Chess - The Scotsman 04/08/2012

Today I will literally be only a stone’s throw from the Parks Leisure Centre in North Shields where, for nearly a fortnight, the British Chess Championships have been taking place. My proximity to that location is because, coincidentally, almost every August my wife, Jenny, my son, Michael, and I take a boat trip to North Shields as it’s really close to where my sisters live.

As Jenny is Chinese and Michael knows a bit about chess, they joked that the winner now in a year of the dragon (according to the Chinese calendar) really ought to be someone who plays the Sicilian Dragon! Well, although I don’t yet know the final result – the championships finish today – I do know that the top seed, super-GM Gawain Jones, is a hot exponent of The Dragon …

One of the young Scots who also enjoys playing the dragon is Calum MacQueen, our 2012 player of the 
year. Calum’s international FIDE rating has gone up by nearly 300 points 
in the past three years, and there 
will surely be further good things to come if Calum keeps notching up neat wins with dangerous weapons such as the dragon, seen in action below in a game from January at the Hastings Masters tournament.

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White: J McKenna; Black: C MacQueen. Opening: Sicilian Dragon

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6 6 g3 This little move brings back a lot of memories for me: I had a number of good games with it as White way back around 1991. Calum MacQueen was only a toddler then, but in the current featured game he plays what I consider to be Black’s very best system against the 6 g3 fianchetto line. Another quiet-looking line is 6 Be2 Bg7 7 0-0 Nc6 8 Be3 0-0 9 Qd2, but in the clash A Rizouk-G Jones, 4NCL 2012, Black got the upper hand very quickly indeed with 9...d5!? 10 exd5 Nxd5 11 Nxc6 bxc6 12 Rfd1 Qc7! 13 Bd4 (or 13 Nxd5 cxd5 14 Qxd5 Be6) 13...e5 14 Bc5 Rd8 15 Na4 Bf5 with threats including ...Nb6, ...Nf4, and ...e4. 6...Bg7 7 Bg2 0-0 8 0-0 Nc6 Black now threatens ...Nxe4, and of course he could answer 9 Be3 with 9...Ng4. 9 Nde2 Rb8! 10 a4 a6 11 h3 b5 12 axb5 axb5 13 Be3 b4 14 Nd5 Nd7.

Puzzle: Why is 15 Nd4? actually a losing move for White?

Solution: Unwittingly in the game, White fell into a known “book” trap and lost quickly after 15...Bxd4! 16 Bxd4 e6! 17 Ne3 e5 18 Ba7 Rb7. The rest was easy for Black, and so instead let’s enjoy a bonus puzzle. What is Black’s best move in the position wKb1,Qd2,Nc3,d4,Be3,f1,Rd1,h1,Pa2,b2,c2,e4,f3,g4,h4; bKg8,Qd8,Ne5,f6,Bd7,g7,Rb8,f8,Pa7,d6,e7,f7,g6,h7 which arose at move 14 in the game A Green-C MacQueen at the 2011 Cesenatico Open tournament? Answer: Calum played 14...Nxf3!! and won quickly after 15 Nxf3? Nxe4! 16 Nxe4 Rxb2+ 17 Kc1 Rb1+! White resigned in view of 18 Kxb1 Qb8+.