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
Marcus Harvey
Brandon Clarke
grade 230
grade 212
grade 209
Richard Weaving
Anand Krishnan
Jean-Luc Weller
grade 206
grade 195
grade 189
Yang-Fan Zhou
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.
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
First Name
Last Name
Score: 3 for win 1 for draw
Age
Sex
Grade
School
County
TF
Score
Pos
st
Yang-Fan
Zhou
16
B
230
Whitgift
Surrey
16
1
Steven
Jones
18
B
167
Grappenhall CC
Cheshire
15
2nd
Richard
Weaving
17
B
206
Warwick
Warks
14
3rd
th
Title
Prize
STRAT
£2,000
£500
£300
Top
Girl
Maria
Wang
15
G
175
Oxford High
Oxon
13
4 =
Brandon
Clarke
15
B
209
Wellington
Leics
13
4th=
£125
th
£125
Marcus
Harvey
15
B
212
Marlborough
Oxon
13
4 =
Anand
Krishnan
17
B
195
Wilson’s
Surrey
13
4th=
th
£1,000
£125
Top =
U11
Top =
U11
William
Claridge-Hansen
11
B
162
Dr Challoner’s/Aylesbury CC
Bucks
12
8 =
Michael
Fletcher
11
B
176
Nottingham High Jun
Notts
12
8th=
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=
Zheming
Zhang
9
B
137
Jesmond CC
North’lnd
10
14th=
Ananthanarayanan
Balaji
12
B
164
Queen Elizabeth’s
Middlesex
10
14th=
£60
Rachel
Cass
16
G
158
Aughton St Michaels
Lancs
10
14th=
£60
th
£500
£500
£70
Top U9
£300
Sheila
Dines
18
G
166
Old Palace
Surrey
10
14 =
£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
st
Sailesh
Sitaram
10
B
130
Stamford JS
Lincs
9
21 =
£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
th
Haotian
Wu
9
B
130
John Betts/Richmond JCC
Middx
8
28 =
£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
Surrey
7
35th=
£30
Adam
Averbukh
8
B
118
Tough Chess/Grand Avenue
Wimbledon Chase/Richmond
JCC
Surrey
6
38th=
£30
th
Joseph
Dalton
10
B
63
RGS Newcastle
North’lnd
6
38 =
£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
Samuel
McConnell
8
B
James
Moreby
8
B
Adam
Bennett
7
B
Kiran
Lee
8
B
78
76
94
3
th
£30
th
£30
Brookland Junior
Sussex
House/Richmond
JCC
Middx
48 =
Middx
3
48 =
RGS Newcastle
North’lnd
3
48th=
£30
Bramcote Hills
Notts
1
51st=
£30
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
1
st
£500
nd
£250
Joseph
Levene
14
B
165
Queen Elizabeth Boys
Middx
14
2
Cosima
Keen
12
G
140
Ashdown House
Sussex
13
3 = Top Girl
Mark
Kenyon
11
B
151
Notts
13
Samuel
Milson
17
B
186
West Notts/Ravenshead
King Edward VI GS
Louth
Lincs
Jagdeep
Dhemrait
10
B
112
Barham Primary
Middx
Andrew
Horton
13
B
155
3 C's/Didsbury
Philip
Knott
14
B
165
Aloysius
Lip
11
B
Theo
Slade
10
B
John
Croasdale
9
B
rd
£150
3 = Top U11
rd
£150
13
3rd=
£150
12
6th=
£30
Lancs
12
6th=
£30
Wilson's/Castles JCC
Surrey
12
6th=
£30
142
Solihull Checkmate
Warks
12
6th=
£30
122
Shebbear (Devon)
Cornwall
12
6th=
£30
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
Yorks
14
1st=
£375
Benjamin
Atueyi
16
B
110
York RI
Bacup &
Grammar
Joe
O'Donnell
16
B
150
York RI
Rawtenstall
Lancs
13
3rd=
£130
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
Surrey
13
3rd=
£130
George
Ivanov
9
B
104
Tough Chess/Claremont
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
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
Lancs
12
7th= Top Girl
£100
Hants
12
7th= Top U11
£100
Lancs
12
7th=
£20
Alex
Vanlint
11
B
119
Parklands
Basingstoke JCC/St
Mary's
Jason
Lau
12
B
101
3 C's
£500
Laurence Jones, father of top Kent Juniors
William and Victor Jones, won the
Relax Tournament
32 Played
FirstName
LastName
Age
Sex
Grade
County
Laurence
James
Alan
James
Jones
Wadsworth
Kenyon
Friar
.
.
.
U14
M
M
M
M
151
106
133
130
Lewisham
Maidenhead
West Notts
Haqley
Score
16
15
14
13
Pos
1st
2nd
3rd
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…”