Liverpool European Capital of Culture 2008

World Museum, William Brown Street

19 Sept 2008 -That’s it – all done. The bittersweet ending of a chess tournament. There’s nothing quite so desolate as a tournament hall emptied of players and with the equipment tidied away in boxes and pallets. For the pro players, it’s just another stop on the circuit and they move on. For Liverpool and its chess organisers, led so impressively by Professor David Robertson, it means something different – the end of an extraordinary burst of energy over the past three years, taking in two European Union Championships, one prestigious Britain vs China match and ... More details in the final Round Ten report.

18 Sept 2008 - The afternoon got off to a disappointing start when the clash of the English titans failed to live up to its billing. Mickey Adams and Nigel Short concluded hostilities in 12 moves. This sparked off some disapproving emails to us, and messages on chess forums lamenting their lack of fighting spirit. It is hard to argue with some of the sentiments expressed though perhaps the ire needs to be directed towards the format of modern tournaments rather than the players themselves who have a living to make and a limited shelf-life... More is revealed in the Round Nine report.

17 Sept 2008 - The face-off between the two young stars of England and France, David Howell and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, was something of a disappointment, being drawn in 19 moves with nothing much happening. The other two top boards moved almost instantly into endgames. Bacrot managed to win a pawn against Jones but it led inexorably to a drawn rook and pawns endgame. L’Ami-Laznicka was more interesting: it came down to two bishops versus knight (no pawns), which is a tablebase win for White but in more than 50 moves. As the last pawn disappeared... Round Eight report.

16 Sept 2008 - Yesterday we had six leaders. Today we have only three as White vanquished Black on the top three boards. The first of the three to finish was Laznicka-Howell, where the young Englishman lost on time in a level (and not especially complex) position. I think David is one of only two players to have lost this way at this tournament so far, since the move increment is a generous one minute. A little surprising, perhaps, but that’s what happened. The last to finish was Adams-David. This was a typical good day in the office for the top-rated player... Round Seven report.

15 Sept 2008 - The tournament hall was almost empty just before start of play. What many had not remembered was that the Tour of Britain cycling race was due to go past our front door almost at the same time as we were beginning play, and the roads in all directions had been disrupted. Thankfully, it all worked out OK for both players and techies, though a few people arrived puffed out from running and looking a bit harassed. The number of leaders has now swelled to six. The two round five leaders, Alberto David and Viktor Laznicka, took a quick draw. Read more in today's illustrated Round Six report.

14 Sept 2008 - It’s not long before the Dresden Olympiad and we have the entire English squad for Dresden (Adams, Short, Howell, Jones and Conquest) playing here in Liverpool. It occurred to me it might be a bit of fun to see how the nations represented here in Liverpool are scoring as four-player Olympiad-style teams. Let’s have a look, taking the four best scores from each country – remember, this is completely unofficial: England has 16/20 (Adams, Howell, Wells and Gormally all have 4/5); Netherlands have 15 (‘Ali B’ 4, Werle 4, plus any two players. Read more in today's Round Five report.

13 Sept 2008 - We hear so much about draws being a problem in chess that we sometimes lose sight of the fact that a draw is often simply the outcome of a logical and hard-fought game. So our primary theme today, adapting a favourite phrasal formula of GM Adorjan, is that the draw is OK. This can be well exemplified from the games played in round four, where the top four games were all drawn after entertaining struggles. As a result we now have no fewer than 12 players tied in the lead on 3½/4. On top board the Adams juggernaut was brought to a halt. Read more about it in the Round Four report.

12 Sept 2008 - Thankfully, there were no results based on obscure or controversial laws of chess in the third round of the European Union Championships. It was a day of pure chess, played in pristine silence (save for the occasional click-clacking of some players’ high heels on the wood-block floors). The French delegation were not to be thwarted though and on board two the new French superstar Maxime Vachier-Lagrave ground down English GM Keith Arkell in a very complicated ending. It has been pointed out to us by readers that Keith had the incredible defensive move 59...Ka2!! Round Three report.

11 Sept 2008 - At 4.29pm precisely, a few bars of Tarrega’s Gran Vals broke the silence of the tournament hall – better known as the Nokia ringtone. I was present to hear it, working on my laptop in the corner about 10 metres from the top boards and alongside my technical colleagues. For a nanosecond my brain registered blind panic, with the thought ‘Please God, don’t let it be my phone’. Fortunately it wasn’t. I then looked up to see fellow techies and super-grandmasters peering round at each other to see whose mobile was responsible. All is revealed in today's Round Two report.

10 Sept 2008 - This is the first of our daily reports from the European Union Chess Championship being held in Liverpool. I should first introduce myself: I’m John Saunders (editor of British Chess Magazine www.bcmchess.co.uk). It’s my job to bring you the edited highlights of the play, incidents and funny stories. I welcome feedback, so if you’d like to contact me, send me an email on johnsaunders@bcmchess.co.uk. This is the fourth playing of the European Union Chess Championship and the second time it has visited Liverpool. Read the illustrated Round One report.

© SC

© 2008 Liverpool Chess International

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