Adams British Champion After Successful Playoff with Short

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.

The British Championship: Playoff Time!

Recall that the situation going into the final round of the 98th British Championship saw Michael Adams and Nigel Short tied for first with 8/10, half a point ahead of Gawain Jones and Jonathan Hawkins, with none of the four paired against any other member of that quartet.

After four hard-fought games, that's just how things ended up as well. Adams had White and a nearly 300-point rating advantage against IM Yang-Fan Zhou, but this meant nothing off paper (or a monitor). Adams soon found himself with an uncomfortable position, and although he finally managed to work his way to the better half of a drawn ending, he was never in any danger of winning.

His draw occurred a few seconds after Short's game also ended peacefully (or at least that's how the relay presented it). Short had to suffer patiently against Stephen Gordon, and his patience sufficed to split the point.

That left Jones and Hawkins with a chance to join the tie and a playoff, but neither could. Hawkins drew solidly with Black against Peter Wells, concluding an excellent tournament with a GM norm, a share of third and a nice payday, but no playoff. As for Jones's battle with Nicholas Pert, it was an epic. I wasn't even sure at all times who was trying to win and who to draw - maybe both were playing to win at those moments! Jones managed to win a pawn on move 128, but despite this very, very hard-earned achievement, it still wasn't enough to win. Pert played the ensuing queen and two (pawns) vs. queen and three ending well, and the players could finally collapse in exhaustion, having shared the point, after 144 moves.

So Hawkins and Jones split 3rd-4th with 8/11, and Adams and Short are tied for the top prize with 8.5 points apiece. Tomorrow (Saturday) they'll have a playoff after the prize-giving ceremonies. There will be two rapid games of 20' with 10" increments, followed, if necessary, by an Armageddon game. (Thanks to all the people who wrote in about that!)

Adams Leads British Championship with Two Rounds to Go

On Tuesday, round 8 featured the big showdown between the two greatest players in British history, and the result was...a draw. Nigel Short had White and a serious advantage both on the board and the clock for most of the game. It wasn't enough though, as Michael Adams held on grimly and saved the game.

That maintained the two-way tie at the top, but after today's round 9 (now yesterday's, for my readers across the pond) it is Adams alone in first. He defeated the ultra-prolific opening book author Richard Palliser (who will probably finish another book or ChessPublishing.com article by the time I finish this post) while Short only drew with Nicholas Pert.

With two rounds to go, Adams has 7.5/9, Short has 7, and then five players have 6.5: David Howell, Gawain Jones, Nicholas Pert, Peter Wells and Jonathan Hawkins.

Leading Round 10 Pairings:

• Pert (6.5) - Adams (7.5)
• Short (7) - Wells (6.5)
• Hawkins (6.5) - Howell (6.5)
• Summerscale (6) - Jones (6.5)

Tournament website here.