Chess - The Scotsman 08/02/2012

How does Black win?

WHO could forget Murray Chandler’s first visit to Scotland in 1976? The 16-year-old Kiwi arrived to play in the Glasgow International that year wearing just a T-shirt, shorts and also in his bare feet. It’s a brave man who turns up in Glasgow like that - especially during a traditional September holiday weekend – bitterly cold, very windy and bucketing down!

Chandler, a New Zealander followed a precedent set by Bob Wade, moving to England that summer to further his chess career. In 1976 we had a very hot, prolonged summer – but Murray didn’t realise that north of the Border in mid-September, the weather can dramatically change.

It didn’t deter him from staying in the UK, though, and he obtained British citizenship, became a grandmaster, attained a peak rating of 2690, beat Garry Kasparov and reached 29th in the world. He then went on to own British Chess magazine for many years, and he’s still the managing director of Gambit Chess Books.

Murray retired from active chess and returned home to New Zealand in 2006, where he now sponsors and runs the Queenstown Chess Classic. The 2012 edition of his tournament ended recently in a triple tie for first place between Australian GM Darryl Johansen and Chinese GMs Li Chao and Zhao Jun, each scoring 7.5/9 – the trophy going to Johansen on tiebreaks.

C Wallis - D Johansen

Queenstown Classic, (7)

Sicilian Kan

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 Be3 a6 7 Qd2 Nf6 8 0–0–0 b5 9 Bf4 Ne5 10 f3 Be7 11 Kb1 0–0 12 g4 d6 13 a3 Rb8 14 Bg5 Bb7 15 Bxf6 Bxf6 16 g5 Be7 17 f4 Nc6 18 Nb3 Rfd8 19 Bg2 Bf8 20 h4 b4 21 axb4 Nxb4 22 Qf2 a5 23 f5 exf5 24 exf5 Bxg2 25 Qxg2 Rdc8 26 Rd2 a4 27 Nxa4 Qa7 28 Nc3 Nxc2! 29 Kxc2 Rxc3+ 30 bxc3 Qa2+ 31 Kd1 Qxb3+ 32 Rc2 d5 33 Qd2 d4 34 Rh3 Qb1+ 35 Qc1 Qb5 36 Rf3 d3 37 Rd2 Qa4+ 38 Ke1 Qxh4+ 39 Rdf2 Bc5 40 Qf4 Bxf2+ 41 Rxf2 Qh1+ 42 Kd2 Qb1 43 Qd4 Re8 44 Qa4 Qe1+ 45 Kxd3 Rd8+ 0–1