Chess 04/06/2011

While Israeli GM Boris Gelfand was earning the right to challenge World Champion Viswanathan Anand, Scottish chess held its cup finals. The premier event is the Richardson Cup and my team, Glasgow Polytechnic, won for the ninth time in 13 years. Naturally I am biased, but this is undeniably a fine achievement.

In the final Polytechnic defeated Edinburgh 4 1/2-3 1/2. Polytechnic actually has no direct connection with any college and is in fact named after the club's first meeting place, John Anderson's Royal Polytechnic, a long-defunct department store. However, both clubs in the final benefit from their proximity to universities to strengthen their team with student recruits. I was Polytechnic's board one for many years until I was quite rightly demoted by a highly rated PhD student from Romania, IM Vlad Barnaure. On board two I faced one of Edinburgh's PhD students, Sebastian Gattenloehner from Germany.

White: S Gattenloehner; Black: J Shaw. Opening: Philidor Defence.

1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 e5 4 Nf3 Nbd7 5 Bc4 Be7 6 0–0 0–0 7 a4 c6 8 Re1 b6 9 b3 a6 10 d5 cxd5 I prefer this direct approach to the far more frequently played 10...c5. 11 Nxd5 Nxd5 12 Bxd5 Rb8 13 c4 Nf6 14 h3 Instead 14 Ba3 Nxd5 15 Qxd5 would transpose to a game I played the week before. 15...Be6 16 Qd3 Qc7 17 Nd2 Qb7 18 Nf1 b5 19 axb5 1/2-1/2 M Ferguson-J Shaw, British League 2011. Not an inspiring game, but I played a small part in my English team, White Rose of Yorkshire, qualifying for the European Cup. 14...Nxd5 15 cxd5? Blocking his access to my only weakness, the d6-pawn. White had to play 15 Qxd5 with rough equality. 15...f5! 16 Nd2 b5 17 axb5 Rxb5 Both my rooks are active and I have the bishop pair, so it is a clear advantage to Black. 18 f3 f4 19 Nc4 Rf6 One of Black's ideas is to borrow a plan from the King's Indian: ...g5, ...h5 and then ...g4. 20 Kf2? Despite the impending pawn storm, the king's only chance of survival was to stay on the kingside. 20...Rg6 21 Rg1 Qc7! This is the idea White had missed. There is no good way to stop an invasion on f2. 22 Bd2 Qa7+ 23 Ke2 Bh4! 24 Be1? A blunder in a lost position. Also hopeless were 24 Qf1 Rxb3 or 24 Kd3 Bf2 when g2 collapses and takes the rest of White's position with it. 24...Qxg1 White resigned.