Hampshire Congress 2004 Round 2

Hampshire Chess Association

Founded 1890

Hampshire Congress 2004 Round Two

With only 20 players in the tournament, the 2nd round already saw some of the higher graded players clashing, notably Gavin Lock and Tony Corkett. This was a hard fought draw with Gavin defending a pawn down ending for most of the game. He eventually swapped off to a drawn two pawns v Knight and pawn ending.

Jeremy Fraser-Mitchell's opponent failed to arrive and it later emerged that he had overslept and missed his lift. He turned up in the afternoon and was probably pleased to see that he had been given a half point bye, rather than a default.

This round also saw the arrival of Peter Williams, who is the highest graded under 9 year old in the country. He had a baptism of fire meeting Michael Yeo with Black and was given no quarter in a pretty one sided game. This would affect a lot of players, but as can be seen from the rest of the tournament, Peter showed that he has got enormous potential; and was correct in his decision to play in the Open, rather than the Under 125 tournament.

Apart from Gavin Lock's draw the only other major upset was Joe Coburn's draw against Dominic Tunks, which is given below.

All Round Two Games.

White	Grade	Res	Black	Grade	Res
G.Lock	175	½	A.Corkett	205	½
J.Fraser-Mitchell	179	1	Default		0
J.F.Wheeler	178	1	R.Perrin	152	0
K.Esmat	174	½	D.Cordner	176	½
M.Yeo	189	1	P.Williams	120	0
D.R.Tunks	177	½	J.Coburn	145	½
F.N.McLeod	155	½	S.Khoo	148	½
L.Allen	141	1	P.Byre	132	0
I.Matthew	131	0	G.Stuart	141	1
C.Klein	139	½	D.Holmes	123	½
R.McMaster	162	½

Tunks,Dominic (177) - Coburn,Joe (145) [B60]
Hants Congress Eastleigh, Southampton (2), 30.10.2004
[Stuart,Graham]

Joe's reward for drawing against one previous Hampshire Champion Michael Yeo in the first round, was to get another one in the second round!

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 Nxd4 I don't know much about this sort of position, but e6 seems to be a much more popular move, this just seems to help White castle queenside. 7.Qxd4 Qa5 8.Bb5+ Bd7+/- 9.Bxd7+ [9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Bxd7+ Kxd7 11.Qc4 e6 ] 9...Nxd7 10.Be3 Rg8 11.0-0-0 g6 12.Qc4 Nb6 13.Qb5+ [13.Qc7+- Although it looks a bit greedy, this gives White a big advantage.] 13...Qxb5 14.Nxb5 Kd7 15.b3 Bg7 16.c4 Kc6 17.Rd3 a6 18.Nd4+ Kc7 19.Rhd1 Nd7 20.Nc2 Ne5 21.Rd5 Nc6 22.c5 Rad8 23.cxd6+ exd6 24.a4 b6 25.Kb1 Rge8 26.f3 Re5 27.R5d2 Re6 28.Ka2 [28.Na3+/= ] 28...Bc3 [28...f5 29.Bg5 Rde8 30.exf5 gxf5= ] 29.Rd3 Nb4+ 30.Nxb4 Bxb4 31.Bd4? [31.Rc1+ Kb7 32.Rc4 a5+/= ] 31...Kb7 32.g4 Rc8 33.Kb2 Re7 34.Be3 Joe has defended very well and deserves the half point. Not a bad start, two draws against two ex-champions. 1/2-1/2

I was fortunate in my game against Ian Matthew. I had offered Ian a draw as I was not that happy with my position, but Ian had declined. After a couple of inaccurate moves, Ian offered the draw back. By this time, I was happy with my position, so chose to continue playing. This proved a good move, as I soon had a big advantage, plus I was ahead on the clock.

I won a pawn and then another was offered, which I took the wrong way (with the Knight, rather than Queen). Rather than give up a piece for another pawn, which would have left a double edged game, I interposed with my Rook, which Ian took, rather than play a move which would have won the Rook (see diagram).

Ian Matthew - Graham Stuart Round 2

Position after 33...Rc3?

After 34.Bxc3 Black was better, but not by much. If Ian had played Rc2 I would have lost the Rook. Lucky for me Ian was in time trouble so took the Rook. Ian's flag fell on move 37, which gave me my first point of the tournament.

(Matthew,Ian (131) - Stuart,Graham B (141) [C05]

Hants Congress Eastleigh, Southampton (2), 30.10.2004

[Stuart,Graham]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ndf3 cxd4 [7...Qb6] 8.cxd4 f6 [8...f5] 9.Ne2 fxe5 10.fxe5 Be7 11.g3N 0–0 12.Bg2 Nb6 [12...Qb6] 13.0–0 Bd7 14.Kh1 Rc8 15.a3 Be8 16.Nf4 Bf7 17.Bh3 Qd7 18.g4 Nd8 19.g5 Qe8 20.Bg4 Rc6 draw 21.h4? [21.Qd3!] 21...Bg6 22.b4 Bf5 [22...Be4 23.Kg1 Nc4] 23.Bxf5 draw 23...Rxf5 24.Qd3 Qf7 [24...Rxc1 25.Raxc1 Rxf4 26.Rc7 Nc6 27.Rxb7 Qc8 28.Qa6 Nc4] 25.Ng2 Na4 26.Bd2 Nb2 27.Qe2 Nc4 28.Bc1 [28.b5] 28...Qh5 29.Ra2 Qg4 30.Nh2 Rxf1+ 31.Qxf1 Qxd4 32.Rf2 Nxe5? [32...Qxe5 33.Nf3 Qc3] 33.Bb2 Rc3? [33...Qd3 34.Bxe5 Qxa3 35.Rf3 Qxb4=] 34.Bxc3? [34.Rc2 Qe4 35.Rxc3] 34...Qxc3 35.Qb5 Nec6 36.Rf3 Qc1+ 37.Nf1 0–1