In today’s Daily Telegraph chess column we find an impressive game which was part of David Howell’s excellent start at the Caplin Hastings tournament.
There is also the opportunity to test your strength, only this time you need to find a way to force a draw instead of a win.
Malcolm Pein on…Howell’s Excellent Start
David Howell led the way after the first day of the Caplin Hastings All-Play-All played online at Tornelo. The 12-player tournament took place over the weekend. Five members of the bronze medal- winning England team at the 2019 European Team Championship; Michael Adams, David Howell, Luke McShane, Gawain Jones and Nick Pert took part.
Two places in the tournament were made available to the highest finishers in the British Online Championship not already invited. These were given to Matthew Wadsworth and Matthew Turner, who finished third and fourth respectively. Mark Hebden, Glenn Flear, Keith Arkell, Ameet Ghasi and Danny Gormally completed the field.
Howell led on 5/6, with Jones on 4.5 and Adams equal with Luke McShane on 4/6. Adams was the only one of the leading quartet to have lost a game when he appeared to suffer a mouse slip in the final game of the day against Gormally.
G. Flear – D. Howell
Gruenfeld 15+10
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 Bg7 6.e4 Nb6 7.Be3 0–0 8.Bb5 e5 9.Nf3 exd4 10.Bxd4 Qe7 11.Bxg7 Kxg7 12.Qd4+ f6 13.0–0 a6 14.Be2 Nc6 15.Qe3 Be6 (Chances are about equal. Black’s kingside is slightly weakened, but he hopes to get his queenside pawns moving later) 16.Rfd1 Rad8 17.b3 Bf7 18.h3 Rfe8 19.Rxd8 Rxd8 20.Rd1 Rxd1+ 21.Bxd1 Nd7! (Preparing b7–b5. White could consider moving his knight on f3 and playing f4 now) 22.Be2 b5 23.Nd2 Qd6 24.a4?! (The resulting weakness of the b3 pawn soon becomes a problem. If 24.f4 Nd4 25.Nf3 Ne6) 24…b4 25.Nd5 a5 26.Nc4 Qc5! 27.Qf4 (If 27.Qxc5 Nxc5 28.Nxc7 Nd4 29.Bd1 Bxc4 30.bxc4 b3 31.Nb5 b2) 27…Nd4 28.Bd1 c6 29.Nde3 Ne5! 30.Nxe5 Qxe5
31.Qxe5 fxe5 32.Ng4 Bxb3 33.Bxb3 Nxb3 34.Nxe5 Nd2 0-1 Black wins after 35.Nd3 b3 36.f3 c5 37.Kf2 c4 38.Ke2 cxd3+ 39.Kxd2 b2.
Test Your Strength
Ghasi – Gormally after 54.Rd1. Black was outplayed initially, but had fought back. Find the way to force a draw that he missed:
Highlight the space below this line to reveal the answer.
54…Kf7 55.Re5 Kf6 56.Re8 Kf7 and any move of the rook off the e-file allows Rxe4+! and g3–g2.
