British Championship:Mic hael Adams wins the title

06.08.2011 – It was a gripping final stage of the Darwin Strategic 98th British Championships. In round ten Nigel Short once again caught his main rival Michael Adams. In the final round both fell into some trouble with their games but managed to draw. This meant that there had to be a play-off for the title on Saturday, after the closing ceremony. Mickey Adams won it in the second game. Update. The 98th Darwin Strategic British Championships took place in Ponds Forge, Sheffield, from July 26th to August 5th 2011. The games were held as seven hour sessions: 100 minutes for 40 moves followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from first move. The Championship is also hosting events for seniors, U2000, U1800, U1600, U1400, British U16, U14, U13, U12, U11, U10, U9, U8, the Major Open, Five Day Open (a.m. and p.m.) Weekenders and Rapid Plays. For most of the 98th British Championship it was a battle between the two top seeds, Michael Adams and Nigel Short. Before round ten "Mickey" was leading, but when he drew Nicholas Pert and Nigel beat Peter Wells the score was even. Top standings after ten (of eleven) rounds Rnk  Name Score Rating TPR W-We 1 GM Adams, Michael 8.0 2715 2748 +0.52 2 GM Short, Nigel D 8.0 2687 2753 +0.85 3 GM Jones, Gawain C B 7.5 2606 2669 +0.92 4 IM Hawkins, Jonathan 7.5 2457 2626 +2.24 5 GM Pert, Nicholas 7.0 2555 2535 +0.10 GM Nicholas Pert, rated 2555, drew Michael Adams in round ten David Anderton, leader of the Seniors after nine rounds, chats with Championship contender Nigel Short, before the start of round ten We'll hold back on this one – you think of an appropriate caption Addendum: here are some of the proposals sent in by our readers: "...then I sacricficed a pawn and got a huge lead in development" (Thomas); "The pies where this big when I was a lad in Bolton" (Bryan Whitby); "Yes, I saw it too. It's this big. We need to find a crocodile hunter" (Volker Kraft); "The size of the problems with FIDE is this big" (Paul Hopwood); "I came this close to beating Mickey Adams in the playoff matches" "I once caught a sea bishop this size"; (David Scarian). A sea bishop, the inspiration for Nigel's narrative and gesture? The stage was set for an exciting final round, with many different outcomes possible. As it turned out both title contenders ran into serious problems and at one time it looked as if both might lose (Nigel, it must be said, seemed to have accepted an inferior position, Lasker style, to provoke his opponent into over-reaching). Top boards, spectators, players in the other championships in round eleven Michael Adams vs IM Yang-Fan Zhou, GM Steven Gordon vs Nigel Short The spectators: enthralled by the dramatic finish Nigel Short tried to provoke errors by his opponent Gordon, S2533–Short, N2687½–½A4098th ch-GBR11Sheffield ENG05.08.2011 1.d4 c6 2.d5 e5 3.e4 e6 4.dxe6 dxe6 5.xd8+ xd8 6.f4 c6 7.c3 c5 8.f3 a5 9.a4 h6 10.d3 f6 11.e2 e7 12.a3 d7 13.c4 f7 14.h4 h5 15.e3 xe3 16.xe3 b6 17.hg1 g5 18.g3 g4 19.d4 d6 20.ac1 hc8 21.b3 e8 22.gf1 d8 23.e5 f5 24.fd1 b7 25.d2 c5 26.cd1 g7 27.c4 xd3 28.xd3 d8 29.a3 e8 30.e3 ac8 31.3d2 b8 32.d3 bc8 33.1d2 b8 34.f2 bc8 35.e2 a8 36.e3 ab8 37.e2 a8 38.f2 ac8 39.d1 b8 40.3d2 bc8 41.e1 a8 42.d3 ab8 43.1d2 a8 44.d1 g7 45.c2 e8 46.b2 g7 47.c4 e8 48.a3 dc8 49.b5 c6 50.d4 e8 51.bd6 d8 52.xe8 xd4 53.xd4 xe8 ½–½ Mickey Adams was put under pressure by IM Yang-Fan Zhou Adams, Mi2715–Zhou, Y2444½–½B4098th ch-GBR11Sheffield ENG05.08.2011 1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.xc6 bxc6 7.e5 d5 8.e4 c7 9.f4 b6 10.a3 f5 11.exf6 xf6 12.xf6+ gxf6 13.h5+ d8 14.d3 c5 15.d2 f5 16.b4 e3 17.e2 xd2+ 18.xd2 a5 19.d1 axb4 20.axb4 e8 21.h4 a3 22.f1 d4 23.h3 g8 24.f3 a6 25.f2 xd3+ 26.fxd3 xd3 27.xd3 xf2+ 28.xf2 c7 29.a3 b6 30.a5 b7 31.c4 d5 32.h5 dxc4 33.c5 b6 34.xc4 d8 35.g4 fxg4 36.g3 d1 37.xg4 g1+ 38.h4 h6 39.e4 h1+ 40.g4 g1+ 41.f3 h1 42.e5 f1+ 43.g3 g1+ 44.f2 h1 45.g2 h4 46.f3 h1 47.xe6 xh5 48.g4 b5 49.xh6 xb4 50.g5 b1 51.f5 g1+ 52.h5 b5 53.f6 c5 54.f7 f1 55.g6 b4 56.h5 xf7 57.xf7 c4 58.e6 c3 59.h2 b3 60.d5 c2 61.xc2 xc2 62.e4 ½–½ Round eleven top board results White Score Rating Black Score Rating Result GM Adams, Michael 8.0 2715 IM Zhou, Yang-Fan 6.5 2444 ½-½ GM Gordon, Stephen J 6.5 2533 GM Short, Nigel D 8.0 2687 ½-½ GM Jones, Gawain C B 7.5 2606 GM Pert, Nicholas 7.0 2555 ½-½ GM Wells, Peter K 6.5 2489 IM Hawkins, Jonathan 7.5 2457 ½-½ GM Howell, David W L 6.5 2625 Adair, James R 6.5 2212 1-0 IM Rendle, Thomas E 6.5 2386 GM Gormally, Daniel W 6.5 2519 0-1 IM Bates, Richard A 6.5 2373 IM Palliser, Richard J D 6.5 2454 ½-½ Top final rankings after eleven rounds Rnk Name Score Rating TPR W-We 1 GM Adams, Michael 8.5 2715 2713 +0.19 2 GM Short, Nigel D 8.5 2687 2726 +0.64 3 GM Jones, Gawain C B 8.0 2606 2658 +0.85 4 IM Hawkins, Jonathan 8.0 2457 2613 +2.28 5 GM Howell, David W L 7.5 2625 2612 +0.08 6 GM Pert, Nicholas 7.5 2555 2539 +0.17 7 GM Gormally, Daniel W 7.5 2519 2441 -0.68 8 GM Gordon, Stephen J 7.0 2533 2536 +0.14 9 GM Hebden, Mark L 7.0 2533 2385 -1.73 10 GM Conquest, Stuart C 7.0 2519 2477 -0.39 11 GM Wells, Peter K 7.0 2489 2479 +0.05 12 IM Palliser, Richard J D 7.0 2454 2372 -0.96 13 IM Zhou, Yang-Fan 7.0 2444 2369 -0.83 14 IM Houska, Jovanka 7.0 2418 2450 +0.60 15 IM Buckley, Graeme N 7.0 2380 2393 +0.29 16 IM Bates, Richard A 7.0 2373 2454 +1.33 17 GM Williams, Simon K 6.5 2528 2377 -1.76 18 GM Summerscale, Aaron 6.5 2415 2450 +0.67 19 IM Rendle, Thomas E 6.5 2386 2391 +0.29 20 FM Eggleston, David J 6.5 2318 2288 -0.38 21 FM Griffiths, Ryan Rhys 6.5 2301 2350 +0.92 22 Adair, James R 6.5 2212 2408 +2.67 23 Lalic, Peter D 6.5 1978 2313 +4.51 Full final results are here Titles and play-off The tie between the leaders, Michael Adams and Nigel Short, meant there would be a play-off for the title: two rapid play games, at the rate of 20 minutes for all moves plus ten minutes per move. In case of a tie then an Armageddon game. The first game, in which Nigel had white, was drawn, the second was convincingly won by Adams, who thus became the 2011 British Champion. Adams, Michael2715–Short, Nigel D26871–0B1698th British Championships 2011, Tiebreak2Sheffield/United Kingdom06.08.2011Robot 4 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.d2 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 6.f3 g4 7.e2 e6 8.0-0 d7 9.c4 c7 10.h4 h5 11.h3 xe2 12.xe2 0-0-0 13.d1 d6 14.d5 de8 15.e3 c5 16.xc5 xc5 17.b4 d7 18.dxc6 xc6 19.c5 f5 20.d4 c7 21.c1 b8 22.f3 d8 23.c6 f6 24.b5 xd4 25.xd4 b6 26.b2 h6 27.f3 g6 28.e5 g8 29.d1 d5 30.d7+ a8 31.f6 xf6 32.xf6 a6 33.d7 f4 34.d8+ 1–0 IM Jovanka Houska became British Womens Champion 2011, scoring 7/11 (+5, =4, –2). Jovanka also became English Womens Champion 2011. Photos by Epidemiac, Steve King, Adam Raoof and Steve Connor for the official site Game-of-the-day video reports by IM Andrew Martin Round eight: Buckley,Graeme N (2380) - Wells,Peter K (2489) Round nine: Howell,D (2625) - Ansell,S (2410) [B43] The two final rounds will go up this weekend and can be watched here. Links Official tournament site Top games in zipped PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.