Chess - The Scotsman 14/12/12

‘TIS the season to be shopping, and one book that should be on every club player’s wish list this year is Amateur to IM by Jonathan Hawkins published by Mongoose Press.

Hawkins’ book tells how an 18-year old managed to go from being an average tournament player to the cusp of clinching the Grandmaster title.

The secret to his success was knowing what to study and how to learn as efficiently as possible. Hawkins devised a number of building blocks and identified crucial areas of study, in particular paying attention to the endgame. His well-planned, and assiduous work ethic resulted in a meteoric rise through the ranks, and in eight years he gained 400 rating points, the IM title and has two GM norms – and just a few weeks ago, he captured the British Rapidplay championship title.

Amateur to IM is not only an inspiring story but a clear example of what can be achieved by similarly ambitious amateurs, if he/she has the strength of character to follow the authors Charles Atlas-like route to success by showing how endgame knowledge can radically improve your success level.

In today’s game from the London Chess Classic Open, the author demonstrates against Scot Jonathan Grant that – apart from his endgame prowess – he can be just as capable of finding the decisive winning combination as 28... Bh3+! forces white to resign on the spot with checkmate being unavoidable: 29 Kxh3 Qf1+ 30 Kh4 (30 Kg4 h5+ 31 Kh4 Nf5+ 32 Kxh5 Qh3 checkmate) 30 ..g5+ 31 Kg4 h5+ 32 Kxh5 Qh3 checkmate.

J Grant - J Hawkins

4th London Classic Open, (2.8)

English Opening

1 c4 e5 2 g3 Nf6 3 Bg2 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 Nc3 Nb6 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 0–0 Be7 8 a3 0–0 9 b4 Be6 10 Rb1 f6 11 d3 a5 12 b5 Nd4 13 Nd2 Qc8 14 e3 Nf5 15 Nde4 Rd8 16 Qc2 Qd7 17 Rd1 a4 18 Ne2 Ra5 19 d4 Rxb5 20 Rxb5 Qxb5 21 Nc5 Bxc5 22 dxc5 Rxd1+ 23 Qxd1 Qxc5 24 Qd8+ Kf7 25 Bxb7 Nd6 26 Ba6 Qc2 27 f3 Qd1+ 28 Kg2 Bh3+! 0–1