| May 2001 | Newsletter of the British Chess Federation | Online Edition |
 Kasparov and Chapman (right) settle before Game 2 (photo by John Emms) |
Chapman, sponsor of both the Grand Prix, and Gold and Silver Awards, was an excellent player in his youth, winning the British Under-14 Championship and captaining the English junior team. However, in the 1980s he gave up chess and concentrated on making his fortune in the City, founding The Terence Chapman Group plc, which has a market value of £100 million.
Nevertheless, Chapman always kept his desire for chess and recently this was re-ignited when a friend asked him, 'What would it take to beat Garry Kasparov?' 'Two pawns!' was Chapman's reply and after reading this in a magazine article, the former World Champion decided to take the challenge. In return for playing the special odds match, Chapman donated £100,000 of his own money to the Garry Kasparov Chess Academy in Jerusalem, an organisation which helps to promote chess in schools worldwide.
There then followed lengthy negotiations in which it was decided which pawns Kasparov would be without. Finally they settled on four games, with four different pairs of pawns taken away. Kasparov later commented that Chapman had handled the negotiations much better than him and 'was much the better businessman!' In fact, before the match Kasparov pessimistically thought that Chapman was the favourite, although most punters and the bookies did not share this view.
Onto the actual match and Game 1 saw Chapman playing White and Kasparov missing a- and h-pawns. Chapman started well and kept his material advantage into an ending. However, Kasparov managed to generate counterplay along the half-open a-file. Chapman sacrificed one pawn, lost another, but the situation was still less than clear, especially as Chapman was pressing with his pawn mass on the kingside. On move 33 Chapman missed an excellent chance which would have left Kasparov fighting for the draw. This mistake was compounded by another, allowing Kasparov to set up a mating net with his two rooks.
Game 2 saw Kasparov playing White without his d- and a-pawns. Chapman again played very sensibly in the opening and soon the position became blocked in a kind of French Defence style. This meant that Kasparov had little hope in breaking through, but on the other hand, it would be very difficult for Chapman to realise his two-pawn advantage. After Chapman manoeuvred his king all the way from e8 to a8 both players decided they couldn't make any more progress and a draw was agreed.
Game 3 was a personal triumph for Chapman, who played White, with Kasparov missing his a- and b-pawns. Many pundits saw this as being Kasparov's most favourable formation, as he wasn't missing a central pawn. Indeed, Kasparov entered the middlegame with an eminently playable position, but was then outplayed by Chapman in the complications on the kingside. Chapman sealed his win when he raced his passed a-pawn down the board to promotion.
Game 4 was unfortunately a bit of an anti-climax. Kasparov had the white pieces and was missing a- and e-pawns. He played the opening well, gaining space on the kingside and avoiding piece exchanges. Chapman defended resolutely, but eventually felt the strain of being in a passive position, blundering a piece on move 23 and resigning immediately. Thus the match score finished at 2½-1½ to Kasparov.
After the match both chatted amicably while they analysed some positions. In the press conference Kasparov revealed that his initial reaction to a two pawn deficit was 'Two pawns - so what?' It was only after he began preparing that he realised how much of a disadvantage it was - much worse than twice the disadvantage of being only one pawn down. He came to the conclusion that without a centre pawn he was hopelessly lost in the initial position. Kasparov also had some praise for his opponent: 'His level of passion for the game and for winning is amazing.'
Chapman quoted the words of the great German player Siegbert Tarrasch when he said 'Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy'. He then added, 'Well, that's how I felt after Game 3!'
Chapman-Kasparov - Game 1
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Chapman-Kasparov - Game 3
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On Monday 26th March, Michael Foster, MP for Hastings and Rye, generously hosted a reception in the Jubilee Room at the House of Commons to raise the profile of the world famous Hastings International Chess Congress. The Congress is urgently seeking a commercial sponsor or sponsors. Over the past few years the event has been funded by Hastings Borough Council - since losing the Falaise Hall as a venue it has been difficult to attract a commercial sponsor. The Congress now has a new home at the impressive and recently opened Horntye Park Sports Centre and hopes this will help to change its fortunes.
Grandmaster Raymond Keene, Chess Correspondent of the Times, gave a talk about the Hastings Congress in which most of the great names in chess have played over the years. He emphasised that it is still the most famous chess event in the world, is a key part of the historic, cultural and intellectual heritage of this country and as such, it is imperative that its future is assured.
The event in December/January attracts around 600 players from home and overseas. They range from world-class grandmasters to amateur club players. Moving with the times, games are relayed on the Internet. The congress web-site hastingschess.org.uk gives all information about the history, games and running of the event. For further information about sponsorship or any other aspect of the event contact: Pam Thomas (Tel 01424 445348; email dmt123@compuserve.com).
 Mickey Adams (left) and Murray Chandler prepare for Round 1 (photo by Christine Higgins) |
England number one and world number four Mickey Adams showed a gap in class from the rest of the field when he retained the Redbus title he won last year. On this occasion Adams reached the final very comfortably, winning his games with White and drawing with Black, before winning both games against second seed Julian Hodgson. Hodgson, who was making his first appearance at this event, endured a bumpier ride to the final, with both his quarter-final match against Nigel Davies and his semi-final against Luke McShane going to 10-minute play-offs. Twice runner-up Bogdan Lalic again impressed before going out to Adams, while fellow semi-finalist Luke McShane had good wins over Mark Hebden and Jonathan Levitt.
This year's field in the knockout event, sponsored once again by Cliff Stanford, founder of Demon Internet, was the strongest yet - all sixteen players were GMs. There is an argument against such elitism, however. One idea would be to offer automatic Redbus places to the highest placed competitors at the British Championship, plus the highest placed Briton at the Hastings Challengers and the winner of the previous year's Southend Open. This would certainly give extra incentives for players entering those tournaments.
Talking of the Southend Open, I believe this is the last major event in the UK that still has adjournments. However, there is serious consideration for changing the time control next year to 40 moves in 2 hours followed by all moves in an hour - this is in response to player demand. Under the current system there were some players playing three different games over eight hours. The new time limit would also avoid the bizarre anomaly which occurred this year; in an adjournment one player had the support of both a grandmaster and Fritz 6, whilst his opponent's assistance comprised of a packet of crisps, a cheese roll and a cup of tea!
Adams-Hodgson
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In April Terence Chapman announced awards for 2001 to England's most promising and active junior chess players. These awards, made each year, are designed to encourage emerging masters and help advance the nation's status in the chess world. There is one Gold award of £1,000 and from six to nine Silver awards of £500 each.
Last year's inaugural awards proved a great stimulus. Almost all recipients scored notable successes. Achievements included two GM norms, IM, WGM and British Rapidplay titles, and three IM norms. Jovanka Houska's Silver award was raised to Gold after her impressive victory in the European Girls Junior Championship.
The judging panel is IM Malcolm Pein (chess editor of the Daily Telegraph), IM Bob Wade (BCF national junior coach and twice British champion), Leonard Barden (chess editor of the Guardian and former British champion) and IM Matthew Turner (manager of the England U18 team).
The winners were as follows:
 Luke McShane, pictured here at Jon Speelman's flat for Bob Wade's 80th birthday party (photo by John Emms) |
GOLD
GM Luke McShane, 17, of City of London School, is England's top ranked junior and one of the most promising teenagers in the world. McShane won the World U10 championship aged 8, then became England's youngest ever IM at 13 and youngest ever GM at 16. He was voted BCF Player of the Year in 1997, the only time in a decade that this award has not gone to GMs Adams or Short. McShane has had some of his best successes in recent months with high placings at Reykjavik, Stockholm and Dordrecht and good team results in the 4NCL and Bundesliga.
SILVER
IM Adam Hunt, 20, from Oxford, has had a fine Silver award year, winning the Australian Open and achieving his final IM norm in the European U20 championship. His Fide world rating has soared 150 points in two years. Adam is currently in his first year of management studies at the University of Sussex.
IM Nicholas Pert, 20, from Ipswich, made excellent use of his Terence Chapman Gold award last year. Pert won the Oakham GM tournament, drew his award match 3-3 against GM Murray Chandler, and completed his second and third norms for the grandmaster title. Pert is in his second year at Warwick University, reading mathematics and statistics.
FM Richard Palliser, 19, from Harrogate, is Yorkshire's best young player and is already an accomplished chess author and journalist. He was a key member of the Yorkshire team which won the 2000 BCF County Championship. Palliser scored his first IM norm when winning the York Masters in December.
Melanie Buckley, 18, from Bath, has represented England in five World or European girls' championships, and made her England women's debut in last month's victory over Germany. She was voted the 4NCL female player of the year for 1999/2000, scoring her first WIM norm. She is a first year physics student at St. Hilda's College, Oxford, and is an orchestral bassoonist.
WFM Heather Richards, 18, from Whitstable, Kent, is England's fastest improving woman player. She has won three British girls titles and made her Olympiad debut on Board 4 for England women in Istanbul. Her best performance yet came at last month's England v Germany match where she scored 7½/9, achieved her second WIM result with a round to spare, and played a key role in England's victory.
Craig Hanley, 17, from Royal Grammar School, Lancaster, is Lancashire's best junior and the most promising boy from the North West since Short and Norwood. Hanley only began serious chess at 12, but has progressed rapidly. He achieved his first IM norm at the Hastings Challengers and won the Terence Chapman Under-18 Prix. Craig has represented England in two European junior championships.
Ameet Ghasi, 14, from King Edward's, Edgbaston, is Birmingham's most promising junior since England's first grandmaster Tony Miles, who now coaches him. Ghasi already had a giant-killing reputation when he received a Terence Chapman Silver award last year. Then, still 13, he set a UK age record by winning the British Rapidplay Championship at Leeds, where he defeated GMs Hebden and Arkell and drew with several IMs. This year he became Warwickshire's youngest ever champion.
Jonathan Lappage, 13, from Magdalen College School, Oxford, only took up chess seriously 2½ years ago. Since then he has made eye-catching progress with wins or draws against several IMs, and his latest good result at the Hastings Challengers brings his Fide rating to 2200, equal to BCF 200. Lappage made his England debut at the 2000 European Under-14s in Greece, and plays on a high board for Oxfordshire's senior county team.
Gawain Jones, 13, from Ampleforth College, York, first made headlines when, at age 9, he defeated IM Malcolm Pein. Since then Jones, who is coached by Yorkshire's top player IM Angus Dunnington, has become one of England's most consistent juniors in international competition. He has scored highly in several world or European championships, notably last year when he totalled 7/11 in the world U12 at Oropesa del Mar, Spain.
 Irina Krush played decisive chess (photo by Adam Raoof) |
University College School, North London was once again the venue for a strong grandmaster tournament with title norm possibilities, run by organiser Adam Raoof, with Steve Boniface as arbiter. Running at the same time there was a £5000 challenge match between England's two highest rated IMs, Matthew Turner and Danny Gormally (£3500 for the winner and £1500 for the loser), funded by the mystery sponsor who has supported similar matches in the past.
The Grandmaster tournament was a big success for Jim Plaskett, who dominated throughout and played some excellent chess, scoring 7/9 and a 2600+ rating performance. First place was never really in doubt and Plaskett ended up a point and a half ahead of the second-placed Colin McNab. American Irina Krush, a common visitor to our shores, put in another good performance, although she didn't quite reach the standard she set at the Oakham GM event (see April's online edition of ChessMoves).
Overall the tournament perhaps suffered a bit too much from solidity - there were only 20 decisive games out of 45 - although this is by no means the severest case of high drawing percentage in a tournament. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to see the effect on the players in a similar tournament using Mike Basman's '3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw' solution. In this particular instance Krush would have been the main beneficiary and would have risen from 5th (on tie-break) to 2nd position.
In the challenge match Danny Gormally looked to be in control, winning convincingly in Game 2 and resisting well against some pressure ion Game 5. Turner, however, hit back with an excellent performance as Black in the final game, so the players ended up receiving £2000 each (a quirk of the prize fund - Gormally 'lost' £1500 in the final game while Turner gained 'only' £500).
Adam Raoof's next international event will either be in August (if the Mind Sports Olympiad doesn't go ahead with a Masters), or in December (see his website http://www.circuit.demon.co.uk).
Plaskett-Krush
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Gormally-Turner
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EditorialLike many chessplayers I was fascinated by the prospect of Terence Chapman's odds match with Garry Kasparov. Also, like the bookies, I did make Kasparov clear favourite and was expecting something like a 4-0 whitewash. After all, even though Kasparov hadn't played an odds match before, he was used to such unusual challenges and had excelled in many (for example, three years ago he crushed the super-strong Israeli national team 7-1 in a simultaneous display). I hadn't reckoned, however, with both the talent and the preparation of Terence Chapman, who took the match extremely seriously and was rewarded with a very close fight and a victory in the third game. Chapman spent months preparing, playing on the weekend circuit and employing a training team of grandmasters including Jon Speelman, Julian Hodgson and John Nunn. Before the match Chapman played many training games against Fritz and played two training matches, losing 3½-½ to Nunn and 2½-1½ to Hodgson. These experiences obviously helped a talented but rusty player to put up such an excellent show against Kasparov. Hope you enjoy this issue of ChessMoves. Remember that any contributions can be sent to me via the BCF Office or at jemms@ukgateway.net. |
World Champions Oppose New FIDE Time LimitsCalling themselves the 12th, 13th, and 14th World Chess Champions, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik put aside their differences and joined forces to write an open letter voicing their disagreement with recent statements and unilateral decisions made by FIDE, the international chess federation. They said that '...in particular, we are very concerned about FIDE's policy changes regarding the official time controls, their treatment of the history of the World Championship, and their open hostility toward the organisers of traditional events.' The Russian trio continued, 'Time honoured traditions and rules of classical chess are not to be toyed with and any changes should be made only after such plans are studied and debated in an open forum. Drastically shortening the amount of time available during a game is an attack on both the players and on the artistic and scientific elements of the game of chess itself. To implement these rules without an adequate period for reflection, discussion, and review is foolhardy and cavalier.' Karpov, who was the brains behind the letter added that 'Chess is not FIDE's property to toss around like a bauble. The game belongs to the global chess community.' The three players acknowledged that FIDE have been making attempts to popularise the sport of chess, but called their measures 'ill-advised'. FIDE replied by reiterating the fact that at its recent meeting in Cannes they 'unanimously resolved to accept the compromise proffered by the FIDE President on the implementation of the new time control after noting the concerns of some European Chess Federations' Presidents on the issue.' |
London Deaf Chess Club Succeed in EuropeLondon Deaf Chess Club came 2nd in the Europa Cup for Deaf Chess Clubs, which was held in Lisbon over Easter, winning the silver medals and a large trophy. The team representing England consisted of Phillip Gardner, Ilan Dwek, Simon Andersson, Richard Dunn and Barry David (captain). This fantastic result marks the first time in over 20 years' participation in European and World team championships that an English deaf chess team has come in the top three. Twelve teams entered the tournament and was won by Hamburg (Germany), who fielded 2 Russians including two times World Deaf Chess Champion, International Master Sergei Salov. Third place went to the defending champions Budapest (Hungary). The team was financially supported by, amongst others, the Friends of Chess. Alasdair MacLeod Secretary, London Deaf Chess Club Late NewsBeeson Gregory won this season's 4NCL Championship, despite losing 5-3 to rivals Wood Green in the final round. Beeson Gregory, Wood Green and Slough all scored 20 match points, but Beeson Gregory took first place on tie-break with 66 game points, ahead of Slough (63 game points) and Wood Green (61½ game points). Relegated were Richmond (after a close match with Barbican 2), Poisoned Pawns and South Wales Dragons. Wood Green 2, Bristol and Witney & Swindon were the teams promoted from the second division. (A full report will follow in the June on-line edition of ChessMoves.) Nigel Short came joint third in The Victor Korchnoi 70th Birthday Tournament in Zürich. Short qualified from the group stages before defeating Boris Spassky in the quarter-final and losing to Kasparov in the semis. His 3rd/4th play-off with Dutchman Jeroen Piket ended in a 1-1 draw. Brain Games World Champion Vladimir Kramnik defeated Kasparov in the final. England's Harriet Hunt finished scored 7/11 to come joint 15th in the 2nd European Open Women's Chess Championship, which was held in Warsaw from April 21st-May 5th 2001. The former World Girls Champion failed to qualify for the Women's World Championship after she was defeated in a play-off. England will be represented by Nigel Short, Tony Miles, Stuart Conquest and Danny Gormally in the European Individual Championship 2001, which will be held over 13 rounds between 1st and 15th June in Ohrid, Macedonia. |
Report on BCF Finance Council Meeting 28th April 20011 Finance Director's Report, by Robert McFarland, was approved. 1.1 The Annual Forecast for 2000/2001 - remains in line
with the earlier forecast to Council and the agreed Budget of a net surplus of
£2k. Neil Graham and Peter Turner were thanked for
their performance. 2 The Budget for the year 2001/2002, presented to Council by the Finance Director, Robert McFarland, was approved. The budget shows a break-even position after contingency and a small transfer from the legacy fund. 3 The Membership Scheme paper, which was presented by the Marketing Director, Nick Hawkins, was approved and it was agreed to proceed with the new scheme on the basis of this paper. Two new classes of membership were created, Standard £12, and Junior £10. 4 The Business Plan for 2001/2002, which provides a business centred narrative for the budget, was approved. 5 Game Fee was increased to 30p per player/game with rapidplay and club games retaining their proportionate charges of 1/2 and 1/3. 6 Financial Standing Instructions, as updated were adopted. 7 The Finance Committee Report, by John Philpot, was approved. 8 Standing Orders for Council meetings, by Paul Buswell, adopted. 9 Protocols for the election of the President and Officers were adopted. 10 The Objects of the Federation were amended, to reflect equal opportunity concerns. Robert McFarland, Director of Finance and Management Services |
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