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| Chess by Malcolm Pein of the Daily Telegraph   Malcolm Pein writes for the Daily Telegraph (telegraph.co.uk)
you can read his chess columns along with those of Nigel Short and David
Norwood at their new
Chess
Club (to read the columns you need to register which is free).
Round 5 1st January 2004 The placings remained the same after the fifth round of the Hastings Premier as all the games were drawn. Despite this the play was not without interest particularly the clash between Vasilios Kotronias and Mark Hebden which saw the latter defending doggedly for the half point for most of the game before nearly springing a surprise in the rook and pawn endgame. Hebden is one of those players who believes in his opening preparation and will often play what his opponent is expecting. This time the GM from Leicester tried a pawn sacrifice invented by the Israeli GM Yacob Murey. Hebden once bamboozled Nigel Short with this idea and it is thought to be playable for Black and many Lopez players do not accept the pawn. Kotronias had prepared a counter at home and emerged a pawn ahead after a long tactical sequence but then for some reason he returned the pawn and although he had a strong intiative Hebden defended superbly right down to the rook and pawn endgame. Kotronias again won a pawn but then found that Hebden had trapped his king on the 'h' file and was preparing a checkmate. Fortunately the Cypriot GM who used to the Greek number one had a way out and he repeated the position. Danny Gormally and Vladimir Epishin reached a totally blocked position while Stuart Conquest and Peter Heine Nielsen had an exciting game in which the later sacrificed his queen for rook knight and pawn and a very solid position. Visitors to the congress can compete in events for all strengths and there is daily commentary on the Premier games from GM Chris Ward. The tournament continues until January 5th Round five results: Kotronias draw Hebden, Ruy Lopez, 52 moves; Kunte draw Lahno, Catalan, 19; Conquest draw Nielsen, Reti/Nimzowitsch Opening, 45; Gormally draw Epishin, Slav a6, 26; Cherniaev draw Rowson, Sicilian c3, 35; Scores: 1-2 Kotronias (Cyprus) Epishin (Russia) 3.5/5; 3-4 Rowson (Scotland) Hebden (England) 3; 5-7 Kunte (India), Nielsen (Denmark), Cherniaev (Russia) 2.5; 8-10 Conquest (England), Lahno (Ukraine), Gormally (England) 1.5; Kotronias,V (2626) - Hebden,M (2560) [C96] Premier Hastings ENG (5), 01.01.2004 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d6 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Re8  offering the e5 pawn. 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.Nxe5 Bb7 14.Nd2 Bd6 15.Ng4 Nxe4 16.Nxe4 Bxe4 17.Bg5 Qxg5 18.Bxe4 Rad8 19.Bxh7+ Kxh7 20.Rxe8 Rxe8 21.Qxd6 Re6 22.Qd3+ Rg6 Black has some counterplay against g2. 23.f4 Returning the pawn, alternatives are: [ 23.Re1 Nc4 24.b3 Nd6; or 23.Qf3 Nc4 24.Qxf7 Ne5 25.Qd5 with a healthy extra pawn.] 23...Qxf4 24.Rf1 Qc7 25.Rf5 Nc4 26.Rd5 Qe7 27.b3 Nb6 28.Re5 Qd6 29.Qf5 Qd1+ 30.Kf2 Qd2+ 31.Kf3 Qd1+ 32.Kf2 Qd2+ 33.Re2 Qd5 34.Re5 Qd2+ 35.Kf3 Qd1+ 36.Kg3 Qd6 37.Kh4 Nd7 38.Re8 Nf6 39.Nxf6+ Qxf6+ 40.Qxf6 Rxf6 41.Re5 c4 42.Rh5+ Kg8 43.Rc5 Rf2 44.bxc4 Rxg2 45.cxb5 axb5 46.Rxb5 f6 47.a4 Kh7 48.a5 Kh6  with the idea of 49 g5 mate so Kotronias had to play 49.Rh5+ Kg6. 49.Rh5+ Kg6 50.Rc5 Kh6 51.Rh5+ Kg6 52.Rc5 Kh6 1/2-1/2 Kotronias,V (2626) - Gormally,D (2471) [C67] Premier Hastings ENG (2), 29.12.2003 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Ne4 8.Qe2 Bf5 9.Rd1 Qe7 10.Nd4 Bg6 11.Nc3 Nc5 12.f4 Ne6 13.Be3 Nxd4 14.Rxd4 h5 15.Qf2 Qe6 16.Ne2 Bc5 17.Rd2 Bxe3 18.Qxe3 0-0 19.Nd4 Qd7 20.Rf1 Bf5 21.Rff2 g6 22.h3 h4? 23.Rfe2 c5 24.Nf3 Qe7 25.Qf2 Rad8 26.Ng5 Rxd2 27.Rxd2 f6 28.exf6 Rxf6 29.Re2 In the final position Black is losing the h4 pawn and his kingside is too weak. For example 29...Qd7 30.Qxh4 Rf8 31.g4 Bxc2 32.Rd2! (not 32.Rxc2 Qd1+) and Rxc2 winning.  1-0 |
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