England’s top player GM Michael Adams captured the first Caplin British Online Chess Championship which ended Jan. 3at the chess.com playing server.
The 37-player, nine-round Swiss event was not particularly strong and attracted only six grandmasters, including Adams. It has a time control of 60 minutes base reflection time plus 15 seconds increment per move. Except for Adams and IM Ameet K. Ghasi – the number 12 player of England – none of that country’s top ten chessers took part in the event which is exclusive to players of the countries under the British Chess Federation; namely England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Ulster, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man.
Adams himself won the championship only after beating Ghasi in a two-game blitz tiebreak match after they finished with identical seven points at the close of Round 9. Adams earlier defeated Ghasi in Round 3, but the winner over the other rule was not observed here. At any rate, Ghasi finished in second place and IM Matthew Wadsworth was in solo third. GM Matthew Turner wound up solo fourth, and GM Daniel Fernandez took fifth place on tiebreaks over GMs Mark Hebden and Bogdan Lalic, and five others.
Ghasi, AK (2485)-Adams, M (2716) [A05]
chess.com (3.1) 2020
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.0-0 e5 5.d3 d5 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Nfd2 Ng8 8.Bxe7 Ngxe7 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Na4 b6 11.c4 d4 12.a3 Rb8 13.Nf3 Qd6 14.Qd2 a5 15.e3 Ng6 16.Rfe1 h6 17.Qc2 Be6 18.exd4 exd4 19.Nd2 Nge5 20.b3 Qd7 21.Nb2 Rfe8 22.Re2 Bg4 23.f3 Bf5 24.Rae1 Kf8 25.Ne4 Re7 26.Nf2 Rbe8 27.h3 g5 28.Na4 Qc7 29.Qd2 Ng6 30.Rxe7 Rxe7 31.Rxe7 Ncxe7 32.f4 gxf4 33.Ne4 Bd7 34.Nf6 Bxa4 35.bxa4 Qd6 36.Nh5 Nf5 37.gxf4 Ngh4 38.Qe2 Qg6 39.Qg4 Nxg2 0-1
Adams, M (2716)-Turner, MJ (2509) [D11]
chess.com (4.1) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be2 0-0 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bg4 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Nbd7 11.e4 Nb6 12.Qd3 Nxc4 13.Qxc4 b5 14.Qxc6 b4 15.Ne2 Rc8 16.Qb7 Rc2 17.Qb5 Qa8 18.e5 Nd5 19.Nf4 Rd8 20.Nxd5 Qxd5 21.Qxb4 e6 22.Be3 Bf8 23.Qa4 Rxb2 24.Rfb1 Rb7 25.Rxb7 Qxb7 26.Rc1 Be7 27.Rc6 Kg7 28.Qc4 Rd7 29.a4 h6 30.a5 Bg5 31.a6 Qb1+ 32.Qc1 Qe4 33.Rd6 Bxe3 34.Qxe3 Qb1+ 35.Kh2 Qb5 36.Qf3 Rxd6 37.Qf6+ Kg8 38.exd6 Qb6 39.Qe5 Qxa6 40.d7 Qb6 41.Qc5 Qb8+ 42.g3 1-0
Fernandez, DH (2324)-Ghasi, AK (2310) [B40]
chess.com (9.3) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 b6 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nxd5 Bxd5 8.b3 Nc6 9.Bb2 Rc8 10.0-0 Be7 11.c4 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 Nd4 13.Bxd4 cxd4 14.a3 a5 15.Be2 d6 16.exd6 Qxd6 17.Bd3 0-0 18.f4 g6 19.Qf3 Qc6 20.Kg2 Kg7 21.Qxc6 Rxc6 22.Be4 Rc7 23.d3 Rb8 24.g4 f5 25.Bf3 b5 26.gxf5 gxf5 27.Bd1 Kf6 28.Ra2 Bd6 29.Rf3 Rg7+ 30.Kf1 bxc4 31.dxc4 Rbg8 32.Rd2 Bxa3 33.Rdd3 Rg4 34.Rxd4 Bc5 35.Rfd3 Rg1+ 36.Ke2 R8g2+ 37.Kf3 Rxh2 38.Rd2 Rh3+ 39.Kf2 Rhg3 40.Ke2 Bxd4 41.Rxd4 h5 42.Rd8 h4 43.Rh8 h3 44.c5 R3g2+ 0-1
Wadsworth, MJ (2443)-Turner, MJ (2469) [A15]
chess.com (9.2) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nf3 c6 5.0-0 0-0 6.b3 Ne4 7.d4 d5 8.Bb2 Bf5 9.e3 Nd7 10.Qe2 Bg4 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 f5 13.Nc3 Nxc3 14.Bxc3 e6 15.Rfc1 Nf6 16.cxd5 exd5 17.b4 a6 18.a4 Ne4 19.Be1 Qe7 20.Rab1 Ng5 21.b5 axb5 22.Bb4 Qe6 23.Bxf8 Bxf8 24.axb5 Ra2 25.Qxa2 Nxf3+ 26.Kf1 f4 27.gxf4 Qxh3+ 28.Ke2 Qg4 29.bxc6 bxc6 30.Rxc6 Ne5+ 31.Kd2 Qf3 32.Rxg6+ hxg6 33.Kc3 Nc4 34.Qc2 Qg4 35.Rb8 Qg1 36.Qb1 Qg2 37.Qb4 1-0
Ghasi, AK (2485)-Adams, M (2716) [A08]
chess.com (tb/1) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.0-0 g6 5.d3 Bg7 6.Nbd2 0-0 7.e4 Nc6 8.c3 e5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Re1 Re8 11.Nc4 Bf5 12.Ng5 Nb6 13.Qb3 Re7 14.Ne4 h6 15.Nxc5 Rc8 16.Ne3 Be6 17.Nxe6 Rxe6 18.a4 Rc7 19.a5 Nc8 20.Rd1 Rd6 21.a6 b6 22.Qb5 N8e7 23.b3 e4 24.d4 Nd5 25.Bd2 f5 26.Bf1 Kh7 27.Rac1 Nxe3 28.fxe3 Rd5 29.Qe2 Ra5 30.Ra1 Qg8 31.Rab1 Ra2 32.Qc4 Qc8 33.Qb5 Nb8 34.Ra1 Rxd2 35.Rxd2 Rxc3 36.Re1 Nc6 37.Bc4 h5 38.Kf2 h4 39.Qd5 Na5 40.Qe6 Qc7 41.Rg1 Nxc4 42.bxc4 Rxc4 43.Rg2 Rc2 44.Ke1 Rc1+ 45.Kf2 Qc3 46.Qa2 h3 47.Rg1 Rxg1 48.Kxg1 Qc1+ 49.Kf2 Qh1 50.Ke2 Qxh2+ 51.Kd1 Qg1+ 52.Kc2 h2 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qf5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sb8/xe5 2.Qe4#; 1…Bxd3 2.Bxc3#; 1…Rh6 2.Qxf4#; 1…e2 2.Bf2#; 1…Rg6 2.Sxf3#./PN
