The East Devon Congress finished on Sunday with the following among the prizewinners. Open Section: 1st R. de Coverly (Bourne End). 2nd= D. Mackle (Newton Abbot) & P. Helbig (Bristol). Grading prize (U-179) M. V. Abbott (Exmouth). (U-162) G. Jepps (Frome). Major: 1st= C. Sellwood (Camborne) & J. Nielsen (Wimborne). Grading prizes: (U-140) D. Jenkins (Camborne) & C. Strong (Cardiff). (U-136) P. Brackner (Wimborne).
Minor: 1st G. Mill-Wilson (Yate). 2nd= N. Tidy (Teignmouth), P. Errington (Bournemouth) & R. Fursman. Grading prizes: (U-113) R. Hood (Exeter). (U-101) P. Carrick (Norton Radstock).
In the fifth and final round, de Coverly led by half a point, and local player, Steve Homer, needed to win to deny him 1st place. At first, things seemed to be going well for him, until Black’s queenside pawns started to march forward.
White: S. Homer (183). Black: R. de Coverly (184)
Ruy Lopez – Anti-Marshall Var. [C90]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.d3 d6 9.c3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.Nbd2 Re8 12.d4 Bf8 13.d5 g6 14.Nf1 Bg7 15.a4 inviting an exchange of pawns, but Black sidesteps the offer and the a-pawn later becomes vulnerable. 15…b4 16.Ne3 Rf8 17.Nd2 Ne8 18.cxb4 cxb4 19.Nec4 f5 20.Nxa5 Qxa5 21.Nb3 Qc7 22.Bd2 a5 23.Rc1 Qf7 24.Be3 Nf6 25.f3 fxe4 26.Bxe4 Bd7 27.Rc7 Qe8 28.Qd3 Nxe4 29.fxe4 Bxa4 Black wins the a-pawn which proves critical. 30.Rec1 Bb5 31.Qc2 Now the a-pawn is ready to advance. 31…a4 32.Nd2 a3 33.bxa3 bxa3 34.Bg5 a2 From now on, all White’s energies will be devoted to blocking the a-pawn, abandoning all thought of attack. 35.Ra1 Qb8 36.Kh1 Ba4 37.Qc3 Qb1+ 38.Qc1 If 38.Nxb1?? Rf1# 38…Qxc1+ 39.Rcxc1 Rfc8 40.Nf3 Bc2 41.Re1 Bb1 42.Nd2 Bd3 43.h3 h6 44.Be3 g5 45.Kh2 Bf6 46.Kg3 Bd8 47.Kg4 Kg7 48.h4 gxh4 49.Nf3 Rc2 50.Nd2 Ba5 White’s defences are rapidly unravelling. 51.Nf3 Rxg2+ 52.Kxh4 Bxe1+ 53.Nxe1 Re2 54.Nxd3 Rxe3 0–1 White must lose even more material.
Photographs of the prizewinners and other results may be found on keverelchess.com.
In last week’s position, Woodruff simply played 1.RxN and his own exposed queen cannot be taken because of 2.Re8 mate.
What part can the pawn play in mating Black in just two moves?
White to mate in 2