Chess News, The Telegraph

Malcolm Pein on…A British Round-up

Malcolm Pein

January 23, 2021

Start your weekend with some fine chess action, thanks to Malcom Pein’s British round-up in today’s Daily Telegraph chess column.

There is a reminder of the potency of the London System, even when Black appears to have played nothing but sensible moves. You are then invited to test your strength on a wonderful position offering an excellent checkmate in three moves.

Malcolm Pein on…A British Round-up

As we saw on Tuesday, Michael Adams won the inaugural British Online Chess Championship after a play-off against Ameet Ghasi, who also impressed when winning the Bullet Championship. The Rapid and Blitz titles went to Harry Grieve and Gawain Jones, respectively.

Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant won the Women’s Championship with 7/7, but had to settle for second in the Women’s Rapid behind Harriet Hunt. Irish teenage star Trisha Kanyamarala won the Women’s Blitz, while prodigy Shreyas Royal triumphed in the Under-18 Championship, just days before turning 12.The other junior championships (Under-16 down to Under-8) went to Maximilian Wilton, Mohammed Ismail, Nishchal Thatte, Frederick Gordon and Patrick Damodaran. Keith Arkell won the over-50 Seniors Rapidplay, with the main Seniors (over-50 and over-65) titles going to Clive Frostick and George Green.

A seemingly innocuous line of the London System contains a hidden trap.

O. Stubbs – H. Evans
British Online Championship 2020/21

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 Bd6 5.Bg3 0-0 6.Nbd2 Qe7 7.Bd3 c5 8.c3 Nc6 9.Ne5 Nd7 (Fighting for the key e5-square and intending 10.f4 f6) 10.Nxd7! Bxd7? (10…Qxd7 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.0-0 Rd8 (Vitiugov-Praggnanandhaa, Internet Blitz 2020) 13.Qc2 h6 14. Nf3 and e4 should give White an edge) 11.Bxd6 Qxd6 12.dxc5 Qxc5

A British Round-up

13.Bxh7+! (First discovered and played by the French GM Eric Prié) 13…Kxh7 14.Qh5+ Kg8 15.Ne4 (The key resource) 15…Qc4 16.Ng5 Qd3 17.e4 Qxe4+ (Desperation, as after 17…Rfd8 18.Qxf7+ Kh8 19.Qh5+ Kg8 20.Rd1 Qb5 21.h4! the attack is quite deadly with Rh3 on its way) 18.Nxe4 dxe4 19.0-0–0 Rad8 20.Rhe1 f5 21.f3 1-0

Test Your Strength

Checkmate in Three Moves C. Duncan – C. Thake
British Online Championships Over 50s Rapid

White has only one way to force mate in three moves, involving a lovely sacrifice. What is it?

Highlight the space below this line to reveal the answer.

28.h5+! Kg5 29.Qg8+! Nxg8 30.Ne6# 1-0

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Malcolm Pein

Malcolm Pein is a British International Master, chess organizer, author and journalist. He was a child prodigy and a former British Junior Champion. He qualified for the International Master title in 1985. Malcolm is a distinguished writer, journalist and editor. He has been a chess correspondent of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph for over 30 years, has written numerous chess books and is the Executive Editor of CHESS Magazine. In 1992, he founded the London Chess Centre, a games store in central London and the UK's only chess shop. He is also the founder and CEO of Chess in Schools and Communities, a UK charity whose aim is to introduce chess to state schools and has taught the game to over 250,000 children since its inception in 2009. Malcolm is also well-known for his chess event management. He was responsible for the pre-planning of the World Chess Championship match between Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik in London 2000. In 2002 he was appointed as Technical Director of the 'Brains in Bahrain' match between Vladimir Kramnik and the computer program Fritz. In 2009, Malcolm devised and organized the 1st London Chess Classic - the UK's first world-class elite all-play-all tournament since the 1980s which ran annually until 2019. Malcolm is also very active with the English Chess Federation. In 2016, he was appointed as the Manager and Captain of the England national team. He was also appointed as English Chess Federation delegate to the European Chess Union and FIDE and is the Director of International Chess. In 2018, he also stood for the post of Deputy President of FIDE. In 2021, Malcolm joined the ranks of Chessable authors by bringing the highlights of his column in the Daily Telegraph in the form of an interactive Chessable course, titled Telegraph Tuesday. Profile photograph © Lennart Ootes