With one round to go in the British Championship, matters were delicately poised. Jonathan Hawkins (31) of Consett, Co. Durham, had sailed into an early lead with 5 straight wins, and was still in the clear lead by half a point going in to the penultimate round. There, however, he had to play the ever dangerous Mark Hebden who was also keen to get his hands on the trophy, but the game was drawn. This left David Howell, playing fellow GM Nicholas Pert, though with Howell having the Black pieces. Howell pressed for the win, but Pert held firm and that game was also drawn, keeping Hawkins in a half point lead over Howell and Hebden going into the final round.
In that last round, Hawkins settled for a quick draw, taking him to 8½/11 points and guaranteeing him at least a share of the title. Howell, meanwhile, beat Hebden, to take him level with Hawkins and sharing the prize he won outright at Torquay last year.
Howell then departed immediately to join the rest of the England team for the forthcoming Olympiad in Tromsø, Norway. The team comprises, Michael Adams, Howell, Gawain Jones, Nigel Short and Peter Wells.
One game that caught the eye was between two Devon residents in Round 4 of the British Championship. Arkell is renowned for his endgame skills but here doesn’t get chance to exercise that particular mastery. Notes based on those kindly supplied by the winner.
White: Jack Rudd (2278). Black: Keith Arkell (2433).
Keres Defence.
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+ 3.Nc3 c5 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 Ne7 6.e3 d6 7.Bd3 Nbc6 8.f4 f5 9.Nf3 0–0 10.h3 b6 11.g4 Na5 A 2nd move by the same piece while 3 others remain untouched is too slow. Black underestimates how quickly White’s attack develops. 12.Rg1 Qe8 13.Ra2! Freeing up the other rook right across the 2nd rank. 13…Ba6 14.Rag2 g6 15.Ng5 Bxc4 16.Bxc4 Nxc4 17.Qe2 b5 18.h4 Rf6 19.h5 cxd4 20.hxg6 Rxg6 21.gxf5 exf5 22.Qh5 Rg7 23.Qh1 Qc6 24.Ne6 Rxg2 25.Rxg2+ Kf7 26.Nxd4 Qd5 27.Qxh7+ Ke8 28.Rg7 Qe4 Black’s queen is overloaded here, trying to do the impossible – to defend effectively both f5 and e7 simultaneously. 29.Nxf5 Qxf5 30.Rxe7+ Ending all Black’s resistance. 30…Kd8 31.Qxf5 1–0
In last week’s position, Black played 1…RxN 2.RxR e5! attacking both queen and rook.
This position arose in one of the earlier rounds of the British Championship. White is a grandmaster known for his attacking skills. Black has just played b4 attacking the bishop. How should White respond?
White to play