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2006 Staunton Memorial
Monday, 14
August 2006, saw the start of the strongest international tournament
that has been held in the British capital for many years. This
is the fourth tournament in the series held to honour the memory of
that great British polymath and chess champion Howard Staunton, after
whom the modern pieces are named. Top players in the Staunton
tournament were to be Michael Adams, Jon Speelman, once a world
championship candidate, and the former World Chess Federation
Championship finalist, Jan Timman. |
 |
Kasparov himself
tacitly recognizes Staunton as a legitimate champion in volume one of his
series My
Great Predecessors. Here is one of Staunton's most advanced games:
Saint Amant – Staunton;
Paris 1843
Queen’s Gambit Declined
|
With his next move Black launches a counterattack and
seizes the initiative: |
40 Rd1
White returns the exchange but it is hard to suggest a constructive idea.
40 ... Nxc3 41 Qxc3 Bf3 42 Rde1 Bxe2 43 Rxe2 Qe7 44 Qb2 Re6 45 Kf2 Re4 46
Qa2 Kf7 There is nothing wrong with the simple 46 ... Bxf4. 47
g3 Qb7 48 Qa3 Re8 49 Qc3 Qh1 50 h4 g5 51 Qe1 Qh2+ 52 Kf1 Qh3+ 53 Kg1 Qg4 54
hxg5 Bxf4 55 Bxf4 Qxe2 56 Qxe2 Rxe2 57 gxh6 c3 58 Kf1 Re4 59 Bc1 Kg6 60 d5
c2 61 Bd2 Rxb4 62 d6 Rd4 63 Ke2 Rxd6 64 Ke3 Kxh6 65 Ke2+ Kg6 66 Ke1 b4
White resigns 0-1
|
 |
This year
the fourth Staunton Memorial Tournament has been considerably upgraded
due to the generosity of Dutch chess lover Jan Mol. The first
six rounds were held at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand on the afternoons of
August 14-19.
The final
five rounds were played at Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire,
to coincide with this year’s NATO Chess Championship. This game
is a strategic masterpiece by Howard Staunton – the eponymous great
whom the event honours. |
White: Howard Staunton
Black: Elijah Williams
Match, London 1851 Bird’s Opening
1.f4 e6
2.e3 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 d5 5.Nf3 c5 6.b3 Nc6 7.0-0 Bd6 8.Bb2 0-0 9.Qe2
Bc7 10.Na3 a6 11.Rad1
      
  
 
  
  
 
A subtle and
deep move that creates potential pressure against Black’s pawn centre.
Seventy years later, Richard Reti – the apostle of hyper-modernism –
wrote: “As the opening is, in general, a struggle for domination in
the centre, the characteristic feature of every such new system will
be a desire to direct pressure against the centre without fixing the
middle pawns too soon.”
11...b5
12.c4 bxc4 13.bxc4 Rb8 14.Bxf6
A brilliant
move. Although it exchanges one of White’s best pieces, the
objective is to weaken Black’s pawn on d5.
14...Qxf6
15.cxd5 exd5 16.d4 c4
A natural
response but it proves inadequate in the face of the powerful tactical
sequence which now follows. He had to play 16...cxd4.
17.Ne5
Nb4
Black
appears to have everything under control, but White’s next move,
sacrificing his knight, exposes the rickety foundations of Black’s
edifice.
18.Naxc4
dxc4 19.a3
A neat point
for if 19...Nd3 20.Nxc4 when Black’s knight is trapped. Also
strong is 19.Qxc4+ Rf7 20.a3 Be6 21.d5.
19...Bxe5
20.dxe5 Qf7 21.axb4 Rxb4
Miraculously, Black has succeeded in maintaining material equality.
But White’s passed pawn and central initiative – combined with Black’s
scattered forces – still conspire to give White a win.
22.Rd6
Bb7 23.e6 Qc7 24.Rd7 Qc8 25.Qd1 Bc6
Or 25...c3
26.e7 Re8 27.Bxb7 Rxb7 28.Qd5+ and wins.
26.Bxc6
Qxc6
To conclude
his masterpiece, Staunton makes devastating use of his passed pawn and
total control of the open d-file.
27.Qd4
Rf6 28.Rd6 Qb5
If 28...Qb7
29.Rd8+ Rf8 30.Rxf8+ and mates.
29.Rd8+
Rf8 30.Rxf8+ Kxf8 31.Qd6+ Ke8 32.Rd1 Black resigns 0-1
Staunton’s City
(£16.95, Hardinge Simpole – see the website
www.hardingesimpole.co.uk for details) contains games and commentary on
the first three Staunton Memorial tournaments. The book is jointly
authored by Barry Martin and Clive Davey – honorary secretary and treasurer
of the Staunton Society, respectively – while I have provided some notes to
the games.
The main feature
of the opening rounds of the fourth Staunton Memorial Tournament was the
poor form of grandmaster Jon Speelman. Speelman was a former world
championship semi-finalist who either won or tied for first place in the
first three Staunton Memorial tournaments. To see him lose in a mere
20 moves was therefore more than somewhat a surprise.
White: Peter Wells
Black: Jonathan Speelman
Staunton Memorial, London 2006, Modern Defence
1.e4 g6
2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6
This leads
to a hybrid Modern Defence/Caro-Kann. Jon Speelman tends to favour
offbeat defences such as this, partly to provoke the opposition into
premature and unsound attacks and partly to escape from the beaten
tracks of opening theory.
4.Nf3 d5
5.h3 Nf6 6.e5 Ne4 7.Bd3 Nxc3 8.bxc3 c5 9.0-0 c4
Black drives
back White’s bishop from its fine square on d3. It would appear
that Black has emerged with a satisfactory position from his
outlandish opening, but I would balk at his next move, wrenching open
the centre while his development lags in the embryonic stage.
10.Be2 f6
11.exf6 exf6 12.Ba3 Kf7
Black cannot
castle, of course, but relies on exploiting his superior pawn
structure.
13.Rb1
Qa5
Black’s
attack has shattered White’s pawns but he has overlooked or
underestimated the coming shock tactic.
14.Bxc4!?
dxc4
I rubbed my
eyes in disbelief when I first saw the White sacrifice. It is
not at all clear that White gains a winning attack from this but in
practice the shock value is so great that accurate defence becomes
almost impossible.
15.Qe2
Qc7
Black panics
and commits the first inaccuracy. He has to plunge in here and
take more material in order to weather the storm, namely 15...Qxa3
16.Qxc4+ Ke7 17.Rb4 Qa6 18.Re1+ Be6 19.Qxa6 bxa6 20.d5 Kd6 or 17.Rfe1+
Kd8. In neither case can White demonstrate a win.
16.Rfe1
Bf8?
Black can
still survive the tempest if he retains a clear head – thus 16...Rd8
17.Rxb7 Qxb7 18.Qxc4+ Rd5 19.Qe2 Qd7 20.Qe7+ Qxe7 21.Rxe7+ Kg8 22.Re8+
Kf7 23.Re7+ and the best White can achieve is a draw by perpetual
check.
17.Qe8+
Kg7 18.Bxf8+ Rxf8 19.Re7+ Kg8 20.Qxf8+ Black resigns 1-0
Final Position
A whirlwind
victory against a powerful opponent. Here is another miniature from
this bloodthirsty event:
White: Tea Bosboom Lanchava
Black: Erwin L’Ami
Staunton Memorial, London 2006, English Opening
1.Nf3 c5
2.c4 Nc6 3.e3 g6 4.d4 Bg7 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be2 Nh6 7.d5 Na5 8.Qc2 0-0 9.h4
a6 10.h5 Ng4 11.hxg6 fxg6 12.Ng5 Rxf2 13.Rxh7
Both sides
have launched ferocious attacks.
13...Qf8
14.Qxg6 Rxe2+!
Winning.
If 15.Nxe2 Qf2+ still wins, e.g. 16.Kd1 Qf1+ 17.Kd2 Nxc4+ and ... Bf5+
follows.
15.Kxe2
Qf2+ 16.Kd1 Qf1+ White resigns 0-1
Final Position
17.Kd2 Nxc4+
wins.
| The fourth Staunton Memorial was characterised chiefly
by the extreme fighting spirit of the players. The final tally of
70% wins as against 30% draws reverses the trend of most grandmaster
events. The ultimate victor was the Dutch grandmaster Ivan Sokolov
(formerly of Bosnia) who carved his way through a powerful field which
constituted the strongest tournament held in England since the GLC event
of 1986. |
2006
Staunton Memorial, Final Crosstable
1 Sokolov
* ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 9
2 Timman ½ * ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1
1 8½
3 Adams ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1
1 1 1 1 8½
4 Werle ½ 0
½ * ½ 0 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 7
5 L'Ami 0 0
½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 6½
6 Wells
½ 0 0 1 ½ * 1 0 1 1 ½ 0 5½
7 Speelman 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 * ½ 1 1 ½ 1
5
8 Lanchava 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 ½ * 1 0 ½ 1
4½
9 Visser 0 ½
0 0 ½ 0 0 0 * 1 1 1 4
10 Howell 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 *
1 1 3½
11 Levitt 0 0 0 ½
0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 * 1 3
12 Day
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 * 1 |
Sokolov – Howell; Staunton
Memorial
London/Crowthorne 2006; Grünfeld Defence
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4
g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 e4 Sokolov tried an offbeat line against
L’Ami in another game from the Staunton Memorial. There he tried 5 Bd2 Bg7 6
e4 Nb6 7 Be3 and went on to win. 5 ... Nxc3 6 bxc3 Bg7 7 Qa4+ Qd7 8 Qb3
0-0 9 Nf3 T he game Milov – Rowson, France 2005 saw: 9 Be3 b6 10 Bd3 Bb7
11 Nf3 Nc6 12 Rd1 Na5 13 Qb1 c5 14 0–0 cxd4 15 cxd4 e6 16 h4. 9 ...
b6 10 Be3 Bb7 11 Bd3 c5 12 0-0 Nc6 13 Rad1 Na5 14 Qb1 cxd4 15 cxd4 e6 16 h4
f5 17 Bb5 Qd6 18 d5 exd5 19 e5 Bxe5 19 ... Qe6 may have been more
prudent, but Howell had apparently decided that his king could survive in
the centre. 20 Nxe5 Qxe5 21 Bd4 Qe4 22 Qc1 Qxh4 23 Qc7 Rf7 24 Qe5
Re7 25 Qh8+ Kf7 26 Qg7+ Ke6 27 Rfe1+ Kd6 28 Be5+ Kc5 29 Bd4+ Kd6 30 Rxe7
Spurning the draw by perpetual check. 30 ... Qxe7 31 Qh6 Bc6 32 Bc3 Kc7
33 Bb4 Qd7 Here Howell should put his opponent to the test with 33
... Qxb4 when it is not clear if White has more than a draw. For
example 34 Qg7+ Kd6 35 Qf6+ Kc5 36 Bxc6 Nxc6 37 Rc1+ Qc4 38 Rxc4+ dxc4 leads
to a winning position for Black. Another try is 34 Qxh7+ which may
oblige Black to play 34 ... Kb8, leading a to a perpetual check draw.
34 Ba6 Bb5 This is a blunder. Instead, 34 ... Bb7 appears
to limit White to a perpetual check after 35 Rc1+ Nc6 36 Rxc6+ etc.
35 Bxb5 Qxb5 36 Bxa5 This counter-intuitive move removes the last
crucial defender of the black king, which now perishes at the hands of
White’s major pieces. 36 ... Qxa5 37 Qxh7+ Kc6 38 Rc1+ Kb5 39 Qb7
Rh8 40 Rb1+ Kc4 41 Qc6+ Kd3 42 Rd1+ Ke4 43 Qe6+ Kf4 44 Rd4+ Black
resigns 1-0
It was sad to see
former Canadian champion and Commonwealth GM Lawrence Day in such poor shape
- in fact he performed almost to par and needed only two points in total to
maintain his rating. Day often got good positions but messed them up
in the final hour of play when he was often unrecognizable. we very much
hope to repeat the Staunton next year-already with five editions it has
become something of a tradition.
-
Ray Keene
Keene On Chess Index
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