Adams wins again

                Michael Adams

I don’t suppose it will come as a surprise to many people to learn that Michael Adams won the 2018 British Chess Championships for the sixth time but what may amaze chess followers is that he first won it as a 17 year old in 1989 and that since then – although he has missed a few tournaments for one reason or another – he has never been beaten at the British!  How different it might have been had Tamas Fodor not made this horrendous blunder in Round 3:

White:   GM Tamas Fodor (2506)    Black:  GM Michael Adams (2706)

   [FEN"8/5kp1/4q2p/8/5P1K/2Q3PP/8/8 w - - 0 17"]  

Here it is White to move and precise play could (should?) have won the point. Stockfish had White as slightly better at this stage at 0.77. However, with one move this had changed to ‘Black can mate in eight moves’! If you haven’t seen this game, try to guess White’s fatal error before going to the next line.

61. Qe5??

It probably did not take Adams long to realise this was indeed his lucky day.

61…..g5+!

62. fxg loses the Queen while 62. Kh5 (the only other move) loses the game to 62…Qxh3 mate.

Meanwhile, at the next board, a contender for Game of the Tournament was being played between David Howell and James Adair that certainly grabbed the attention of the onlookers.

White:   GM David Howell (2687)    Black:  IM James Adair (2492)

    1  d4 Nf6  2  c4 e6  3  Nc3 Bb4  4  Qc2 O-O  5  e4 d5  6  e5 Ne4  7  Bd3 c5  8  Nf3 cxd4  9 Nxd4 Nd7  10  Bf4 Qh4  11  g3 Qh5  12  h4 Nxe5  13  Be2 Ng4  14  Bxg4 Qxg4  15  f3 Qh5  16  g4 Qg6  17  fxe4 e5  18  O-O-O Bxc3  19  Nf5 Bxf5  20  gxf5 Qg4  21  Be3 Bd4  22  Bxd4 exd4  23  exd5 Rac8  24  Kb1 b5  25  c5 Rfd8  26  Rhg1 Qxh4?  27  c6! g6  28  fxg6 hxg6  29  Qf5 Kg7  30  c7 Re8  31  d6 Re6  32  Rdf1 Rf8  33  c8=Q!     

White:   GM David Howell (2687)    Black:  GM Luke McShane (2669)

British Championships 2018

    1.  e4   e5   2.  Nf3   Nc6   3.  Bb5   a6   4.  Ba4   d6 5.  O-O   Bd7   6.  d4   exd4   7.  Nxd4   Nxd4 8.  Bxd7+   Qxd7   9.  Qxd4   Nf6   10.  Nc3   Be7 11.  Bf4  O-O   12.  Rad1   Qc6   13.  Nd5   Nxd5 14.  exd5   Qxc2   15.  Rc1   Qf5   16.  Rxc7   Bf6 17.  Qd2   Rfc8   18.  Rfc1   Rxc7   19.  Rxc7   Re8 20.  h3   h5   21.  b3  g5   22.  Be3  Re5   23.  Rxb7  Rxd5   24.  Qc1   Be5   25.  Rb4   Qd3   26.  f4  Qe2   27.  Kh2   gxf4   28.  Bxf4   Rd2   29.  Qc6 Kg7   30.  a3   h4!   31.  Rc4  e3   32.  Qe4   Qg3+!   

            Luke McShane

As was pointed out on Twitter, there is a zugzwang after Black’s 30th move (30…h4), and if White had tried 31.Ra4 then Black would play 31…a5 when 32.Rc4 is dealt with as in the game. Victory here, which was voted as Game of the Tournament, gave McShane 7/9 level with Adams who drew his last game, resulting in a tiebreak. First, two rapid games were played with 20 minutes and 10 seconds increment on the clock. Adams won the first one convincingly and looked on course to win the second before McShane found a Get out of Jail Free card and the score was 1-1. Two games of five minutes plus three seconds increment were scheduled. Adams won both blitz games, claiming his sixth title and the £10,000 first prize. McShane earned £5,000 as runner up.

So Adams wins his sixth title and McShane, who also lost in a play-off last year, is already being seen as the Jimmy White of British chess!