Chess: How does Black win?

OVER the years, Britain has been blessed by some truly gifted amateurs who have had memorable wins over the world’s elite, such as CHO’D Alexander and Jonathan Penrose. That fine tradition continues with Luke McShane.

In his youth, McShane was the golden boy of the game, and took the runners-up spot for the world under-20 crown behind Levon Aronian, now the world No 2. At his best, McShane was ranked in the world top 100 with prospects of making the leading 30-50. But it was a big blow to the game when he opted instead to concentrate on his City career with Goldman Sachs.

But a couple of years ago, he left his job to concentrate his efforts full-time in chess – and it didn’t take long for him to get back into the groove. At the 2010 London Chess Classic, McShane was the surprise package as he joined Magnus Carlsen and world champion Viswanathan Anand as the three top players in the tournament – and he beat Carlsen in a memorable duel.

In round two of this year’s London Chess Classic, McShane again had world No 1 Carlsen on the ropes, but he couldn’t put him away. And at the midpoint of the tournament, McShane and Carlsen have the joint lead on 8 points from four games (3/4 in old money), closely followed by Hikaru Nakamura, on 7 points.

On a sad note though, after an almost two year sabbatical, apparently McShane is reported to be returning in 2012 to a full-time City career.

D Howell - L McShane

London Chess Classic, (4)

Scotch Game

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4 Bb4+ 5 c3 Bc5 6 Nxc6 bxc6 7 Bd3 d6 8 0-0 Ne7 9 Nd2 0-0 10 b4 Bb6 11 a4 a5 12 Nc4 axb4 13 Nxb6 cxb6 14 cxb4 c5 15 Bb2 Be6 16 Re1 f6 17 Qd2 Nc6 18 Bc3 Qc7 19 b5 Na5 20 Bc2 Rfd8 21 Rab1 Kh8 22 Qf4 Ba2 23 Rb2 Bg8 24 Rbb1 Qf7 25 h3 h6 26 Re3 Bh7 27 Rd1 Qe7 28 Bxa5 Rxa5 29 Red3 Qxe4! 30 Rxd6 Qxf4 31 Rxd8+ Bg8 32 Bg6 Qc4 33 g3 Rxa4 34 Re1 f5 35 Re7 f4 36 gxf4 Qxf4 37 Bf7 Qg5+ 0-1