The U.K. team comprised of GM Michael Adams (2699), GM Nigel Short (2684), GM David Howell (2614), GM Luke McShane (2620) and GM Gawain Jones (2554). Their opponents were GM Ivan Sokolov (2655), GM Jan Smeets (2632), GM Loek Van Wely (2655), GM Erwin L’ami (2593) and GM Jan Werle (2575).
This was a 10-round match with each player squaring off twice with the members of the other team.
In the final round, reports Steve Giddins for ChessBase, “the Dutch team were three points down and ready to fight for victory. Jan Smeets did the necessary against Luke McShane, but just as Loek van Wely appeared to have Nigel Short on the ropes the Rejuvenated One struck back and took the full point. Nigel is now over 2700 on live ratings and, at 44, once again Britain’s top grandmaster.”
A former challenger to the world crown, Short scored an amazing 8 points out of 10 games in this year’s Staunton Memorial.
The final score: England 26.5, Netherlands, 23.5.
The annual tournament is held in honor of Howard Staunton, who was regarded as the world champ from 1843 to 1851.
Game of the week. Giddins annotates.
White: N. Short (2684)
Black: I. Sokolov (2655)
Two Knights Defense
3rd round, 7th Staunton Memorial, London
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4. Just as in round one, Nigel opts to avoid the customary 35-40 moves of Marshall Gambit theory, so often seen in games between the elite these days. 3…Nf6!? This move already deserves comment. For over a century, the Two Knights was accepted as an excellent way to defend against 3.Bc4, with the world having accepted unchallenged Tarrasch’s indictment of White’s next as a “duffer’s move.” However, over the last 10 years or so, the influence of computers has swung the pendulum the other way, and the Two Knights now seems to be viewed much less favorably among the top players, almost all of whom prefer 3…Bc5. Two years ago, Short used the white side of 4.Ng5 to win a crucial last-round game against Mark Hebden, to clinch first place in the EU Championships at Liverpool, and he later described habitual practitioners of the Two Knights as “taking their lives in their hands.” Most leading GMs nowadays play 3…Bc5, against which Nigel is wont to adopt the Evans Gambit, but he had clearly spotted that Sokolov had played 3…Nf6 in his first-round game against Luke McShane. 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Bd3!? Against Hebden, Short had preferred 8.Qf3, but the text move has become fashionable recently. It was originally revived by Dutch GM Daniel Stellwagen, who wrote an article on it in the popular New in Chess opening series, SOS. More recently, Nakamura used it to win his critical last-round game in the U.S. Championships, and recently, it featured in the key game Conquest-Howell, at the British Championships in Torquay. The main point of he move is to give the Ng5 a more convenient retreat square than f3 or h3. 8…h6 9.Ne4 Nd5 10.0–0 g6 11.Re1 Bg7 12.Bf1 0–0 13.d3 f5. This is a typical position from the variation. For decades, it has been accepted that Black’s lead in development, active pieces and space advantage, gives him more than enough compensation, and indeed, many games have been won by Black in such positions. A mere glance at the position seems to confirm that Black has a wonderful game. However, the computer, untrammelled by human emotions and visual impressions, sees only that White has an extra pawn with no weaknesses, Black’s knight on a5 is offside, and his queenside pawns split. 14.Nc5 Qd6 15.Nb3 Nb7 16.g3 Be6 17.c4. Weakening d3, but this pawn can be defended relatively easily, whilst White enhances his central control. Once he completes the satisfactory development of his pieces, he will have a clear advantage. 17…Nb6 18.Qc2 Nd7 19.Nc3 a5 20.Na4 g5 21.Bd2 Bf7 22.Bc3 Rfe8 23.d4 e4. Black cannot win material by taking on d4, in view of the line 23…exd4 24.Nxd4 Bxd4 25.Bxd4 Qxd4 26.Red1 Qe5 27.Rxd7. 24.Rad1 Bg6 25.c5 Qc7 Black has been unable to make anything of his early initiative, and is now virtually lost. 26.d5 cxd5 27.Rxd5 Bxc3 28.Qxc3 Ne5 29.Red1 f4 30.c6 Qxc6? A blunder which hastens the end, but Black is more or less busted anyway. 31.Rxe5 1-0. A game which must surely have brought a smile to the celestial face of Wilhelm Steinitz, the one great player who always insisted the Two Knights was unsound!
Puzzler. White — Ka4, Ba6, Nb8, Nc6, Qc1, pawns on e3 and h4
Black — Kd5, Nd6, Rf7, Bh7, Rh3, pawns on b3, c4, c7, d4, e6 and f3
White to play and mate in four.
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