Kramnik still finished first, 1.5 points ahead of Vietnam’s Le Quang Liem. In Sheffield, the Swiss-format 96th British Championship was held and after 11 rounds, the U.K.’s top two players, Adams, 39, and Short, 46, tied for first. Both scored 6 wins and 5 draws. To determine this year’s champ, they had to play a two-game rapid match which Adams won.
As I write this, reigning world women’s champ Hou Yifan of China is on a rampage at the FIDE Women Grand Prix in Rostov, winning 5 of her first 6 games. At the world junior championship in Chennai, India, Italian IM Axel Rombaldoni has won all his 6 games so far. In Moscow, the very strong 64th Russian championship began with Svidler scalping Kramnik in the first round!
Meanwhile, the World Chess Federation, or FIDE, has announced that next year’s world championship match between reigning king Viswanathan Anand of India and challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel will be held in Moscow, Russia with a prize fund of $2.55 million. The women’s world championship between Hou Yifan and Humpy Koneru will be hosted by Tirana, Albania with a prize fund of $284,000.
Game of the week. Dennis Monokroussos, our annotator, said the playoff match between the U.K.’s “old guards” was “shorter and the stakes a little lower, but as in 1997 Michael Adams pulled out a victory in ‘extra time’ against Nigel Short to win the 2011 British Championship. The first game of their two-game rapid playoff was a draw, and in game two Adams parlayed the white pieces into a win.”
White: M. Adams (2715)
Black: N. Short (2687)
Caro-Kann Defense
British ch, Sheffield 2011
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ gxf6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Be2 e6 8.0-0 Nd7 9.c4 Qc7 10.Nh4 h5 11.h3 Bxe2 12.Qxe2 0-0-0 13.Rd1 Bd6 14.d5 Rde8?! Short essayed the semi-dodgy Bronstein-Larsen variation of the Caro-Kann and achieved a decent position with it. He did need to find an accurate 14th move, and had he played 14…Kb8, he’d have been okay. After 15.dxe6, Black doesn’t play 15…Rde8, though it’s playable (then the idea of 14…Kb8 is clear — 16.exd7 isn’t check), but 15…fxe6. After 16.Qxe6 (not forced, but White has no advantage with other moves either) 16…Rhe8 17.Qf7 (or 17.Qf5 Nb6, regaining the pawn thanks to the dual threats of …Nxc4 and …Bh2+ followed by …Rxd1; here we see that the king needed to be on b8, or 17…Nb6 would have been illegal) 17…Ne5 18.Qxc7+ Bxc7 19.Rxd8+ Rxd8 with equality. Black regains the c-pawn, unless White wants to get mated with …Rd1. Note that greedy moves like 18.Qxh5 and 18.Qxf6 are both bad: 18.Qxh5? Rh8 19.Bh6 Rdg8 is quite bad for White, and 18.Qxf6?? loses to 18…Be7 19.Rxd8+ Rxd8 20.Qf4 Bg5! 21.Qg3 (21.Qxg5 Rd1+ 22.Kh2 Nf3#) 21…Rd1+ 22.Kh2 Bxh4 23.Qxh4 Nf3#. After 14…Rde8 15.Be3 Adams was better, and while this or that move from either side might not always have been the absolutely best choice, Adams never gave away the advantage and his sustained queenside attack broke through. 15.Be3 Bc5 16.Bxc5 Nxc5 17.b4 Nd7 18.dxc6 Qxc6 19.c5 f5 20.Rd4 Qc7 21.Rc1 Kb8 22.Nf3 Rd8 23.c6 Nf6 24.b5 Rxd4 25.Nxd4 b6 26.Qb2 Rh6 27.Nf3 Rg6 28.Ne5 Rg8 29.Rd1 Nd5 30.Nd7+ Ka8 31.Nf6 Nxf6 32.Qxf6 a6 33.Rd7 Qf4 34.Rd8+ and 1-0. Short resigned because after 34…Rxd8 35.Qxd8+ Ka7 36.Qd7+ Kb8 37.Qb7 is mate while 35…Qb8 loses to 36.c7.
Puzzler.
White: Ka5, Nb5, Qc1, Bd3, pawn on d4
Black: Kd5, Ne5, pawns on a6 and f3
White to play and mate in three moves.
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