UK Chess Challenge: Press Release, July, 2011

Hi Tech comes to the Chess Challenge (... but it’s still mano a mano) The UK Chess Challenge lurched into the 21st Century by transmitting moves live from the top four boards into the commentary room, and onto the internet, so thousands could see a gripping battle unfold over two days at Loughborough Grammar School, in the Terafinal stage of this massive competition. Many of the finest young players in the country took part aiming for a crack at the £2,000 top prize, including one player who had come 8th in this year’s British Championship, making a draw in the final round against the champion, Michael Adams. The first shock came from the withdrawal of the 6th seed, James Adair, due to stress, which shows the value of chess as a training ground for the wider world. If you can survive chess, you can survive anything. The second shock was the absence of top girl player Megan Owens, who opted to go to the new junior event in Gibraltar which, for some reason, was put on the very same weekend as the Chess Challenge Terafinal. Organisers please note: do not repeat this schedule next year! That is, if you want a good turn out of home grown (British) players. On grading the top contenders were:- Yang-Fan Zhou grade 230 Marcus Harvey grade 212 Brandon Clarke grade 209 Richard Weaving grade 206 Anand Krishnan grade 195 Jean-Luc Weller grade 189 Indeed, all these players safely made it though on the first day to nine out of nine (three wins apiece). The fourth round clashes on day two were:- Krishnan v Zhou Harvey v Weaving Weller v Clarke Yang-Fan Zhou gradually out played Anand Krishnan, but Harvey’s early aggression back fired against Richard Weaving and he went a piece down. He almost turned the game round in the time scramble, but Weaving managed to scrape home to victory. Weller v Clarke featured the unusual 1 a3 as a first move which Clarke answered with the Dutch Defence, and later made an astute pawn

sacrifice to put Weller under pressure. He then found a spectacular knight and rook sacrifice to dismantle Weller’s position. (see game) White: Weller Black: Clarke White appears to have established formidable central defences. Brandon’s next move reveals the underlying deception in the whole position. 25 … Nxc4! 26 dxc4 Rxe4! 27 fxe4 Bxe4+ 28 Kd2 Bxb1 29 Bc2 Bxc2 30 Kxc2 Re8 31 Rf1 Re2+ and black went on to win the rook and pawn ending.

Yang-Fan Zhou

UK Chess Challenge: Press Release, July, 2011 In round 5, Fide’s new rules reared their ugly head as, despite having lost in the previous round, Marcus Harvey, surprisingly, appeared on board 2, up against 3rd seed Brandon Clarke. This is because, instead of “floating up the middle” as per previous rules, Fide now wants to “float up the top” – in order, apparently, to have more heavy weight contests between the top players. A laudable concept, except that you thereby allow weaker players to come through without playing top opposition. At any rate, this experiment will not be repeated and we will revert to “floating up the middle” next year.

Brandon and Marcus drew a tightly contested game, which meant essentially that Marcus did not get a second bite at the winners’ cherry. The round 5 pairings were:- Zhou (12) v Weaving (12) Clarke (12) v Harvey (9) Krishnan (9) v Claridge Hansen (9) Bowler (9) v Fletcher (9) Jones (9) v Weller (9) Zhang Z (U9 player!)(9) v Zhang R (9) Yang-Fan seemed to be crushing Richard Weaving, but suddenly things went into reverse and, after a game that continued up to the last minutes of the time control, a draw was agreed. In the other games, Krishnan, Bowler and Jones won, Jones thus upsetting the form book. The two Zhangs, who are not related, drew. This meant that with the last round dawning at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the top three players were Yang-Fan, Brandon Clarke and Richard Weaving on 13 points. Close behind on 12 were Steven Jones and Anand Krishnan. Fide rules of “floating up the top”, duly put Anand Krishnan up against Richard Weaving, which gave the “dark horse” Steven Jones, the chance to come through on the inside track by beating James Bowler (it should be pointed out that Jones appears far stronger than his nominal grade of 167, since in the Gigafinal he put out the favourite Michael Rabbitte, graded 183, who over 10 years ago was the UKCC U9 Champion!) The round 6 pairings were:- Clarke (13) v Zhou (13) Weaving (13) v Krishnan (12) Bowler (12) v Jones (12)

UK Chess Challenge: Press Release, July, 2011 Steven Jones demolished James Bowler in a cracking game and leapt forward to 15 points, which put the top boards under pressure because they needed to win to overtake him. As this was the 3-1 system, draws would only give Jones the Championship. Weaving v Krishnan was a completely unbalanced affair with Weaving’s massive centre matched by Krishnan’s attacking formation. Eventually neither side could land the killer punch and a draw resulted. Meanwhile on board 1, Yang-Fan went into a long think, a dangerous procedure at such a fast time limit (this was 30 moves in one hour each and the rest of the game to be completed in 15 minutes each). He was considering a tactical sequence, which would allow a potentially lethal kingside attack. Finally he decided to play for the win, and with accurate calculation, he emerged with a positional advantage of bishop v knight, which he managed to convert to victory, despite both players being short of time. (see game) White: Brandon Clarke Black: Yang-Fan Zhou 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 Nf6 4 Nc3 cxd4 5 Nxd4 g6 6 Be3 a6 (diag)

The so called Dragondorf – hybrid opening of the Dragon variation (… g6) and the Najdorf variation (…a6). 7 f3 b5 8 a4 b4 9 Nd5 Nxd5 10 exd5 (diag)

White is hoping that the weakness of the c6 will turn the game in his favour.

10 … Bg7 11 Qd2 Bb7 Black is prepared to trade his b pawn for the central d pawn. 12 Bc4 Nd7 13 a5 Isolating the b pawn and preventing … Nb6. Black now has to undertake a pawn sacrifice. 13 … Qc7 14 Bb3 After 14 Qxb4 black would play Rb8 with counter-play. 14 … Rb8 15 Ra4! 0-0 16 Rxb4 Qxa5 17 0-0 (diag)

UK Chess Challenge: Press Release, July, 2011 Although white’s rook at b4 looks to be in a precarious position, it is also very active. White threatens 18 Nc6 Bxc6 19 Rxb8 Qxd2 20 Rxf8+ Kxf8 21 Bxd2. Hence black’s next move. 17 … Qc7 18 Re1 Nc5 19 Bh6 (diag)

White now appears to be developing a strong initiative. All his pieces are active, his rook at e1 is pressurising the e7 pawn and the rook at b4 holds the queenside in thrall, as well as threatening to move to h4 sometime to aid the kingside offensive. Yang-Fan accordingly conceives a deep plan to attack the white pawns in the centre and on the queenside at the risk of exposing his own king. 19 … Nxb3 20 Nxb3 Bxb2! 21 Bxf8 Bc3! 22 Rxb7 A counter-sacrifice. A critical line is 22 Qh6, black can answer 22 … Rxf8 23 Rh4 Rc8 24 Qxh7+ Kf8 with an unclear position. Black’s Dragondorf bishop is a powerhouse in both defence and attack.

22 … Rxb7 23 Qh6 Qb8! (diag)

The point of the combination. The bishop at f7 is in an unusual trap, and if white tries 24 Rxe7 Rxe7 or 24 Bxe7, in both cases a check at a7 recovers the material. 24 Re3 Bf6 25 Rxe7 Rxe7 26 Bxe7 Qa7+ 27 Kf1 Qxe7 28 Qd2 h5 29 Qe2 Qb7 30 Qc4 Qb6 (diag)

UK Chess Challenge: Press Release, July, 2011

Although material is level, the white king is less secure than black’s, the black bishop is superior to the short range knight and the outside passed pawn is a potential winner for black. As move 30 had been passed, the first time control was reached and the clocks were put back 15 minutes each. It was not altogether clear, with such a short period of time remaining to both players, if black would be able to convert his advantage into a win. 31 Qd3 a5 32 Qc4 Qe3 33 Qe4 Qc3 34 Ke2 a4! Yang-Fan decides to jettison his passed pawn in order to get his attack going. 35 Qxa4 Qxc2+ 36 Kf1 Qd1+ 37 Kf2 (diag)

So there appears no mate as yet, and by picking up the white pawn a d5, black could go ahead on points for the first time in the game. Instead he opts to continue to harass the white king. 37 … Bc3! 38 Ke3 Bd2+! 39 Kd3 Bf4+ 40 Kc3 Be5+ 41 Kb4 Qxd5 42 Ka3? Bxh2 43 Qe8+ Kg7 44 Qe2 Be5 45 Ka2 g5 46 Qc2 g4 47 Qf5 Kh6 48 fxg4 Qxg2+ 49 Ka3 and black went on to win; the clearest way would be 49 … Bb2+ 50 Kb4 Qxg4+ exchanging the queens.

This victory allowed him to win the event, the £2,000 top prize and the title of STRAT which only 9 players have held previously to him. Unfortunately, he was unable to win the trophy, as that is still with the previous winner, Felix Ynojosa who returned to Venezuela last year. Yang-Fan was an extremely popular winner as shown by the prolonged ovation at the prize giving. Steven Jones capped a brilliant tournament by taking second prize of £500. His only loss came to Anand Krishnan. Richard Weaving was 3rd and 4th= came Brandon Clarke and Marcus Harvey.

UK Chess Challenge: Press Release, July, 2011 GIRLS DE-POWER In the Terafinal, there were 24 girl players who qualified, but only 15 of them actually played, a 63% take up. Contrast this with the boys, where there were 41 qualifiers of whom only 3 did not play; this is a remarkable take up of 93%. The girls are protected more at a younger age, but also seem to suffer a loss of ambition and achievement as they get older, this despite a top girls prize of £1,000. What an interesting sociological analysis can be made just by examining behaviour in the Chess Challenge! Overall the policy of the Chess Challenge, which sets up special sections for girls in the early stages of the competition, seems to have born fruit, as many more girls participate than before. However, if girls were segregated in the Terafinal, more of them might play, but I do not think this would be to their advantage: at some point they must match their skills against the best players in the land. Among those girls who did take part there was fierce competition. The main contenders for the top prize turned out to be the Wang sisters, Rachel Cass, Chantelle Foster and Anna York-Andersen. Chantelle Foster massively enhanced her reputation and had she seized the opportunity to defeat Maria Wang in round 4, from a winning position, she could well have gone on to win the title of top girl. Anna York-Andersen was determined but lacked the experience of the other players. Overall, Maria Wang played the best and deserved her victory despite suffering a scare in round 4. Rachel Cass and Emilia Jewell both impressed, but Shiela Dines and Amy Milson were disappointing. The two younger Surrey girls, Katherine Shepherd and Akshaya Kalaiyalahan were solid, but need a dose of Oxfordshire confidence to break through at this level. In the battle for the £1,000 U11 prize, Michael Fletcher and William Claridge Hansen proved more than a match for any but the strongest players; while Matthew Wadsworth could well have won the title, but as the front runner had to play tougher opposition and got leap-frogged.

There was only one likely winner of the U9 prize – Zheming Zhang, who might well have won the U11 prize instead. However, in the last round he faced the daunting task of defeating Maria Wang.

Zheming Zhang

William Claridge-Hansen (left) and

Michael Fletcher

Top: Maria Wang

UK Chess Challenge: Press Release, July, 2011 CHALLENGERS INNOVATION This year the Challengers sections were increased to three, which made the events more competitive, since with fewer players per section, the stronger players were likely to meet more frequently. In all sections, the 3-1 system ensured that no player could “halve-out” in the last round, secure in the knowledge that he could come at least first equal; in all three events the last round was extremely competitive. In all, about £11,500 prize money was shared over the weekend, £1,500 in each of the Challengers sections and £7,000 in the Terafinal.

Terafinal Results: August, 2011 Score: 3 for win 1 for draw

First Name Last Name Age Sex Grade School County TF

Score Pos Title Prize Yang-Fan Zhou 16 B 230 Whitgift Surrey 16 1st STRAT £2,000

Steven Jones 18 B 167 Grappenhall CC Cheshire 15 2nd £500

Richard Weaving 17 B 206 Warwick Warks 14 3rd £300

Maria Wang 15 G 175 Oxford High Oxon 13 4th= Top Girl £1,000

Brandon Clarke 15 B 209 Wellington Leics 13 4th= £125

Marcus Harvey 15 B 212 Marlborough Oxon 13 4th= £125

Anand Krishnan 17 B 195 Wilson’s Surrey 13 4th= £125

William Claridge-Hansen 11 B 162 Dr Challoner’s/Aylesbury CC Bucks 12 8th= Top = U11 £500

Michael Fletcher 11 B 176 Nottingham High Jun Notts 12 8th= Top = U11 £500

James Bowler 14 B 171 QEGS Wakefield Yorks 12 8th= £100

Chantelle Foster 14 G 151 Aylesbury High Oxon 11 11th= £70

Anna Wang 12 G 166 Oxford High Oxon 11 11th= £70

Roy Zhang 14 B 179 Reading Berks 11 11th= £70

Zheming Zhang 9 B 137 Jesmond CC North’lnd 10 14th= Top U9 £300

Ananthanarayanan Balaji 12 B 164 Queen Elizabeth’s Middlesex 10 14th= £60

Rachel Cass 16 G 158 Aughton St Michaels Lancs 10 14th= £60

Sheila Dines 18 G 166 Old Palace Surrey 10 14th= £60

Matthew Grattage 13 B 151 Sandown, IOW Hants 10 14th= £60

Matthew Wadsworth 11 B 173 St Piran’s/Maidenhead CC Berks 10 14th= £60

Jean-Luc Weller 16 B 189 York RI Yorks 10 14th= £60

Joseph Friar 12 B 149 Worcester JCA/Hagley Worcs 9 21st= £50

Emilia Jewell 13 G 139 St Louis Suffolk 9 21st= £50

Akshaya Kalaiyalahan 10 G 137 Christ Church, NM Surrey 9 21st= £50

Karina Kruk 17 G 158 Ulidia Integrated Co Antrim 9 21st= £50

Sailesh Sitaram 10 B 130 Stamford JS Lincs 9 21st= £50

Ben Thomas 11 B 125 St Joseph’s JCC/Murch Glam 9 21st= £50

Richard Zhu 11 B 135 Lambrook-Haileybury Berks 9 21st= £50

Owen Messere 12 B 154 St Olaves Kent 8 28th= £30

Akito Oyama 12 B 146 Cambridge Tough Chess Cambs 8 28th= £30

Katherine Shepherd 13 G 156 Ashtead JCC/Rosebery Surrey 8 28th= £30

Imogen Turvey-Cross 10 G 92 Rydal Penrhos Denbighshire 8 28th= £30

Ananth Vijayakumar 10 B 131 Burlington Surrey 8 28th= £30

Haotian Wu 9 B 130 John Betts/Richmond JCC Middx 8 28th= £30

Anna York-Andersen 18 G 156 Woodbridge Suffolk 8 28th= £30

Arul Gupta 10 B 146 Eltham College Kent 7 35th= £30

Gautam Jain 9 B 119 Heathside Middx 7 35th= £30

Jake Liang 10 B 129 Tough Chess/Grand Avenue Surrey 7 35th= £30

Adam Averbukh 8 B 118 Wimbledon Chase/Richmond JCC Surrey 6 38th= £30

Joseph Dalton 10 B 63 RGS Newcastle North’lnd 6 38th= £30

Max Elliott 9 B 118 Thames Ditton Surrey 6 38th= £30

UK Chess Challenge: Press Release, July, 2011 Eleanor Hapeshi 11 G 77 Musketeers/King’s Glos. Glos 6 38th= £30

Ibraheem Malik 10 B 96 Blue Coat Warks 6 38th= £30

Charlie McLaren 9 B 110 Musketeers Glos 6 38th= £30

Shivakshi Ravi 14 G 112 King Henry VIII Warks 6 38th= £30

Aditya Verma 7 B 124 Chingford Chess Set Essex 6 38th= £30

Amy Milson 15 G 146 King Edward VI GS Louth Lincs 4 46th= £30

Jonah Willow 8 B 84 West Nottingham CC Notts 4 46th= £30

Meytal Cohen 8 G 78 Brookland Junior Middx 3 48th= £30

Samuel McConnell 8 B 76 Sussex House/Richmond JCC Middx 3 48th= £30

James Moreby 8 B RGS Newcastle North’lnd 3 48th= £30

Adam Bennett 7 B 94 Bramcote Hills Notts 1 51st= £30

Kiran Lee 8 B Homefield Surrey 1 51st= £30

Michael Rabbitte, winner of the Northumbrian Plate in Challengers A 34 Played

Michael Rabbitte 18 B 183 Eccles Vith/St Michaels Lancs 16 1st £500 Joseph Levene 14 B 165 Queen Elizabeth Boys Middx 14 2nd £250 Cosima Keen 12 G 140 Ashdown House Sussex 13 3rd= Top Girl £150 Mark Kenyon 11 B 151 West Notts/Ravenshead Notts 13 3rd= Top U11 £150

Samuel Milson 17 B 186 King Edward VI GS Louth Lincs 13 3rd= £150

Jagdeep Dhemrait 10 B 112 Barham Primary Middx 12 6th= £30 Andrew Horton 13 B 155 3 C's/Didsbury Lancs 12 6th= £30 Philip Knott 14 B 165 Wilson's/Castles JCC Surrey 12 6th= £30 Aloysius Lip 11 B 142 Solihull Checkmate Warks 12 6th= £30 Theo Slade 10 B 122 Shebbear (Devon) Cornwall 12 6th= £30 John Croasdale 9 B 107 Nottingham High Jun Notts 10 11th= Top U9 £50

Pierre Weller (left) and Peter Lalic shared the Challengers Plate in Challengers B 37 Played Peter Lalic 17 B 192 Sutton Grammar Surrey 14 1st= £375 Pierre Weller 15 B 175 York RI Yorks 14 1st= £375

Benjamin Atueyi 16 B 110 Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar Lancs 13 3rd= £130

Joe O'Donnell 16 B 150 York RI Yorks 13 3rd= £130

UK Chess Challenge: Press Release, July, 2011 Phoebe Price 14 G 107 3 Cs Lancs 13 3rd= Top Girl £130 Jasper Tambini 18 B 168 Tough Chess/Claremont Surrey 13 3rd= £130

George Ivanov 9 B 104 Heathside Prep/Barnet Knights Middx 12 7th= Top U9 £50

Naomi Wei 11 G 111 William Torbitt Jun Essex 12 7th= Top U11 £50 Jackson Wen 10 B 113 Bickley Park Kent 12 7th= Top U11 £50 In Challengers C, Matthew Daggitt was winner of the Florence Nightingale Shield 37 Played Matthew Daggitt 18 B 174 Magdalen College Oxon 15 1st £500 William Jones 18 B 195 Beths Grammar Kent 14 2nd= £225 David Redman 12 B 163 Cambridge City Cambs 14 2nd= £225 Benjamin Andrew 18 B 144 Ibstock Surrey 13 4th= £110 Harry Croasdale 12 B 145 Nottingham High Notts 13 4th= £110 George Salimbeni 18 B 188 Crowborough CC Sussex 13 4th= £110 Koby Kalavannan 9 B 108 Grand Avenue Surrey 12 7th= Top U9 £50 Jennifer Neil 13 G 110 Parklands Lancs 12 7th= Top Girl £100

Alex Vanlint 11 B 119 Basingstoke JCC/St Mary's Hants 12 7th= Top U11 £100

Jason Lau 12 B 101 3 C's Lancs 12 7th= £20

Laurence Jones, father of top Kent Juniors William and Victor Jones, won the Relax Tournament 32 Played FirstName LastName Age Sex Grade County Score Pos Laurence Jones . M 151 Lewisham 16 1st James Wadsworth . M 106 Maidenhead 15 2nd Alan Kenyon . M 133 West Notts 14 3rd James Friar U14 M 130 Haqley 13 4th

UK Chess Challenge: Press Release, July, 2011

Despite the UK Chess Challenge embracing new technology – and that included digital clocks on the top boards – one innovation it has not incorporated is Fischer timing. Fischer, though an iconoclastic figure who took on – and defeated – the entire Soviet Chess Machine, was also a chicken. He hated pressure, and after winning the World Championship in 1972 he did not play for 20 years, only coming back for a match against well-past-his-best Boris Spassky. Fischer did not even try to challenge Kasparov to a match at Fischerandom rules. I am sure Kappa would not have refused the offer. One of Fischer’s inventions was the Fischer time limit, where the clock surreptitiously adds 10 seconds to your time for every move you play. This means that you need never lose on time and considerably reduces the tension of a chess game. As a result, several games now go on for more than 100 moves, and there is a real danger of players and spectators dying of boredom. In contrast, there is nothing to beat the excitement of games going to the wire with players only having a few seconds left on the clock. Once again, in trying to make life easier for themselves, chess players have diminished the value of the game as a spectator sport by excising the excitement. The UK Chess Challenge, however, which has pioneered the 3-1 system of scoring (3 point for a win, 1 point for a draw), is also steadfastly opposed to the introduction of Fischer timings. The result was a thoroughly engrossing and thrilling tournament which will remain in the memories of players and spectators for many years to come. Our thanks to our sponsors, The British Land Company, who are withdrawing after 10 fantastic years of supporting the event, and also to the hundreds of school, county and national chess organisers, plus supportive parents, who help to make this event such a success. Our thanks too, to Loughborough Grammar School, and in particular, to the deputy head, Mr Weitzel, for providing an excellent venue for the tournament. We hope to return next year. Michael Basman August, 2011

“Chess is often regarded as a game which is incomprehensible to the general public…”