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Malcolm Pein on…Jones Melting Away

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Having concluded his coverage of the FIDE Candidates tournament, Malcolm Pein turns his attention to the New in Chess Classic in today’s Daily Telegraph column and he sees the chances of Gawain Jones melting away.

Malcolm Pein on…Jones Melting Away

England international Gawain Jones had a bruising introduction to the Meltwater Tour on Chess24, as he lost his last eight games to end with just 3/15 in the preliminary rounds. Jones started reasonably well and was on 2/4 before he was bluffed by Levon Aronian in the fifth round and lost a complex endgame after 104 moves. Two draws followed, before the losing run. To his credit, Jones kept playing aggressively and victory over Alireza Firouzja should have been his.

Magnus Carlsen remained undefeated, although he was put under pressure by Hikaru Nakamura and was busted for a move against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Carlsen’s eagerly awaited battle with 15-year-old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa did not disappoint. The youngster secured a slight edge and even turned down a draw by repetition, before Carlsen held a rook and pawn endgame. Carlsen topped the 16-player field with 10.5/15, Nakamura scored 9.5/15, as did Shak Mamedyarov, who played this wonderful sacrificial attack arising from the rarely-played Blumenfeld Gambit which secures Black a strong centre and queenside pressure for the pawn.

With the characteristic Blumenfeld plan of 13…Qe8!, Shak starts a kingside attack as well.

Shak Attack

J-K. Duda – S. Mamedyarov
NIC Classic Prelim. Chess24.com

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 b5 5.dxe6 fxe6 6.cxb5 d5 7.g3 a6 8.bxa6 Nc6 9.Bg2 Be7 10.0–0 0–0 11.Nc3 Bxa6 12.b3 h6 13.Bb2 Qe8! 14.Rc1 Qh5 15.Re1?! (Not 15.Na4 Ne4 16.Nd2? Bxe2 and if 16.a3 Bb5 17.Nc3 Nxc3 18.Rxc3 d4 19.Rc1 e5 Black looks fine) 15…Rad8 16.Na4 Ne4 17.Ba3 Ne5!? (17…d4 defending c5 with the queen was possible) 18.Bxc5 Ng4 19.Bxe7 Rxf3 20.Bh4? (After this White is taken to the cleaners. Not 20.h3 Rxf2 21.Qd4 Rxg2+ 22.Kxg2 Ngf2 23.Rh1? which allows 23…Bxe2 but after 23.Bh4 Rd7 24.Nc5 Rf7 25.Nxe4 Nxe4 the computer indicates 26.Kg1 Nf2 27.Kg2 Ne4 28.Kg1 with a draw) 20…Rxf2 (Threat Rxg2+ Kxg2 Ne3+ and if 21.Bxd8 Qxh2#)

J-K. Duda – S. Mamedyarov

21.Bxe4 Rxh2 22.Bf3 Rxh4! 23.gxh4 Qxh4 24.Bxg4 Qxg4+ 25.Kh2 Qh4+ 26.Kg2

Test Your Strength

J-K. Duda – S. Mamedyarov Black to Play and Win

Black to play and win

Highlight the space below this line to reveal the answer.

26…d4!! 27.Nc5 Qg4+ 0-1 28.Kh2 Rd5 and Rh5 is the hidden point of 26…d4!!

Play Through the Game

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Malcolm Pein

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

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