Chess News

Malcolm Pein on…Blackburn’s Victory

Malcolm Pein

July 1, 2021

Malcolm Pein on…Blackburn’s Victory

After the pandemic prevented the Welsh Championships from being played over the Easter weekend both last year and this, the event emigrated online. The Welsh Online Chess Championship took place on the Lichess platform over the second May Bank Holiday weekend.

Regular Welsh Olympiad team member Jonathan Blackburn triumphed with 5.5/7, despite being defeated by fellow FM Gregorz Toczek. In turn Toczek lost to Tim Kett and James Thomas, with four-time Welsh Champion Kett claiming second place on 5/7.

Kett made good use of a surprise weapon against the Pirc Defence. After 5.e5!?, I have always favoured 5…Nfd7 when 6.f4 can be met by 6…0-0 7.Nf3 Nb6 followed by …f6, as played by Ivanchuk.

T. Kett – I. Jones
Welsh Online Championship 2021
Pirc Defence Byrne Variation

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bg5 Bg7 5.e5 dxe5 6.dxe5 Qxd1+ 7.Rxd1 Ng4?? (Falling into the trap. 7…Nfd7! 8.Nd5! Bxe5 9.Nf3 e6 10.Nxe5 exd5 11.Rxd5 is slightly better for White, but Black is very much still on the board after 11…0–0) 8.h3! h6 (Black’s problem is that 8…Nxe5 9.Nd5 leaves him without a good way to cover c7; and 8…Nh6 9.Nd5 is also fatal) 9.Bf4 Nxe5 10.Nd5 Kd8 11.Nb6+ Nbd7 12.Nxa8 c6 13.a4 (13.Be3! was even stronger, and if 13…b6 14.f4 , when White will be a rook ahead) 13…b6 14.a5 b5 15.Be3 Bb7 16.f4 Nc4 17.Bxc4 bxc4 18.Bxa7 Bxa8 19.Bd4 (White’s extra exchange really ought to count and Kett made no mistake from here) 19…f6? (19…Bxd4 20.Rxd4 c5 21.Rxc4 Bxg2 22.Rh2 Bd5 was the only try) 20.Nf3 Kc7 21.0-0 c5 22.Bc3 Re8 23.Rfe1 Bf8 24.Nh4 g5 25.fxg5 hxg5 26.Ng6 e5 27.Nxf8 Nxf8 28.Rf1 Re6 29.Rf2 Ng6 30.g3 Ne7

Test Your Strength

How did White now force immediate resignation?

Test Your Strength

T. Kett – J. Blackburn

White has just blundered with 20.Bf1-b5??, overlooking what?

Highlight the space below this line to reveal the answers.

Answer One: 31.Rxf6! 1–0 After 31…Rxf6 32.Bxe5+ regains the rook while bagging two pawns.

Answer Two: 20…e3! 21.Bxe3 (21.Rd1 exd2+ 22. Rxd2 e4 would be hopeless for White) 21…Bxb1 22.0-0 Be4 23.Bxc6 bxc6 24.fxe5 Rb1 25.Rxb1 Bxb1 26.exf6 gxf6 and Black converted his extra exchange.

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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