Warrington chess column (From Warrington Guardian)

Warrington chess column

10:47am Friday 4th December 2009

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THE Annual British Rapidplay championships were held at Halifax at the weekend.

Due to the fast nature of the play it is always an exciting event on the chess calendar and several Warrington League regulars were involved this year.

Leading the line for the WDCL was Martin Brown of Grappenhall, who was recently crowned the British Under 16s champion.

This time, however, he had his work cut out in an immensely strong field that included the defending champion and British longplay champion David Howell, and other experienced grandmasters such as former champion GM Peter Wells, GM's Mark Hebden and Keith Arkell.

Other Warrington League regulars involved were England juniors Nathan Talbot, Chris Chadwick and Steven Jones, while the Culcheth club was also represented by their top players John Smith and Tom Vout.

The finish to the tournament itself was thrilling.

After eight rounds it looked like former champion Peter Wells was all set to regain the title.

However, there was an upset in store for him as on move 25 in his game against International Master Richard Pallister, Wells made an unsound queen sacrifice that led to an eventual loss for the leader.

This allowed Howell and Hebden to leapfrog Wells and tie for first place with nine and a half points each. Wells finished a creditable third on eight and a half points.

Sadly there were no Warrington players featuring among the leaders.

Martin Brown never really recovered from a blunder early in the tournament against another Warrington junior Conrad Green.

Wigan Knights' Nathan Talbot will have gained great experience from his opening round game against the famous Grandmaster Peter Wells.

Wells was the England team captain at the last chess Olympiad and has written a number of successful books, so it was perhaps not so surprising that he was too strong for Nathan on this occasion.

However, as you will see from the game below, one of Warrington's hottest junior players did not go down without a fight!

Talbot N 180 - GM Wells P 254

British Rapidplay Championships 2009 Halifax

1.b3 The Nimzo-Larson opening. With this move Nathan states from the start that the game will be played on his terms. 1...d5 2.Bb2 Bg4 3.h3 Bh5 4.Nf3 Bxf3 The black bishop gives itself up after making three of the first four moves of the opening! Despite the loss of time involved in return he doubles Nathan's pawns and can play e6 without fear of restricting his light squared bishop. 5.exf3 e6 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.0–0 Bd6 8.Nc3 c6 9.Re1 Nbd7 10.Bf1 Qc7 11.d4 g5!? An aggressive choice by Wells going for a big Kingside attack aiming for an early knockout of his young opponent. 12.Ne2 h5 13.c4?! Nathan is correctly aiming to play activly in the middle in response to blacks direct attack. 13...g4 14.cxd5 Nxd5 15.g3? a most uncomfortable position for white. As well as the pawn now dropping on f3 he is in danger of losing the exchange after Bb4! 15...gxf3 16.Nc3 Nxc3 17.Bxc3 Bxg3! 18.Qxf3 White's only try, he cannot take the bishop because of [18.fxg3 Qxg3+ 19.Kh1 Rg8 and mate will follow on either g1 or g2] 18...Rg8 19.Bg2 0–0–0!? Wells is still willing to give up the bishop in return for bringing his last rook into the game. He has seen that after 20.fxg3, Rxg3 he will be able to regain the piece. 20.fxg3 Rxg3 21.Ba5?? Nathan attempts to hang on to his matirial advantage. However black has it all in hand 21...Qd6 22.Qf2 Rdg8 23.Bc3 Rxc3 24.Kh1 Rcg3 25.Rg1 f5 With supiriorly placed pieces and a two pawn matirial advantage the game is pretty much over now 26.Rae1 Nf6 27.d5 Nxd5 28.Qxa7 Nf4 29.Qa8+ Kc7 30.Qa5+ Kb8 31.Rd1 Rxg2 32.Rgf1 Nd5 White resigns. a tough learning experiance for Nathan, but nothing but good can come from meeting players of this level! 0–1

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