Chess - The Scotsman 27/03/2012

THE new European Chess Union dress code is not entirely all about décolletage and the shortness of skirts, as the tabloids might suggest. For the sartorially challenged of either gender (but I am taking a not-so-wild guess at males here), the code also states “clothes must have a harmonious look… and show no excessive wear, no holes and be free of body odour”.

All of which takes me back to 2005 in San Diego when I was in charge of running the US Chess Championships on behalf of the America’s Foundation For Chess. They also had a dress code written into the players’ contracts, and I once had to warn a rather prominent three-time US Champion that he could not play while wearing jeans and training shoes at the board, and he either had to go back to his hotel room (in his own time) to change into something more suitable or default the round. He wisely opted for the former.

With 176 grandmasters in the 348-player European Individual Championship in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, I would have guessed the chances were good that it would take some time for the leaderboard to thin out, more so since they are competing for just 23 places in the next FIDE World Cup. Not so. After just four of the 11 rounds, Commonwealth Champion GM Gawain Jones of England is the sole leader of the tournament on a perfect 4/4.

A Beliavsky - O Kanmazalp

European Individual Ch., (1)

Queen’s Gambit Dec., Exchange variation

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 g5 10 Be5 Nxe5 11 Nxe5 f6 12 Nd3 Bd6 13 Qf3 Qe7 14 0–0–0 0–0–0 15 Bg2 h5 16 e4 dxe4 17 Qxe4 Qf7 18 Nc5 Bxa2 19 Qf5+ Kb8 20 Nxb7! Bf4+ 21 Qxf4+ gxf4 22 Nxd8 Qc4 23 Nxc6+ Kc7 24 Rhe1 hxg4 25 hxg4 f3 26 Bxf3 Rh3 27 Re3 Rxf3 28 Rxf3 Qxc6 29 d5 Qc4 30 Rd4 Qf1+ 31 Kc2 Bc4 32 Rff4 Ba6 33 g5 fxg5 34 d6+ Kd7 35 Rf7+ Ke6 36 d7 Kxf7 37 d8Q Qxf2+ 38 Kb3 Nf6 39 Rd6 Qf1 40 Qc7+ Kg6 41 Qc6 Bd3 42 Nd5 Qd1+ 43 Kc3 1–0