https://www.britishchesschampionships.co.uk/
http://chess-results.com/tnr661832.aspx
After many months of preparation the British Championships 2022 kicked off on Monday 8th August with Round 1 of the Junior Championships, Senior Championships Over 50, and the Weekday Congress, all starting at 2.30 pm on Monday afternoon. This is the 108th British Championships in an almost unbroken run since the first Championship took place in 1904, with the competition making a welcome return to the Riviera International Conference Centre (RICC) in Torquay.
The organising team, led by Chief Arbiter Adrian Elwin, had set up over 100 liveboards in the Arena at the RICC ready to relay the games from the championship events and the top boards of the weekday congresses via a live internet broadcast.
You can follow the games live via the BCC broadcast web page - https://tinyurl.com/yyrrck9a - with commentary on the main championships scheduled to start from Saturday 13th August, covering the nine rounds of the main Championship and Major Open (which will run from 13th to 21st August).
You can also see the pairings and results to date and standings for all tournaments at the link here: http://chess-results.com/tnr655607.aspx
Juniors
As ever there was a big turnout with over 180 of the UK’s top juniors taking part across the 5 sections of the Junior Championships - including U8s, U10s, U12s, U14s and U16s. The first four rounds of the juniors are now complete (as at the end of Wednesday). So far the games have gone mostly with seeding. In the Under 8s Scottish junior Supratit Banerjee leads the way with 4 points, followed closely by Ethan Pang on 3.5. George Zhao leads in the Under 10s with 4, followed by Harry Bryant and Luoke Wang on 3.5 each. Sanjit Kumar leads in the Under 12s, also on 4, followed by Emils Steiner and Kameron Grose, both on 3.5. In the Under 14s Kenneth Hobson, Luca Buanne, Stanley Badacsonyi and Caleb Caleshu are all on 3.5. Last but not least, in the Under 16s top seed Mohammed Aayan Ismail leads on 4 points, and is a clear point ahead of the field.
Here is Aayan’s Round 1 game - an English Opening where he controls the c file and develops what proves to be an irresistible attack.
(9348) Ismail, Mohammed Aayan (1919) - Sachdeva, Ronit [A11]
Chessable British Chess Championships, Riviera Centre, Torquay, 08.08.2022
1.c4 c6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4 e5 4.Nf3 d6 5.d4 Qc7 6.Be2 Be7 7.0–0 0–0 8.h3 Nbd7 9.Be3 Rd8 10.Qc2 Nf8 11.Rad1 Ng6 12.Ne1 a6 13.Nd3 b5 14.cxb5 cxb5 15.Rc1 Bb7 16.Qb3 Qc4 17.Qd1 Qe6 18.d5 Qd7 19.Qb3 Re8 20.Nb4 Rec8 21.Rc2 Qd8 22.a4 a5 23.Nc6 Â
23..Bxc6 24.dxc6 Rxc6 25.axb5 26.b6 Rab8 27.Ba6 Rc6 28.Nd5 Rxc2 29.Nxf6+ gxf6 30.Qxc2 Qd7 31.Qc7 Qd8 32.Rc1 Nf8 33.b7 Qxc7 34.Rxc7 d5 35.Ba7
1–0
Seniors 50+ Â
There has also been a big turnout for the two seniors championships with 44 players in this week’s 50+ and 62 scheduled to play in next week’s 65+.
Top seeds for the 50+ are Scottish GM Paul Motwani, CM Mark Josse and FM Chris Townsend. Paul Motwani leads the field after 3 rounds with a perfect 4 points, followed by Yorkshire player Paul Townsend, CM Rob Willmoth, Phil Crocker and Midlands player Bruce Baer all on 2.5 out of 3.
Here is GM Paul Motwani’s Round 3 win against Paul Dargan where Motwani deploys a 4. g3 line against the Sicilian Defense.
(9391) Motwani, Paul (2420) - Dargan, Paul (2056) [B20]
Chessable British Chess Championships, Riviera Centre, Torquay, Unit (10.08.2022)
1.e4 c5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Ne2 Bg7 5.0–0 d6 6.d3 e6 7.Nbc3 Rb8 8.a3 b5 9.Rb1 Nge7 10.b4 cxb4 11.axb4 a5 12.Na2 d5 13.Bd2 a4 14.exd5 exd5 15.Nac3 0–0 16.Nf4 d4 17.Ne4 Bb7 18.h4 Ne5 19.h5 h6 20.hxg6 fxg6 21.Ne6 Qd5 22.Nxf8 Kxf8 23.f4 Nf7 24.g4 Qd8 25.f5 gxf5 26.gxf5 Nd5 27.Nc5 Kg8 28.f6 Bxf6 29.Qh5
1–0