Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

Steve Giddins reports from the final round of the Hastings Masters

It is all my fault, I confess it. Unfortunately, the dreaded “Commentator’s Curse” struck again. No sooner had I hailed the last round as an occasion for fighters, rather than Carpathian Warriors, than it turned out that the latter are rather more numerous than I had realised. The top board game Gagunashvili-Pert saw peace concluded after the thrilling moves 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 c4, whilst Chernaiev- Ikonnikov extended to a positively Stakhanovite 11 moves, all of them theory, before they also brought their day’s labour to an end. Not wishing to be branded as blacklegs by their GM colleagues, Gofstein and Pavlovic took the hint, and shut up shop at move 10, thereby robbing the spectators of 60% of their demonstration board entertainment for the day.

It is hard to fathom the motivation of some of these players, notably Gagunashvili. Half a point clear, with White, facing a Slav Defence, against an opponent rated 100 points weaker, one might have expected the 22-year old Georgian to reason that here was a perfect opportunity to secure a slight edge and just play “for two results”. A win brings outright first, and a draw brings at least first equal. Why not try? Asked afterwards, he could only mutter something unconvincing about Pert being “very solid” with Black, although he did then add “Of course, it was better to play”! Perhaps it is time we stopped paying GMs starting fees, and made them “finishing fees” instead.

The only one of the leaders to show the willingness to fight for victory was defending champion Neverov. Perhaps the wish to retain his title provided that little bit of extra incentive. In any event, he too faced the Slav, in the hands of the hitherto unbeaten Simon Ansell, who needed a draw for a GM norm. Black seemed to equalize comfortably enough, but later weakened and lost, a disappointment for Simon, but a reward for Neverov’s decision to make at least some effort to win. This game is annotated below. 

Another norm-hunter missed out on board 5, where Jack Rudd tried hard to win against Greet, for an IM norm, but could not do more than draw. Bogdan Lalic joined the prize list by beating McNab with Black, but before you upbraid me for unfairly criticising his “Warrior” tendencies, I should point out that he offered a draw at move 10, and only won because Colin turned it down, and then blundered a couple of pawns away two moves later.

There were two IM norms, both for players with ratings in the 2100s. Chris Briscoe capped a fantastic tournament by demolishing Willy Hendriks with the black pieces, to secure his first norm, whilst a short draw with Gawain Jones sufficed for young Indian talent Srinath Narayanan to achieve the same. Petra Schuurman of The Netherlands completed a WIM norm, although I believe she may already have enough norms for the title and has not bothered claiming it.

Thus, the tournament ended with Gagunashvili and Neverov equal first on 7, with the former claiming the title of 2006-7 Hastings Masters Champion on tie-break. Chernaiev, Ikonnikov, Gofstein, Pavlovic, Pert and Lalic all shared 3-8 places on 6.5 points. The brilliancy prize was deservedly won by Simon Williams, as a joint reward for his games against Gagunashvili and Prosviriakov.

Oh, I almost forgot – we also had what I believe to be a world record, namely the fastest-ever win for the Vodafone Gambit. In the final round, within one minute of the clocks being started, one competitor had lost, when her mobile phone went off as she was in the act of trying to play 2…Bg7 in the Modern Defence. This meant that the epic top board struggle between Gagunashvili and Pert was only the second game of the round to finish!

And with that, I say goodbye from a wet and windy Hastings . I hope you have enjoyed the coverage of this year’s Hastings Masters, and look forward to renewing acquaintances next year.

Steve Giddins

Neverov,V (2538) - Ansell,S (2394)

Hastings Masters (9.3), 05.01.2007  

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0–0 0–0 9.Qe2 Nbd7

Earlier in the tournament, the games Neverov-Pert and Ikonnikov-Gagunashvili had both seen the alternative 9…Bg6. Black drew both games, but Neverov did achieve some advantage against Pert, which may explain Simon’s decision to deviate.

10.e4 Bg6 11.Bd3 Bh5 12.e5 Nd5 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Qe3 Be7

This has long been regarded as the most solid continuation for Black, and White has very little, if anything, here.

15.Ng5 Bxg5 16.Qxg5 Qxg5 17.Bxg5

17…Nb8

A thematic regrouping in this variation. The knight heads for c6, to attack White’s weakness on d4. The relatively blocked central pawn formation means that two bishops do not confer any great advantage on White in this structure.

18.Bd2 Nc6 19.Bc3 Bg6 20.Be2 Rfc8 21.g4

Black’s last prevented 21 b4 because of 21…Nxe5, and 21 Rac1 would be met by 21…a5, so White decides to pursue an initiative on the other flank instead.

21…a6 22.h4 h6?!

It is not easy to pin-point exactly where Black goes wrong in this game, but his position goes from looking very equal to being very bad, quite quickly. I suspect that this was the start of his troubles, as the h-pawn later proves a target. 22…f6 23 h5 Be8 24 f4 Rc7 looks better.

23.h5 Bh7 24.f3

White’s long-term plan is to prepare the break f4-f5, but the immediate 24 f4 would give Black’s bishop a post on e4. Neverov therefore proceeds more slowly, first bringing the king to e3, to relieve the bishop of the task of defending d4.

24…Rab8 25.Kf2!

25 a5 is also possible here, trying to restrain Black’s queenside play, before proceeding with his build-up on the other flank. However, Neverov realises that Black’s intended b5-b4 plan may well rebound on him, by exposing the pawn on b4.

25…b5 26.axb5 axb5 27.Ke3 b4 28.Bd2

28…f6?

This works out badly, but Black’s position is already difficult, because his queenside advance has actually just made his b-pawn a target. The natural-looking 28…Ra8, for example, just loses material after 29 Rxa8 Rxa8 30 Rc1, when the pawn drops off. Probably the best try is 28…Bc2, followed by 29…b3.

29.exf6 gxf6

Now the h6-pawn is very weak.

30.Rfc1 e5 31.dxe5 fxe5 32.Kf2 Nd4

The pawn on h6 is already indefensible, in view of 32…Kg7 33 Ra6.

33.Bxh6 Bc2 34.Ra7

Suddenly, the game is over. It is surprising just how rapidly Black’s position has collapsed.

34…Nb3 35.Rh1 d4 36.Bg7 d3 37.Bxe5 dxe2 38.Rg7+ Kf8 39.h6 1–0

Of warriors and fighters

Steve Giddins reports on round 8 of the Hastings Masters

The penultimate round of the Hastings Masters saw a remarkable day of fighting chess, as the various leaders fought tooth and nail to position themselves as well as possible for the last round. Unfortunately, there was one notable exception, as the board three game saw Lalic and Chernaiev draw in just 14 moves. This was despite Chernaiev choosing a highly provocative opening line, which could have been tested to near-destruction by the standard sacrifice 12 dxe5 dxe5 13 Nxe5! Qxe5 14 Bd4, followed by e5 and e6. One might wonder why Lalic would so wantonly squander the chance to try to win with the White pieces, and thus give himself a chance of winning the tournament, but I am afraid that seasoned Boggy-watchers would have expected little else but a quick draw. It is not widely known that Lalic is co-author of a book with the extraordinary title of The Carpathian Warrior, probably the most unlikely title for a chess book since Winning with the Queen’s Indian, by Zoltan Ribli. My spies tell me that Bogdan is planning a whole series of opening books, bearing such titles as Drawing with the Dutch, Halving Out with the Hedgehog, Bottling It with the Bishop’s Opening, and Chickening Out with the Chelyabinsk .

Fortunately, this tournament also has more than its fair share of fighters, and they were to the fore. Ikonnikov-Gagunashvili was a steadily-played draw, but Pavlovic and Ansell manoeuvered for over 50 moves, in a blocked position, before splitting the point. This leaves Ansell needing a draw

today for a GM norm. Gawain Jones never justified his early pawn sacrifice in the Grand Prix Attack against Neverov, and the latter eventually ground out a win in a long rook and pawn ending, the game lasting 89 moves. But all other battles were eclipsed by the extraordinary tussle between Nick Pert and Marcel Peek.  After building up a large spatial advantage against his opponent’s Dutch Defence, Pert settled down to the task of squeezing the life out of Black’s cramped, but solid position. Whether he would have got anywhere without help is debatable, but Peek blundered a crucial pawn on move 55. Even after this, the resulting Q+N v Q+B ending proved extremely hard to win, but Pert’s determination was equal to the task. After a marathon 147 moves, lasting over 8 hours, he eventually forced resignation, with the clock showing almost 10.30 at night.

An announcement at the start of the round, reminding players of the £100 Brilliancy Prize on offer, bore fruit, in the shape of five more entries. One of those was Gofstein’s crushing win over Adam Ashton, which is annotated below, whilst Jack Rudd’s 19^th century-style win against John-Paul Wallace is also worth a look, even if its soundness is highly questionable.

Starting today’s final round, Gagunashvili leads on 6.5, followed by seven players, all on 6: Pert, Chernaiev, Ikonnikov, Ansell, Gofstein, Neverov and Pavlovic. The top pairings are Gagunashvili-Pert, Chernaiev-Ikonnikov, Neverov-Ansell and Gofstein-Pavlovic. Given the situation, some great battles should be guaranteed – a day for fighters, rather than Carpathian Warriors…

Gofshtein,Z (2509) - Ashton,A (2304)

Hastings Masters (8.5), 04.01.2007

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5

A bold choice indeed. Morozevich has tried this against GMs on a few occasions, notably in beating Ivan Sokolov at Wijk aan Zee a couple of years ago, but he is just about the only GM I know who would dare try it.

3.dxe5 d4 4.e4!?

Unusual, although not unknown. 4 Nf3 is the standard reply, and is regarded as giving White the advantage, although Morozevich’s 4…Nc6 5 g3 Nge7 is not entirely clear.

4…Nc6 5.f4 f6

One of the few top-class examples of this position is an old 1950s game between Spassky and Mikenas which saw the even more adventurous 5…g5!? – White won crushingly. Adam’s choice is more sober.

6.e6!?

A pragmatic solution, although possibly not the most ambitious try for advantage. 6 exf6 Nxf6 gives Black some compensation for the pawn.

6…Bxe6 7.Nf3 Qd7?!

This plan backfires badly. Simply 7..Bb4+, followed by Nge7 and 0-0 looks better.

8.a3 a5 9.Bd3 Bc5 10.0–0 Nge7 11.f5 Bf7

12.e5!

This type of pawn sacrifice is well-known in similar King’s Indian positions, the most oft-quoted example being the game Kotov-Gligoric, from the 1953 Zurich Candidates. White frees up the e4-square as a superb blockading post for his knight. Adam later commented that, after this move, he already felt that he was busted.  

12…Nxe5

The alternative was 12…Nxf5, after which Gofstein gives 13 Bxf5 Bxf5 14 Ng5 Qd7 15 e6! Bxe6 16 Nxe6 Qxe6 17 Qh5+, winning a piece. However, the computer points out that in this line, Black can instead try 14…d3+ 15 Kh1 Qg6, which is not so clear, so this may have been an alternative for Black. However, it looks very risky, and it is hardly surprising that Ashton preferred the text-move.

13.Nxe5 fxe5 14.Nd2 Nc6 15.Ne4

Your computer will tell you that Black is better here, but don’t believe it. White’s knight on e4 is a monster, and he has the long-term plan of a kingside pawn avalanche with g4-h4-g5, etc.

15…Be7 16.Qe1 Bf6  

This rather encourages g4-g5, but Black’s position is difficult. 16…0-0 is met simply by 17 g4, with a very strong attack, and, worst of all, a complete absence of counterplay from Black.  

17.g4 h6 18.h4 0–0–0

It is natural to try to side-step the kingside advance, but now White can switch most effectively to the other flank.  

19.b4! Qe7 20.b5 Nb8 21.Qxa5 Bxh4 22.Qa7

Black is hopelessly lost.  

22…Bg5 23.Nc5 c6 24.f6! 1–0  

The threat of 25 Bf5+ is crushing.

Singing the blues

Steve Giddins reports from round 7 of the Hastings Masters

The associations between chess and music have often been commented upon. The most famous example is the figure of Philidor, of whom we have already spoken a couple of times in these reports. During his lifetime, he was famous principally as a musician and composer, although nowadays, his eponymous defence to 1 e4, although not popular, still gets played more often than any of his music. Amongst contemporary music figures, the rock singer Sting is a keen player, and even once played an exhibition game against Garry Kasparov.

But in round 7 of the Hastings Masters, it was a song lyric that seems the most appropriate summary of the day’s play, namely the early 1980s one-hit wonder by Roxette, entitled “It must have been love”. After the first couplet of the chorus, “It must have been love, but it’s over now”, there follows a lyric with which every chessplayer can empathise: 

It must have been good

But I lost it somehow

There were several players on the top boards here at Hastings who could have ended up crying that lament into their beer yesterday evening. Willy Hendriks was one, having lost to Ikonnikov, despite achieving what he later described as “a dream position”. In all frankness, I am not quite so convinced that Hendricks’ position was ever as good as he thought, but his positional exchange sacrifice certainly yielded decent compensation, in the form of a pawn and two strong bishops. Ikonnikov soon returned the exchange to reach a fairly level ending, but then outplayed his opponent completely.

Stewart Haslinger was another who looked to have a position with no problems at all, only to slide downhill and lose. His 4…Bb4+ against the Scotch, a favourite of the late and great Tony Miles, brought him a fairly comfortable position, and by move 22, it looks at first sight as though he has the pick of White’s kingside pawns. However, things are not so clear (22…Rxf2 23 Ne7 is one problem) and Ansell’s 24 Nxc7! keeps White fully in the game. After Haslinger erred with 25…Qf3? (25…Ng6 is better), he soon had a lost ending. This result keeps Simon Ansell well in the hunt for a GM norm.

While this was happening, Gagunashvili celebrated his birthday by maintaining his 100% record with the white pieces. Gofstein’s original treatment of the 5 Qb3 Grunfeld seemed to achieve a reasonable position, but the trade initiated by 16…b4? left him with too many queenside pawn weaknesses, and Gagunashvili eventually converted the advantage. One eminent spectator, who seemed to enjoy this game, was WGM Elizabeth Paehtz of Germany , who arrived in the middle of the round.

Amongst the other leading games, Mark Hebden was another who would have been justified in joining in with the Hendriks/Haslinger karaoke routine. He faced Gawain Jones, who chose the highly provocative Hippopotamus Defence. This has the advantage of side-stepping Mark’s well-grooved opening repertoire, but that may well be its only objective merit, and Hebden soon had a commanding position. However, as Jones himself later commented, Hebden opened up the queenside prematurely with 24 bxc4 and 25 d5. Although this looks promising, it gives Black a dangerous armada of queenside pawns, and his counterplay soon became too strong in the run-up to the time control. Hebden even won the exchange, but this proved a Pyrrhic victory, as the black pawns swept all before them.

As so often, it was left to the irrepressible Simon Williams to provide the best entertainment of the day. After losing his previous two games, he had announced the night before that he intended to play a game that would be a contender for the £100 Horntye Park Brilliancy Prize. He proved as good as his word, producing the following vigorous effort:

Williams,S (2473) - Prosviriakov,V (2346)

Hastings Masters (7.13), 03.01.2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 c5 6.d5

This pawn sacrifice is all the rage against the Queen’s Indian at the moment, and has been causing Black serious problems.

6…exd5 7.cxd5 Bb7 8.Bg2

8…Nxd5

For reasons which I have never quite understood, 8…Bxd5 has been much the most popular choice here. After 9 Nc3 Bc6 10 Bf4, White’s results have been excellent, including most notably the fine game Gelfand-Aronian, from the Dortmund 2006 tournament.

9.0–0 Be7 10.Rd1 0–0 11.Qf5 Nf6 12.Nc3 d5 13.e4 g6?!

I doubt that Steinitz would approve of this reflex prodding of the white queen, which weakens the black kingside. The immediate 13…d4 looks better, although 14 e5 Nd5 15 Ng5 still gives White good compensation.

14.Qf4 d4 15.e5 Nd5

16.Qh6! f5

White also has a clear advantage after 16...dxc3 17.Ng5 Bxg5 18.Bxg5 cxb2 19.Rab1 f6 20.Bxf6 Qc7 21.Rxd5. The attempt to prevent White’s next by 16…f6 is well met by 17 Nxd4 cxd4 18 Bxd5+ Bxd5 19 Rxd4, when White again stands better.

17.Ng5 Bxg5 18.Bxg5 Qd7 19.e6!

Simon is in his element in such positions, and as always, he pursues his initiative with great vigour. Capturing on e6 loses to 19...Qxe6 20.Re1 Qf7 21.Nxd5 Bxd5 22.Bxd5 Qxd5 23.Re7 Rf7 24 Re8+.

19…Qd6 20.Nxd5 Bxd5 21.Bf4 Qxe6 22.Re1

Utterly decisive. Since 22…Qf7 again loses to 23 Bxd5 Qxd5 24 Re7, Black is forced to surrender a piece.

22…Be4 23.f3 Nd7 24.fxe4 Rae8

Black could resign with a clear conscience, and the remaining moves require no commentary.

25.exf5 Qxf5 26.Qh3 Qf7 27.Bc6 Rxe1+ 28.Rxe1 Nf6 29.Qg2 Rd8 30.b3 Nd5 31.Bh6 Ne3 32.Qe4 Nf5 33.Bg5 Nd6 34.Qg2 1–0

Pawns don’t move backwards

Steve Giddins reports from round 6 of the Hastings Masters

After his narrow escape against Simon Williams two rounds earlier, top seed Merab Gagunashvili used up another of his nine lives in yesterday’s 6^th round, to escape with a draw against Pavlovic. A currently popular line of the Slav soon went horribly wrong for the Georgian, whose plan of Rc8 and c5 led to an opening of the position for White’s bishop pair, and the exposure of Black’s king. By move 22, his position was completely lost, and he was forced to surrender a piece to stave off mate. Incredibly, Pavlovic then spurned win after win, and finally sacrificed back his extra piece in the wrong fashion (39 Rf2 Qg4 40 Bxg7! still wins), allowing perpetual check.

Simon Ansell continued his solid tournament, by holding Ikonnikov to a comfortable draw, thanks to an excellent novelty in the Slav (16…Na6!). Chernaiev overcame Greet with Black, whilst on board 4, Simon Williams’ Dutch Defence bit the dust for the second day in a row. Just as yesterday, Black was destroyed by the power of White’s bishop along the a1-h8 diagonal, thereby revealing the weakness of the Dutch Defence – once he has played f5, Black can no longer block the long diagonal with a later f7-f6! Who was it who pointed out that pawns don’t move backwards?

Ledger-Hebden and Huss-Neverov were both hard-fought draws, whilst Messrs Pert, Lalic, Hendriks and Haslinger all won, to move closer to the leaders. Dutch IM Willy Hendriks is a great expert on the Pirc Defence, and his win over Richard Britton was an excellent example of Black’s dream endgame in this opening, although it must be admitted that the game is unlikely to feature in any future volume of Richard’s best games. 2100-rated Chris Briscoe is having an outstanding tournament, and he overcame a 400-point rating deficit, to draw with Black against GM Farhad Tahirov.

Lower down the table, fans of 17^th-century great Andre Danican Philidor, who may have been disappointed to see his Legacy come unstuck in my round 3 report, should receive some cheer from the board 31 game Wilson-Dickson. The loser of this game made desperate attempts to persuade me not to mention it, but despite the offer of copious quantities of alcohol, my ruthless journalistic integrity was not to be bought off – sorry Aly!

Gofshtein,Z (2509) - Williams,S (2473)

Hastings Masters Rd6, 02.01.2007

1.c4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.b3 Be7 5.Bb2 0–0 6.Nh3

Developing the knight to h3 is a common plan against the Dutch, although it is generally considered more effective if Black is already committed to the Stonewall formation, with d5. Here, where Black can play d6 and prepare e5, he should stand satisfactorily.

6…d6 7.d4 Qe8 8.Nf4 Bd8 9.Nd3 Nbd7 10.Nd2 e5 11.e3 c6 12.Qc2 a5 13.a3 Rf7

It may be that Black should close the position with 13…e4 here, when he seems to stand perfectly satisfactorily. Simon prefers to retain the tension.

14.dxe5 dxe5 15.c5

Now White has the long-term plan of sinking a knight into d6, although it will require some preparation.

15…Bc7 16.0–0

16…g5?

Simon’s greatest strength as a player is his self-confidence and willingness to have a go, but every now and then, he overdoes it. This is a case in point. 16…g5 is a real rush of blood, after which Black’s position starts to creak noticeably. Current British Champion Jonathan Rowson, in his ground-breaking book “The Seven Deadly Chess Sins”, advocated “talking to one’s pieces”. If Simon had done that here, I suspect that the Black King’s comments on the move 16…g5 would have been unprintable. After almost any sensible move (eg. 16…e4), White would have only a small advantage.

17.f4! gxf4 18.gxf4 e4 19.Nf2

At a stroke the position has been transformed. The bishop on b2 has become a monster, and the combined pressure on the a1-h8 diagonal and the g-file leave the black king feeling distinctly exposed.

19…Nd5 20.Kh1 h6 21.Rg1 Kf8 22.Bf1 Qe7 23.Bd4

It is amusing that this move, defending e3 and c5, and setting up Nc4-d6, was also the key to Pavlovic’s victory over Simon in round 5. Indeed, Simon later admitted that at this point in the game, he had a distinct feeling of deja-vu.

23…Qh4 24.Nc4 N7f6 25.Rg3

25…Nxf4!?

This does not relieve Black’s problems, but there is little hope in sitting tight and allowing White to go on strengthening his position by bringing another rook to the g-file. Simon therefore seizes the chance to try to confuse matters.

26.exf4 Bxf4 27.Be5!

Simpler and better than trying to hang on to all of the material. Eliminating Black’s dark-squared bishop will leave him hopelessly weak on the dark squares.

27…Bxg3 28.Bxg3 Qg5 29.Nh3?!

This retains a decisive positional advantage, but he could have decided the game at once by 29 Bd6+ Kg8 30 Nb6.

29…Qg7 30.Bd6+ Kg8 31.Be5 Qf8 32.Nd6 Re7 33.Bd4 Nd5 34.Bc4 Be6 35.Bxd5 Bxd5 36.Nf4 Kh7 37.Rg1 Rd8 38.h3

Rather sadistically eliminating Black’s only counterchance, the possible discovered check by e3+. The next move will be 39 Qg2 or 39 Qe2, with carnage. Simon had seen enough.

1–0

Into the valley of death

Steve Giddins reports from round 5 of the Hastings Masters

Two players share the lead after five rounds of the 2006-7 Hastings Masters. Grandmasters Gagunashvili and Pavlovic each exploited the white pieces successfully, to go on to 4.5 / 5. The first-named won comfortably against Gawain Jones, in the game annotated below, while Pavlovic defeated Simon Williams in the latter’s favourite Dutch Defence. Simon is well-known for playing nothing else against 1 d4, and one would therefore expect his opponents to be well-prepared against him. Despite this, Pavlovic consumed a great deal of time over the opening and early middlegame, and by move 20, had just a couple of minutes remaining on his clock. Black also looked to be doing well on the board, but was unable to find a good way to proceed against Pavlovic’s excellent manoeuvring (25 Ne2!, 27 Bd4!, etc), and his position soon fell apart.

The town in which we are playing is most well-known for its battle of 1066, and the Norman Conquest, but the board five game between Rendle and Ikonnikov bore rather more resemblance to the Crimean War, and the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade. Just like the English force at Balaclava , Rendle’s cavalry charged into the enemy position, establishing themselves on c6 and d5, only to find themselves cut off and forced to impale themselves on the defences. With two fantastic bishops for a rook, Ikonnikov soon wrapped the game up.  

Chernaiev-Haslinger was a short and quiet draw, whereas  Ansell and Gofstein fought down to bare kings before splitting the point. In amongst various New Year hangover-induced draws, Greet, Hebden and Neverov all won, to move up to the leading boards.

Amongst the other games, lovers of wild tactical complications are recommended to look at the game Briscoe-Ciuksyte. Once you have worked out what was going on, perhaps you would be so kind as to tell me…

Gagunashvili,M (2611) - Jones,G (2430)

Hastings Masters Hastings (5.1), 01.01.2007

1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6

The so-called English Defence, developed by Basman, Keene, and Miles, in the 1970s. Black provocatively ignores the traditional plan of occupying the centre, and invites his opponent to do so instead, hoping to nibble away at the centre from the flanks, in typical Hypermodern style.

 3.Nc3 Bb7 4.a3

The most obvious way to challenge Black’s play is 4 e4, which is how most white players in the 1970s handled the position. However, although still a critical challenge, this in many ways plays into Black’s hands, as it gives him a target to attack, with such moves as Bb4, f5 and Qh4. Gagunashvili’s choice is more restrained, but still quite insidious. He stops Bb4, making it harder for Black to pressurise the white centre.

4…f5 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.d5

This is the point of White’s play. The d5-pawn shuts out Black’s light-squared bishop on the long diagonal. Without the pawn on a3, Black could undermine the d5-pawn by Bb4, but here that is impossible.

6…a5 7.g3 Na6 8.Bg2 Nc5 9.Nd4 Nfe4

A typical idea in such positions, but here it entails accepting a weakness on e4, which Black never succeeds in justifying. Development by 9…Bd6 is probably stronger, but theory prefers White anyway.

10.Nxe4 fxe4 11.dxe6 dxe6 12.Be3 Qf6 13.Qc2 Bd6 14.0–0 0–0

White has a clear and stable positional advantage, thanks to the weak black pawns on the e-file. In such positions, Black’s hope is always that he can offset his static weaknesses by dynamic play, exploiting his active pieces and the open line, such as the f-file. Unfortunately, in this instance, White’s position is very solid, and although the black pieces appear actively placed, they have no targets.

15.Nb5

The knight redeploys to the square c3, to attack the weakness on e4.

15…Qf5 16.Nc3 Rad8

Black is already facing the loss of a pawn. He would like to prevent White’s next by 16…a4, but after the simple reply 17 Bxc5 Bxc5 18 e3, the pawns on a4 and e4 will drop.

17.b4 axb4 18.axb4 Na6 19.b5 Nc5

19…Nb4 20 Qb1 does not help.

20.Ra7 Ba8 21.Bxc5 Bxc5

Now a simple combination wins material.

22.Rxa8! Rxa8 23.Bxe4 Qxf2+!?

Imaginative, but inadequate. Objectively, Black should just surrender a pawn by 23…Qf6 24 Bxa8 Rxa8, but Jones probably felt that he had little chance of holding this, and so preferred to try to confuse the issue.

24.Rxf2 Rxf2 25.Qc1!

The only good move, but enough to defuse Black’s threats. Now he has no damaging discovered check.

25…Ra3

Or 25…Rd8 26 Kh1.

26.Qxa3

The most pragmatic decision, forcing a simple ending where the two pieces dominate the rook. 26 e3 is also winning, but would allow Black more swindling chances.

26…Rf5+ 27.Qxc5 Rxc5 28.Bd3 Kf7 29.Kg2 Rh5?!

Trying to tie White’s king down to the defence of h2, but the rooks is now driven offside and a pawn lost. 29…h6 would put up more resistance, although White should still win easily enough. Black has too many pawn weaknesses (e6, c7, g7) to be able to hold out against the two minor pieces.

30.g4 Rh6 31.Ne4 e5 32.Ng5+ Ke7 33.Nxh7

The rest is simple.

33…Kd6 34.Ng5 Kc5 35.Kg3 c6 36.h4 cxb5 37.cxb5 Kd5 38.Ne4 Rh8 39.g5 Rf8 40.h5 1–0

Missing out on the gold coins

Steve Giddins reports on round 4 of the Hastings Masters

My mention yesterday of the £100 Horntye Park brilliancy prize almost bore fruit, as Simon Williams came agonisingly close to winning what he later said would have been one of his best-ever games. His opponent, the top seed Merab Gagunashvili, reacted poorly to Simon’s aggressive opening set-up, and was soon in the toils. A brilliant sacrificial attack by Williams produced an overwhelming position but, in the face of desperate last-ditch defence from the Georgian, he missed several wins, including a simple two-mover, and eventually drew by repetition.

While this was going on, Simon Ansell capitalised on a bad blunder by Tahirov, who hallucinated that 25 Qg5 was going to threaten mate on g7, as well as the rook on d8; in fact, there is no mate threat, so White has just lost a piece. Pavlovic won a long game against Vul, whilst the other top games were all drawn. This allowed Jones, Ikonnikov and Lalic all to make up ground on the leaders. Hendricks, Haslinger and Wallace also won, to join the 3-point group. Further down the table, Chris Briscoe moved onto 2.5, after beating IM Hans Grooten with Black, overcoming a rating disadvantage of some 260 points. 

Mark Hebden revived his old love, the Marshall Gambit, against Richard Britton, but was soon totally lost, and only Hebden’s legendary “wriggling skill” enabled him to escape with half a point. Incidentally, the final position of this game illustrates the limitations of computer programs, as the (admittedly old) version of Fritz that I am using assesses the final position as winning for White. In fact, of course, Black just puts his king on d7 and his bishop on a8/b7, after which White can make no progress.

Williams,S (2473) - Gagunashvili,M (2611)

Hastings Masters (4.1), 31.12.2006

1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 c6 5.h3 Bg7 6.g4!?

This aggressive line is known as the Finnish Variation, having been developed by a group of players from Finland . It looks crude, but is surprisingly dangerous, and Gagunashvili was clearly take by surprise.

6…Qa5 7.Qd2 e5 8.Nge2 b5?!

This proves risky, in the face of Simon’s imaginative reply, although it is not clear how Black should proceed. 8…Nbd7 is one idea, although White can then push on with 9 g5. 8…h6 is also possible, intending Nbd7 and then b5. In all such lines, however, Black has to solve the problem of his king, which is unlikely to feel safe, whether it castles or remains in the centre. 

9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Bc5!?

Now the black king is trapped in the centre for the long-term. However, White needs to follow up with the weakening move b4, so it was not easy to judge how effective this plan would be. 

10…Nbd7 11.b4 Qd8 12.0–0–0

A critical moment. Gagunashvili’s decision to remove the bishop from c5 is very natural, but is a little slow, and possibly immediate counterplay with 12…a5 was better.

12…Bf8 13.Bxf8 Rxf8 14.Qd6 Bb7 15.Ng3 Qb8?!

It seems natural to expel the white queen, but now White gets his kingside pawn roller going. 15…h6 is better, when Black can hold up the attack on the kingside, and get his counterplay going with 16…a5. The position would then be quite unclear.

16.Qd2 Qc7 17.g5 Ng8 18.h4 Ke7?

Imaginative, but much too risky. Black wishes to get his KR into the game, but he loses too much time with his king. 18…a5 looks compulsory. 

19.h5 Rfd8 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.Qe3 a5

21…Qb6 is met by 22 Qf3, followed by Rh7, when f7 is very weak.

22.Bh3

22…Kf8

Played after long thought. Gagunashvili had clearly under-estimated the danger, when playing his 18^th move. The obvious 22…axb4 loses after 23 Bxd7 Rxd7 24 Qc5+, when one attractive line is 24…Ke6 (24…Ke8 25 Rxd7 Qxd7 26 Rh8 wins) 25 f4! exf4 26 Rxd7 Qxd7 27 Nf5! winning – a foretaste of things to come!

23.Bxd7 Rxd7 24.Qc5+ Re7

Forced, since 24…Kg7 loses to 25 Rxd7, followed by 26 Qxe5+.

25.Nf5!!

The crowning point of White’s attack. 

25…axb4

25…gxf5 26 exf5 axb4 transposes.

26.Rh8 gxf5 27.exf5 bxc3 28.f6 Rae8 29.Qxc3!

Superb. White gives up the pin on the rook, but Black has no time to preserve his material advantage, in view of the threat of 30 Qh3.

29…e4 30.Qh3 Qf4+ 31.Kb1 Qxg5 32.Qh7!

Again best. Now the cute threat is 33 Rxg8+ Qxg8 34 Qh6+ and mates. Black’s next is forced.

32…Ra8 33.Rxg8+ Qxg8 34.fxe7+??

A tragedy after William’s superb play thus far. He had calculated the whole line, including this move and the next, when playing 30 Qh3, and assumed he was mating the king in the centre. He then played the moves immediately, but missed that there is a trivial win here by 34 Qxg8+ Kxg8 35 fxe7, when there is no defence to the threat of 36 Rd8+.

34…Kxe7 35.Qxe4+ Kf6!

This is the defence Williams had missed. He had considered only 35…Kf8, when 36 Qb4+ Ke8 37 Qd6 mates. In fact, White is still winning anyway, but a combination of shock, time-trouble, and the realisation that 34 Qxg8+ was so much simpler, resulted in Simon no longer being able to think straight about the position.

36.Qf4+ Ke6 37.Qe4+ Kf6 38.Qf4+ Ke6 39.Qd6+ Kf5 40.Qc5+ Kf6

41.Qd4+?

There are various ways to win the position after move 35, but the simplest was 41 Rd6+ Kg7 42 Rd3!, when Black is helpless.      

41…Kf5 42.Qd3+ Kf6 43.Qf3+ Ke6 44.Qh3+ Kf6 45.Qf3+ Ke6 46.Qe4+ 

And, at this point, a mightily-relieved Gagunashvili claimed a draw by repetition. 

½–½

A terrible shame for Simon, after some tremendously imaginative attacking play, although Gagunashvili deserves credit for making things as difficult as he did over the past 20 moves.

And then there were four…

Steve Giddins reports on round 3 of the Hastings Masters

Four players emerged from yesterday’s third round with 100% scores. Top seed Gagunashvili won against Stewart Haslinger, after the latter miscalculated a tactical sequence, in a position where he only stood slightly worse. Meanwhile, Gofstein won an obscure game against Willy Hendriks of The Netherlands, and Simon Williams beat the round two hero Jack Rudd, in a strange encounter. After 15 or so moves, Black was a pawn down and could hardly move a piece, yet within a few moves, the position had become much less clear, and Williams effectively had to win the game over again. Hastings regular Alexander Chernaiev joined the leaders by beating another of yesterday’s giant-killers, John Sugden, although this game was also less than convincing. Had Sugden played 21…h5, instead of trading queens, White would have had some significant problems with his exposed king.

Amongst the chasing group on 2.5 are Jovanka Houska, who beat Colin McNab with the black pieces, in a highly entertaining, if not wholly accurate game. Thomas Rendle joined the same score group, after winning a protracted bout of internecine warfare against fellow Hastings club member, Francis Rayner.

One new feature of this year’s tournament is a £100 brilliancy prize, sponsored by our hosts, the Horntye Park sports centre. Your correspondent has the task of collecting the entries, but thus far, only Bogdan Lalic has been so bold as to offer a game for consideration. There was nearly another c