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ContentsEditorial.................................................................................................................4Malcom Pein on the latest developments

60 Seconds with... ...........................................................................................7England International, WFM Kanwal Bhatia

A Dramatic Knockout......................................................................................8An ice-calm David Howell triumphed in the British Knockout

Luke on Fire ......................................................................................................14Luke McShane racked up no less than 9½/10 in the Super Rapid

Defeat, Despair, Dejection........................................................................16Danny Gormally reports on a tough Hastings for the home players

Find the Winning Moves .............................................................................21Can you do as well as the GMs at the Classic and Qatar Masters?

Christmas Quiz Solutions...........................................................................24It was fiendishly tough, but how did you fare?

Classic Carlsen ................................................................................................26Magnus left it right until the last minute to win the Classic

The Hidden Classic ........................................................................................30Jonathan Bryant explains what really happens each day at Olympia

Behind the Scenes .........................................................................................32Shamir Allibhai on directing two films about chess

Douglas Morton Horne................................................................................34Matthew Lunn pays tribute to the late England International

How Good is Your Chess? ..........................................................................36Daniel King looks at a smooth play-off win from the Classic

Opening Trends...............................................................................................39The Reti Opening dominated 2015, but didn’t shine in Qatar

Penrose’s Rivals: Part V ..............................................................................40John Saunders concludes his series with a look at 1968 and 1969

Never Mind the Grandmasters................................................................44Carl Portman vents his frustration at the Exchange French

Overseas News ...............................................................................................46David Howell did well in Estonia and Gawain Jones in New Zealand

Home News.......................................................................................................50All the latest results, including Hastings and the London Junior

Solutions............................................................................................................53

New Books and Software...........................................................................54A bumper crop of reviews, including a Repertoire for Blitz and Rapid

Forthcoming Events .....................................................................................57

Saunders on Chess ........................................................................................58John reflects on the unfortunate, early death of Ivan Bukavshin

Photo credits: Stephen Connor (p.4), David Llada (p.48), Ray Morris-Hill (pp.5-12, 14-15, 27-31, 37), Brendan O’Gorman (pp.16, 19-20), www.chessfilm.co (pp.32-33).

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03-03 Contents_Chess mag - 21_6_10 21/01/2016 17:35 Page 3

It’s funny how the mind works. In life Ibelieve we skip along a narrow thread ofsanity, only protected from the ghastlyterrors of the universe by being fed tinyslivers of reality at a time, lest a greaterknowledge of the world around us shouldoverwhelm that fragile sense of self, and leadus to worlds and horrors unknown. What onearth is he blabbering about, I hear youwonder? You thought this was supposed tobe an article about Hastings. Well it is, but at times during this year’stournament I wondered if I was losing my mind.

The sheer tedium of playing this admittedlyworld famous tournament, year after year,seeing the same old faces again and again, wasbeginning to wear on my sanity. The early portents weren’t good. Gettingthe train down to London, I nearly had a panicattack when we stopped just outside London,in Potters Bar. After not moving for a fewminutes, a voice came on the tannoy, where alady explained how she had been unable toget in touch with the driver, but it seemed asif someone had pulled the emergency cord, sothe train was to remain stationary until they

had figured out what was going on. As we are living in these times of increasingalertness about terrorist threats, and as I havean over active imagination at the best of times,I glanced out the window. Suddenly in thedarkened road outside, I could see the lights ofseveral cars appear. This was it, I decided; wewere being set up. The driver had beenincapacitated, and those cars clearly heldbloodthirsty jihadists, brandishing sub-machineguns. ‘We’re sitting ducks here!’ I thought. Of course, nothing happened. The journeyended uneventfully, and I found my way tomy hotel in Hastings. A miserable day endedon another dreary note when I discovered myroom backed on to a nightclub. The very nextday I asked to change rooms, as the noisewould have been otherwise unbearable. (I’mvery sensitive to these sort of things.) My first real test came in round four,where I found myself facing a PolishGrandmaster, Alexander Mista, who not solong ago was comfortably over 2600.

D.Gormally-A.MistaRound 4

51 Ìxd4+ 51 Íxd4 exd4 52 Ìxd4+ Êe5 53 Êc3seemed drawish, but that also seemed thecase about the move I played in the game. Intruth I approached this encounter with limitedambition and my draw offer just before thetime control was firmly rebuffed by myopponent. It certainly felt like I was facingsomeone of 2600 calibre – the sense thatthey are applying the pressure move aftermove, until your resources are worn downand you eventually crack. After 53...Ìh4 54Êd3 I recall my opponent saying somethingafter the game about sacrificing on f3 aroundabout here, but this is hard to believe.51...exd4 52 Êc2 g4! 53 fxg4 hxg4 54 hxg4 Ìe3+ 55 Êd3 Ìxg4 56 Íxd4 I had seen this position earlier in mycalculations and assumed it was acomfortable draw, which is probably indeedthe case, but 2600-level players are verygood at constantly posing little problems totheir opponents. Just when you think thegame is at an end and all the problems havebeen solved, there arrives another one. HereBlack has at least the comfortable side of thedraw as the white king is restricted and

February 2016

DEFEAT, DESPAIR,DEJECTION

16

Our reporter, Danny Gormally, in acton in Hastings. At least in this encounter Danny got toenjoy a lively Sicilian. Sitting next to him is another Najdorf connoiseur, IM Richard Bates.

With the notable exception of Peter Batchelor, the Britsdidn’t shine at Hastings, as Danny Gormally explains...

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cannot approach the black f-pawn.56...f3 57 Ía7 Êf6 58 Íb8 Êg5 59 Íg3 Ìf6 60 Êe3 Êg4 61 Íe1 Ìd762 Êd4 Êf4 63 Íd2+ Êg3

64 Íe1+ Missing 64 Íe3!. Once the bishop reachesthis diagonal, it’s impossible for Black to win. Infact endgame expert Keith Arkell told me laterin the tournament something interesting aboutthis ending. He said even if you just leave thewhite bishop on the board and take all the otherpieces away, leaving only the black king, knight,f-pawn and white bishop, Black cannot win thisendgame. He simply can’t shift the bishop offthe g1-a7 diagonal. This is a good example of when knowledgeand experience can be useful. If I had knownthis beforehand, it might have saved megetting into trouble later and here 64...f2 65Íxf2+ Êxf2 66 e5 is an obvious draw.64...Êf4 65 Íd2+ Êg4 66 Íe1 Ìf8 67 Êd5?! A first sign that I am getting edgy, andextreme fatigue is starting to kick in. Why Idid not play 67 Êc5 I don’t know, but Iprobably saw ghosts around here. I suspect67...Ìg6 68 Êxb5 Ìe5 was what I didn’tlike, but then again the bishop can reach thekey diagonal: 69 Íf2!.67...Ìg6 68 e5 Êf5 69 e6 Ìf4+

70 Êd4? Akin to resignation. My opponent showedme 70 Êc6! Êxe6 71 Íf2! after the game,with which White finally secures the muchsought after draw (earlier I had missed 71 Êxb5 Ìd3 72 Íh4 Êf5! and so panickedwhen I saw this line after his 69th, assumingthat I must now be losing), and if 71...Ìd3

72 Íe3 Ìxb4+ 73 Êxb5.70...Ìxe6+ 71 Êe3 Êg4 72 Êe4 Ìf473 Íf2 Ìe2 74 Êe3 Ìc3 75 Êd4 Ìd176 Íe1 Êh3 77 Êc5 Ìb2 78 Êd4 Êg279 Íh4 Ìc4 0-1 White is losing the bishop while Blackcrucially holds on to his b-pawn. If I go Êc5,he can play ..Ìa3!, so I resigned.

A crushing loss. A combination of inexperiencein these endings, my opponent’s excellent playand extreme fatigue at the end had cost me agame I really should have drawn. Perhaps thebiggest reason for my loss though was my lackof match practice. I hadn’t played atournament since the Isle of Man in October.Playing hundreds of blitz games on Chess.comwasn’t quite the substitute for playing that Ithought it was. This rustiness was to affect methe whole way through the tournament andmade me realise I’m the sort of guy who needsto play himself into form and who really needsto be playing a lot.

Channelling Your Inner David Howell

Coming off a bad loss like this, I knew thenext game would be tough and that indeedproved to be the case.

D.Gluckman-D.GormallyRound 5

17...Ìe8 One of the first chess books I seriouslystudied was Danny King’s Winning with theNajdorf. I recall in one of the chapters in asimilar position (although possibly without theinclusion of the move ...h6), King recommendsthis manoeuvre, espousing its merits in greatdetail. At the time I used to play this ideaagainst my Nigel Short chess computer, whichunlike the silicon beasts we encounter today,had no learning algorithm and would justmindlessly repeat the same losing moves ithad played in the previous game.18 Íd3 Íf6 19 Ëb4 This irritating idea was one of the reasonswhy at the board I started to have my doubtsabout this ...Ìe8 idea, some 20 years onfrom when I first played it.19...a5 20 Ëxb7 Îb8 21 Ëa7 Îxb2 22 Ìb5 Íe5 23 Íxe5 dxe5 24 Ëc5

Ëg5 25 Ëa7! The idea of him simply going back and takingthe a-pawn hadn’t really occurred to me. I hadassumed my threats on the kingside wouldsoon assume unmanageable proportions, but infact this is not the case.25...Ìf6 26 Ëxa5 Îc8 27 Ëe1

27...Íc4?? A hideous blunder. A pawn down, I felt Ineeded to be as active as possible, but it wasnot yet time to panic. 27...Ìh5! would havebeen much calmer, intending to simplyexchange White’s bishop on d3, which tosome extent holds his position together. Thegame would then have remained unclear, butnow I’m simply losing.28 Îf5! As soon as I moved my bishop, I realisedthat White could hit me with 28 Ëc3!, butwhat he played was even stronger.28...Ëg6 29 Ìd6 Íxd3 30 Ìxc8 Êh731 Ìe7 Ëg4 32 h3 Ëxe4

Around about this point we were bothgetting fairly short of time. The situation israther obscure, but objectively if White stayscool he should win – he is winning both onposition and material. It was now that I choseto channel my ‘Inner David Howell’. Having had some encounters with David inrecent times, I am godsmacked over how he isable to remain completely calm when underextreme pressure both on the clock and on theboard. Nerves that good are unusual, but theycan inspire you to act in a similar fashion.Certainly my aspiration to remain sphinx-like andutterly removed of anxiety seemed to unnervemy opponent, who now conspired to throw hisadvantage away with a series of mistakes, to the

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point where he was actually losing.33 Îxe5? This seemed excessively greedy – whygrab another pawn when you are winning inany case? 33 Ëg3! was winning on the spot,according to the engine. Black has no time for33...Îxc2 as 34 Îxf6 is a clincher. However,at the board I was astonished as to why hedidn’t just play 33 Ëxe4 Íxe4 34 Îf2 as thisseemed the practical choice. Not only isWhite up the exchange, but he still has his a-pawn. Moreover, all the tricks are gone andWhite is surely winning.33...Ëb7! With the queens on the board, anything ispossible...34 Ìd5 Ìxd5 35 cxd3 Ìe3! And he had missed this.36 Îe4 Ìxg2

37 Ëf1? 37 Îe7! Ìxe1+ 38 Îxb7 Îxb7 39 Îxe1Îb3! 40 Îa1 Îxd3 41 a5 Îxh3+ 42 Êg2should probably be drawn.37...Ëd5? 37...Ìh4! was winning, as White has no goodway of stopping ...f5, and if 38 Êg1 Ëb6+ 39 d4Ëg6+ 40 Îg4 Ëc2 with a murderous attack.38 Îb1? 38 Ëc1! was still equal apparently, butfinding such a computer-like defence withthe flag hanging is beyond most players.38...Ìe3 Now it is finally over.39 Ëc1 Îxb1 40 Ëxb1 f5 41 Ëb5 Ëxb542 axb5 fxe4 43 dxe4 Ìc4 44 Êg2 Êg645 Êf3 Êf6 46 Êe2 Êe5 47 Êd3 Ìd648 b6 Ìxe4 49 Êc4 Ìd6+ 0-1

Relieved by this miracle reprieve from thegallows, on another occasion I might havebeen inspired to have a decent finish, butHastings just wasn’t my tournament. In thenext round I faced Glenn Flear, another playerwho really puts you to the test in the opening.

G.Flear-D.GormallyRound 6

Benko Gambit

1 d4 Ìf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 b5 4 cxb5 a6 5 bxa6 g6 6 Ìc3 Íg7 This way of playing the Benko where Blackdelays recapturing the pawn on a6 has

become quite fashionable of late.7 e4 0-0 8 Ìf3 Ëa5 9 Ìd2 9 Íd3? was a trap I recently fell into myselfin the Isle of Man. My opponent confidentlywhipped off my d-pawn with 9...Ìxd5!, afterwhich I felt like a patzer. By some miracle I wasable to make a draw, but White is surely introuble here. This happened against the youngGerman player Thorben Koop, and afterwardshe told me Boris Gelfand fell for the same trapagainst Magnus in a rapid game. Inspired by Carlsen’s adoption of this line, I’vebeen playing this version of the Benko a lot onChess.com, and it’s surprising how many fall forthis trap. After 10 exd5 Íxc3+ 11 bxc3 (againstKoop I tried 11 Ìd2 when 11...Íxa6! 12 Íxa6Íxd2+ 13 Íxd2 Ëxa6 would be a good reply)11...Ëxc3+ Black is already much better.9...Íxa6 10 Íxa6 Ëxa6 11 a4 e6 12 dxe6 12 Ìb5?! exd5 13 Ìc7 Ëc6 14 Ìxa8dxe4 just seems to give Black too much playfor the exchange.12...fxe6 13 Ìb5 Ëc6 14 Ëe2 d5 15 0-0

15...Ìbd7 To be honest I felt unnerved by howquickly and confidently Glenn had played theopening and probably didn’t spend enoughtime here. He seemed to be sitting there witha slightly bored and distracted expression –almost saying, oh get on with it, so I can finishyou off. I think what upset me was that I hadnever played the Benko before in a classicalgame, but Glenn seemed completelyprepared for it – only afterwards did he tellme that he had already played all thesemoves in a French League game! As Mark Hebden said to me later, with hisinfinite experience and wisdom, in such Benkopositions when White has played a4, theblack knight really belongs on b4, so15...Ìa6! was correct. However, the realmistakes come later.16 Îa3! Ìh5?! Already a sign that my calculations arefaulty due to a lack of practice. The move myhand really wanted to play was 16...c4!, butthen I thought he could play 17 exd5 (themachine’s recommendation, 17 b4!?, ispossibly better and worthy of furtherinvestigation) 17...exd5 18 Ìd4 and if I go tod6 he plays 19 Ëe6+, trades queens, takeson g7 and wins the ending. However, Black isnot obliged to exchange just yet and can play18...Ëb7!, retaining excellent chances after a

continuation like 19 Ëe6+ Îf7 20 Ëc6 Ìe5!.17 Ìf3 Ìf4? After 17...Ìb6! 18 b3 arguably White isdoing well here too, but at least the rook ona3 is shut out of the game.18 Íxf4 Îxf4 19 exd5 This is all OK, I thought. If he now plays 19 Îe3, I can hit him with 19...d4!.19...exd5 20 Îe3!

But I had forgotten about the possibility ofhim taking on d5 and then playing Îe3. Thisis what happens when you don’t checkvariations and skip over lines too quickly –you miss stuff.20...Ìf8 20...Îfxa4 allows the rook to penetrate:21 Îe6 Ëb7 22 Ìd6 Ëa6 23 Îe8+ Îxe824 Ëxe8+ Ìf8 25 Ëf7+ Êh8 26 Ëxd5 andit doesn’t look like much fun for Black.21 b3 c4 22 g3?! 22 Îc1! would have been even stronger.22...d4 23 Ìfxd4 Íxd4 24 gxf4 Íxe325 Ëxe3 Îe8? Far too optimistic. Again I should havetrusted my instincts and played the morestubborn 25...cxb3! 26 Ëxb3+ Ëe6 27 Ëxe6+Ìxe6 28 Îa1 Îa5 29 Îa3 Ìxf4 30 f3,which, as Glenn rightly pointed out in the post-mortem, would have posed White serioustechnical problems in the realisation of hisadvantage. However, I had no appetite fordefending a slightly worse ending, preferring tofall on my sword as quickly as possible.26 Ëc1 Ëf3 27 Ëxc4+ Ìe6 28 f5! An accurate way to finish.28...Ëxf5 29 Ìc7 1-0

The Silver Tsunami

I wasn’t the only one during the event tomention that the tournament seemed to be onits last legs. Looking around the playing hall at thestart of the event it struck me how old everyonewas compared to most Opens these days – eventhe spectators seemed impossibly ancient andinfirm. It was like the cast from Cocoon. Perhaps this is a reflection of a growingtrend in society – the domination of the old,the “silver tsunami” that Martin Amis oncealluded to. But if so, then it is a dangeroussign for the future, because if chesstournaments in the UK are indeed dominatedby the old, who are to replace them? There just don’t seem to be the juniors

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coming through. And the female representationis even worse. I think at best there were two orthree women players in the whole event. Nowonder chess players don’t have girlfriends. Speaking of bachelors (boom, boom), one ofthe stars of the event was indeed an Englishjunior, Peter Batchelor, who made an IM norm.His key win was against Keith Arkell.

P.Batchelor-K.ArkellRound 7

25 Íb6! White establishes control over the position.25...Ìxb6 26 Ëxb6 Îxb7 27 Íxb7 Îb828 c5 exf4 Black’s problem is that White’s plan is verysimple (c6-c7), and he lacks counterplay tohinder this plan. 28...e4 29 c6 e3 30 c7 e231 Îe1 Íd4+ 32 Ëxd4 Îxb7 doesn’t helpeither after 33 Ëd8.29 c6 Íe5 30 c7 Íxc7 31 Ëxc7 Êg7 32Îd7 e6 33 b4 g5 34 Ëe5+ Êg6 35Íe4+ Êh5 36 Îd3 f5

Now it’s White to play and win.37 Íf3+? “Not like this, not like this!” (The Matrix).37 Ëg7! was immediately winning on thespot, and if 37...fxe4 38 Ëxh7+ Êg4 39Ëh3#. When you play Keith, you really haveto keep a lid on the guy, as his ability to finddefensive resources and wriggle his way outof the tightest spots is considerable.37...g4 38 Íd1 Îd8 39 Îd6 Ëe7 40 Îxd8 Ëxd8 41 Ía4 Ëe7 42 Íb5! The bishop can now head back to f1 in manyvariations, preventing any counterplay thatBlack may have envisaged on the kingside.

42...Êg5 43 Ëc5 Ëd8 44 Íf1 g3 45 b5e5 46 b6 e4 47 hxg3 fxg3 48 b7 Êg6

49 Íe2? Watching the game live at the time, I askedmy fellow kibitzer Mark Hebden why Whitecouldn’t play 49 Ëa7! here as it seemed towrap things up much quicker: 49...Ëh4 50 Íe2 Ëh2+ 51 Êf1 Ëh1+ 52 Ëg1 Ëh653 Ëb6+!, and not 53 b8Ë?? Ëc1+ which isembarrassing. Fortunately for Peter, he’swinning the endgame in any case.49...Ëb8 50 Ëb6+ Êg5 51 Íc4 Êg4 52Ëe3 Êh5 53 Ëc5 Êg6 54 Íe6 Ëxb7 55Ëxf5+ Êh6 56 Ëf4+ Êg6 57 Ëxg3+ Êf658 Íg4 Ëb1+ 59 Êh2 Ëc1 60 Ëf2+ Êe561 Ëf5+ Êd4 62 Ëf6+ Êd5 63 Ëe6+ 1-0

Like me, Keith wasn’t at his best inHastings, but I think that was simply due toplaying too much chess in recent times, and Isuggested to him afterwards that he couldbenefit from a break. Nevertheless, this wasan excellent result for Batchelor – the onlyEnglish player who could leave Hastings withreally fond memories of the event. In truth, the English players did very badly.I only got to the demo boards once andgenerally speaking the top clashes weredominated by those from abroad. The factthat no English player won a prize can only bedescribed as a disaster. Partly this can be putdown to poor regimes, although this was notthe only reason.

One player who could hardly be accused offollowing a lax regime was the young Uzbekplayer Jahongir Vakhidov who ended up tyingwith Mista for first. Jahongir has really gained inconfidence and playing strength in the few yearsthat he’s been playing in this country.

J.Vakhidov-T.FodorRound 8

20...Ía3?! A sign that Black doesn’t know how tomake progress. The solid 20...Ìed7 seemedmore sensible, intending the strategic tradeof the bishops with ...Íc5. Then 21 c4! (both21 Ìe3? Îxh2 and 21 Íxa7 b6 are hardlyplayable) 21...dxc4 (and not 21...Íc5? 22 Íxc5 Ìxc5 23 cxd5) 22 Ëxc4 Ëxc4 23 Îxc4 gives White a slight edge in theending, but at least Black avoids the disasterthat befell him in the game. Perhaps best of all, though, is the ‘tidying’move 20...Êb8, just leaving the knight on e5for the time being, where it might proveuseful for attacking purposes. Indeed, after21 c4 c6! (21...dxc4 22 bxc4 c6 also seemsplayable, although White may look to theopen b-file for attacking chances) 22 Ëd2Íc7 Black is more than OK.21 Îb1 Íd6 22 c4! Jahongir is an excellent attacking player soI doubt he would have spent much time onthis – a mere pawn is a small price to play for

Whilst there was little success for the Brits at Hastings, we must congratulate Peter Batcheloron achieving a first IM norm. We hesitate, though, to call him a junior as he’s 19 years old.

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such heavy queenside pressure.22...dxc4 23 bxc4 Ëxc4? Now White seemingly wins by force.23...Ìxc4 24 f4 b5! is a typical computerdefence; if you take on b5 Black will play25...Ìa3. All this would look very scary for ahuman player, but silicon entities don’t dealwith generalities – it’s all about specifics.After 25 Îxb5 Ìa3 no good follow-up forWhite is evident.24 Ëb2 Ëa6 25 f4 Ìc6

26 Îxd6! Crashing through.26...cxd6 27 Íxc6 bxc6 28 Ëb8+ Êd729 Îb7+ Êe6 30 Ëc7 gxf4 31 Ëxf7+Êf5 32 g4+ Êxg4 33 Ëe6+ 1-0

Drag Me Down to 2400 Hell

As the tournament progressed, theweather at Hastings seemed to get steadilyworse. I would tend to arrive at the venue atleast half an hour before the game began.This was because I’d get bored of hangingaround my hotel room doing preparation, soI’d leave about noon to get some lunch, butthen I’d have an hour or so before the gamebegan to kill once I’d finished that. I’d trudge up to the venue and sit on one ofthe benches outside the Horntye Parkcomplex, waiting for the round to start. Imust have cut a disconsolate figure as I satthere in my sodden clothes while the rainswept down in seemingly endless waves.Defeated, dejected, desperate. The weather reflected my mood, whichwas one of increasing disappointment. Igenuinely thought that I had turned thecorner and Hastings would be a tournamentwhich would propel me to my true destiny,2550 and beyond. But it seemed I was in fora rude awakening. I had written on my blog not so long beforeabout how I was able to “turn my career around”and get back over 2500, but it seemed thatthese other English GMs who were languishingbelow that watermark, like Glenn Fear and theGinger GM himself, Simon Williams, were eagerto drag me back down to 2400 hell.

S.Williams-D.GormallyRound 8

20...Ëf8 Again my instincts were correct – 20...Ëc7!was the move my hand had originally yearnedto play. However, in my calculations I wasn’tsure of the ramifications of 21 Ëxb7 Ëxb7 22 Íxb7 Îb8 23 Íxa6 Îxb2. Black seemedto have good counterplay, but on the otherhand White has a dangerous a-pawn. I think thisis a good example of ‘overthinking’ – yes, the a-pawn is dangerous, but my first instincts werecorrect and Black should be absolutely finehere, as shown by 24 Îd8+ Íf8 25 a4 Êg726 Íb5 Íe7.21 Ëxb7 Îb8 22 Ëc7! I had missed this idea, thinking the capture ona6 was forced. With this White keeps completecontrol over the position, whereas 22 Ëxa6Îxb2 should give Black sufficient counterplay.22...Îe8 23 Íc6 Îc8 24 Ëd6 Ìh5 25 Íb7? Simon was full of praise for my ...Ìh5 conceptin the post mortem, but in truth it was bornemore out of a desperation and a lack of anythingelse to do more than some clever inspiration.Moreover, here 25 Íf3! Ìf4 26 Ëxa6 wouldhave given White a serious advantage.25...Ëxd6 26 Îxd6 Îb8 27 Îb6 Ìf4 28 Îb3

28...Ìd3? 28...Ìe6! 29 Íxa6 Îxb3 30 axb3 Ìd4 isjust completely equal.29 Ìe4! Îd8 30 Íd5! I had overlooked this completely, and nowbecame very gloomy about my prospects. Inmy previously optimistic state, I had thoughtthat the compliant 30 Íxa6? was forced,when Black may even have chances to bebetter despite the pawn minus after 30...f5!31 Ìg5 e4, as ...Íd4 is a serious threat andin any case White cannot defend b2.30...Ìf4 31 Ìxc5 Ìxd5 32 Îd3 Íf8!

The best chance.33 Ìb3 Îc8 34 cxd5 e4 35 Îd4 f5 36 d6 Êf7 37 Ìa5 Êe6 38 Ìb7 Êd7 39 b41-0

The crowds were gathering around myboard, sensing blood, which added to myinner woe and desperate feeling of imminentdefeat. Also, Simon had taken on anexcessively confident air, looking around theroom seemingly bored and awaiting myresignation. None of this I could takeanymore, so I resigned in disgust. Much to my surprise when we wentupstairs for a post mortem, Lee Bullock (orthe ‘Cruiseymaster’ as he is known onFacebook, whatever that means) informedme that ChessBomb was giving the finalposition as ‘0.00’. Rather than give away thetruth, I will leave it to the reader to work outwhy my resignation was so premature...

Leading Scores:1-2 Aleksander Mista (POL), Jahongir Vakhidov (UZB) 7/93-7 Ferenc Berkes (HUN), Igor Khenkin(GER), Sarunas Sulskis (LTU), Tamas Fodor(HUN), Justin Sarkar (USA) 6½.

20

GM Jahongir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan (left)and GM Alexander Mista of Poland werejoint winners of the Hastings Masters,

shown here receiving the Golombek board.

16-20 Hastings_Chess mag - 21_6_10 21/01/2016 17:50 Page 20

1: A Chess Opening Repertoire for Blitz & RapidEvgeny & Vladimir Sveshnikov, 416 pages, paperbackRRP £19.99 SUBSCRIBERS £17.99

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14: Positional Decision Making in ChessBoris Gelfand, 288 pages, paperbackThe 2015 ECF Book of the Year - now in paperbackRRP £19.99 SUBSCRIBERS £17.99

15: Playing 1.e4 e5: A Classical RepertoireNikolaos Ntirlis, 384 pages, paperbackRRP £19.99 SUBSCRIBERS £17.99

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17: Typical Mistakes by 1600-1900 players(PC-DVD) Nick Pert, running time: 4 hr 5 minsRRP £22.99 SUBSCRIBERS £20.69 18: Learn from the Classics (PC-DVD)Sagar Shah, running time: 4 hr 45 minsRRP £22.99 SUBSCRIBERS £20.69

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