Chess News, The Telegraph

Malcolm Pein on….The Online Pro-Biz Cup

Malcolm Pein

January 6, 2021

Today’s Daily Telegraph chess column features the Online Pro-Biz Cup.

This was the only part of the London Chess Classic that went ahead in 2020, for very obvious reasons. It did, however, enable some degree of continuity for the annual Chess in Schools and Communities extravaganza which has been held every year since 2009.

It also brought the return of a World Champion…

Malcolm Pein on….The Online Pro-Biz Cup

The London Chess Classic had to be cancelled this year, but the Pro-Biz Cup was staged online on December 9. I had to redesign the pairs chess competition, in which amateur players bid to play and train with professional players in aid of the Chess in Schools and Communities charity.

A way was found to combine Zoom and Chess.com to allow everyone to play together using breakout rooms and multiple screen-sharing. The professionals made all the moves on Chess.com and shared their screen only with their partner. The professional moved first and the amateur called out their moves, rather than executing them on the board. The competition got a huge boost when the 14th World Champion Vladimir Kramnik agreed to play, and it turned out to be an enjoyable competition, even with everyone playing from home.

Kramnik in Action

Kramnik and Ryad Belab reached 3/3 after they defeated Matthew Sadler and Terry Chapman. Gawain Jones partnering Richard Jianyang also got to 3/3 after surviving some tricky moments against Luke McShane and Chris Flowers. A play-off between the two amateur players ended in victory for Belab.

Nunn + Vujatovic –
Kramnik + Belab
Caro Kann 15+10

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Ne7 6.0–0 h6 7.b3 Nd7 8.c4 Bg4 9.Nbd2 g5 10.Re1 Ng6 11.Nf1 Bb4 12.Bd2 Bxd2 13.N3xd2 Bxe2 14.Qxe2 a5 15.g3 h5!? (Played by Kramnik) 16.Ne3 Kf8 17.Rac1 Kg7 18.cxd5 cxd5 19.Qb5 Ra7 20.Rc2 (20.f4! gxf4 21.gxf4 Nxf4 22.Kh1 Ng6 23.Nf3 intending Rg1 and Rf1 was good for White, the rook on a7 is stranded) 20…Nb8! 21.Rd1 Nc6 22.Nb1 f5! 23.exf6+ Qxf6 24.Qb6 Rf8 25.Rdd2 Rf7 26.a3 Ra6 27.Qc5 Ra8 28.Nc3 h4 29.Nb5 Qf3 30.Nd6

Pro-Biz Cup

30…hxg3! 31.hxg3 (31.Nxf7 gxh2+ 32.Kxh2 Kxf7 33.Kg1 Rh8 34.Ng2 Nf4, now the attack is unstoppable) 31…Rh8 32.Ng2 Qh5 33.f4 Qh1+ 34.Kf2 Rh2 35.Ke3 Rh3 36.Rf2 Qd1 37.Rce2 Rxg3+ 38.Rf3 Nxf4 39.Nxf4 gxf4+ 0–1

Test Your Strength

Today’s puzzle is from the game David Howell and Rajko Vujatovic vs Ravi Haria and Shreyas Royal.

Black to play and win

Highlight the space below this line to reveal the answer.

28…Re1+ 29.Rxe1 Rxe1+ 30.Kh2 Qd6+ 31.g3 Qxb4 32.Qxa7 Qxc4 33.Qd7 Qe4 0-1

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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