UK - China Match Liverpool. Malcolm Pein Reports

Round 4 September 7th 2007

The Chinese team reasserted their superiority in the fourth round of the UK v China Summit at St Georges Hall in Liverpool. With two games to play China lead 18-14. On top board there was the rare sight of Michael Adams losing with the white pieces as Zhang Pengxiang showed his tactical prowess.

One bright spot for the UK has been the form of 16 year old David Howell who was given a stern examination by Ni Hua but drew after 60 moves playing black in a game where he was somewhat worse for a long time but recovered well and nearly won. Adams’ defeat by Zhang makes Howell’s win over the same opponent in the previous round look even more impressive. Jonathan Rowson was happy just to get on the scoreboard at the fourth attempt

Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant played well again and is the top scorer in the entire competition with 3.5/4 as she was the UK team’s only winner for the second time. Jovanka Houska’s ponderous play in the Ruy Lopez was punished.

Round four: China 5-3 UK
 
Round 4 (September 7, 2007)

Adams, Michael            -  Zhang Pengxiang           0-1   44  B45  Sicilian Classical
Hou Yifan                 -  Short, Nigel D            1/2   70  C60  Ruy Lopez
Rowson, Jonathan          -  Wang Hao                  1/2   21  D12  Slav Defence
Pert, Nicholas            -  Wang Yue                  1/2   50  D19  Slav Defence
Bu Xiangzhi               -  Jones, Gawain C B         1-0   53  E68  King's Indian Fianchetto
Ni Hua                    -  Howell, David W L         1/2   60  A16  English Opening
Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan  -  Ding Yixin                1-0   53  B93  Sicilian Najdorf with 6.f4
Houska, Jovanka           -  Shen Yang                 0-1   53  C90  Ruy Lopez
 
Overall score: China 18-14 UK

A classic King’s Indian carve up. White was better but it only takes one error in a game where the battle is a race to invade on opposite wings.

Shen Yang (2439) - Arakhamia,K (2418) [E97]
UK-CHN Match Liverpool ENG (3), 06.09.2007
[IM Malcolm Pein]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Nd2 Nd7 10.b4 a5 Black acts to diminish the force of the thrust c4-c5 11.bxa5 Rxa5 12.Nb3 Ra8 13.a4 f5 14.f3 Kh8 15.a5 Ng8 Opening a path for the queen 16.Be3 [16.c5 Nxc5 17.Nxc5 dxc5 18.Be3 b6 19.axb6 Rxa1 20.Qxa1 cxb6 21.Qa7 Bh6 22.Bxh6 Nxh6 23.Qb8 Nf7 24.Na4 Qg5 25.f4 exf4 26.Nxb6 f3 27.Bxf3 fxe4 28.Bd1 Qe3+ 29.Kh1 Qd3 30.Rg1 Kg7 31.Nxc8 Qxd5 32.Nb6 Rxb8 33.Nxd5 Ne5 34.Nc3 Rb4 35.h3 Rc4 36.Nd5 Rd4 37.Ne3 Rd2 38.Rf1 c4 39.Kg1 c3 40.Bb3 Re2 41.Ng4 Nxg4 42.hxg4 Kh6 43.Rc1 Kg5 44.Rxc3 Rd2 45.Rc2 Rd4 46.Be6 Kf4 47.Kf2 e3+ 48.Ke2 Re4 49.Bd5 Re5 50.Bf3 h5 51.Rc4+ Kg3 52.Rc6 Rg5 53.gxh5 gxh5 54.Rc1 Kh2 55.Kxe3 h4 56.Rc4 Kg3 57.Rc1 Re5+ 58.Be4 Ra5 59.Rh1 Ra3+ 60.Kd4 Ra4+ 61.Ke5 Ra5+ 62.Bd5 Kg4 63.Rh3 Kg5 64.Rc3 Ra7 65.Rc8 Re7+ 66.Be6 Rg7 67.Rh8 Ra7 68.Rg8+ 1-0 Watanabe,A (2350)-Zaw Win Lay (2465)/Yangon MYA 1998] 16...f4 Black's aim is to open the g file, White wants to penetrate on c7 17.Bf2 g5 18.c5 Ndf6 19.Nb5 g4

20.Qc2? [Too slow 20.cxd6 cxd6 21.Bb6 Qe7 22.Nc7 was strong] 20...g3! 21.hxg3 fxg3 22.Bxg3 Nh5 23.Bh2 Bh6 24.g4 Bf4! 25.Bd1 [25.gxh5 Bxh2+ 26.Kxh2 Qh4+ 27.Kg2 Nf6 28.Rh1 Rg8+] 25...Bxh2+ 26.Qxh2 Nf4 27.Ra2 Rf6! 28.Qg3 Rh6 29.Rh2 dxc5! 30.Na3 [30.Nxc5 Rxa5] 30...b5 Black is undone on the side of the board she previously controlled 31.Rxh6 [31.Nxb5 Ba6] 31...Nxh6 32.Qh2 Nf7 33.Nxc5 Qe7 34.Qc2 Rxa5 35.Nb1 Ng5 36.Kh2 b4 37.Nb3 Ra6! 38.Rh1 Rh6+ 39.Kg1 Ngh3+ [39...Ngh3+ 40.Kf1 Ba6+ 41.Ke1 Nd3+ 42.Kd2 Qg5+ leads to mate] 0-1

Howell was in trouble from the opening in round two.

Howell,D (2519) - Wang Hao (2624) [C07]
UK-CHN Match Liverpool ENG (2), 05.09.2007
[Crowther,Mark]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Ngf3 cxd4 6.Bc4 Qd6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Nb3 Nc6 9.Nbxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 a6 11.Bb3 Bd7 12.c3 Qc7 13.Bg5 0-0-0 14.Qf3 [14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Qh5 Be8 16.Rad1 Be7 17.Rfe1 Kb8 18.Re3 Qc5 19.Qe2 f5 20.Red3 Bb5 21.Nxb5 Qxb5 22.Bc4 Qb6 23.Rd7 Rhe8 24.Bb3 Rxd7 25.Rxd7 Qc6 26.Qe5+ Kc8 27.Rd4 Rd8 28.g3 Rxd4 29.cxd4 Qc1+ 30.Kg2 Qxb2 31.h4 Kd7 32.Qb8 Qxd4 33.Qxb7+ Kd8 34.Qa8+ Kc7 35.Qxa6 Qe4+ 36.f3 Qe3 37.Qa5+ Kb8 38.Qb5+ Kc7 39.Qa5+ Kb8 40.Qb5+ Kc7 41.Ba4 Bc5 42.Qc6+ Kb8 43.Kh3 Qe1 44.f4 Qf1+ 45.Qg2 Qxg2+ 46.Kxg2 Kc7 47.Be8 f6 48.a4 Bb4 49.h5 h6 1/2-1/2 Akopian,V (2704)-Wang Hao (2593)/Moscow RUS 2006/The Week in Chess 588] 14...Bd6 15.h3 [15.Kh1 Be5 16.Rfe1 h6 17.Bh4 Bf4 18.Bxf6 gxf6 19.Qh5 Rdf8 20.Rad1 f5 21.Rd3 Kb8 22.Red1 Bc8 23.Ne2 Be5 24.Qh4 Rfg8 25.h3 Rg6 26.f4 Bf6 27.Qf2 Rhg8 28.g3 e5 29.Rd6 e4 30.Qb6 R8g7 31.Qxc7+ Kxc7 32.Kh2 Be7 33.R6d2 1/2-1/2 Upton,T (2274)-Berry,N (2247)/Glasgow SCO 2000] 15...Be5 16.Rad1 h6 17.Bc1 g5 18.Qe2 Rhg8 19.Rfe1 Bh2+ 20.Kh1 Bd6 21.Qf3 Bf4 22.g3?! e5! 23.gxf4 g4!

With the open g-file and light squared diagonal black must be winning. 24.Qd3 exd4 25.cxd4 Bc6+ 26.Kh2 gxh3 27.Qf5+ Qd7 28.Qxd7+ Doesn't really help white's king position is still very bad and even this far out the computers already lack improvements to what follows. 28...Bxd7 29.Be3 Rg2+ 30.Kh1 Bc6 31.Bxf7 Bf3 32.Be6+ Kb8 33.Bxh3 Rdg8 34.Bxg2 Rxg2 0-1