Adams British Champion After Successful Playoff with Short
Saturday, August 6, 2011 at 1:59PM The match (and playoff) 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. 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.
The point may not be what you thought - at least it's not what I thought! 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. In the final position, Short resigned because after 34...Rxd8 35.Qxd8+ Ka7 36.Qd7+ Kb8 37.Qb7 is mate while 35...Qb8 loses to 36.c7. (You can replay the game, with these notes, here.)
Congratulations to Michael Adams, and to Jovanka Houska as well, for winning the Women's title.
Reader Comments (1)
What is it about chess that causes so many rows? [SNIP.]
[DM: The intrusion of religion and politics, that's what. So let's preclude that, please - thanks!]