Westcountry qualifiers finished as follows: Allan Pleasants (Weymouth) 5½; Jeremy Menadue (Truro) and Martin Simons (Southbourne) both on 5; Jack Rudd (Bideford) started brilliantly but had 5 losses from his last 6 games to finish on 4½; Theo Slade (Marhamchurch) 4; Alan Brusey (Teignmouth) 3½ and John Fraser (Newton Abbot) on 3.
The Rd. 3 game between Chris Ward and Mark Hebden, that I gave two weeks ago, was eventually awarded the tournament’s Best Game prize.
Attention now turns to the 41st Olympiad currently being played in Norway. With over 2,000 players from 177 countries it’s one of the world’s largest sporting events. In Rd. 1 England were paired against Wales with this game featuring on Bd. 1.
White: Gawain Jones (2665 – Eng). Black: Richard Jones (2414).
Petroff Defence [C43]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 The Steinitz Attack. Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Nd7 6.Nxd7 Bxd7 7.Nc3 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Bd6 9.Qh5 Qe7+ 10.Be3 Be6 Instead of castling, which seems the natural move, White goes in for a combination likely to involve exchanges. 11.Bg5 Bg4+ 12.Bxe7 Bxh5 13.Bxd6 cxd6 The resulting weakened doubled pawns will have a bearing on the outcome. 14.Rb1 0–0–0 15.Rb5 f6 16.Rxd5 Bf7 17.Ra5 Kb8 18.Kd2 There seems little point in castling now as White wants to bring his other rook into play, and the White king is effective and quite safe on d2. 18…Rc8 19.Rb1 Rhe8 20.Rab5 Re7 There now follows some gradual manoeuvring as White consolidates his pawn advantage. 21.a4 h6 22.a5 Be8 23.R5b4 Bf7 24.f3 Rcc7 25.c4 Bg8 26.R1b3 Bf7 27.Rc3 Kc8 28.Rb5 Kd8 29.h4 Kc8 30.g4 Kd8 31.g5 fxg5 32.hxg5 hxg5 33.Rxg5 Bg8 34.c5 dxc5 35.Rcxc5 b6 36.axb6 axb6 37.Rb5 The manoeuvrability of the white rooks settles matters. 37…Rc6 38.Rbf5 Threatening 39.Rf8+ Re8 40.RxR+ KxR 41.Rxg7 leaving White 2 passed pawns up. 38…Kc7 39.Rf8 Be6 40.Ra8 Bd7 41.Rg8 Rd6 42.c3 1-0 The g-pawn must fall and with it the game. Wins from Short, Howell and Sadler made it 4–0.
In last week’s game from this year’s British Championship, White finished with a double rook sacrifice, thus: 1.RxP+! KxR 2.Rh2+ Bh6 3.RxB+ KxB 4.Qh2+ Kg7 5.Bxe5 mate.
In this position from a recent rapidplay game, White is thinking about 1.RxB RxR 2.Qxe5+ winning the rook back, but it’s not his move. What can Black do about it?
Black to play and win