Malcolm Pein switches from Tata Steel to the Caplin Hastings All-Play-All tournament in today’s Daily Telegraph chess column, to report on a Howell-ing success.
Test your strength on a key position to see if you could have defeated the champion!
Malcolm Pein on…A Howell-ing Success
David Howell was generally a most impressive winner of the Caplin Hastings All-Play-All. He outplayed closest rivals Luke McShane and Michael Adams as White, but was fortunate to avoid defeat against Matthew Wadsworth and Danny Gormally.
Having outplayed Howell to reach an endgame an exchange and pawn ahead, Wadsworth must have been disappointed not to win. That opening round encounter did at least give the 20-year-old Cambridge University undergraduate plenty of confidence and he finished on a highly respectable 5/11, his best result to date.
Danny Gormally had a slow start, but hit form in the middle rounds, crushing Glenn Flear and Matthew Turner with the white pieces, while holding firm against Adams no less, and even winning after the England number one slipped up. The 44-year-old GM from Alnwick should really have beaten Howell too.
D. Gormally – D. Howell
Grünfeld Defence 15+10
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.g3 d5 5.Bg2 dxc4 6.0-0 0-0 7.Na3 c3 8.bxc3 c5 9.Bb2 Nc6 10.Re1 Qb6 (10…Bf5? 11.d5! Nxd5!? 12.e4 Bxe4 13.Rxe4 Nxc3 14.Bxc3 Bxc3 15.Rb1 didn’t give Black enough for the piece in So-Duda, Chess.com (blitz) 2020) 11.Nc4 Qb5!? (Trying to improve over the 11…Qa6 12.Ncd2 Rd8 of Haria-Howell, British Knockout, London 2018, when 13.Bf1!? may favour White) 12.Nfd2 Be6 13.a4 Qa6 14.Na3 Rfd8 (In true Grünfeld fashion, Black has put White’s centre under pressure)
15.Nb5 Rac8 (15…Qb6!? and a6 is also logical) 16.e3 b6? (Slow. 16…Na5! 17.Ba3 Nc4 would have been fine for Black) 17.c4! (Now Black is driven back in disarray) 17…Ne8 18.Bxc6! Rxc6 19.Qb3 cxd4 (19…Bd7 20.d5 Rcc8 21.e4 is also very promising for White) 20.exd4 Rcc8 21.d5 (White’s mobile centre is far too strong) 21…Qb7 22.Bxg7 Nxg7 23.Qe3 Nf5 24.Qf4 Bd7 25.g4! Bxb5 26.gxf5 Ba6 27.f6! exf6 28.Ne4 Rxc4 29.Nxf6+ Kg7
Test Your Strength
Gormally was understandably unable to believe he failed to finish Black off here. What clear win did White miss?
30.Nh5+ Kg8 31.Qg5 Qc8 32.Nf6+ Kg7 33.Nh5+ Kg8 34.Nf6+ Kg7 35.Nh5+ (35.Ra3! Rf8 36.Rg3 prevents Qf5 and wins after 36…Qd8 37.Rf3 followed by Qe5 or if 37…Qd6 38.Rh3) 35…Kg8 1⁄2-1⁄2
Highlight the space below this line to reveal the answer.
30.Qe5! (threat: Ng4+) 30…Kh6 31.Qe3+ (or even 31.Ra3) 31…Kg7 (31…g5 32.Qh3+ Rh4 33.Qf5 is curtains too) 32.Nh5+! forces mate.
