The World Team Seniors Tournament finished on Tuesday on the island of Crete. It was held in two age groups; 50+ and 65+. There were 22 teams in the “junior” section, the top seed being England just ahead of St. Petersburg. The England 1 team’s pool of 5 players consisted of John Nunn, Jon Speelman, Keith Arkell, Terry Chapman and, it was said beforehand, Malcolm Pein. But this was only to disguise the fact that Nigel Short had agreed to play, and it was meant to be a surprise for the opposition.
In spite of all this, it was the Russians that finished in 1st place, having won all their 9 matches, while Armenia pushed England down to 3rd. England II came 10th with England III 20th.
England 1 lost their match vs St. Petersburg, though Speelman won his game.
White: Jon Speelman (2511). Black: S Ionov. (2535)
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 losing a tempo. 6.Bg2 0–0 7.0–0 c6 8.Qc2 b6 9.Bf4 Ba6 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.Rc1 seizing control of the c-file. 11…Nbd7 12.Nc3 Nh5 13.Qa4 Nxf4 14.Qxa6 Nxg2 15.Kxg2 Qc8 16.Qxc8 Rfxc8 White clearly believes in keeping things simple. 17.Nb5 Bf8 18.Nc7 Rab8 19.a4 Nc5? Black has miscalculated the permutations in this little skirmish. 20.dxc5 Rxc7 21.cxb6! Rxc1 22.bxa7 Suddenly White has a 3–0 pawn majority on the q-side. 22…Ra8 23.Rxc1 Rxa7 24.b3 g6 25.Nd4 White’s 2 extra pawns should be enough to win, but help from the knight may be needed. 25…Kg7 26.Nc6 Rb7 27.b4 1-0 Black cannot take the pawn because if 27…Bxb4? 28.Rb1 wins a piece.
England 1’s match against England II had two former British champions facing off.
White: Nigel Short (2683). Black: James Plaskett. (2458)
English Opening – Sicilian Variation.
1.c4 e5 2.e3 g6 3.d4 d6 4.Nc3 Nd7 5.g3 Bg7 6.Bg2 Ne7 7.Nge2 0–0 8.a4 f5 9.a5 a6 10.b3 g5 This is what is called in the trade as a “pawn storm”, but what Black’s king might call a dereliction of defensive duties. 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Ba3 c6 13.g4 f4 14.Be4 f3 15.Ng3 Black’s advanced pawns have achieved nothing, while his defences now leak like a colander. 15…Qxa5 16.0–0 c5 If 16…Qxc3? 17.Bxe7 wins Black’s g-pawn. 17.Bb2 Qb6 18.Bxf3 Nf6 19.Nce4 Ng6 20.Nxg5 Rd8 21.Qc2 Bxg4 22.Bxg4 Nxg4 23.h3 Nh6 24.Nh5 giving an extraordinary combination of knights on the wing. 24…Bh8 25.f4 Qc6 26.f5 Nf8 27.Rf2 Nf7 28.Ne4 Nd7 29.f6 Nf8 30.Kh2 Ng6 31.Rg1 Kf8 32.Rfg2 Ke8 33.Bc3 Kd7 34.Nhg3 Kc7 35.Rf2 Rd7 36.Qe2 Rg8 It’s a little late for this rook to be coming to the aid of the Party – the party’s almost over. 37.Qh5 h6 38.Rd2 Rxd2+ 39.Bxd2 b6 40.Bc3 Qe6 41.Nf5 Ng5 42.Nxh6 The rook must move away, leaving both knights undefended. 1–0
Last week’s 2-mover (above) by Dave Howard, was solved by Bh4! after which the queen can mate either on a5 or e2.
Here is another new and relatively easy 2-mover by him.
White to play & mate in 2