Go, go, go!!

The 2008 Staunton Memorial, the 6th of the current series, got underway with the Opening ceremony and drawing of lots on Wednesday 6 August, at its traditional home, Simpsons-in-the-Strand. The category 13 event, the strongest such tournament in England for at least 20 years, is once again sponsored by Dutch chess lover, Jan Mol, and brings together 6 Dutch GMs, 4 English GMs, one Russian GM and one New Zealand-born, English-resident IM. The latter, the indefatigable Bob Wade, at 87 years young, is setting a world record by becoming the oldest player ever to compete at such a level.

Regular followers of the Staunton, and of these reports, will be aware that artist Barry Martin, the Hon Secretary of the Staunton Society, always likes to put on something of a show in the otherwise humdrum drawing of lots. As last year, he once again paid homage to Jan Mol's interest in Formula One, by having the players determine their draw numbers by a series of head-to-head races, using radio-controlled dune buggy cars. The winning racer, each of whom had first consumed a glass or two of welcoming champagne, would be the first to propel his car across the floor and through a picture of retired former world champion, Garry Kasparov! Hmmm - "Kasparov run over by five drunk drivers" - sounds like the sort of newspaper headline Vlad "The Impaler" Putin dreams of...

A nervous Garry K awaits his fate

One might have thought that the Brits would have had something of an advantage here. After all, our Dutch guests are rather more well-known for their love of the humble bicycle, than of the internal combustion engine. Anyone who, like the present writer, has spent any time wandering around the streets of Amsterdam, will be only too painfully aware that in the Dutch Highway Code, the cyclist is king, with the motorist a poor second and the wretched pedestrian barely registering on the scale at all. However, it was not to be. As if to emphasise their intentions, the Dutch won all six of the head-to-head races, thereby securing the white pieces in each of the round one games. Britain's best performance came from Nigel Short, possibly benefitting from his experience of the traffic in his adopted home city of Athens. However, he had the misfortune of facing "Ayrton" L'Ami, who put up by far the most impressive performance of the night, and ploughed into poor Garry Kimovich within seconds of the starter's pistol firing.

Smeets and Adams under starter's orders. Adams lost this particular battle, but won the war next day

This humiliation over, the players and guests retired for a splendidly traditional Simpsons roast beef dinner. Nigel, still smarting over his race defeat, pulled something of a face at the gigantic Yorkshire pudding, which accompanied the meal. Then again, he does have the excuse of hailing from the wrong side of the Pennines. To a true Tyke, of course, Yorky pud is little less than a religion, the seriousness of which is emphasised by the tragic story of the Yorkshireman who came down South, couldn't get any Yorkshire pudding, and in his despair, went back home and battered himself to death...

"Turning reluctantly to the chess", as Harry Golombek was wont to say, Thursday's first round saw the six Dutch players all wielding the white pieces. The game Timman-Wade brought together the tournament's two oldest players, with Jan Timman playing what nowadays must be the unaccustomed role of the young whippersnapper, receiving a full 30 years from his opponent. Wade's unusual opening sequence 1.e4 d6 2.d4 c6 3.f4 Nf6 4.e5 Bg4 seemed initially to bring a tolerable position, but things soon went wrong, and by the time he got his queen trapped in the centre at move 21, he was already facing a lost cause on the queenside.

L'Ami-Short was a carefully-played draw, whilst Sokolov-Wells saw the Englishman outplay his formidable opponent, but agree a draw in a position where he stood substantially better, but had little time on the clock.

Alexander Cherniaev, who is fulfilling the role of honorary Englishman, whilst adding the necessary third nationality to the tournament line-up, faced Jan Werle with Black. The latter's positional exchange sacrifice yielded a pawn and good positional compensation, but it was not clear that White had more than enough. However, Cherniaev lost time with a long-winded knight manoeuvre, and soon found  himself tied hand and foot. White regained his material with an extra pawn, and Cherniaev's subsequent blunder of a piece only shortened the game, rather than changing its result.

Van Wely won the longest game of the day against Jon Speelman, who looked to stand OK from the opening, but weakened and shed a pawn. Even so, his excellent blockading knights and dark-square play appeared to offer good compensation, but van Wely gradually made progress and Speelman resigned when faced with two connected passed pawns in the ending.

The game of the day was undoubtedly Mickey Adams' splendid tussle with current Dutch Champion, Jan Smeets:

Staunton Memorial (1), 07.08.2008

The more usual choice here is 10.g3, as played by Kasparov against Karpov in game 14 of their New York/Lyon world championship match in 1990. Indeed, that was the very game that revived the Scotch as a serious weapon in GM play. It is sobering to speculate how much of the present game is to be found in Kasparov's legendary database - I would not be at all surprised if he analysed much of it back in 1990!

Smeets thought for some 45 minutes over this move, which appears to be a novelty. As far back as 1881, Blackburne chose 11.Qe4 against Zukertort, eventually losing a long ending.

Obviously forced. White's king and development is a disaster, but the black minor pieces and queen lack stability, and he needs to use all his tactical ingenuity to avoid being driven back in disarray. This is one of those positions where everything depends on the precise tactical features.

At first sight, 14.Bc1 looks as though it wins material, but Black has the tactical retort 14...d6!, when he stands better after both 15.Bxf4 dxe5+ and 15.e6 Qf6.

14...Ne6 15.Bc1 Qg6 16.h5

16.Bd3 also looks strong, but is well met by 16...Nd4

16...Qc2+!

Another neat tactical resource.

17.Kxc2 Nd4+ 18.Kd3?

This looks like the final mistake. White should settle for 18.Kb2, although Black is still doing well.

18...Nxf3 19.Ke4?

Continuing the theme of death by misadvanture.

19...Nxe5!

Another hammer-blow, the main point being that 20.Kxe5 Be7! regains the material. With Smeets by now in time-trouble, his position quickly collapses.

20.h6 Ng4 21.hxg7 Rhg8 22.Kf5 Rxg7 23.f3 Nf2 24.Rh2 Bc5 25.Bh6 Rg6 26.Nd2 Bd4 27.Bg5 Re8 28.Rxf2 Re5+ 0-1

A great show of tactical control by Adams.