The Masters’ Section of the Hastings Congress, which finished on Tuesday, consisted of an eclectic mix of 76 players, including strong contingents from Eastern Europe and India. After the 9th and final round, two players tied on 7 points, J. Vakhidov (Uzbekistan) and A. Mista (Poland), with a raft of 5 players a half point behind, namely I. Khenkin (Germany); F. Berkes (Hungary); T. Fodor (Hungary); S. Sulskis (Lithuania) and J, Sarkar (USA).
Keith Arkell started well, but fell away in rounds 6-8, before finishing with a win which lifted him up to 5½ pts and 13th=. As he was the 6th highest graded player, this was a slightly below par performance compared to some of his successes of recent months. Jack Rudd’s last round loss left him on 5.
However, his play is never less than entertaining, and here is his Rd. 2 win against a 14 year old Sussex junior.
White: J. Rudd (216). Black: C. Brewer (188).
Bogo-Indian Defence [E11]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 a5 5.Nc3 b6 6.e3 Bb7 7.Bd3 d6 8.Qc2 Nbd7 White commits to castling queenside, even though it looks as if Black could launch an early attack. 9.0–0–0 Qe7 10.e4 0–0–0 11.Rhe1 Bxc3 12.Bxc3 e5 13.d5 Nc5 14.Bf1 g6 15.b3 completing a protective shield around his king, which Black quickly attacks. 15…Kd7 With the aim of swinging his rooks over to attack. 16.a3 a4 17.b4 Nb3+ 18.Kb2 Ra8 19.c5 bxc5 20.Bb5+ Kd8 21.bxc5 Nxc5 22.Nxe5! Now it’s White’s turn to attack. 22…dxe5 23.Bb4 Nfd7 24.Bxd7 Qxd7 25.Qxc5 White has opened lines to the king’s position. 25…Ra6 26.f4 Re8 27.Ba5 Kc8 28.Rc1 Rxa5 The least worst option. 29.Qxa5 exf4 30.Rc4 Re7 31.Rec1 Qd6 32.Qxa4 g5 33.Qa7 f3 34.gxf3 Qxh2+ 35.R1c2 Qe5+ 36.Ka2 Qd6 37.Rb4 Ba6 38.Rb6! 1-0 Already a minor piece down, Black must not only lose more material, but White has, with best play, a mating combination. E.g. 38.Rb6 Kd7 39.Rxd6+ Kxd6 40.Qc5+ etc.
The 41st East Devon Congress in Exeter is now less than 8 weeks away and takes place Fri. 4th – 6th March. Entry forms are downloadable from exeterchessclub.org.uk and the new Entry Secretary is Dr. T. Paulden, contactable on timpaulden@gmail.com.
This is followed 3 weeks later by the West of England Congress in Exmouth over the Easter weekend. Entry forms are downloadable from chessdevon.co.uk.
The solution to last week’s 3-mover was 1.Bg2! to which Black has a number of ineffective replies. For example, 1…Rxb2 2.d7 Kxc7 3.d8=Q mate; or 1…Ra4 2.Rb7+ Ka8 (if 2…Kc8 Pd7 mate) 3.Rb4 mate.
In tournaments where the players are not allowed to agree a draw verbally, they can sometimes achieve the draw by generating by a threefold repetition of moves. This is especially useful where one player is materially down, as in this 1958 game between Geller and Gurgenidze. White is the exchange down yet managed to force a draw by repetition. How did he do it?
White to play and draw by repetition.