Prophylaxis, killing opponents’ play, and grumbles about money in the English championships
Firstly, a rare grumble. In the hot and sunny weather of mid-June I travelled down to Kenilworth’s Holiday Inn hotel to compete in the English championships. This wasn't the first time I had played - I had also played in the same tournament last year, where I failed to win a prize. This time I tied for third with 5/7, but there were so many players on this score that I won barely anything. Having spent £157 on the train ticket, I got back £90 in prize money, which wasn't even enough to cover my travel. Add in the expense of food, and you start to look at a big loss. Sure, instead of eating in the hotel bar every night I could have saved on money by purchasing a dull and stale sandwich or salad from the local supermarket, eaten in my room no doubt. But part of the appeal of playing chess for a living is the good life.
Good life no more, because I can no longer afford these shuddering losses in expenses and am wondering if I should bother to continue with this life as a chess professional. Certainly, these sorts of tournaments where I end up with a big loss are becoming increasingly less attractive. This is the issue with being a chess player, I guess. Unless you are at the very top then you can hope to break even at best. But in what other profession do you actually make a loss when you compete?
Part of the problem lies in the limited prize fund. The tournament was only seven rounds, and the cost of paying for grandmasters and other titled players to stay in the hotel meant there were only four main prizes, and the tournament was tightly packed into only four days. You could point to the German Championship in contrast, where the first prize is a staggering 30,000 euros.
Of course, in England we already have the British Championships, which to all intents and purposes these days is a glorified English Championship as very few of the higher-ranked Scottish players compete, and long gone are the days when an Indian delegation would come over to play. From speaking to some of the other players in Kenilworth, the conditions at the British Championships this year are much improved, so that's a positive sign. And some of the international masters also got their hotel costs covered in the English Championships as well, also a progressive step. In order to improve the prizes in the English Championships and in home grown tournaments the ECF could appoint a sponsorship and corporate officer, because quite frankly the prizes just aren't good enough. If you arrive at a situation where the 2300–2500 rated players can't afford to play as there is no upside, then I would venture to suggest that these events will lose a lot of their lustre. I understand it is not easy - most companies in the current climate are tightening their coffers, not loosening them. Even the mighty juggernaut Chess.com just had to release some staff, as the momentum from the pandemic has not been built on and chess has been losing players.
Let’s move away from this embittered rant and look at the chess itself. In round 1 I won, in round 2 I took a bye so I could see England play a dreadful match against Denmark, and then in round 3 I faced a younger player in Thomas Carroll.
Gormally, Daniel W - Carroll, Thomas
Round 3: Gormally, Daniel W - Carroll, lichess.org, 21.06.2024
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.Bg5
I have played this line against the Chebanenko Slav on many occasions, but with mixed success. Probably I need to come up with an alternative after this game, as the opening didn't exactly go to plan.
5...Ne4 5...dxc4 is an alternative for Black: 6.a4 h6! 7.Bf4 Nd5 8.Bg3 b5 with rather messy play.
6.Bf4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 dxc4 8.g3 8.e4 is equally popular. I once lost a game against Krishna in 2017 from this position, but that was partly down to making a very bad mistake quite early on, and generally being out of form in that tournament. Not to say that Krishna didn't deserve his win in that game, because he played excellently once I went wrong. 8...b5 9.a4 Bb7 10.Qb1 e6?! 11.Bxc4 Nd7 12.Bd3 Be7 13.0–0 0–0 14.c4 b4 was that game, and now 15.c5!+– would have given White a huge advantage.
8...b5 9.Bg2 Nd7 10.0–0 Bb7 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.Bxe5 Black has played a good system, and the game is level. Black's extra pawn is counterbalanced by White's lead in development and more active position.
12...e6 13.e4?! Maybe a morning game move. Or perhaps also a rust move, or maybe I'm just not very good. Take your pick.
13.a4 f6 14.Bf4 Be7 15.e4 0–0 16.h4 would have been unclear.
13...f6 14.Bf4
14...Ba3! I had underestimated this developing and prophylactic device, as one of White's main ideas with a4 is prevented. I now felt very uncomfortable, as it wasn't clear at all to me what plan White actually had. How I regretted not playing a4, as at least the rook on a1 could have breathed in that scenario, and there was also the threat of ...Bb2 to now deal with as well.
I was hoping for 14...Be7 15.Qg4! which looked great for White, if hardly completely conclusive, as the black king can go to f7. If 15...Kf7, 16.a4 with decent pressure for White.
15.Qh5+ g6 16.Qh6 From a human perspective this is entirely logical, as you prevent Black from castling.
But my Fritz 19 prefers 16.Qf3!, which makes me wonder if we overestimate the power of castling. You are only moving your king to another part of the board, after all. If 16...Qe7, 17.h4 0–0 18.e5! fxe5?! 19.dxe5 with decent play.
16...Qe7 16...Bf8 17.Qh3 Bc8? 18.e5! should be avoided by Black.
17.e5 f5 18.Bg5 Qf8 19.Qh4 White must not allow the queen trade.
19...h6 20.Bf6
20...Be7? My opponent played this quite quickly, but I feel this was a serious mistake, letting me back in the game. Just when he has contained my play he fails to act prophylactically enough and lets me back in it.
I was very concerned about 20...Rh7!, which seemed to be more about killing my play than anything else, but would have been very effective nonetheless. One idea could be to play Rh7–f7xf6 giving up the exchange to remove any tactical danger, and then just castle queenside. White is struggling to come up with ideas. Another idea that the engine indicates is to play the king to d7, where it is perfectly safe. If 21.Rab1 to prevent Bb2, 21...Rf7 22.Rfe1 Kd7 and Black seems better.
21.a4 I was very relieved to be able to play this.
21...Bxf6 22.exf6 g5?! 22...0–0–0 would have been very bold, and was a tough move to play, practically speaking. 23.Rfe1 g5 24.Qh5 Qxf6 25.Re5 just leads to a very sharp position, but I'd probably rather play White, as my king is safer.
23.Qh5+ Qf7 24.Qe2 0–0 The issue is that despite the presence of the queen on f7, the black king is rather draughty on the kingside, and White has very easy play with pressure down the e-file.
25.Rfe1 Rae8 26.axb5 cxb5 27.Bxb7 Qxb7 28.Qh5! Kh7 29.Re5 Qc6?
A big mistake, and now White has a chance to win.
29...g4 30.Rxe6 Rxe6 31.Qxf5+ Kh8 32.Qxe6 Qf3 33.f7 was also not great for Black.
30.Rc5? I think this is an indication of why my chess has gone downhill in the last few years - my calculation is not as crisp and incisive as it once was. Old age is setting in. My thought process before this move was ‘I'll play Rc5, there's some Rxa6 stuff in the air. If he goes back to b7 then I'll either take on a6 or I'll go back to e5, repeat, and see if I can come up with something better than Rc5 later.’ All this shows is that I’m not confident in my ability to nail the win down straight away. I was also feeling hungry at this point, despite only eating breakfast a couple of hours earlier. A common issue for me, and perhaps an indication of pre-diabetes. When you're hungry you get distracted, and it is hard to focus on one position. You want to move on quickly.
I didn't even consider the possibility of 30.f7! which was winning at once. 30...Re7 31.d5 Qd6 32.Rae1 chokes the oxygen out of Black; as an alternative to what I played I only looked at 30.d5!, which admittedly was also very strong, and should have been preferred to the move played in the game. If 30...exd5? (30...Qd7 31.Rxa6 Rxf6 32.Qd1! is fairly snazzy.) 31.Re7++–.
30...Qb7! 30...Qd6? 31.Rxa6 is what I was hoping for, and fairly obviously winning easily for White. If 31...Qxa6 32.Rc7++–
31.Rxa6! Ra8 32.Rac6? Ra1+ 33.Kg2
33...Rxf6?? I had seen 33...Ra6! 34.d5 Rxc6 earlier in my calculations, and was ‘hoping’ that there was some way of recapturing that would turn out well for White. There isn't. If 35.Rxc6 (35.dxc6 Qb6!) 35...Qd7=.
34.d5! But now it is winning fairly trivially, as all the tactics work out for White.
34...Ra7 A miserable square to have to put the rook.
35.Qe2+– f4 36.Qe4+ Kg7 37.Qe5 f3+ 38.Kh3 Kg6 39.Rc7 Qa6 40.R5c6 Qa1 41.Qe4+ Kh5 42.g4# 1–0
Catabay, Mae Katelyn Rose - Varney, Zoe
Round 5: Catabay, Mae Katelyn Rose - Va lichess.org, 22.06.2024
The Women’s Championship came down to a play-off, just as the Open did. Over seven rounds it is difficult to get any separation over the rest of the field. It will be interesting to see if the nine rounds of the British Championship see any different outcome, but I can imagine the main event going to another nervy tie-break. I'm not sure, however, if I agreed with the decision to have a separate Women’s Championship. I understand the desire to do so, to create an exciting event for the women. But it felt strange playing in a hall with almost no women players, other than Ana Williams. One thing you could say, however, is that Kenilworth is a fantastic place for a chess tournament. The town is lovely, and the hotel is excellent. It would be difficult to think of a better venue.
1.e4 e5 2.f4 The Kings Gambit. I once played this in Hastings, but it was more for the shock value than anything else. It obviously contains a great deal of poison, but also a great deal of risk.
2...exf4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e5 Nh5 5.Be2 d6 6.exd6?! This makes life too easy for Black.
6.0–0 dxe5 7.Nxe5, when you won't lose a piece to Qd4xe5 as h5 will be hanging at the end.
6...Bxd6 7.0–0 0–0 8.d4 Nf6 9.Bd3 c5 10.c3 Nc6 Zoe is particularly well prepared, and not for nothing does she have a record as one of the most active players on Chessable. As usual she has achieved an excellent position from the opening. But that's not her problem; her issue is converting. She had a number of good positions in the championship that she probably should have won.
11.d5 Ne7 12.c4 Nf5 13.Nc3 Ng4 14.Re1 Nge3 15.Bxe3 Nxe3 16.Qd2 f5 17.Nd1 Ng4 18.h3 Nf6 19.Nc3 Nh5 20.Nb5 Bb8 21.Qf2 a6 22.Nc3 Qf6 23.Rad1 Bd7 24.Bc2
24...b5?? Up to now Zoe has done everything correctly, but now she goes badly astray.
All players, including myself, need to work on their prophylaxis and their ability to limit their opponents’ ideas, and to that end 24...Bd6!–+ would have been a fairly depressing move for White to see on the board. There's your play gone! In my opinion Zoe would become an even stronger player (she's already fairly strong, and has improved a lot over the last few years) if she struck a greater balance to her play. What I mean by that is that there are some scenarios where she plays aggressively when it is not warranted, and timidly when she needs to play with aggression. Once she becomes better at striking the balance, she'll become even more of a force to be reckoned with.
25.d6! Necessary and strong. Now the threat of Nd5 becomes incredibly awkward to deal with.
25...Kh8 25...Bxd6 26.Qd2 is possibly what Zoe overlooked, when Black loses material.
26.Ne5 Be6 27.Qf3 g6 28.Qxa8 Bxd6 29.Qc6 Bxe5 30.Qxc5 Bxc3
31.bxc3? Too casual; I think both players were beginning to get short of time.
31.Rxe6! was a fairly easy tactic for this level and would have forced immediate resignation. When you have a chance to nail down the win you should take it! One can only speculate that Mae overlooked this idea completely.
31...Bxc4 32.Bb3 Bg8 33.Qe5 Qxe5 34.Rxe5 Rc8 35.Re7 Nf6 36.Rd6 Ne4 37.Rxa6 Nxc3 38.Raa7 Ne4 39.Rac7 Rd8 40.Red7 Rxd7 41.Rxd7 Bxb3 42.axb3 Nc5 43.Rd8+ Kg7 44.b4 Na6 45.Rd4 Kf7 46.Rxf4 Ke6 47.Rh4 h5 48.Kf2 Ke5 49.Ke3 Nc7 50.Kd3 Nd5
51.Rd4?? White had already messed up the win; and this is the issue when you violate Caissa's parameters: chess comes back to punish you.
51.g3! f4 52.g4! (52.gxf4+? Nxf4+ 53.Kd2 g5–+) 52...Nf6 53.gxh5 g5 54.Rg4 was a study-like draw. Hard to find in time trouble!
51...Nf4+–+ 52.Ke3 Nxg2+ 53.Kd3 Nf4+ 54.Ke3 Nd5+ 55.Kd3 g5 0–1