The Miles Report

The British Championship

TRIVIA QUESTION: Where is this years British Champion from? (a)
India; (b) Australia; (c) Croatia; (d) Scotland; (e) Russia; (f) England; or
(g) Switzerland.
By way of elaboration, for readers who are unaware, I should explain that
the British Championship is traditionally open to anyone from the old
British Commonwealth. Hence anyone from Canada, Australia, India,
South Africa and various other assorted destinations is free to enter. In the
past this has led to the participation of Igor Ivanov, as he passed through
Canada on his way to the US, and Alexander Baburin, who resides in the
Republic of Ireland which is not even part of the Commonwealth (as was
The Miles once noticed rather belatedly by the organizers of the Commonwealth
Championship when they accidentally invited him to make up the
Report numbers of GMs). A few years ago there was a petition signed by a large
number of players to make the British Championship just that, which,
given that there is a separate Commonwealth Championship from time to
time, does not seem an unreasonable suggestion. However, as far as I
Tony Miles know, the misnamed British Chess Federation (it is really only English),
did not deign to respond.
So, the favourite in a full strength British Championship would be
Anand, closely followed by Adams. Indeed in recent years there has been
a tendency for Indian juniors to almost monopolise the age-group
championships.
By way of a minor geography lesson to the quite large number of people
who are not sure of the difference between UK, GB, and England, perhaps
I should explain that the UK is the abbreviation for The United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Not Southern (also known as the
Republic of) Ireland though. Things are further complicated as in the
chess world the two Irelands compete as one country. Hence the
Southerners manage to slip in too. To complete the local geography
lesson, Great Britain is the island (not the Ireland!) made up of the
countries of England, Scotland and Wales. Which makes me wonder if a
player from the Isle of Man (a small island in the Irish Sea, almost
equidistant from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and with its own
government, and even its own chess tournament!) would be eligible. I am
sure that technically he would not, but equally sure that in practice no-one
would notice.

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The Miles Report

I fear I have digressed somewhat. Anyway, that explains quite a few of the
possibilities. How about Croatia? Well, Bogdan Lalic has been
theoretically living in England for some time now (on the odd occasion
that he is not playing somewhere) so he too is eligible to play. No doubt
we will collect a few more refugees from the Balkans in the future.
But what about Switzerland ? Well, of course that is the correct answer!
Given the paucity of tournaments in Britain, compared to the large
number of purportedly professional players, many have moved abroad and
settled. But that does not prevent them from popping back for the odd
lucrative event, and this year Joe Gallagher did so with great success,
winning the Championship outright with the unusually low score of 8/11.
The only drawback of being a non-resident was that when he collected his
prize he discovered that it had been taxed at 22%! Hence perhaps a better
trivia question would be Who won second prize?, with the answer being
the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the IRS to American readers).
The Championship itself was an unusually boring event, with a very high
percentage of draws on the top boards, leading to the low winning score.
No less than five players went through undefeated, including the
defending champion Julian Hodgson.
So far I have not mentioned Scotland. That, though was very nearly the
alternative surprise answer. Scottish IM John Shaw had the tournament of
his life to lead outright until the ninth round, at which point he had 6/8 and
had played virtually all the top players, defending solidly when necessary,
and ruthlessly punishing those who overreached in trying to beat him. He
seems an excellent player, and I am sure he will become Scotlands fourth
GM in the near future. Indeed it may well only have been norm nerves
that stopped him winning. In the ninth round he finally cracked against
Gallagher, and followed it with another miserable loss.
The winner, though, well deserved his victory. When all around him were
getting bogged down in draws he strung together three wins, crucially
with the black pieces against Murray Chandler (hmmm I forgot New
Zealand!) in a wild encounter, and Shaw. Thereafter two short draws
sufficed as his rivals failed to do anything better. The critical games:
White: M. Chandler Black: J. Gallagher
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5 Nd7 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nc3 cd 6.Qd4 e5 7.Qd3 h6
8.Be3 Be7 9.Bc4 a6 10.a4 Qc7 11.0-0 Nc5 12.Bc5
This exchange is usually a sign that the opening has not been a success for
White. The bad bishop normally becomes good eventually.
12...Qc5 13.Rab1 Be6 14.Nd2 Rc8 15.Be6 fe 16.Qh3 Kf7 17.Nb3 Qc7
18.Kh1 g5

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Clamping down on Whites intended

kingside expansion.
19.Rbd1 h5 20.Qd3 Qb6 21.Qe2 Qb4
22.Rd3 b5 23.ab ab 24.h4 g4 25. f4
The action swings from side to side.
25...Qc4 26.Nd2 Qc5 27.f5
White fights for the d5-square.
27...b4 28.fe Ke6 29.Nd5 Nd5 30.ed
But is forced to block it.
30...Kd7 31.c3 Rhf8 32.Ne4
The white Knight is good, but the black major pieces are alarmingly
active.
32...Qc4 33.Ra1 bc 34.bc Ra8 35.Rb1 Ra2 36.Qe3 Rf4 37.Ng3 Qa6
38.Nh5 Ra1 39.Ra1 Qa1 40.Kh2 g3
The killer blow.
41.Kg3 BH4 42.Kh2 Bf2 43.Qf4 ef
44.Nf4 Qg1 45.Kh3 Be3 46.Ne2 Qh1
47. Kg3 Qe1 48.Kf3 Qf2 49.Ke4 Bh6
0-1
White: J. Gallagher Black: J.Shaw
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bc6 dc
5.d3 Bg7 6.h3 Nf6 7.Nc3 Nd7 8.Be3
e5 9.Qd2 Qe7 10.Bh6 f6 11.Bg7 Qg7
12.Qe3 b6 13.a3 a5 14.0-0 0-0
Back would prefer to restrain f4 by Nf8-e6, but b4 is a worry.
15.Nh2 Bb7
This bishop is miserable here.
16.f4 Rae8 17.fe Ne5 18.Rf2 Qd7 19.Raf1 Kg7 20.Ne2 Qd8 21.Qd2
Qd6 22.Qc3 Ba6 23.b3 Rf7 24.Rb1 Rd8 25.Nf1 Qe7 26.Rd1 Bc8
27.Ne3 Ba6 28.Nf4 Re8 29.Rb1 Qd6 30.Ne2 Ree7 31.b4

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The Miles Report

Finally White breaks open the

position. He always has some
advantage due to the better pawn
structure, safer King and ineffective
black Bishop.
31cb 32.ab ab 33.Rb4 b5
34.Rb1 Bc8 35.d4 Nd7 36.Ng3
Nb6 37.Rf3 Kg8 38.Rd1 Ra7 39.e5

The decisive breakthrough.

39...Ra3 40.Qb2 Na4 41.Qc1 Qf8
42.ef b4 43.Rdf1 Nc3 44.Nc4 Ba6
45.Na3 Bf1 46.Qf1 ba 47.Rc3 a2
48.Qa1 Ra7 49.Rf3 Qf7 50.Ne4
Qd5 51.f7 Kf8 52.Nf6 1-0

Copyright 2001 Tony Miles. All rights reserved.

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