40^th Cotswold Congress, 26-28 May 2007

Cotswold Title Goes to Bristol

This week I conclude my report of the Cotswold Congress. Following the withdrawal from the tournament of Michael White which I report last week, this left the battle between the top seeds Chris Beaumont and Steve Berry. Both remained in control against the weaker field so it was no surprise that the key match would be when they faced each other.

As expected the game proved to be an epic. Bristol’s Beaumont had the advantage of the white pieces, although he used this tentatively by quietly manoeuvring his pieces over the first stage of the game.

After a bout of exchanges the game became unbalanced with a series of doubled pawns for White, together with bishops of opposite colours, which can often lead to drawish positions in the endgame. The game turns on move 23 when Berry declines the possibility of keeping equal material by sacrificing a pawn to gain active play.

The game enters the crucial middle game where Beaumont must continue to defend actively to retain his advantage in material. Berry encourages Beaumont to take an additional exchange knowing that the reduction in White’s artillery will reduce the winning chances.

Beaumont continues to maintain a slight advantage, following a brave pawn burst on the Queenside White is able to focus his attentions on the enemy King. In customary style Berry refuses to give up, he again sacrifices a pawn to gain counter play. This results in White now having a two pawn advantage, however Black considers that it may be difficult to utilise this plus due to the doubled nature of their structure.

With time constraints ever a problem for the defender, Beaumont tactical Queen movements leads White in to a position where he is able to remove the unbalance of the opposite coloured bishops to give a Queen and pawn ending strongly in Beaumont’s favour.

In light of the relentless pressure and lack of time Berry throws in the towel unable to add anymore energy to his defence. After this fascinating encounter Beaumont carefully grinds two further victories to take the championship with maximum points.

Chris Beaumont – Steve Berry
Cotswold Open 2007
St Edward School Cheltenham
Round 4 Board 1

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 b6 4.Bd3 Bb7 5.0–0 Be7 6.c4 0–0 7.Nc3 d5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.b3 Nbd7 10.Bb2 a6 11.Rc1 Bd6 12.Ne2 Qe7 13.Ng3 g6 14.Qe2 Ne4 15.Rc2 h5 16.Rfc1 c6 17.Nd2 Nxg3 18.hxg3 Nf6 19.Nf3 a5 20.Ne5 Bxe5 21.dxe5 Ne4 22.Bxe4 dxe4 23.Qc4 Rad8 24.Qxe4 c5 25.Qf4 Qe6 26.Bc3 Rd3 27.f3 Rfd8 28.e4 Ba6 29.Rd2 Rxd2 30.Bxd2 Rd3 31.Bc3 Kf8 32.Rc2 Ke8 33.Qg5 Kd7 34.Rd2 Kc7 35.Rxd3 Bxd3 36.Qe3 Bb5 37.f4 Bd7 38.Qd3 Kb7 39.Bd2 a4 40.Be3 axb3 41.axb3 Bc6 42.b4 cxb4 43.Qd4 b3 44.Qxb6+ Kc8 45.Qb4 Bb7 46.Ba7 b2 47.Qxb2 Qc4 48.Qa3 Bxe4 49.Qf8+ Kb7 50.Qb8+ Kc6 51.Qb6+ Kd7 52.Qd6+ Kc8 53.Bc5 Qa2 54.Qf8+ Kb7 55.Qe7+ Kc6 56.Qd6+ Kb5 57.Qb6+ Kc4 58.Qb4+ and Black resigned 1–0

Final Results

Upsets in Day 2 of Cotswold

Last week I reported on day one of the Cotswold Congress, noting that the first couple of rounds often prove to be where the majority of upsets tend to happen. In contrast if you are fighting for contention after a good day one and have a bad day at the races it can be enough to send some of the more competitive players home on the next bus.

The major clash of the titans saw Gloucestershire number one, Michael White lock swords with top seed Steve Berry. Following a hardly contested battle Berry got the better of White, leaving White desperate to win his next game to have any chance of the top prizes. However, things did not go well for him against leading Gloucester player, Ian Ponter. The game had reached an unbalanced position with Ponter holding two advanced pawns and a well placed bishop against White’s lone Rook. The position required precise defence from White, he miscalculated Ponter’s surge for the line which resulted in crushing one sided winning position for Ponter and an early bath for White.

Ian Ponter – Michael White
Cotswold Open 2007
St Edward School, Cheltenham
Round 4 Board 2, 27.05.2007

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 Rb8 12.Nc2 Bg5 13.a4 bxa4 14.Ncb4 Bd7 15.Rxa4 a5 16.Nxc6 Bxc6 17.b4 Bxa4 18.Qxa4+ Qd7 19.Qxa5 0–0 20.Ba6 Qg4 21.0–0 Qxe4 22.c4 Bd2 23.Qa4 f5 24.b5 f4 25.Qa2 Be1 26.c5 Kh8 27.c6 f3 28.g3 Ba5 29.Qxa5 Qxd5 30.c7 Ra8 31.Ra1 e4? The losing move…

Black has to play 31...Qe6 to give himself any chance, with this improvement Black aims at h3 where from he would threaten checkmate. A possible variation might be: 32.Qe1 (Enabling Qf1 to prevent the mate should the White Queen go to h3) 32...d5 33.Rb1 Qb6 Although White does have the advantage of his advancing pawns, Black does have reasonable prospects for holding back the run away pawns.

32.b6 Rxa6 33.Qxa6 e3 34.c8Q exf2+ 35.Kf1 and Black resigned as Ponter’s last move extinguished any hope of any traps.

All in all it was not a good day for the White family, as Ponter had previously got the better of Michael White Senior in round 3. Ponter dominated throughout the opening stage of this game and demonstrate is ruthless style against his rival from Bristol.

E Michael White – Ian Ponter
Cotswold Open 2007
St Edward School, Cheltenham
Round 3 Board3, 27.05.2007

1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 g6 5.d3 Bg7 6.0–0 Nf6 7.a3 0–0 8.Nc3 Ng4 9.h3 Nh6 10.Nh4 Be6 11.Bd2 Qd7 12.Kh2 Rad8 13.Qe1 f5 14.Rd1 d4 15.Na4 b6 16.b3 Nf7 17.Nb2 Bd5 18.b4 e5 19.Bxd5 Qxd5 20.b5 Ne7 21.Nc4 e4 22.a4 Nd6 23.Nxd6 Qxd6 24.Ra1 Nd5 25.Qc1 Rfe8 26.Rb1 Re7 27.dxe4 fxe4 28.e3 Red7 29.Ng2 Qe6 30.Rf2 dxe3 31.Bxe3 Nc3 32.Rb3 Qc4 33.Bd2 Ne2 34.Qf1 Qxc2 35.Re3 Nxg3 36.Kxg3 Rxd2 37.Rxd2 Rxd2 38.Ne1 Qxa4 39.f5 Be5+ 40.Kh4 Bf6+ 41.Kg3 Qd4 0–1

Cotswold Congress Gets Off to Explosive Start

The Cotswold Chess Congress always profits from the traditional bank holiday weather as Chess enthusiasts battle in epic struggles of up to 5 hours per game in the dry and cosy St Edward’s school. The 2007 Open section was once again graced with leading players with the top contenders being, International Master Chris Beaumont, FIDE master Steve Berry and Gloucestershire and Cheltenham number one Michael White.

The first round can often be the most entertaining as the draw traditionally sets the weaker players against the stronger ones. It is not unusual to see a nervous favourite slip up to give their rivals an early advantage.

This however, was not the case in round one where the above players hit the ground running with emphatic victories against strong county players.

In Beaumont’s first game he demonstrated the opportunities that are presented in a position where an opponent’s King strays without defensive to the centre of the board. It isn’t a surprise to hear that Beaumont’s army was assembled heading straight for it.

Beaumont, as White, facilitates such a disadvantage for Black by sacrificing a Knight for two pawns on move 14 in exchange for excellent control of the position. Beaumont follows this up with the beautifully imaginative 21 Re6 and after Black takes the bait its all over for Black.

It is a perfect example of how carefully one has to trend when playing against tactically brilliant Masters as an alternative move 21 Qf5 for Black gives definite chances of a recovery from his lack of mobility.

C Beaumont – L Hylands
Cotswold Congress 2007 Open (1)

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Bg5 Qb6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.c3 Na6 7.e4 Nc7 8.a4 b4 9.e5 Qf4 10.Be2 d6 11.0–0 dxe5 12.cxb4 e4 13.g3 Qf5 14.bxc5 exf3 15.Bxf3 Bb7 16.c6 Ba6 17.Re1 Kd8 18.Be4 Qf6 19.Nc3 h5 20.Bg2 h4 21.Re6 fxe6 [21...Qf5 22.Re4 hxg3 23.fxg3 Qh5] 22.dxe6+ Kc8 23.Qd7+ Kb8 24.Nd5 Qe5 25.Qd8+ Bc8 26.Ra3 Nxd5 27.Rb3+ 1–0 Black resigned as checkmate cannot be avoided

It wasn’t all smiles from Bristol’s raiders as round one bore witness to the first result going against the form book. It was Cheltenham’s Alan Bentley that profited from first round gitters, after an initial exchange of the major pieces at the start of the game, White is unable to inject enough energy into a position which sees Black following a know plan of attack in the Sicilian defence.

E M White – A R Bentley
Cotswold Congress 2007 Open (1)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0–0–0 h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.Bc4 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Qxd4 12.Rxd4 Be7 13.f4 0–0 14.h4 Rd8 15.g3 b5 16.Bb3 Bb7 17.Re1 Bc6 18.Rd2 a5 19.a4 bxa4 20.Nxa4 Ra7 21.Nc3 a4 22.Ba2 Rb8 23.f5 Rab7 24.fxe6 Rxb2 25.exf7+ Kf8 26.Bb3 a3 27.Nd1 Bf6 28.Nxb2 Bxb2+ 29.Kb1

Stronger is 29.Kd1 after which the position is roughly equal. After Kb1 Black is able to proceed into a favourable ending which Bentley transforms into a certain victory after just 4 more moves.

29...Bc3 30.Kc1 Ba4 31.Rf1 Bxd2+ 32.Kxd2 Bxb3 33.cxb3 Rxb3 34.g4 a2 35.Ra1 Ra3 36.g5 hxg5 37.hxg5 Kxf7 38.Kc2 Kg6 39.Kb2 Ra8 40.Kc3 Kxg5 41.Kd4 Kf6 42.Kd5 Ra6 43.Rf1+ Ke7 44.Ra1 g5 45.Kd4 Ke6 46.Ke3 Ke5 47.Kf3 Ra4 48.Kg4 d5 49.Kxg5 dxe4 50.Kg4 Ra3 51.Kh4 Kd4 52.Kg4 Kc3 0-1 And not before time Black resigned