8th European Individual Chess Championships, 2-16 April 2007

Peter Sowray, ECF Director of International Chess, reports:

European Championships Day 10 – Final round report

Ultimately it was a case of “what might have been” for Team England as results in the final round meant that our leading players missed out on qualification for the next stage of the World Championship cycle in both the men’s and women’s events. Still, many members of our young team can be truly proud of their performances and will have gained rating points and valuable experience for future challenges.

Going into the final round, Gawain Jones knew that a win would see him into at least a playoff for a world championship place, but he was Black against the solid Georgian GM Mchedlishvili. Knowing that only a win would do, Gawain made a speculative pawn sacrifice in the opening, much in the style of the Blumenfeld gambit. In truth, he probably never had quite enough for his pawn and his opponent managed to consolidate the position and gain the win.

Stephen Gordon was also enjoying an excellent tournament, going into the last round on ‘+2’, but he couldn’t avoid defeat against the Armenian GM Tigran L. Petrosian. The game was a typically tense Closed Sicilian battle, with Stephen enjoying the supremacy on the queenside but his opponent having nebulous tactical chances against his king. As play neared the move 40 time control, the Armenian sacrificed a piece for three pawns and fatally exposed Stephen’s king.

Elsewhere there was an excellent win from Peter Wells against Russian GM Khismatullin. Peter set up a solid defence as Black in the Nimzo-Indian 4.Qc2 variation and picked an excellent moment to seize the initiative with a pawn sacrifice. White’s king got caught in a deadly attack along the long white-squared diagonal and he was forced to give up his queen, after which Peter coolly converted. Nick Pert rounded off an excellent tournament with a solid draw against Dutch GM Friso Nijboer, whose cause wasn’t helped by his spending 5 hours this morning studying the intricacies of the Sicilian Dragon variation (Friso mistakenly thought he was playing Nick’s twin brother Richard – Nick always plays the French Defence).

Richard Pert finished with a tough pairing against veteran GM Rafael Vaganian, who gave a masterclass in how to play the White side of the King’s Indian Attack. But there were good wins for Simon Williams and David Howell, who both played the Hippopotamus defence as Black. David looked like his king was running into trouble at one stage but coolly rebuffed his opponent’s onslaught. And finally Adam Hunt scored another win for Team England with yet another game as White in the Sicilian Defence, the fourth time he met 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 this tournament.

In the women’s event, Jovanka Houska won her final game to complete an excellent performance, but she just misses out on World Championship qualification. Heather Richards was Black in a game of fluctuating fortunes but eventually her queen couldn’t resist her opponent’s collection of minor pieces.

So the final scores were:-

Men: Gawain, Peter – 6.5; David, Nick, Simon, Stephen – 6; Adam, Richard – 5

Women: Jovanka – 7; Heather – 4

Finally, a quick thank you for the various messages of support for Team England. Much appreciated!

European Championships - Addendum

As well as the 10 members of the official Team England, there were 8 other English players who were brave enough to compete in the Championships. I know that the event was a fantastic experience and hopefully others will be encouraged to play in future events.

Here are the final results of all the English players, courtesy of www.chess-results.com (well worth a visit, by the way).

The results highlight the excellent rating performances of Jovanka Houska, Nick Pert and Peter Wells, who all faced an awesomely strong field.

European Championships Day 10

The tenth round saw a much better performance by Team England with 6 wins, 3 draws and just a single loss.

Gawain Jones goes into tomorrow’s round with an excellent chance of qualifying for the next stage of the world championship cycle after winning today. Gawain was White against GM Markowski and the game started as a Sicilian Kan variation. Gawain chose a forcing line which simplified into a rook and opposite coloured bishop endgame, where he was a pawn down but had a strong passed a-pawn. The passed pawn eventually cost Markowski his bishop but the Polish GM had a couple of extra pawns in compensation. Gawain offered a draw, but Markowski overpressed and found himself in a zugzwang position where he was going to lose all his pawns and thus resigned.

The position regarding qualification places for the World Championship is very complicated but it looks as though Gawain needs to win in the final round as Black vs. GM Mchedlishvili to guarantee himself at least a playoff position.

Other winners today in the men’s tournament included Peter Wells, who wielded his Trompovsky to good effect, Simon Williams against veteran German GM Espig, and David Howell as White in the 2.c3 Sicilian. Stephen Gordon is also having an excellent tournament as is on ‘+2’ following a fluctuating draw against GM Stefansson. Stephen missed a possible winning chance late on, but he was down to his last 30 seconds and didn’t notice the difficult opportunity. Both the Pert brothers, Nick and Richard, had solid draws today and our only loser was Adam Hunt.

Highlights of tomorrow’s round will include Stephen vs. GM Tigran Petrosian (the second!), Nick vs. Dutch GM Friso Nijboer and Richard vs. GM Vaganian – in each case the English player is Black.

In the women’s tournament, Jovanka Houska halted her bad run and has moved to ‘+2’. Unfortunately even if she wins tomorrow, it will take a mathematical miracle to see her qualify for the World Championship. Heather Richards was another winner, completing an excellent day for Team England.

To summarise Team England scores:

Men: Gawain – 6.5, Stephen - 6, Nick, Peter - 5.5, David, Richard, Simon – 5, Adam – 4

Women: Jovanka – 6, Heather – 4

Other English players who are attracting media attention are Meri and Mark Lyell, who are the only married couple playing in the Open tournament – indeed Meri is the only woman in the Open section. Earlier in the tournament, as luck would have it, Meri and Mark were paired to play each other and a draw ensued. Today it was a film crew from Austrian TV who were very keen to catch them on camera. The photo below shows Meri just as filming was starting.

European Championships Day 9

A very black day today for Team England – 4 draws, 6 losses and not a single victory.

At least our two front-runners, Gawain Jones and Stephen Gordon, made solid draws against GMs Nataf and Markowski respectively to remain in contention. Gawain tried the Grand Prix Attack as White, but his opponent was well prepared and managed to diffuse White’s initiative efficiently. Stephen had a hard defensive job as his opponent tried to turn a minute edge in a minor piece endgame into victory, but Stephen managed to hold out for a well-deserved draw. If Gawain or Stephen can make 2 wins in their last 2 games they are almost certain to qualify for the next stage of the World Championship cycle, and 1.5 out of 2 is likely to secure a playoff place. So there is still all to play for.

Nick Pert remains with an outside chance of a playoff place after a solid draw as Black against GM Movsesian. Elsewhere in the men’s tournament it was a tale of woe for Team England:- Peter Wells lost as Black against GM Kempinski, Adam Hunt was ground down by GM Bauer, Simon Williams swindled himself, David Howell lost and last but not least Richard Pert saw his GM norm chances evaporate against GM Anastasian … not without missing a few chances though.

The key pairings tomorrow are: Gawain White vs. GM Markowski, Stephen White vs. GM Stefansson and Nick White vs. GM Balogh.

In the women’s tournament, Jovanka Houska lost for the second day running and now is likely to need 2 wins to qualify for the World Championships. Heather Richards was close to a win in a rook and pawn endgame but could only draw.

Team England scores:

Men – Gawain, Stephen – 5.5, Nick – 5, Peter, Richard – 4.5, Adam, David, Simon – 4

Women – Jovanka – 5, Heather – 3

There is at least one piece of good news to report. Each round there is a brilliancy prize on offer and the round 8 award went to David Howell. David was presented with his prize amidst a scene of some chaos as there was obviously a very famous person acting as guest of honour. Sadly your correspondent hasn’t the foggiest who she is.

European Championships Day 8

Today was a much more productive one for Team England, with 5 wins, 4 draws and only one loss.

In the men’s tournament, Gawain Jones and Stephen Gordon now lead our challenge on ‘+2’, with wins against GM opposition today. Although both Gawain and Stephen got off to a slow start in this event, they are picking an excellent time to be coming into form. Gawain won today as Black against GM Kritz – in truth his well-timed draw offer should have been accepted but his grandmaster opponent made a rash attempt to win which allowed Gawain to turn the tables. Stephen gradually outplayed his opponent GM Palac as White in the Bogo-Indian … both players ran quite short of time but Stephen managed to find a mating attack in a queen and rook endgame.

The bad luck story of the day belongs to Peter Wells, who played a brilliant sacrifice against Dutch GM Friso Nijboer in a sharp Richter-Rauzer Sicilian. Unfortunately Peter took a bit too long working out all the intricacies and mishandled a winning rook and pawn endgame to concede the draw. Richard Pert continued in steady fashion with a quick draw against GM Dizdar. Adam Hunt had a very interesting game against GM Oleksienko and looked to be on his way to the win but his opponent found a very imaginative knight sacrifice to confuse the issue. Perpetual check resulted. Nick Pert and David Howell both ended their losing streaks with good wins … Nick described his game as “a bit of a grind” but David won in short order. I was very confident that Simon Williams was going to be another winner as he got the sort of attacking position he likes, but things went a bit wrong and he was relieved to make a draw in a queen and pawn endgame.

In the women’s event, Jovanka Houska’s challenge to qualify for the World Championship has taken a knock with a loss against the Swiss player Eva Moser. Jovanka is now on ‘+2’ and may need 2.5 out of the final 3 games to qualify. Heather Richards scored the final Team England victory.

Team England scores:

Gawain, Stephen – 5, Peter, Nick, Richard – 4.5, Adam, David, Simon – 4

Jovanka – 5, Heather – 2.5

Tomorrow’s round will see Gawain White vs. GM Nataf, Stephen Black vs. GM Markowski, Nick Black vs. GM Movsesian, Peter Black vs. GM Kempinski and Richard Black vs. GM Anastasian.

European Championships Day 7

Day 7 was a tough one for Team England, with most of our players having Black against higher rated opposition. The final tally as head into tomorrow’s rest day was 3 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses.

In the women’s tournament, Jovanka Houska scored an excellent win against the runner-up in last year’s British Championship, Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant. Jovanka has now moved to ‘+3’ and is excellently placed to secure one of the 16 qualifying places for the next World Championship cycle. Unfortunately Heather Richards lost.

In the men’s tournament, our players are now packed together around the ‘+1’ / 50% / ‘-1’ mark. It’s looking likely that a score of ‘+4’ or maybe ‘+3’ will be required to qualify for the World Cup, so a strong finish from one of the team could still do it. Stephen Gordon, after a slowish start, has played solidly and won his game today to move to ‘+1’ where he joins Peter Wells and Richard Pert. Peter lost today to the young Russian GM Khairullin, who played a beautiful positional game. Richard extracted a fairly speedy draw with Black from GM Cao Sang. Nick Pert had another tough pairing, with Black against GM Mikhail Gurevich – eventually Nick went down in a queen and pawn endgame. Gawain Jones was a pawn up in the final position against GM Artur Yusupov, but his decision to accept a draw was justified as the former world championship candidate had a rock-solid position. Simon Williams lost in the Dragondorf variation (this variation is proving a bit of a disaster for Team England) but Adam Hunt won a long game to move to 50%. David Howell suffered his third loss in a row as Black in the Hippo opening.

Play resumes on Wednesday where some of the pairings are: Jovanka Black vs. IM Moser, Stephen White vs. GM Palac, Gawain Black vs. GM Kritz, Richard White vs. GM Dizdar and Peter White vs. GM Nijboer.

Team England scores (out of 7):

Men: Gawain, Peter, Richard, Stephen – 4; Adam, Nick, Simon – 3.5; David – 3
Women: Jovanka – 5; Heather – 1.5

European Championships Day 6

Team England scored 5 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses on day 6 of the European Team Championships as the tournament passed the halfway point.

Sadly our two pacemakers in the men’s tournament both lost. Nick Pert was Black against GM Vitiugov in the Poisoned Pawn variation of the French Winawer. Nick never quite managed to drum up enough compensation for his pawns and later knight in what he described as “a bad day at the office”. David Howell lost his second game in a row, this time as White against GM Mchedlishvili.

Our star today was Peter Wells who won a miniature against GM Kharlov as White in the Marshall Gambit variation of the Slav. One slip from the Russian and Peter was already winning and he rounded it off with a nice rook sacrifice. Simon Williams and Richard Pert both drew as White in the same variation of the Exchange Gruenfeld against GMs Kurnosov and Neverov respectively. Gawain Jones and Adam Hunt both won … Gawain’s game must have been about the first to finish in the whole tournament … and Stephen Gordon drew.

There are some interesting pairings for tomorrow: Peter is Black vs. GM Khairullin, Nick has his second Black in a row against GM Mikhail Gurevich, Richard Black vs. GM Cao Sang, Simon Black vs. GM Lupulescu and Gawain plays his first GM opponent, as he has White vs. Artur Yusupov.

Both our representatives in the women’s tournament, Jovanka Houska and Heather Richards won … Jovanka has now moved to +2 and next plays Ketty Arakhamia-Grant as White.

Team England scores after 6 rounds:

Peter Wells - 4
Gawain Jones, Nick Pert, Richard Pert, Simon Williams – 3.5
Stephen Gordon, David Howell – 3
Adam Hunt – 2.5

Jovanka Houska – 4
Heather Richards – 1.5

European Championships Day 5

Team England scored 2 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses on Day 5.

Nick Pert remains our leading contender on 3.5 out of 5 after a draw against GM Nataf. Nick has been extremely solid so far; tomorrow he will be Black against another GM, Vitiugov. David Howell lost against GM Landa to slip back to 3 out of 5, where he is joined by Peter Wells who drew with Black against GM Grigoriants. Simon Williams won a very entertaining game as Black in the Hedgehog and also reaches the 3-point mark, the same score as Richard Pert who drew as Black vs. GM Drozdovskij. Tomorrow’s pairings see David White vs. GM Mchedlishvili, Peter White vs. GM Kharlov, Richard White vs. GM Neverov and Simon White vs. GM Kurnosov. With all these Whites, I hope we’ll see a good day tomorrow.

The other English scores in the men’s competition are Gawain Jones, who was our other winner, and Stephen Gordon with 50% and Adam Hunt on 1.5.

In the women’s tournament, Jovanka Houska had another draw to reach 3 out of 5, but Heather Richards couldn’t end her losing streak.

Nick and Richard Pert have invested in a video recorder and had a lot of fun this evening recording Simon and Gawain demonstrating their wins. Hopefully Pert Productions will make this recording available to a wider audience.

European Championships Day 4

Not such a great day for Team England, I’m afraid. Still, David Howell won a terrific game against GM Alexander Graf and is on the excellent score of 3 out of 4. He is joined by Nick Pert, who drew comfortably as Black with GM Golod. Peter Wells was our other winner, taking just 17 moves to down his opponent and so reach 2.5 out of 4, the same score as Richard Pert who drew with GM Bobras. Stephen Gordon was pressing at the end against GM Miroshnichenko, but the game ended as a draw, whilst Simon Williams’s King’s Gambit led to a fluctuating game and an eventual loss against GM van den Doel. Stephen and Simon are both on the 50% mark. Finally both Adam Hunt and Gawain Jones lost disappointingly; Adam had a promising position against GM Markowski but his opponent’s Hedgehog proved to have spines and Gawain’s Dragon ran out of puff.

Our women players both made blunders, but whilst Jovanka Houska recovered to draw thus reaching 2.5 out of 4, Heather Richards didn’t.

There will be some interesting games tomorrow. David is Black against GM Landa, Nick White vs. GM Nataf, Peter Black vs. GM Grigoriants and Richard Black vs. GM Drozdovskij.

European Championships Day 3

I got to the tournament hall a bit earlier today to find some Wagner being piped fortissimo into the playing area. It obviously inspired Team England, who scored 5 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses today.

Nick Pert led the way today with a brilliant win against Russian GM Aleksandrov. Nick has 2.5 out

David Howell awaits the start of his game today against Dutch GM Nijboer (standing). GMs Yusupov and Parligras shake hands in the foreground.

of 3 and will be Black vs. GM Golod tomorrow. We have three players on 2 out of 3, David Howell who drew with GM

Nijboer today and Simon Williams and Richard Pert, who both won today. The pairings tomorrow will be David White vs. GM Graf, Simon White vs. GM van den Doel and Richard White vs. GM Bobras. Our other 3 players in the Men’s tournament are all on 50%. Peter Wells lost today vs. GM Khuzman; Stephen Gordon took some risks against his opponent to avoid an early draw but a draw it was (Stephen now plays GM Miroshchenko tomorrow); and Gawain Jones scored his first win.

Less success in the Women’s tournament: Jovanka Houska was on top board but lost to top seed Stefanova to go to 2/3; Heather Richards lost and is on 0.5/3.

Whilst I was waxing lyrical about the organisation at the start of the tournament, it appears that there are problems with the website. I, for one, can’t work out where to find anything and there are plenty of grumbles. It’s a shame, because there are plenty of live games that should be available. There is a new link to try from tomorrow: http://live.dresden2008.de

European Championship Day 2

Day 2 was a tough one for Team England, with 3 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses. It was a day of hard-fought games and a few missed opportunities.

Let’s start with the Women’s tournament where Jovanka Houska scored a crushing win and leads the way on 2 out of 2. In round 3 Jovanka will have Black against top seed and former champion Antoaneta Stefanova. Heather Richards had a tough game today but eventually lost to GM Kovalevskaya. Heather is now on 0.5 out of 2.

In the Men’s tournament we have 3 players on 1.5 out of 2, with David Howell, Nick Pert and Peter Wells all scoring solid draws against GM opposition. Nick’s result was particularly creditable as his French Defence held against the fearsome Russian attacker Alexei Fedorov. Our other first-round winner Stephen Gordon was less fortunate as he slid to a painful loss, as did Adam Hunt who was ground down by GM Kobalia. Simon Williams and Richard Pert both bounced back from first-round losses and have reached 50%, but Gawain Jones surprisingly lost and is on 0.5 out of 2.

Highlights from Day 3 will include David Black vs. Dutch GM Friso Nijboer, Peter Black vs. Khuzman and Nick White vs. Aleksandrov.

European Championship Day 1

Day 1 is over … and it’s way past my bedtime, so here’s a quick summary of the opening round. All in all a good start by Team England – 5 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses.

Wins were duly chalked up by David Howell, Stephen Gordon, Peter Wells and Nick Pert over their lower rated opponents. Gawain Jones was a bit disappointed to be held with White after transposing into a king and pawn endgame he thought was winning but wasn’t. Adam Hunt held GM Miroshnichenko to a draw with Black in a very sharp Grunfeld, but Simon Williams slowly succumbed to #2 seed Nisipeanu and Richard Pert spoilt a nice position against GM Tomashevsky.

A good start as well for the English women, with Jovanka Houska winning and Heather drawing.

It’s going to be a tough day tomorrow … with most of the English players up against GM opponents. Highlights will include: Nick vs. Fedorov with Black, David White vs. Roiz, Peter White vs. Minasian, Stephen White vs. Kobalia; and in the Women’s competition Jovanka is White vs. Petrenko and Heather Black vs. Kovalevskaya.

After losing with Black today against a 2580, I was a bit surprised to see I’m playing someone over 2600 tomorrow. And with Black again …. Arghhhhh!

Pleased to report that Team England seem to be in good heart this morning.

The draw has just been published. Some highlights will be Simon Williams as Black against previous winner Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, who is the second seed. Adam Hunt and Richard Pert also have tough games as Black against GMs Miroshnichenko and Tomashevsky respectively. The remaining English players are just in the bottom half of the draw and as it’s top vs. bottom they have weaker opponents. In the women’s event Jovanka is Black vs. WIM Mira and Heather White vs. IM Vajda.

For what it's worth, I'm Black against GM Kurnosov.

A few thoughts on the eve of the European Championships in Dresden …

I arrived here this afternoon on a flight from Gatwick which seemed to be completely taken over by English chess players. On arriving at Dresden airport, I was immediately struck by the efficiency of the German organisation. As soon as we passed through customs we saw a “Dresden Schach Olympiad 2008” information desk and we were swiftly shown to a private coach which took us straight to the venue. The tournament is being held in the International Conference Centre, which seems to be very near the city centre (I must confess I haven’t mastered the geography of the place yet). The hotel where I and some of the other English players are staying is literally a minute’s walk from the Conference Centre. It’s a lovely setting, right next to the river Elbe.

The ten players representing Team England have all arrived and I’ve also seen a few other English players. The most striking thing here is the sheer scale of this event. There are about 600 players, representing 43 countries, and everywhere you look there is a well-known GM. As I left the venue at past 10 o’clock tonight there were still players queuing for accreditation. The organisers are using this event as a dry-run for the Olympiad next year. I must say that I’m impressed by their efforts so far.

Together with some of the other English players I watched the opening ceremony this evening. It was held in a theatre within the Conference Centre … in pitch darkness, so not conducive to getting good photos, I’m afraid. I had no idea what to expect at this ceremony and it was a mixture of entertainment and speeches from the great and the good. Kirsan turned up and spoke for about 3 minutes in English, welcoming the players and congratulating the organisers. There were a lot of musical interludes with numbers from the musical “Chess”, mostly rendered in German. But I thought the best bit was the drawing of lots (which colour would the highest rated player have in round 1) which featured a magician, two female assistants (I’ll leave the costumes to your imagination, but one was White and the other Black), two members of the audience and one tiger. I’ll spare you the details, but the ceremont was good fun and an enjoyable hour or so.

It’s coming up to half past midnight, so I’ll sign off now as I have to play chess in the morning. I’ve just checked the internet and the first round draw doesn’t seem to be up yet.

Peter Sowray
ECF Director of International Chess

‘Team England’ Launch an Assault on the European Chess Championships

England’s finest young chess players will compete at the prestigious 8th European Individual Chess Championships which are to be held in Dresden from 2nd to 16th April 2007 thanks to support from the English Chess Federation. The ten player squad will be competing as ‘Team England’ and includes 16 year-old prodigy David Howell who became the UK’s youngest ever Grandmaster at the turn of the year.

England’s other outstanding young prospects Gawain Jones and Stephen Gordon will hope to secure the Grandmaster title at this top class event which is a stepping stone towards the next stage of the World Chess Championship organised by the game’s governing body, FIDE. The team will be further strengthened by ex-World Junior champion Nick Pert while England’s number 2 woman player, Jovanka Houska, will take part in the Women’s Championship.

The full list of players in Team England is:

• Stephen Gordon (International Master)
• Jovanka Houska (International Woman Grandmaster)
• David Howell (International Grandmaster elect)
• Adam Hunt (International Master)
• Gawain Jones (International Master)
• Nick Pert (International Grandmaster)
• Richard Pert (International Master)
• Heather Richards (International Woman Master)
• Peter Wells (International Grandmaster)
• Simon Williams (International Master)

The European Championships is one of the most important events in the chess calendar. The competition was first held in Munich in 1942 (a controversial non FIDE event) when the winner was the then World Champion Alexander Alekhine.

The strong English challenge has been made possible by the financial support of the English Chess Federation. A number of amateur players from England are also expected to take part.

ECF International Director Peter Sowray, who will also play in the event, is delighted at the strength of the English challenge. “Team England is our strongest ever representation at the Europeans. The funding provided by the ECF and its John Robinson Trust, as well as by the Friends of Chess, has made a huge difference,” he said. “That we are sending such numbers shows the willingness of ordinary chess players to support, through their Federation, our brightest prospects.”

There are sponsorship opportunities available for Team England's participation in the European Championships. Please contact Peter Sowray if you are interested.

Any players wishing to compete in the European Championships are reminded that entries must be sent via the National Federation and that the closing date for entries is the end of January. Please let Peter know now if you are interested.

For further details please contact Peter Sowray, ECF International Director on 07720 716 336, .

More information on the European Individual Championships can be found at the official web site www.dresden2008.org