Steve Giddins reports from
Liverpool
There is an old saying in
cricket that "catches win matches". The chess
equivalent, although not as eloquent, is that defence
wins tournaments. The chess public loves to see attacks
and sacrificial play, but any professional knows that it
is the dour defensive struggles that yield the extra
half points here and there, which is what decides the
outcome of most tournaments. The most striking feature
of the UK-China match has been the bulldog tenacity with
which all of the
Chinese players defend bad
positions. Time and again, they have wriggled out with
draws, from positions that one would expect them to
lose, and today they did the same a couple more times.
The result was a 5-3 win for the Chinese team, restoring
their match lead to 4 points.
The biggest shock of the
day was Adams' defeat with the white pieces, against
Zhang Pengxiang. A theoretical line of the Sicilian Four
Knights led to a very unusual position, in which White's
king stood on e3. An obscure game then led to the
diagram position:
White has an extra pawn,
but Black's active pieces and the exposed white king
give the second player compensation. In practice,
White's position is probably the more difficult to
handle, and Adams lost quickly after 34.b5? The
computer prefers 34 f5, with unclear play. Qd6
35.Qc1 h5 36.h3 c3 37.b6? Losing immediately. 37 Qe3
is a better chance, although White is still suffering.
37...c2 Forcing decisive material gain.
38.Rxd3 Rxd3 39.Qxc2 Qa3 40.Rf1 h4+ 41.Kxh4 Rxf3 42.Rxf3
Qxf3 43.Qc7 Qd3 44.f5 Qd2 0–1
Short solved the problem of
what to play against a 13-year old who knows everything
modern, by going back to an opening that went out of
favour before she was born. Team captain Jon Speelman's
pre-game advice was "Going back 50 years is a good idea.
100 years is even better". Short duly followed this sage
counsel by resurrecting the Cozio Defence, 3...Nge7
against the Lopez. He was rewarded with a very
comfortable game, and was soon a pawn up in what should
have been a winning ending. However, the computer-like
defensive tenacity of the whole China team is
remarkable, and Hou Yifan provided another example:
Here, the simple move
46...Kc6 should win comfortably enough, but Short
instead played 46...Bd4?, completely missing
White's reply. Hou seized her chance with 47.Rdxd4!
cxd4 48.Rxb4+ Kc7 49.Rc4+ Kd6 50.Rxd4+ Ke7 51.b4
Black is still better, of course, but it is no longer so
simple to win, and a rather rattled Short was unable to
do so. Rd8 52.Rc4
Rd6 53.b5 Rb6 54.Rb4 Kd6 55.Bd3 Kc5 56.Rf4 Rd6 57.Kd2
Kb6 58.Kc3 Rd5 59.Ra4 Rc5+ 60.Kd2 Rc8 61.Ra6+ Kb7 62.Ra4
Ra8 63.Rd4 Ra2+ 64.Kc3 Rh2 65.Rd7+ Kc8 66.Ra7 R5xh4
67.b6 Kb8 68.Ba6 Ra4 69.Rb7+ Ka8 70.Ra7+ Kb8 ½–½
Having lost his first three
games, Jonathan Rowson very sensibly put up the shutters
and made a quick draw as White against Wang Hao, whilst
Nick Pert had a longer, tougher draw against Wang Hue.
Once again, this was a triumph for the Chinese player's
defensive skills, as he held a passive and inferior Slav
ending with relative ease.
Gawain Jones' King's Indian
yielded an excellent position against Bu, and in the
diagram he missed an opportunity to stand better:
Gawain played
18...Nh5?!, but the computer's choice of 18...Nd5!
looks very strong, eg. 19.Bd2 Naxc3 20 Nxc3 Qb6+ 21 Kh1
Qd4, with the initiative. After Gawain's choice, he
gradually drifted into an inferior ending. 19.Bf2
Nxc3 20.Nxc3 Qd7 21.Rad1 Qe6 22.Qxe6 Rxe6 23.Ne2 Ra8
24.g4 Nf6 25.Nd4 Ree8 26.e5! dxe5 27.Nxb5 Reb8 28.Nd6,
and White already had a virtually decisive
advantage, which Bu duly converted.
David Howell outplayed Ni
Hua in a long manoeuvering struggle, and even won a
pawn, but yet again, the advantage slipped through the
British player's fingers.
 .
Here, he played 44...Qc7,
allowing a simplifying combination. 44...Nh6 may have
offered better winning chances. After the text, Ni Hua
pounced, with 45.Qxh7+ Kxh7 46.Bxg8+ Kxg8 47.Rxc7
Rxe4 Black is still better, but the old adage that
"all rook endings are drawn" was once again operative,
and the Chinese GM slipped away with half a point:
48.Rc6 Kf7 49.Rc7+ Ke8 50.Rc6 Ke7 51.Rc7+ Kd6 52.Rc6+
Ke7 53.Rc7+ Kd6 54.Rc6+ Kd5 55.Rxf6 Rxa4 56.Rxb6 Rf4
57.Ra6 Rxf5 58.Rxa5 Kc5 59.g4 Rf4 60.b6+ Kxb6 ½–½
The hero of the British
team so far has been Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, and today
she won yet again, to bring her personal score to 3.5/4.
Her middlegame advantage yielded the endgame position
below:
Black's e-pawn is more
isolated than passed, and Ketevan won rather easily:
31.g3 b5?! This leads to further weaknesses, but
Black's position is difficult in any event. 32.Kg2
bxa4 33.bxa4 Kg8 34.Nc3 e3 35.Kf3 Kf7 36.Nd5 Already
a pawn is lost.
Ke6 37.Nc7+ Ke5 38.Nxa6 Bd4 39.Nb4 Bc3 40.Nd3+ Kd4
41.Nf4 Bd2 42.Ne6+ Kc4 43.Nxg7 Kc3 44.Nf5 Kxc2 45.Nxe3+
Kb3 46.Nd5 Kxa4 47.Nf6 h6 48.Kg4 Kb5 49.Kh5 Kc4 50.Ng4
Kd4 51.Nxh6 Ke4 52.g4 Bc3 53.h4 Ke5 1–0
Jovanka Houska lost a
rather disappointing game against Shen Yang. Her
handling of a slow d3-Lopez looked rather uncertain, and
in the diagram position, Black already has no problems.
Play continued 20...d5
21.Nxd5 Nxd5 and now 22 Bxd5 looks compulsory.
Instead, Jovanka played 22.exd5? and after the
further moves 22...Nxb4 23.Bxb4 Bxb4 24.Rxe5 Bc3
25.Rxe8+ Rxe8 26.Rc1 b4 27.Bc4 Bxd5 28.Bxd5 Qxd5 it
was clear that Black had a large, if not decisive
positional advantage. Jovanka struggled hard, but
could not hold the game.
In the Open tournament,
three players share the lead on 5.5/7: Daniel Fridman,
Alberto David and David Smerdon. Behind them is a group
of 11, all on 5/7, including the home players Hebden,
Haslinger, Shaw, and Gormally.
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