Martin Simons, Ian Clark & Alan Dommett Ian Clark announces the chess board prize
Martin presents to Michael Adams & to British Women’s title winner Jovanka Houska
Every day of the British Championships Martin produced reports of how local players had fared plus analysis of some of the games. This attracted much interest, especially the games analysis, so it has all been retained below to bring back memories of a great tournament and a chance to revisit key moments in certain games – with, of course, expert analysis. At the foot of this page Martin has carried out an analysis of final performances.
Report 7th 2016 August on the final day (Day 12) & the Closing Ceremony
Closing Ceremony This was held yesterday morning at 9.30am.
Kevin Staveley (Congress Manager) was very complimentary on how the Championships went from an organisers’ perspective and GM Michael Adams spoke very highly of the event and the playing conditions at the Pavilion. He also enjoyed his seaside walks and the live bands by Bournemouth pier!
On behalf of the Bournemouth & District Chess League and Dorset County Chess Association, I thanked the Control Team especially Kevin Staveley, the local chess fraternity (in particular Ian Clark and Alan Dommett for all their hard work and support in helping to bring these Championships to Bournemouth), BH Live & the Pavilion staff and finally, to everyone who came along to make this a very successful British Championships.
Ian Clark presented a chess board prize for the Best Dorset player in the Championships which was won by FM Mike Waddington for a great tournament performance of 2250. Ian also explained the background behind the chess board which was made by the inmates at Verne prison.
Prizes were handed out to all winners.
Number of Entrants A lot of you have been asking me this question and how Bournemouth fared. Did it break the record number of entries? Well, it was all close, very close!
In terms of numbers, we came 1st and 3rd in the last 26 years! By looking at all the individual events under the Pairing & Results tab I had calculated Bournemouth had 1,206 entrants which would have been a record entry, but, unfortunately, the ECF then make deductions for players who pay to enter but don’t turn up and also for those players it classifies as ‘fillers’ who only play one or two rounds to even up numbers.
So the final results, as calculated by the ECF, are: On the total number of entrants (i.e. including multiple entries):
1st – 1,192 entrants – 2015 Warwick University
2nd – 1,188 entrants – 2013 Torquay
3rd – 1,187 entrants – 2016 Bournemouth (we missed out by just 5)
On the total number of individual entrants (i.e. excluding multiple entries):
1st – 835 entrants – 2016 Bournemouth (we stormed this one)
2nd – 794 entrants – 2013 Torquay
3rd – 784 entrants – 2015 Warwick University
In summary, this is a great result for us and demonstrates the attraction of Bournemouth to chess players. As the Championships will now move to a new 10 day format which is 5 days less than the current fomat it would make sense to measure the true success of future Championships by the number of individual entrants as the possibility of many multiple entries will be less likely. Therefore Bournemouth’s 835 is the new target to beat.
Overall, we can safely conclude that Bournemouth has now been placed firmly on the UK chess map.
In the Championship – 11th Round
GM Michael Adams (2727) demonstrated why he is a class act by despatching Martin Brown (2252) as Black so effortlessly in 28 moves. I am sure we all ask ourselves why are his moves so simple yet the rest of us cannot seem to play them? He makes chess look so easy. He is a very worthy British Chess Championship. He also achieved a joint record score of 10pts out of 11 which was initially set by his good friend Julian Hodgson in 1992 when the Championships were last held in Plymouth.
There was no win for Team Dorset in the last round but there were three draws.
FM Mike Waddington (2018) stopped his wheels falling off completely with a good draw against Koby Kalavannan (2131). Due to his impressive performance in the first week he was awarded the prize as the best Dorset Player in the Championship section. He also achieved the highest rating performance amongst Team Dorset throughout the tournament.
Oliver Gill (2102) had a quick 9 move draw as Black with Jonathan Nelson (2207). Olli has also had an excellent tournament.
Martin Simons (2018) lost with another Blackmar-Diemer Gambit against David Coleman (2181). I do enjoy these openings but I am not sure if they are much good for my chess health (and rating).
Allan Pleasants (2038) lost to Richard Britton (2188) after he missed an opportunity to hold.
Ian Clark (1963) had an excellent draw with FM Akshaya Kalaiyalahan (2288) and his best two results came in the last two rounds. I am sure he would have wanted the tournament to continue as he was just warming up.
Final standings after 11 rounds (86 players): =36 Oliver Gill 5.5pts (Tournament performance FIDE 2245)
=49 FM Mike Waddington 5pts (Tournament performance FIDE 2250)
=68 Martin Simons 4pts (Tournament performance FIDE 2061) & Allan Pleasants 4pts (Tournament performance FIDE 2000) & Ian Clark 4pts (Tournament performance FIDE 1992)
So, overall, despite some disappointing results in the second week, most of the Team Dorset players had an improved performance to their current rating.
There is only one game to finish with in these Championships and that is the British Champion’s cruise control final round win.
Martin Brown (2252) v GM Michael Adams (2727)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Nb6 9. Nc3 Qe6 10. Qe4 g6 11. Bd3 Bg7 12. f4 O-O 13. O-O f5
14. exf6? Although this move has been played before (with success), it does give Back too much easy play and White’s pieces soon become targets.
14… Qxf6 15. Bd2? In view of Black’s next move this looks like a mistake.
15… d5! 16. Qe2 Black is already well on top. If 16. cxd5 then 16… Bf5 wins the Bishop on d3 and 17. Qe3 allows 17… Rae8 whilst 17. Qf3 allows 17… Qd4+
Michael now increases the pressure and his pieces simply flow majestically into the heart of White’s position. Compare the above position to the final position some 12 moves later.
16… Ba6 17. Rae1 Again 17.cxd5 allows 17… Qd4+ winning the White Bishop on d3. If 17. b3 then the simple 17…. Rae8 is winning. 17… Bxc4 18. Bxc4 Nxc4 19. Bc1 a5
20. Qc2?! 20.Qe6+ to trade Queens would have lasted longer but White now embarks on a faulty plan.
20… Rae8 21. Qa4? Abandon ship! Michael now ends the game in a clinical manner.
21… Qd4+ 22. Kh1 Rxe1
23. Rxe1
23… Qf2 24. Rg1 Bd4 25. Rd1 Re8 26. h3 An escape square is needed but it is now mate in a few moves.
26… Re1+ 27. Kh2 Qg1+ 28. Kg3 Ne3 0-1
A fitting end to these Championships!
In the Major Open – 11th Round,
Some great performances in the Major Open. IM Zaro Alfonso Llorente (2461) won again but despite finishing on a massive 10pts out of 11, he came 2nd! I am not sure this has ever happened before. This is because the winner, Brandon Clarke (2192), scored 10.5pts out of 11. I understand that he shouldn’t have done so as local player, James Forster (1841), may have missed a winning opportunity against him.
FM Daniel Gomez (2238) drew. Final standings after 11 rounds (36 players): 2 Zaro Alfonso Llorente 10pts (2pts clear of 3rd place!) =4 FM Daniel Gomez 6.5pts =16 James Forster 5.5pts
In the Week 2 PM
Kenny Harman (Ringwood) drew to finish equal 5th place on 3.5pts out of 5 whilst Richard Perrin (Ringwood) had a good win to finish on 3pts in equal 11th.
In the Over 50s Kevin Goater (Dorchester) drew and finished on an excellent 5pts out of 7 in 2nd place. Martin Clancy (Ringwood) won and finished on 3pts in equal 15th place.
In the Over 65s U150
Jørgen Holmstrøm Nielsen (Wimborne) unfortunately lost and finished on 3pts out of 5 in equal 4th place. Alan Tyler (Wimborne) also lost and finished on 2.5pts in equal 14th place. Paul Errington (Bournemouth) had a good win to also finish in equal 14th place with 2.5pts.
In the Under 160s
Steve Pollyn (Wimborne) had an excellent win in his final round match to finish undefeated on 3.5pts out 5 and came equal 3rd.
In the Under 120s David Burt (Bournemouth) drew to finiosh on 3.5pts from 5 in equal 12th. Frank Hamilton-Taylor (Southbourne) and Seth Rider (Poole) unfortunately lost and finished on 2pts in equal 25th. Stephen Bailey (Poole) lost and finished on 1pt in equal 38th.
In the Under 11s Sam Millar (Bethany) unfortunately lost his 7th and final game and finished on 1pt in equal 34th place.
Well played all players.
I hope I have covered everyone and you have enjoyed these daily reports. The Pavilion has been our second home for the past fortnight and it will feel very strange now that it is all over. A final bulletin will be produced next weekend to wrap everything up and will cover all the individual scores by local players. If you have a question or anything you would like me to mention or if you have a great game, then please email me. Thank you for all your much appreciated support.
Best wishes Martin
