qxe6 Bb7
30...Ba8 might
improve, as if play were to continue as in the game Black would have 33...Rxe3,
not fearing 34 fxe3 Rxf1 35 Qb8+ Rf8. However, 31 Rd7 would not then be forced:
31 Rg1 keeps the position messy.
31 Rd7 Bd6+
Or 31...Bc8 32
Rxe7!.
32 Rxd6
Phew!
32...cxd6 33 Qxd6 Bc8 34 Bxc5 Bxh3
35 Qd1?!
Moving the rook is better, but with the time control
approaching I was just glad to see the back of the remaining bishop.
35...Bxf1 36 Qxf1 Rc8 37 Qe2?!
37 Be3! interferes with Black's
co-ordination. After the middlegame mayhem I was finding it difficult to adjust
to this endgame, and thought that Black's rook was a threat to my king, whereas
it is actually out of play.
37...Rh3+ 38 Kg1 Rc3 39 Be3 Ne5 40 Qb5 Nf3+
41 Kh1?
Another unnecessarily defensive move, after which Black should
be able to draw .
41...Rf8! 42 Qxa5 Rd3!
An active plan, forcing
perpetual check
43 Qc5 Rd1+ 44 Kg2 Rg1+ 45 Kh3 Kg8??
But this is
suicidal - another gambler's move, but totally out of place now.
46 Qd5+
Kh8 47 Bf4! Ne1 48 Qe4 Rf1 49 Qe2 Rh1+ 50 Kg4 Rg1+ 51 Bg3 Nf3 52
Qe7
Draw Agreed ½-½
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Having been unable to trap the knight I was unwilling to risk playing on with only about 12 minutes left to complete the game. Yet once again I overestimated Black's threats; the direct advance of the queenside pawns looks extremely strong.
1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 Ne4 3 Bf4 c5 4 f3 Qa5+ 5 c3 Nf6 6 d5 Qb6 7 Bc1
This particular line of the Trompovsky enters play more reminiscent of
the King's Indian and Benoni defences.
7...g6 8 e4
If White
wants to put his g1-knight on f2, then he must seize the chance now. For
example 8 Nh3 d6 9 Nf2 Bg7 10 e4 e6 11 c4 0-0 12 Nc3 exd5 13 cxd5 Na6 14 Be2
Bd7 15 0-0 Rac8 with a roughly level position, Hodgson-Ftacnik, Ischia
1996.
8...d6
Now Black will simply capture if the knight goes to
h3.
9 c4 Bg7 10 Nc3 0-0 11 Bd3 e6 12 Nge2 exd5 13 exd5 Nbd7 14 b3 Re8 15
0-0 Ne5 16 Bc2 Nh5 17 Rb1 f5 18 Bb2 a6 19 h3 Qd8 20 f4 Nf7 21 Bd3 Bd7 22 Kh2 b5
Black's play on the queenside assures him of an equal position.
23 cxb5 axb5 24 Nxb5 Rxa2 25 Bxg7 Kxg7 26 Nbc3 Ra8 27 b4 Nf6 28 Qb3 Re3
29 Nd1 Ba4 30 Qc4 Bxd1 31 Rfxd1 Qe7 32 Nc3 cxb4 33 Rxb4 Re8 34 Qd4 Kg8 35 Bb5
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35...Nh6!
This is an extremely tricky move which
demands exact defence by White. Also possible for Black is 35 ..Ng4+!?, which
seems to lead to a draw after 36 hxg4 Qh4+ 37 Kg1 Nh6!? (37...Rh3 38 gxh3 Qg3+
39 Kf1 Qxh3+ 40 Kf2 Qh2+ is also a draw) 38 Bxe8 Re1+ 39 Rxe1 Qxe1+ 40 Kh2
Nxg4+ 41 Kh3 Qh1+ 42 Kg3 Qe1+ 43 Kh3 and Black has nothing more than perpetual
check.with a draw by perpetual check.
36 Rbb1?
In a difficult
position, White fails to find the right answer. Other tries include:
1) 36
Ra4? Nfg4+! 37 Kg1 Qh4 38 Qd2 Qg3 39 hxg4 Nxg4 and there is no good defence to
...Qh2+.
2) 36 Bxe8 Nfg4+! 37 hxg4 (or 37 Kh1 Re1+ 38 Rxe1 Qxe1+ 39 Qg1 Nf2+
40 Kh2 Nhg4+! 41 hxg4 Nxg4+ 42 Kh1 Qh4+ and Black mates) 37...Nxg4+ 38 Kg1 Re1+
39 Rxe1 Qxe1 mate.
3) 36 Kg1! (this piece of prophylaxis is White's only
defence - the point is that now ...Ng4 does not come with check and White can
organise a successful defence) 36...Nfg4 (36 ..Re1+ 37 Bf1 is fine for White)
37 Rf1! now an all out attack by Black fails, for example 37...Qh4 38 Bxe8 Qg3
(38...Rxe8 39 Rb7!) 39 hxg4 Nxg4 40 Bf7+!! Kxf7 41 Rb7+ Re7 42 Rxe7+ Kxe7 43
Qg7+ Ke8 44 Qh8+ Ke7 45 Qxh7+ Kf8 46 Qh3 and White wins.
36...Nfg4+ 37
Kg1 Qh4
Black's attack is decisive
38 Ne2 Qf2+ 39 Kh1
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39...Rxh3+! White Resigned 0-1
40 gxh3 allows 40...Qh2
mate.
The event was held in my back garden alongside table tennis and was a double round all-play-all, with a bye in each round due to the unexpected withdrawal of Danny Gormally. It featured 3 GMs, 5 IMs, 2 FMs and 1 WIM.
Jonathan Parker won his last ten games to finish a point clear of an off form Keith Arkell, who had to settle for a 258 grading performance, well below his normal 2700 level. Mark Hebden was third, his score including a 12 out of 12 run in rounds 3-14.
My thanks to all the players, to Claire Summerscale for keeping the wallchart and pairings up to date but an especially big thank you to my parents for not only doing the catering but also for allowing nine other chess players to stay on Saturday night in their two bedroomed bungalow! Spectators included Colin Crouch (en-route to Monmouth) and Emily Howard.
The results of blitz tournament held, which was part
of the Terence Chapman Group Grand Prix, are as follows:
Jonathan Parker
18/22: Keith Arkell 17; Mark Hebden 16.5; Brian Kelly 15.5; Valer Krutti 13.5;
Aaron Summerscale 11.5; Adam Collinson 11; Mark Ferguson 9; Matthew Turner 8.5;
John Richardson 7; Cathy Forbes 4.5
The chess community will be saddened to learn that Harold Sims, President of the Ilford Chess Club, died on 25 July 2000, aged 64.
Harold had been involved in Ilford Chess Club for about 25 years. During this time he held many offices at the club. Although himself never a strong player, for many years he was a very active president, and until very recently was Treasurer and captained all three of our London League teams simultaneously. Harold never claimed a penny back in officer's expenses and for several years quietly sponsored our club championship. Outside of Ilford Harold was also London League Secretary, and was until recently Essex Chess Association General Secretary.
As important as what he did was how he did it. Harold was the kind of organiser who did everything willingly, modestly and with good humour, very much for the benefit of chess. Although it's a terrible cliché, I don't believe that anyone has a bad word to say about him.
Only weeks before his death Harold was awarded the BCF President's Award. Harold's nomination for this honour was strongly supported by the Essex Chess Association who warmly welcomed the award.
He was married with one daughter and he worked in the textile industry as a cutter, which doesn't sound much, but actually it's the guy who plans how the different pieces of a garment are cut out of the material, and in fact it is really a skilled specialist job. He was ill for about 18 months before his death, gradually deteriorating, but until the last few months remained as active as he could. For example he was picking Ilford's London League 1st team up until the end of this season. His funeral was attended by many Ilford members and several Essex Chess Association Officers.
Everyone will remember Harold for his friendship and kindness to others.
Jeff Goldberg
Success and progress in Junior Chess usually comes about through the many thousands of hours of voluntary work put in by organisers, parents and supporters. We can ill afford to lose those heroes of this wonderful game. As in the game, our clocks are ticking away and sadly for some the flag will fall.
A 'fallen hero' and tremendous loss to junior chess this year has been the passing of Mitchell Taylor. It was with great sadness that I learned of his death. All those with whom he worked over the years valued his long, loyal and distinguished service to the British Chess Federation. His contribution to the development of our juniors through the Certificate of Merit Scheme and the Times Schools Championship is legendary. He has influenced generations of young players, most of our leading Masters and Grand Masters will have reason, on hearing this sad news, to say "Thanks Mitchell".
Peter Turner
12-year-old Jonathan Lappage has recently played two training matches against experienced International Masters. The first of these was a four-game training match against Andrew Whiteley in June, sponsored by Gameplay, at the Lappage family home. The time limit was 40 minutes (each) for all moves. The first two games were drawn and Jonathan threw away a clear winning advantage with a blunder in the third game and lost.
Whiteley also won the fourth game, making the final score 3-1. Whiteley later commented that he would hope not to play Jonathan again in the future, as he is sure to lose to him next time. His motto is, "Catch them young".
The second match was against Michael Basman on Sunday 2nd of July. Once more this was held at the Lappage's family home and the format was 40 minutes each on the clock. The final score was 3½-½ in Basman's favour, but it could have been much closer. In the first game Lappage was always better and eventually reached a position a queen up with around 1 minute on the clock. He then proceeded to lose the game on time in a completely winning position after missing a mate in one. Mike Basman commented later "a gentleman would have resigned".
 Jonathan Lappage in action against Michael Basman (photo supplied by Molouk Lappage) |
The second game was a more even affair, with Jonathan obtaining a marginally better endgame and nurturing this until he reached a clearly better one. However a blunder in a clearly winning position led to him losing this game. The third game was an interesting imbalance until Lappage blundered a pawn and was lucky to get a draw. The fourth game was in many ways similar to the first. Jonathan reached a better position from the opening, but after some inaccuracies this turned to an equal position. However, time trouble meant that he was unable to find the drawing moves and Basman went on to win with some accurate moves.
This training was obviously very useful as Jonathan beat IM Andrew Ledger in the fourth round of the Reading Open the following weekend, having drawn to his brother FM David Ledger in the second round. He lost his last round game to Daniel Gormally, but scored 3/5 for a grading performance of 217.
Prepared with the help of Molouk Lappage and Leonard Barden
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