Steve Giddins reports from
Liverpool
As expected, the Chinese
team clinched overall match victory against the UK,
after triumphing 4.5 - 3.5 in the final round. This game
them an overall score of 28-20, a convincing result,
after a match full of fighting chess.
Adams won in ruthlessly
professional style against Hou Yifan.
From the diagram, he made
his intentions clear with the move 15.Qb6! With
the queens gone, Black have find it much more difficult
to generate tactical chances, and will just suffer with
the weak a6-pawn. After 15...Qxb6 16.Bxb6 Bb7 17.f3
Nc6 18.Ra4 h6 19.Kf1 Rfc8 20.Bf2 Rcb8 21.Bg3 Rd8
22.Rda1, the fate of the pawn was already sealed,
and it duly dropped off after Rab8 23.Nd1 Bc8
24.Na5 Nxa5 25.Rxa5 e5 26.Bxa6. Adams went on to win
without difficulty.
Nigel Short was left
lamenting his failure to clinch the full point, after
falling victim to yet another piece of defensive
tactical ingenuity from Ni Hua.
With the h-pawn under
control and Black's rooks uncoordinated, Short felt that
his position was "totally winning". However, after
30.Rg3 Rh5 31.fxg6? the Chinese GM instantly flashed
out the move 31...h2!, and Short realised to his
horror what was coming. 32.gxf7+ Kxf7 33.Rh1 Rxa2!
The point. 34.Kxa2 Ra5+ 35.Kb1 Ra1+ 36.Kc2 Rxh1
Now White just has to be thankful that he is not
losing. 37.Rh3 Be5 38.f4 Bd6 39.Bd2 Kg6 40.Kd3 Kf5
41.Ke2 Kg4 42.Rh7 Bxf4 43.Bxf4 Kxf4 44.Kf2 Ke5 ½–½
"I am just such a patzer!", was Short's exasperated
comment after the game.
Nick Pert drew a quiet game
against Wang Hao, as did Rowson against Bu Xiangzhi. In
fact, these two games were the first to finish, and gave
China the one point that they needed to clinch match
victory. Jovanka Houska agreed a draw in a position
where UK team captain Jonathan Speelman felt that she
may have stood a little better, but after a torrid few
weeks here and in the Staunton Memorial, Jovanka was
feeling low on confidence, and her decision was
understandable.
Gawain Jones drew a
wild-looking game against Zhang.
From the diagram, Zhang set
up apparently dangerous threats by 32.Rd8+ Kh7
33.Nd7, but it turns out that Nf8+ only threatens a
draw. After various permutations, that is
eventually what transpired.
33...Nxf3+ 34.Kh1 Ra6
35.Nf8+ Kg8 36.Nd7+ Kh7 37.e5 Qg4 38.Nf8+ Kg8 39.Ne6+
Kh7 40.Nf8+ Kg8 41.Kg2 Nxh4+ 42.Kf2 Qf5+ 43.Kg1 Nf3+
44.Kg2 Ng5 45.Ng6+ Kh7 46.Nf8+ Kg8 47.g4 Qe4+ 48.Qxe4
Nxe4 49.Ne6+ Kh7 50.Nf8+ ½–½
The final two games both
resulted in disappointments for the British. Ketevan
Arakhamia-Grant had been the UK's side's star performer
up to now, but she went down in a sharp Sicilian against
Ding Yixin.
here, Arakhamia initiated
complications by 15...d5 16.exd5 Rd8 17.Bb6 Rxd5
18.Nxd5 Nbxd5 19.Nxa5 Nxb6 20.Bxb7 Qc5 21.Bxa8 Qxa5?
21..Qxf2 looks a bette r option, when Black probably
stands better. 22.Bf3 e4 23.Be2 e3 24.Rf4 Bxe2
25.Qxe2 Qe5 26.Rff1 h5 27.a5 Na8? And now 27...Ng4
appears to force a draw, eg. 28.g3 Qd5+ 29.Qg2 e2
30 Rfe1 Nf2+ 31 Kg1 Nh3+ etc. After the text, White's
a-pawn proved decisive, despite some ingenious
resistance by Black.
Finally, David Howell lost
a sharp ending, where his rook initially looked at least
the equal of White's two pieces. However, White
eventually coordinated his pieces effectively and won,
in the last game to finish.
Thus, the Chinese team took
the match by a score of 28-20. It was a thoroughly
convincing performance by their young stars, who won all
but one of the six rounds. Overall, their tenacity and
tactical alertness just proved too much for the UK team,
especially with the fast time-limit. Our congratulations
to the victors, and commiserations to the losers. The
biggest winner of the week was undoubtedly the game of
chess, with a great deal of fighting chess, and hardly
any colourless draws.
The Open section was won by
Daniel Fridman, whose quick last-round draw was enough
to clinch outright victory on 7/9. Second place was
shared by Gormally, Vovk, Dgebuadze, Ghaem Maghami and
Lie. Lower down, mention should be made of local
Liverpool player Gary Quillan, whose last round
demolition of Dagne Ciuksyte earned him a well-deserved
IM norm.
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