Hampshire Congress 2004 Round 3

Hampshire Congress 2004 Round Three

Round Three saw only two players on maximum points, who were obviously paired against each other. This was an up and down game, where John Wheeler beat Jeremy Fraser-Mitchell, after what looked like a lost position. John therefore moved onto maximum points after three rounds.

Tony Corkett was in sole second place after he dealt out a vicious combination on Khaled Esmat (see below). Michael Yeo could not break down David Cordner's solid defence and Gavin Lock somehow managed to get a draw from a completely lost position against Richard McMaster. I am sure that time-trouble was involved in the game.

Update 1st Jan 2005

Michael Yeo has disagreed with my analysis and has mentioned where he went wrong.

David Cordner's defence was less than solid. It was my own incompetence that missed clear wins on moves 32, 34 and most seriously move 36 when 36....Rxf3+ 37. Kxf3 Rh2 38. Kg3 c4 wins trivially - Michael Yeo.

Lower down I had my best game of the tournament, but this was from a distinctly ropey position. You can judge this one for yourselves though, as I've included it in the highlighted game. Peter Williams bounced back from his loss and beat Cornelia Klein. I can't show this though, as I could not make out all the moves from the scoresheet - Peter is an excellent prospect, but I'm not sure about his handwriting skills!

All Round Three Games

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

A.Corkett - K.Esmat

Tony Corkett - Khaled Esmat Round Three

After Khaled played 9.. Nxe5?? he fell into a nasty combination. [9...dxe5 had to be played.] 10.Nxe5 Bxe2 11.Qxe2 dxe5 12.Bxe5 12.f6 The Bishop cannot be taken due to [12...Bxe5 13.Qb5+ Kf8 14.Qxe5 Rh7 15.Rd1 Qe7 16.Qf5 Kg7 17.Rd7 Qf6 18.Qe4+-] 13.Bg3 c6 14.Qh5+ Kf8 15.Rd1 Qe8 16.Qe2 [16.Bd6+ Ne7 17.Qg4 is stronger] 16...f5 17.Bd6+ Ne7 18.0–0 Qg6 19.Ba3 Ke8 20.Rd6 Bf6 21.e4 1–0

With my second French Tarrasch of the day, I again come out worse from the opening (not that unusual if you play the French). This time my opponent allowed me to play a nice exchange sacrifice, which gave me two very strong knights. I also had two pawns for the exchange, which soon turned into three pawns. Although I did not find the killer moves, I didn't play any bad ones and managed to score my second win of the day. This gave me my best ever day in the Hampshire Congress, as with a bye in the evening I scored 2½ points from 3 games.

Khoo,Selina (148) - Stuart,Graham (141) [C06]
Hants Congress Eastleigh, Southampton (3), 30.10.2004
[Stuart,Graham]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 Qb6 8.Nf3 cxd4 9.cxd4 f6 10.exf6 Nxf6 11.0-0 Bd6 12.Bf4 Qc7 [12...Bxf4 13.Nxf4 0-0 ] 13.Qd2 0-0 14.Bxd6N Qxd6 15.Rfe1 Ng4 16.Ng3 White has built up a better position, maybe now was the time to bite the bullet and play 16..e5, although White is still better 16...Qf4 [16...e5 17.dxe5 Ncxe5 18.Be4 Nxf3+ 19.Bxf3 Nf6 ] 17.Qxf4 Rxf4 18.h3 Nh6 19.Ne2 Rf6+/- [19...Rxf3 20.gxf3 e5 ] 20.Rad1 Bd7 21.Ng3 Nf7 22.Re2 Rf8 Black is back in the game, White misses the exchange sacrifice, which is very strong 23.Rde1 [23.Re3 ] 23...Rxf3!! 24.gxf3 Nxd4 25.Re3 Ng5 26.Kg2 Ndxf3 [26...e5 27.Rh1 Ngxf3 is even stronger] 27.Rc1? [27.Rh1 Nh4+ 28.Kf1 e5-/+ ] 27...Nh4+ [27...e5 28.Be2 Bxh3+ 29.Kh1 e4 This is much stronger, but I was trying to keep hold of the position, without committing myself to moving the pawns yet.] 28.Kf1 Nxh3 Now I have three pawns for the exchange 29.Nh1 Nf4 30.Be2 Nxe2 [30...Nf5 I missed that the Rook was trapped 31.Re5 (31.Ra3 Nd4 32.Ng3 Ndxe2 33.Nxe2 Bb5 ) 31...Ng6 32.Rxf5 Rxf5 ] 31.Kxe2 I played it pretty safe now, but I thought that there was not much that White could do - so I just needed to slowly improve my position 31...Nf5 32.Ra3 Bb5+ 33.Kd2 a6 34.Rh3 Bc6 35.Re1 Nd4 36.Kd3 Rf4 37.Ree3 Bd7 38.Rh5 Nf5 39.Re1 g6 40.Rh2 Kg7 41.Rc1 Rd4+ 42.Ke2 Bb5+ 43.Ke1 Bc6 44.Ke2 I finally play 44...e5 45.Rh3 Rb4 46.b3 Re4+ 47.Kd2 Rd4+ 48.Ke1 Rg4 49.Kd2 d4 50.Re1 e4 51.Rd1 d3 [51...Rg2 52.a4 e3+ This would have made the win much quicker] 52.Kc3 h5 53.f3 exf3 54.Rxd3 Rg2 55.a3 f2 56.Rd1 Bb5 57.Rf3 f1Q 58.Rdxf1 Bxf1 59.Rxf1 Ng3 60.Nxg3 Rxg3+ 61.Kc4 h4 Black won after a few more moves - even I can win this sort of Rook and Pawn ending 0-1

Gavin Lock had a very fortunate escape against Richard McMaster. In the position below, Gavin as Black has just played 27...Bc8, which the strongest follow up to would be 28.Be5, attacking the Rook and if it moves, to then play Qg6 when the Rook on e8 has nowhere to go (Qg6 on move 28 is also strong). However, although 28.e7 was still winning, Gavin managed to get back in the game and the final result was a draw.

Richard McMaster - Gavin Lock Round 3

McMaster,Richard (162) - Lock,Gavin R (175) [D45]

Hants Congress Eastleigh, Southampton (3), 30.10.2004

[Stuart,Graham]

1.c4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 b6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.0–0 Be7 10.b3 10...h611.Ne2 0–0 12.Ng3 Re8 13.Bb2 Bf8 14.Rae1 c5 15.Ne5 Rc8 16.Qe2 Nxe5 17.dxe5 Ne4 18.f4 a6 19.Rd1 Qc7 20.Qf3 Qc6 21.f5 b5 22.e6 f6 23.Bxe4 dxe4 24.Qg4 Kh8 25.Nh5 Rc7 26.Rf2 c4 27.Bxf6 Bc8 [27...gxf6 28.Nxf6 Be7 29.Nxe8 Qxe8+-] 28.e7 [28.Be5 Rb7 29.f6 (29.Qg6 Qc5 30.Qxe8) ] 28...gxf6 29.exf8Q+ Rxf8 30.Nf4 Rg8 31.Ng6+ [31.Qh4 Kh7 32.Nd5] 31...Kh7 32.Rfd2 c3 33.Rd8 Rcg7 34.Rxg8 Rxg8 35.Nf8+ Rxf8 36.Qg6+ Kh8 37.Qxh6+ ½–½

Score after 3 rounds

Name	Score
J.F.Wheeler	3
A.Corkett	2½
M.Yeo	2
J.Fraser-Mitchell	2
D.R.Tunks	2
D.Cordner	2
G.Lock	2
R.McMaster	2
L.Allen	2
G.Stuart	2

Hampshire Chess Association