A best game

Position after 15 Bg5!

Yesterday, I put out an appeal to find the game score for one of my best chess performances. Big thanks are due to Paul Runnacles, who not only found the score, but also an article by Grandmaster Jon Speelman about the game. I didn't know it had been covered nationally, so Paul's discovery was a real treat.

I was going to annotate the game for you, a thematic Nimzo Indian Saemisch Variation where Black tried an unusual sequence to counter White's standard plans, but instead will give Jon Speelman's analysis and a little background to the game.

It was played in the final round of the Durham Open 2000, and I had the White pieces against International Master Colin Crouch. Colin led the event, but a win would allow me to catch him. To be honest, I shouldn't have been in the running: I'd lost badly in round 1, won in 2, and had a draw with Alan Grant (a 2240 player) in round 3. Amazingly, despite my 50% score I received a full point bye in round 4 (it was a very small field) to set up the encounter with Colin Crouch. I'll let Jon Speelman pick up the story:

The decisive action took place in the last round when Coathup, who is only rated 2130, unexpectedly defeated Crouch in the game below: while Grant won against Yugoslav Dusan Zdjelar, to share the spoils.

In a Nimzo-Indian, White's mobile pawn centre gave him some advantage after a dozen moves but Crouch's 12...h5 and 13...h4 and 14...g6, while thematic, simply didn't work and after 15.Bg5! Black is very close to, if not entirely, lost.

If 15...dxe4 16.fxe4 gxf5 17.e5 Nxe5 (17...Qd5 18.Bxf6 Qxg2 19.0- 0-0 is a better try but still foul for Black) 18.Qe2! White wins a piece. 19.g4! ripped open the kingside after which the admirably calm 22.Rh5 and 23.Qxf5 removed a vital pawn.

With 25.Bg5!, Coathup got the bishop out of the way prior to advancing the f pawn. An impressively smooth and unharried performance against an opponent who is not only a grandmaster but also rated nearly 300 points more than the winner.

Grandmaster Jon Speelman, The Independent, 20 April 2000

Thanks Jon!

Roger Coathup - Colin Crouch, Durham Open 2000
1 d4 Nf6; 2 c4 e6; 3 Nc3 Bb4; 4 a3 Bxc3+; 5 bc d5; 6 cd ed; 7 e3 Nc6

An unusual move. Normally Black plays c7-c5 to pressure the White centre, but Crouch had an interesting plan in mind to swap off the light squared bishops and manouevre this knight via a5 to a strong point on c4.

8 Bd3 Bg4; 9 f3 Bh5; 10 Ne2 Bg6; 11 Ng3 Bxd3; 12 Qxd3 h5; 13 e4!

For me this was the key move in the game. Black's play, albeit at the cost of several tempi, has all been directing at stopping it. If White doesn't play e4 now, Black will follow up with h4 driving back the g3 knight, and move the c6 knight to c4 dominating White's bishop. 13 e4 needed a lot of calculation though, in particular envisaging 15 Bg5 and analysing the variations (as given by Speelman) that follow.

13 ... h4; 14 Nf5 g6; 15 Bg5! (see diagram above) gf; 16 e5 Qd7; 17 Bxf6 Rh7; 18 Kf2 Qe6; 19 g4!



19 ... hg+; 20 hg Rxh1; 21 Rxh1 Kd7; 22 Rh5 a6; 23 Qxf5 Qxf5; 24 Rxf5 b5; 25 Bg5! Ke8; 26 Rf6 Na5; 27 Rh6 Kd7; 28 Rh7 Ke6; 29 g4 Na5; 30 f4 Nxa3; 31 f5+ 1-0

This was my maiden Open Tournament first place at standard time limits.

Active rook

I've talked previously about the value of good endgame technique. One 'rule of thumb' I gave for rook endings is that the active continuation is usually better than the passive. The following ending from round 2 at Hawick graphically illustrates that rule:


Roger Coathup - William Hulme, Hawick 2007.

Playing White, I'd given up a pawn in the opening, but received little in return. In this position (with Black to move) I was holding out some hopes of salvaging a draw after 1 ... Nc6; 2 Bb4 Nxb4; 3 ab.

Instead, Black played poorly:

1 ... Rc7?; 2 Bxa5 ba; 3 Rhc1!

And the threat of a back rank mate not only prevents Black from doubling rooks, but also forces him to concede the open file.

3 ... Rxc1; 4 Rxc1 Rb8; 5 Rc7

With an active rook and better king postion, White now has a clear advantage. Black's best try is probably 5 ... h5, stopping the mating threat and also looking to generate counterplay on the kingside by the manouevre Rb8-b2 x h2.

5 ... Kf8; 6 Kc2

Not the immediate 6 Rxa7 because of 6 ... Rb3+, followed by 7 ... Rxa3. I also avoided 6 Kc3, because of 6 ... a4! renewing the threat of ... Rb3 with gain of tempo. Kc2 also has the advantage of denying Black access squares on the b-file to activate his rook.

6 ... Ke7?!

Better is 6 ... a6 denying the White king access to the b5 square.

7 Rxa7 Rb5;

Attempts to go active now with ... Rb1, intending ... Rh1xh2, fail as White's a-pawn will advance too quickly.

8 Kc3 f6; 9 a4 Rd5; 10 Kc4 fe; 11 fe



The perfect illustration of the power of an active rook over a passive one. The rook on d5 has no moves, and Black has no good way to prevent Ra7-b7-b5 exchanging into a winning king and pawn ending.

11 ... Kd8; 12 Rb7! d6; 13 ed Rxd6; 14 Rxg7 h5; 15 Rg5 1-0


Recommended endgame reading (Amazon links):
Fundamental Chess Endings: A New One-volume Endgame Encyclopaedia for the 21st Century
Chess Endings: Essential Knowledge (Cadogan Chess & Bridge Books)

"Off-book" in the c3 Sicilian

Earlier today, I posted a position from Israeli International Master Yochanan Afek's column on Chess Vibes.

Yochanan and I have met once over the board, when he surprised me with a move in the c3 Sicilian that, despite being played by very strong players such as Michael Adams and Miguel Illescas Cordoba, doesn't merit a mention in either Chandler's book "The c3 Sicilian" or in Gallagher's "Beating the Anti-Sicilians".

Our game was published by Malcolm Pein in the Daily Telegraph, but unfortunately I was on the receiving end of a hammering!

Afek,Y - Coathup,R [B22]
Isle of Man, 29.09.2001
1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cd 5. Nf3 e6 6. cd b6 7. Bc4



Chandler and Gallagher only consider 7 Nc3, 7 Bd3 and 7 a3. Afek's bishop move aims for quick development and an attack on the Black king. In many lines White gives up the bishop pair with Bxd5 in order to leave Black with a compromised pawn structure.

7 ... Bb7 8.0-0 d6 9.Qe2 Nd7 10.Bxd5 Bxd5 11.Nc3 Bxf3 12.Qxf3 d5 13.Qg3 a6 14.Bg5 Qb8 15.Rac1 g6 16.h4 h6 17.Bf4 Be7?? 18.Nxd5 exd5 19.e6 Qd8 20.exd7+ Qxd7 21.Rfe1 g5 22.Bd6 1-0

My choice of 8. ... d6 has been played in other games, but it looks preferable to play 8 ... Be7, castle quicker and challenge White in the complications that follow. I foolishly lost another miniature at the Isle of Man two years later to Finnish FM Riku Molander again after 8 ... d6.

Here's an example of how play can develop after 8 ... Be7:

Schweber,S (2450) - Miles,A (2560) [B22]
Konex Buenos Aires (2), 1979

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 e6 6.Nf3 b6 7.Bc4 Bb7 8.0-0 Be7 9.Bxd5 Bxd5 10.Nc3 Bc4 11.Re1 0-0 12.d5 exd5 13.Nxd5 Nc6 14.Re4 Ba6 15.Rg4 f5 16.Rg3 Kh8 17.b3 Nb4 18.Nxe7 Qxe7 19.Ba3 Bc8 20.e6 f4 21.Rh3 a5 22.Qb1 h6 23.Ne5 Rf6 24.exd7 Bxd7 25.Ng6+ Rxg6 26.Qxg6 Bxh3 27.gxh3 f3 28.Bb2 Re8 29.Rf1 Kg8 30.Kh1 Qf7 31.Qxb6 Nd3 32.Bd4 Nf4 33.Qd6 Re4 34.Qb8+ Kh7 35.Be3 Nxh3 36.Qg3 Qf5 0-1

Schweber seems a keen practitioner of the line (is this the same Schweber who famously drew a won ending against Fischer?). Two Argentinean GM's, Najdorf and Panno, have played 7 ... Na6 against him in this position, intending to play Nac7 maintaining the knight on d5.

Finally to prove that even Grandmasters can go down quickly with the Black pieces in this line, check out what happened to Joel Benjamin when he tried 7 ... Ba6 against Michael Adams.

Does anyone know if 7. Bc4 is covered in the later books by Rozentalis, Play the 2 c3 Sicilian, or Collins, Chess Explained: The C3 Sicilian?

Hartlepool Open

I woke up this morning to find this surprise post by Martin on the blog (my fault for giving him an account!):

It's a bit difficult for Roger to write about his performance at Hartlepool so I thought I would chip in.

I spectated in the final round and was delighted to see Roger doing so well, especially after all the effort he's put in to his chess site. He was playing Jimmy Simpson on top board and needed a win (draw, ed.) to seal the tournament. The Hotel is a nice place to play chess, but it can be rather hot and stuffy. The referee had Roger's half of the room in serious shade as the sun had been bright in the morning. I tried to get him to open a few curtains top help my photography without flash, but he didn't want anyone disturbed. One problem with chess venues is they tend to have soft light as they are rooms for people to socialise in. So Roger and Jimmy faced each other at dusk. Like gunslingers.

Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation, with Roger firing first. A hit Jimmy's c6 pawn was left weak. He countered on the kingside and Roger's position had a lot of holes on the white squares. Jimmy manoeuvred a bishop into f3 and he was setting up to sac a rook on g3 and mate with Queen on h1.

Alan Harvey thought he was in big trouble, but the white knight got across in time via e2 and turned the game round. I think the knight then went to f4 and suddenly black was struggling.

Martin Seeber

Hey, I like the gunslinger analogy! To give some background: Jimmy's always a tough opponent, there are no quick or easy games against him. Actually, a normal game against Jimmy is like a heavyweight fight in the 'good old days' of 15 rounds slugging punch for punch, with the verdict usually a split decision. We've met quite a few times, and whilst the results have been better for me, Jimmy's certainly had the better positions in our last few encounters. Sunday was tense as Martin describes, post match we found a line that appeared to crown Jimmy's attack, although Fritz reckons I might have been able to scrape a draw exchange for pawn down. Jimmy missed the move and my pieces developed new life.

Martin is moving into chess photography, we'll get some of his photos to display on Chess Tales.

Queen's Gambit: Move Order Refinement

In two of my games at Hartlepool, Black sprang a 'move order refinement' on me in the Queen's Gambit Declined:

1 d4 d5; 2 c4 e6; 3 Nc3

and now instead of the usual 3 ... Nf6, Black played

3 ...Be7




















This can be a particularly useful idea against opponents, myself included, who like to play the Exchange Variation, as it prevents the usual: 4 cd ed; 5 Bg5.

White can try 4 Nf3 and then after 4 ... Nf6; 5 cd ed; 6 Bg5 but this rules out one of the most dangerous variations of the Exchange where White develops the knight on e2 rather than f3.

Alternatively, if White still wants to play the Exchange Variation, he can adopt a setup with the bishop developed to f4 rather than g5, i.e. 4 cd ed; 5 Bf4 c6.

There is a second idea behind 3 ... Be7 as well, and that is the quick development of the c8 bishop to an active post on f5, i.e. 4 cd ed; 5 Bf4 c6; 6 e3 Bf5. (If Black goes 6 ... Bf5 after 3 ... Nf6 rather than 3 ... Be7 then White has the move 7 Qf3 after which he will saddle Black with doubled pawns on f6)

The light squared bishop can be a problem piece for Black in the Queen's Gambit, from f5 it is not only posted actively, but also stops White's standard attacking setup with Bd3 and Qc2. White can try his own move order refinement with 6 Qc2 instead of e3 to prevent 6 ... Bf5, but then Black has 6 ... g6 or 6 ... Bd6.

My knowledge of the lines beginning 1 d4 d5; 2 c4 e6; 3 Nc3 Be7; 4 cd ed; 5 Bf4 c6; 6 e3 Bf5 was very limited, but I did remember that Korchnoi had won a game against Karpov in their 1981 World Championship Match with the super sharp reply

7 g4




















So, his was my choice in my 3rd round encounter with Andy Lawson at Hartlepool. After Andy's reply, 7 ... Be6, I knew 8 h4 was playable but wild, and instead adopted Korchnoi's choice against Karpov of 8 h3, and my initiative was enough force an advantage as Andy went wrong close to time control.

Coathup,R - Lawson,A [D31]
Hartlepool (3), 26.05.2007

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 c6 6.e3 Bf5 7.g4 Be6 8.h3 Nd7 9.Nf3 Nb6 10.Bd3 Nf6 11.Ne5 Nfd7 12.Qc2 Nxe5 13.Bxe5 Bf6 14.Bf4 h5 15.0-0-0 Qe7 16.Kb1 a6 17.Rhg1 g5 18.Bg3 hxg4 19.hxg4 Bxg4 20.Rc1 Be6 21.Qb3 Nc4 22.Bxc4 dxc4 23.Qb6 Qd7 24.Na4 Bd8 25.Qc5 Be7 26.Qb6 Bd5 27.Nc5 Bxc5 28.Qxc5 Qe7 29.Bd6 Qe4+ 30.Ka1 Kd7 31.Be5 Rh6 32.Qb6 Ke6 33.Rxg5 Re8 34.Qc7 f6 35.Qd6+ Kf7 36.Rcg1 fxg5 37.Qxh6 Qg6 38.Qxg6+ Kxg6 39.Bf4 Rh8 40.Rxg5+ Kf7 41.Rg1 Ke6 42.Kb1 b5 43.Kc2 b4 44.a3 a5 45.axb4 axb4 46.Ra1 Rg8 47.Bg3 Kf5 48.Ra4 b3+ 49.Kc3 Ke4 50.Rxc4 Ra8 51.Rb4 Ra1 52.Rxb3 Bxb3 53.Kxb3 1-0

In the final round, Jimmy Simpson also played 3 ... Be7 against me. Suspecting he had specially prepared the line, and with me only needing a draw for the title, I adopted the 'safer' 4 Nf3 and went for a minority attack version of the Exchange Variation.

If you want to know more, I recommend taking a look at some of these books:

Nimzo-Larsen Opening

My second round opponent at Hartlepool was Clive Waters. Although Clive and I have battled many times over the last few years, predicting the opening is seldom possible. I had the Black pieces at Hartlepool and prepared for this game by looking at the Torre Attack, the London System , and even some lines in the c3 Sicilian. It was a complete surprise, when after a few minutes thought Clive played 1 b3, the Nimzo-Larsen opening.

Black can play moves like Nf6 then e6 in response (or any number of other setups), but the most direct response is to 'accept the challenge' and setup a big centre with ... e5 and ... d5, which can quickly lead to very rich play. I don't know any theory in the opening, although I was vaguely aware of 2 games: Karpov beating Browne with 1 c4 c5; 2 b3 Nf6; 3 Bb2 g6?; 4 Bxf6! and Karpov soon had a winning ending, and a humdinger of a game between Larsen and Spassky, where Spassky had aimed for the big centre and won with a brilliant kingside attack (more in a later post).

So, our game continued:

1 ... e5; 2 Bb2 Nc6; 3 e3 d5; 4 Bb5 Bd6




















And now White can challenge the centre with the double edged 5 f4 looking to exploit the pin on the e5 pawn (g7 is undefended). When Black can continue with 5 ... Qe7; 6 Nf3 f6 or play 5 ... Qh4+; 6 g3 Qe7; 7 Nf3 Bg4 with a good game.

Instead Clive chose to increase the pressure whilst developing quickly with:

5 Nf3 Qe7; 6 d4 e4; 7 Ne5




















In this position, which has the characteristics of a reverse French, Black has a very interesting possibility: 7 ... Qg5! If White now captures on c6 he ends up in a poor position, e.g. 8 Nxc6 Qxg2; 9 Rf1 a6 with advantage to Black.

I didn't consider this during the game, and immediately replied with:

7 ... Bd7

and Clive continued his energetic 'forcing' line:

8 Nxd7 Qxd7; 9 c4 a6; 10 cd ab; 11 dc bc; 12 Nd2 Nf6; 13 Qc2 Bb4; 14 a3 Bxd2+; 15 Qxd2




















This is the position both players had envisioned back on move 7, and the question is how to assess it:

The position still resembles a reverse French in many ways. Black has a collection of weak pawns, e4, c6 and c7 (backward and doubled on a half open file), but they are difficult to attack successfully. As compensation Black's knight is superior to White's bad 'French' bishop, and Black can perhaps generate some counterplay down the a-file or against the White king once it castles (with 0-0, Re8, Re6, Rg6 etc).

My verdict: slight advantage to White. He can tie Black down to defending c6, but it's difficult to see how he makes progress.

The game continued:

15 ... 0-0; 16 0-0 Rfe8; 17 a4 Nd5; 18 Bc3 Qd6; 19 Qc2 Ra6; 20 Bd2 f5; 21 Rfc1 Rea8; 22 a5 b4; 23 Qc5 Rb8; 24 g3 Rb5; 25 Qxd6 cd; 26 Rc4? c5!; 27 dc dc; 28 Bc1 Rbxa5; 29 Rxa5 Rxa5

And Black, a pawn up, went on to win the ending. We'll look at the ending in detail in a later post.

Knocked out!

Our campaign in the summer chess cup came to an in-glorious end last night when we were knocked out by Jesmond.

Based on the handicap system, a 3-1 result would have seen us through, and things were looking bright when they defaulted on bottom board and Paul Dargan worked his customary magic (more later) to quickly put us 2-0 up.

It then became a tale of two positions that on face of it appeared good for us, but where deeper inspection revealed considerable difficulties:











I'm playing White in the left hand position. I'd messed up a good situation from the opening, and then went in for this position thinking that with Black's knight 'offside' on h5 and queen 'out of the game' on b2, I would still be able to drum up some winning tries. It turns out though that both the queen and knight (controlling g3 and h4) are well positioned, and that White has considerable difficulties, e.g. after Rb1 Qd2, Black is threatening Qe3+, meanwhile Black's a8 rook is threatening to join the game with tempo. Unbelievably White is probably losing already; after 18 minutes thought I found one of the quickest ways:

1 Qb3?? Rxe2 0-1

So, with the score 2-1, Darren Laws had to win his game (right hand position). He's a pawn up but it looks difficult to win: after

1 ... Rb2 (correction, I'd initially posted Rb1+); 2 Nf1 (as 2 Rd3 loses to Rxd2; 3 Rxd2 Nf3+)

You suddenly realise it's even worse than that: White has no constructive moves and can only sit and wait for Black to improve his position. Desperately short of time and needing to win, Darren eventually sacrificed 2 pawns to break his king out of the prison, but the ending was then lost and the flag fall put both Darren and our team out of its misery!

On a happier note, let's finish with Paul Dargan's win. Playing a Sveshnikov as Black, he's generated a typical sicilian counter-attack, reaching this position after White's 17th move:











Here Paul played 17 ... Rc8! and after

18 Kf1? Rxc3! had a crushing attack. The game finished 19 h3 Rxd3!; 20 c3 Be2+; 21 Kel Rxc3! (sacrificing the same rook for the third time!); 22 fe Rc2; 23 f4 Qxd2+; 24 Kf2 Bd3 mate

Analysis shows that White had no good defence after 17 ... Rc8!, Paul gives a variation in ending a beautiful smothered mate if White tries 18 Be2:

18 ... Bxe2; 19 Nxe2 Nf3+; 20 Kf1 Nxd2+; 21 Ke1 Nf3+; 22 Kf1 Qe1+; 23 Rxe1 Nd2 mate:

More Sämisch Tactics

Last week, we looked at Max Euwe's superb chess counterattack against Efim Geller. This game features yet more direct attacking in the Sämisch Variation of the Nimzo-Indian. This time though, it is White who comes out on top.

The game was played in a rapidplay tournament back in 1995. I sacrificed a bishop on h7 (in Greek Gift style) to rip open the Black king position, and the attack appears to flow smoothly from there.

The game also illustrates another theme, the need to look for every resource in a position. In this case, despite the seeming ferocity of the attack, Black missed a defence: after 23 Nh8 (awarded two exclamation marks in the newspaper column; pre-Fritz days) Black could have gained the advantage by 23 ... Be4! covering the h7 square and enticing the rook away from it's attacking station on h4. The correct way to have prosecuted the attack was 23 Re1 which is winning.

Roger Coathup - John Young, Northumberland Quickplay Championship 1995
1 d4 Nf6; 2 c4 e6; 3 Nc3 Bb4; 4 a3 Bxc3+; 5 bc c5; 6 f3 b6; 7 e4 0-0; 8 Bd3 Nc6; 9 Ne2 d6; 10 f4 Bb7; 11 0-0 Ne8; 12 f5 ef; 13 Rxf5 Rc8; 14 Bg5 Qd7; 15 e5 de; 16 de Na5; 17 Rf4 Qe6; 18 Bxh7+!! Kxh7; 19 Rh4+ Kg8; 20 Nf4 Qxe5; 21 Qh5 f6; 22 Ng6 Qc7; 23 Nh8? (23 Re1 wins) g6?; 24 Nxg6 Qg7; 25 Bh6 Qc7; 26 Nxf8 Ng7; 27 Rg4 1-0

Gloves off at Chess Tales

It's "gloves off" today in the Chess Tales Studio:

Tonight my team (Tynemouth) are taking on Forest Hall in the first round of the summer chess knockout, and top board for the opposition will be fellow Chess Tales' contributor Martin Seeber.

Wish us both luck, and a fair fight with no biting, gouging or punches below the belt.

Playing to win with the Exchange Slav: The Hawk Attack?

Things didn't go to plan last night against Jonathan Hawkins. He's a difficult opponent to prepare for, because, despite his recent successes, very few of his games have been published. Suspecting he would have prepared for my King's Indian, I switched tack and played the Slav variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined.

Unfortunately, after 4 moves, all my preparation was out of the window. Jon played the exchange variation (4 cd), which as every chess player knows is tantamount to offering a draw straightaway, or so I thought! After the recapture 4 ... cd, Jon's 5th move was an even bigger surprise: 5 f3!?


I'd never seen this before. I suppose it has characteristics of a Blackmar Diemer Gambit without the c-pawns. Rather than confront it head on, I decided to treat the position as a French Defence where White has lost a tempo (f3), but gained a better square for his Knight (c3), and where the central tension has been resolved early.

5. ... e6 6. e4 Nc6 7. e5 Nd7 8. f4 f5

I didn't like playing this move, but was worried that White can simply go Bd3, Qh5 with a very strong attack. The trouble is that after f5, Black has difficulty initiating active play.

9. Nf3 Be7 10. a3 O-O 11. Bd3 Nb6 12. b3 Bd7 13. Bb2 Rc8 14. O-O Be8 15. Rc1 Bh5 16. Ne2 Qd7

Given that I decide not to double rooks on the c-file, this and 17... Rc7 just lose time. 16. ... Nb8 would be better.

17. Qd2 Rc7 18. h3 Nb8 19. Rxc7 Qxc7 20. Ng5 Qd7

Here, ... Bxe2 would have been more natural.

21. g4 Bxg5?

Based on an oversight (I missed 23 Bxh7+ when analysing). After 21. ... Bg6, the game would have remained very interesting.

22. fxg5 fxg4?? 23. Bxh7+ Kxh7 24. Rxf8 Nc6 25. Nf4 Qe7 26. g6+ Bxg6 27. Rh8+ 1-0


After the game, Jon told me he'd played the line on a number of occasions and scored 100% with it; so, in his honour, we'll name it the 'Hawk Attack'.

A scan on Chessbase reveals it's been played a few times before, so be warned if you are facing Wolfgang Labahn, Hans Georg Kleinhenz, or Daniele de Val. No-one over 2400 has ventured it though.

Here's how's IM Peter Varga crushed the line:

Daniele de Val - Peter Varga, 2003
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.f3 e6 6.e4 dxe4 7.fxe4 Bb4 8.Bd3 Nxe4

9.Qa4+ Nc6 10.Bxe4 Bxc3+ 11.Ke2 Bxd4 12.Nf3 Bf6 13.Rd1 Bd7 14.Qb3 Qb6 15.Qd3 Rd8 16.Qb1 Nd4+ 17.Nxd4 Bxd4 18.Rxd4 Qxd4 19.Be3 Qc4+ 20.Kf2 Bc6 21.Bxh7 Qh4+ 0-1

Expect improvements though, as Daniele (FIDE 2182) is still playing the variation and used it to draw against Russian IM Vasilij Gagarin:

Daniele de Val - Vasilij Gagarin, 2004
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.f3 a6 6.e4 dxe4 7.fxe4 e5 8.Nf3 exd4 9.Qxd4 Qxd4 10.Nxd4 Bc5 11.Nb3 Bb4 12.Bd3 0-0 13.0-0 Be6 14.Be3 Nbd7 15.Bd4 Bxb3 16.axb3 Bc5 17.Bxc5 Nxc5 18.Bc2 Rae8 19.Rfe1 Re5 20.b4 Ne6 21.Ra5 Rxa5 22.bxa5 Rd8 23.e5 Rd2 24.Ba4 Nd5 25.Rd1 Rxd1+ 26.Bxd1 Nb4 27.Bf3 Nc5 28.Ne4 Ncd3 29.Nd6 Nxe5 30.Bxb7 Ned3 31.Nc4 Kf8 32.Kf1 Ke7 33.Ke2 Nc5 34.Bf3 Nb3 35.Ke3 Kd7 36.Bd1 Nc5 37.Ne5+ Kd6 38.Nxf7+ Kd5 39.Be2 Nb3 40.Bf3+ Kc5 41.Ng5 Nxa5 42.Kd2 Kc4 43.Nxh7 Kb3 44.Ng5 Nc4+ 45.Ke1 Kxb2 46.Be2 Nc2+ 47.Kf2 Kc3 48.Ne6 a5 49.Nc5 Nb2 50.h4 Kb4 51.Nd3+ Nxd3+ 52.Bxd3 Kc3 53.Bb5 Nd4 54.Bd7 Kb4 55.Ke3 Nb5 56.Kd3 a4 57.Bxb5 Kxb5 58.Kc3 Kc5 59.g4 Kd5 60.h5 Ke5 1/2

And finally, WGM Anna Zatonskih, meeting it with 5. ... Qa5.

Carl Brando Boor - Anna Zatonskih, 2004
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.f3 Qa5 6.Bg5 Nc6 7.a3 e6 8.e3 Be7 9.Bd3 h6 10.Bh4 0-0 11.b4 Qd8 12.f4 Ne4 13.Bxe7 Nxc3 14.Bxd8 Nxd1 15.Kxd1 Rxd8 16.Nf3 Bd7 17.Kd2 Ne7 18.Rhc1 Rdc8 19.g4 Rxc1 20.Rxc1 Rc8 21.Rg1 Rc7 22.h4 Nc8 23.h5 Nd6 24.g5 hxg5 25.fxg5 Bb5 26.h6 Bxd3 27.Kxd3 gxh6 28.gxh6+ Kh7 29.Ne5 Kxh6 30.Rg8 Ne4 31.Rd8 Kg5 32.a4 f6 33.Rg8+ Kf5 34.Nf3 Rc3+ 35.Ke2 Ng5 36.Rg7 Ra3 37.a5 Ra2+ 38.Nd2 Ne4 39.Rxb7 Rxd2+ 40.Ke1 a6 0-1


On a postive note about last night. Despite my loss, the team won 3-2, including victories (again!) for Paul Dargan and David Henderson (both unbeaten this season). So, we've finished second in the league.

Chess: rating psychology and exhaustion

Chess can be mentally and physically exhausting; and this is especially true for a lower rated player facing higher rated opposition.

I've already written, in Beating Grandmaster Danny Gormally, about how a difference in reputation and ratings often leaves a player psychologically beaten even before a piece has been moved. A game I played earlier this week in the Northumberland County Championship illustrates some further factors:

My opponent, Chris Wardle, has had a good season and is improving, but nonetheless he is rated some 50 BCF points (about 400 Elo points) lower than me. So, despite the fact it was a dead game in terms of the Championship, there was no way I could allow him an easy game.

The lack of easy games, i.e. games missing a competitive edge or games that may be agreed drawn early (after a level opening or middle game) between players of similar ratings, is one of the factors that makes it more difficult for the lower rated player. Not only do they have to raise their game and match you through the opening and the middlegame, but invariably they will have to maintain their concentration and competitiveness through long endings; Simply, they need to play more moves to earn their result.

In our game this week, Chris (as Black) battled hard, at least matched me through both the opening and middlegame, and reached the following ending where with the opposite coloured bishops a draw seemed the obvious result. I even have to be a little careful as Black's king is well centralised and his d-pawn quite advanced.





















My thought process on reaching this position was:

Quick check that I wasn't actually in any danger of losing. OK, 2 solutions: I can bring my king across to stop the d-pawn on the light squares, or I can exchange off Black's g-pawn, sacrifice my bishop for the d-pawn, and I'm fine because Black's bishop is the wrong colour to queen the h-pawn.

The bigger problem was how on earth could I drum up any winning tries. An idea came to mind based around enticing Black's king out of play, i.e. by giving up my bishop for Black's d pawn when it queens, in which case, Black's king on d1 wouldn't be able to assist his bishop in stopping my pawns. I would then be winning if I had captured both Black's king side pawns and had my g and h pawns vs. Black's bishop, or if I had outside passed pawns on the a and h file vs. Black's bishop.

This is the second factor, the stronger rated player will avoid the lines that lead to simple equality and instead be continually examining the weaker player with testing plans.

Of course, in this position, Black can defend in a number of way and none of these tries should be sufficient. In the game though, Chris failed this final examination, he didn't spot any danger and instead played into White's hands by following the 'logical plan' and forcing his d-pawn through to queen:

Play went:

1. Ba4 Kc5 2. Kg2 Kd4 3. Kf3 Kc3 4. Kg4 d4 5. Kh5 Bc1 6 Kxh6 Be3 7 Bd1 d3 8 Kg6 Kd2 9 Bg4 Kel??

Even now, Black could have held the game by retreating 9. ... Kc3, winning White's a pawn in exchange for his d pawn with a simple draw by giving up his Bishop for White's final pawn on the king side.

10. h4 gh 11. gh d2 12. h5 d1=R 13. Bxd1 Kxd1 14. h6 reaching the position below:




















Only at this stage did Black realise that his position was lost, and after 14. ... Kc2 15. h7 he resigned.

As I thought about this post, I was reminded of a couple of quotes (probably mis-quotes):

On the subject of reputations, Kasparov (I think) during his first world championship match with Karpov said:

"before I'm able to win against him, I first have to prove that I'm able to draw against him"

And Karpov himself, when asked in the early 70's what English players could do to improve, had asked what we do now. When he received the reply: "I don't know, I guess we play a lot and study the openings a lot", he said

"do the opposite, study the endings"

Soul destroying chess blunders

Chess can be the most soul destroying sport; in what other game can you play beautifully for 4 hours, dominate your opponent, and then throw it all away in a split second of madness?

That's the way top level (or even club level) chess is, where a single blunder, no matter how good your previous moves have been, can lose you a game in an instant; all that mental effort you've expended over the course of the game just wasted.

Blunders in chess come from a variety of sources: mental fatigue, the pressures of a ticking chess clock (as happened to Nigel Short), impatience, or simple oversight.

Rarer is a combination played in the wrong order, but it happens. You calculate a winning combination, check a few other lines, then go to play your 'win'. Only you don't! In your haste you play the moves in the wrong order or simply forget to play the first move. This position from the Paris Championships back in 97 is a case in point:




















After a double edged middle-game, I'd gained the advantage with White against Maria Nepeina-Leconte, a Ukranian International Master. I thought for a while, saw a winning combination, checked my analysis, and went to play the line. I played my first move correctly, but then managed to mix up the variations in my head and hastily played the wrong second move:

1. Ng6! (Ne6!! is even better) fg 2. Qxh6??

I had calculated and intended to play Rf8+ which wins simply, but for some reason my hand moved the Queen.

2. ... Bf5 3. Rxf5?

White could still force a draw with 3. Rb3!, but now Black is winning.

3. ... gf 4. Qe6+ Kg7 5. Qd7+ Kh6 6. Qxf5 Re1??

Which allowed me to escape with a draw by perpetual!

The Bolivian National Blitz Chess Championships

There are some experiences money could never buy; I was once offered the opportunity to play football with Masai tribesmen, absolutely priceless! These experiences leave you with the most wonderful memories and have often arrived in the most unexpected and surprising ways; Playing in the Bolivian National Blitz Chess Championsips is up there with the best of them.

Back in 2001, and following quick introductions the day before, I turned up at a sports stadium in the centre of Santa Cruz de la Sierra as a special guest invitee to the tournament.

(aside: Santa Cruz capital of the sweltering eastern plains is Bolivia's economic powerhouse, and home, according to Mario Vargas Llosa, to the most beautiful women in South America.)

Things in Bolivia seldom seem to run on time or quite according to plan, and of course, this tournament was no exception. On arriving at the stadium, 1o minutes before the expected start, I was told we were playing at a different venue, and coaches would be along shortly to transfer us.

An hour later, still no coaches and I was wondering why we simply hadn't walked. As we piled hastily into players cars and drove and drove, I began to realise why. We left the city far behind, paid our toll on the highway towards Brazil and bumped along as the road degraded into dirt track. Some 20 km out of the city, we arrived in a small village, took a left off the 'main road' and meandered through the houses before reaching the long approach to a 'Ponderosa' style ranch.

Round the back, was a long open-air veranda, bellowing 'bolivian fiesta' music, a huge ice filled dustbin complete with bottle upon bottle of beer, and the chess boards arranged on tables on the veranda. So this was chess bolivian style!

My main concern was not the beer being passed around liberally, nor the music, nor the opposition which included IM Johnny Cueto, and a young soon-to-be-grandmaster Osvaldo Zambrana. No, my biggest concern was that I was supposed to be meeting a potential father-in-law for the first time back in the city that evening. Oh well, how long could a blitz tournament last?!

A half decent tournament, including a draw against Johnny Cueto, slight intoxication, a last round in almost pitch darkness, and it was still before 7pm. I wouldn't be too late, just 'bolivian late' getting back to the city. What they'd neglected to tell me, was that no-one was going back to the city; it was churrasquera / fiesta time! Unfortunately duty got the better of us, and with some desperate pleading that we really did have to leave, one player took pity, foresook his beer temporarily and ferried us the kilometre or so back to the main road.

A bus journey sat next to a chicken later and I was in the city with one of the most incredible memories starting to burn itself indelibly into my brain... I suspect some of those guys are still partying.

If you fancy a game in Santa Cruz, visit the plaza and play in the open air or contact Javier Monroy at the local chess association.

Santa Cruz

The Isle of Man International Chess Tournament

The Monarch Assurance International Chess Tournament, at Port Erin on the Isle of Man, has steadily grown in stature and size over the last few years, but still retains a small, close-knit and friendly quaintness.

Just a few years ago, it was the 'hidden gem' of the chess world. At my first visit in '97, there were just 28 players, but 20 of them were titled (Grandmasters, International Masters and FIDE Masters).

The chance to play the very best is why you enter these tournaments, and the '97 event was one of the most difficult but rewarding challenges I've ever faced: having lost a hard fought encounter with Tony Kosten in the 1st round, I was expecting something easier in the 2nd round, but discovered my opponent was an even higher rated Israeli Grandmaster, Eran Liss. I uncorked a sharp line pioneered by Polugayevsky against his Grunfeld Defence, and was promptly blown off the board. It transpired that Eran had analysed the line the month previously for an Israeli magazine.

A good win in the 3rd round was rewarded with a game against Dutch Grandmaster Eric van den Doel, and then the 'relief' in the 5th round of 'just' having to face Andrew Ledger, a strong International Master. Fortunately some good chess in the last 4 rounds, against 2 FIDE Masters and 2 untitled players, allowed me to post a decent score.

If you are looking for a relaxed and beautiful place to play chess against some of the world's top players then you can do far worse than Port Erin in the Autumn.

Two quick wins, that helped me recover my pride at subsequent Isle of Man tournaments:
Roger Coathup - Keith Allen, Monarch Assurance 2001
1 d4 f5 2 e4 fe 3 Nc3 g6 4 f3 ef 5 Nf3 Nf6 6 Bg5 d5 7 Bd3 Bg7 8 0-0 Bg4 9 Qe1 Bf3 10 Rf3 Kf7 11 Qh4 Qd6 12 Re1 Nbd7 13 Bf4 Qb4 14 Bc7 e6 15 Qf4 Qb2 16 Qd6 Rhe8 17 Bb5 Nf8 18 Be8+ Re8 19 Bd8 h6 20 Qc7+ 1-0

Mel Young - Roger Coathup, Monarch Assurance 2003
1 e4 c5 2 c3 Nf6 3 e5 Nd5 4 d4 cd 5 Qd4 e6 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 Qe4 f5 8 Qe2 Qc7 9 g3 b6 10 Bg2 Ncb4 (it's fun to play shock moves like this; it's known to theory, but not that well known) 11 c4 Ba6 12 Na3 Rc8 13 b3 Nc3! (Black's knights lead a merry dance in this game) 14 Qe3 Nbd5! 15 cd Nd5 16 Qd4 Bb4+ 17 Kd1 Ba3 18 Bd2 Qc2+ 19 Ke1 Bd2 0-1

Chess in Australia

One of the great things about Chess Tales is that our readership is spread all over the world, from China to the States, Egypt to Iceland, Bolivia to Scandanavia and all over the rest of Europe. It's particularly pleasing to see people from unexpected places like Saudi Arabia, Libya, Vietnam, Japan and the Phillipines, and from chess meccas like Moscow and Reykjavik. As a film buff though my favourite so far has to be Skokie, Illinois (answers on a postcard please!).

I was just getting ready to bemoan the lack of Australian readers, and even question whether chess was played there, when we got our first visitor from 'down under' (Laverton, Melbourne). Aussie Grandmaster Ian Rogers used to play regularly in Europe, but players making the long journey are definitely a rarity.

International Master and profilic author Gary Lane is an Englishman who went the other way. He now represents Australia, and even had the temerity to mercilessly slay 'our own' Nigel Short at the last Olympiad.

Gary and I played at the Isle of Man tournament a few years back, where he found an excellent 'surprise' move that won on the spot with almost all the material remaining on board. Check out Gary's regular column at Chess Cafe, and be sure to pose him some difficult questions.

Roger Coathup - Gary Lane, Port Erin 2003
1 d4 Nf6; 2 c4 g6; 3 Nc3 Bg7; 4 e4 d6; 5 Be2 0-0; 6 Bg5 Na6; 7 h4 e5; 8 d5 c6; 9 h5 h6; 10 Be3 Nc5; 11 Qc2 cd; 12 cd Qa5; 13 Bd2 Bd7; 14 hg fg; 15 a3 Qc7; 16 f3 Nh5; 17 b4 Na4; 18 Rc1 Ng3; 19 Rh2 Qb6! 0-1 White is powerless against the threat of Qxg1

The 'film' set at Matfen Hall

Yesterday was a long day with radio first thing, TV and Newspaper in the afternoon, and a league match to play in the evening. Everything went really well though.

The BBC Radio Newcastle interview ran all morning as a main news headline "local schoolgirl dusts off her knights for European battle", we'll try and get a podcast to download.

In the afternoon the Morpeth Herald sent a photographer who met up with us at Matfen Hall and grabbed a few pictures, but the highlight had to be the 3-hour TV shoot with Alastair and Ben Chapman from ITV Tyne Tees. Looking at the footage on the monitor, our small news piece was shaping up like a work of film art: low angles, close ups, rotating boards, dwindling candles in a darkened library (very "Tales of the Unexpected"). The guys are editing the piece this morning, and hopefully it should air on the 6pm news this evening. If ITV are kind to us, we'll get a copy to play from the blog.

The library restaurant at Matfen looked great for the piece, and thanks are due to David Hunter and the staff there who were incredibly helpful.

Ok, I wasn't being entirely truthful before, of course the highlight wasn't the TV shoot, it was my game of chess against Dave Weldon in the evening. Unfortunately for Dave, I seem to save my one good game / season for our encounters:

Roger Coathup - Dave Weldon, Hexham 20th March 2007
1 d4 Nf6; 2 c4 e6; 3 Nc3 d5; 4 cd ed; 5 Bg5 Be7; 6 e3 Nbd7; 7 Bd3 Nf8; 8 Nge2 Ne6; 9 Bh4 0-0; 10 0-0 c6; 11 Qc2 g6; 12 f3 Nh5; 13 Bf2 f5; 14 Rad1 Bh4; 15 g3 Bg5; 16 e4 fe; 17 fe de; 18 Ne4 Bh6; 19 Bc4 Kh8; 20 d5 cd; 21 Bd5 Qe7; 22 Qc4 Bg7; 23 N2c3 Ng5; 24 Bc5 Rf1+; 25 Rf1 Qe5; 26 Ng5 Qg5; 27 Ne4 Qe5; 28 Rf8+ Bf8; 29 Bd4 1-0

We'd turned up for the match a man short (my mistake!), but fortunately John Morton, David Henderson and Paul Dargan also delivered to keep our slim title hopes alive.

ITV News Stills