The British Championships at Torquay finished last night, and the prizegiving will be held this morning. At the time of going to press, it looked very much as if David Howell was going to reclaim the title he first won in 2009 when the event was last held at the Riviera Centre. With 2 rounds still to play, he stands on 8 points, one point clear of his nearest rival.
One local success was John Gorodi of Newton Abbot winning the British U-150 title. He is 87 and one evening he crashed his car on the way home, but discharged himself from hospital the following morning in order to play his penultimate game, and finished win/win to clinch the title.
Also, Giles Body of Lympstone won a difficult problem-solving competition.
The response to this 100th Championship has been tremendous; the previous record of 1,009 at Edinburgh in 2003, was totally smashed with 1,200 entries in all.
This bright game came from Rd. 7 of the Championship. Neil Carr had won the Game of the Day in the previous round, and then came up with this offering.
White: J. Reid (2151). Black: N. L. Carr (2290).
King’s Indian Defence [E90]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 0–0 6.Nf3 e5 7.d5 Nh5 8.Nh2 Qe8 9.Be2 Nf4 10.Bf3 Better is to continue developing with 10.0–0. 10…f5 11.g3 Nxh3 12.Bg2 fxe4 13.Nxe4 If 13.Bxh3 then Bxh3 prevents castling for a while. 13…Bf5 14.Ng4 h5 15.Nh6+ Bxh6 16.Bxh6 rather than move his rook with 16…Rf7 he plays 16…Bxe4 hitting both f2 and the bishop on g2 17.f3 Black is not backing down. 17…Bxf3 18.Bxf3 e4 19.Bg2 Now the threat that has been veiled for several moves can be played. 19…Nf2 forking queen and rook. 20.Qd4 A counter-threat of mate on g7. 20…Nd3+ preventing castling. 21.Kd2 Rf2+ 22.Ke3 Qf7 both covering the mate on g2 and adding to the pressure down the f-file – attack and defence in one move. 23.Raf1 Nd7 24.Bxe4 If 24.Rxf2?? Qxf2+. 24…N7c5 25.b4 Re8 with a threat of mate that White doesn’t spot. 26.bxc5?? Qf3# the bishop is pinned. 0–1
Last week’s problem was solved by 1.Nc6+ Ka6 2.Qa5 mate.
One of the special events at the British Championships is a problem-solving competition, where 10 positions are posted in shop windows around the town. They are relatively easy and meant to be solvable by everyone.
This is one of the ten. White is a pawn down, but can win if he plays the right move. What is that?
White to play and win.