A tally of 2/3 from the latter rounds of the British Championship was easily enough for GM Adams to secure the title.

Here’s our final selection of interesting moments from his games.

Round 9

Black v Adam Hunt

Opening: Ruy Lopez, Classical

Not for the first time in this event, Adams advanced his Kingside pawns in the middlegame. 21 …h5 White played with accuracy and Black didn’t manage to drum up a significant edge. 22 h4 g4 23 f3 and then not much else happened. The game was drawn on move 32. Adams still had the Bishop pair at the end of the game but perhaps had nagging doubts about the longevity of his a-pawn. Adam Hunt probably didn’t feel like pushing harder either; by playing this game, he secured a Grandmaster Norm.

Round 10

White v Simon Williams

Opening: Sicilian 3 Bb5+

GM Williams is a very dangerous player, but Adams was able to impose his will forcefully on proceedings. Black is already in big trouble positionally (the weak a-pawn his migrated from the previous game and switched sides – now it is firmly in the firing line of the guns of Adams). 28 Na4 is the straw which the camel’s back was dreading. How can Black defend his Queenside pawns and keep away from the Knight fork? 28 …Ra6 Things are usually pretty bad when such moves have to be played. This one leads to a direct refutation. 29 Qd3 1-0 The pawns start to drop after, for example, 29 …Nc7 30 Nb6 and 31 Rxc6.

Round 11

Black v Peter Wells

Opening: Queen’s Indian

Adams was already ensured of first place when this game began. But could he remain unbeaten?

GM Wells played the game very aggressively and was content to shed the exchange to keep up the attack. In the position above, White has excellently placed pieces and note the Rook on h5 is itching to swing across to the Queenside to attack the King. Adams found a very interesting move to defuse the attack. 24 …Rd5 Giving back the exchange to avoid a catastrophe on the White squares. Things now concluded swiftly and peacefully. 25 Bxd5 exd5+ 26 Re5 Qd6 27 Re8+ Rxe8+ 28 Qxe8+ Kb7 29 Qb5+ Kc8 30 Qe8+ Kb7 draw.

That concludes our brief summary of the new champion’s path to the British title. Mickey won the English title too, as the highest-placed English player!

It was great to see one of the World’s elite players in the British Championship. Even better, it seems that this is just the start of bigger things. Thanks mainly to the efforts of the President of the English Chess Federation, Mr. C.J. de Mooi, the 2011 event looks set to feature Grandmasters Adams, Short, Howell and McShane in what could turn out to be the strongest British Championship to date.

Meanwhile, for downloads and replays of all of the 2010 British Championship games, head over to:

http://www.britishchess2010.com/

The winning streak of GM Adams came to an end in round 6 of the British Chess Championship.

Round 6

White v Nick Pert

Opening: Sicilian, 3 Bb5

This was a very quiet game. In the position given above, there are no sensible pawn breaks and not an awful lot else to do. So Adams simply played the noncommittal 21 Kh2 and the players agreed to a draw.

Round 7

Black v Stephen Gordon

Opening: Catalan

Round 7 saw a return to fighting chess with a really tough battle. White has just played 29 Rf1-d1, which is a perfectly reasonable move at first glance. Unfortunately, it loses to 29 …Qc5! All possible continuations are very heavily in Black’s favour, so White resigned.

Round 8

White v Stuart Conquest

Opening: Caro-Kann

This was another great display by Adams showing distinct touches of Karpov in his prime. Having saddled Black with a backward pawn on e6, he never let it out of his sight until he was able to pick it off.

After 38 Qe1 there was no way for the defenders of e6 to match the attackers and the pawn fell off on the next move. Former British Champion Conquest held on until move 59, when he was left with two bad choices: either lose a second pawn in a Rook and pawn ending or swap off Rooks and end up a pawn down in a King and pawn ending. So he resigned at that point.

All very impressive stuff. With a terrific score of +7, =1, -0, Adams was almost certain to take the title. Three rounds remained. Snippets from those will appear here in the next post.

GM Michael Adams made his intentions perfectly clear in the first half of the British Championship, powering his way to five straight wins.

Here are selected moments from his perfect start.

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Round 1

Black v R. Eames

Opening:  King’s Gambit

Adams sticks with very classical chess, meeting 1 e4 with 1 …e5 and meeting 1 d4 with a Nimzo-Indian or a Queen’s Indian. The King’s Gambit shouldn’t be a threat to a strong player and Adams soon obtained a very good position.

After 14 …f3! 15 gxf3 Rhg8 he guaranteed that lines were opened up against the White King. The game ended in Black’s favour on move 21.

Round 2

White v A. Summerscale

Opening: Caro-Kann

GM Summerscale is a very dangerous player. However, the Black position is looking a shade on the loose side here. Perhaps he hopes to trap the White Bishop with …g5 followed by rounding it up with the Knight…? Adams played the Karpovian 24 h3, which takes away one of the squares Black could have possibly used for his Knight and gives his own King a little more breathing space. There is no hurry  - Black’s weak pawns will not go away – and a quiet move like 24 h3 can have a demoralising effect on the opponent.  By move 29, Adams was two pawns up with no problems whatsoever and Black resigned.

Round 3

Black v R. Pert

Opening: Trompowski Attack

Instead of playing the obvious 24 …a6 to defend the b5 pawn, Adams played to activate his Queenside majority with 24 …a5. White took the bait with 25 Rxb5, perhaps hoping that after 25 …Ba6 26 a4 the resulting passed, connected Queenside pawns would be good compensation for the loss of the exchange.  It was an interesting idea but it fell short against very accurate play. Black won after 45 moves.

Round 4

White v J. Rudd

Opening: Modern Defence

In this game, I liked the way that Adams exploited the strange position of the Black Queen. The b6 pawn is suddenly weak after the Rook lift: 18 Ra3! Both 19 Rb3 and 19 Rc3 are now possible, depending on how Black decides to play. An attack on the Queenside here is effectively an attack on the Black King, as …0-0 has been ruled out for the time being. Black’s King tried to personally hold things together after 18 …Kd7 but the only relief came four moves later, when Black resigned.

Round 5

Black v A. Slavin

Opening: Colle System

This game started in direct contrast to the one in the first round. The King’s Gambit aims for a very early fight, but the Colle tries to develop very quietly before starting play in the middlegame. Neither approach is particularly likely to cause a top-class Grandmaster nervous moments.

After seeing Adams kick the Knight with 22 …h6, White went in for a combination, which backfired badly. 22 Nxf7 Rxf7 23 Rxf7 Kxf7 24 Rc7+ Kg8 25 Rxb7 Getting the piece back with interest…? Perhaps not… 25 …Qa1+ 0-1

5/5! Round 6 brought the winning run to an end.

Part 2 of this report will feature snippets from games 6-8 and should appear here tomorrow.

GM Michael Adams started the 2010 British Chess Championship as the clear favourite. Sure enough, he dominated the tournament and ended up winning by a convincing margin of 1.5 points. GM Nicholas Pert’s great determination in the final round brought him a win and an excellent second place.

It might sound odd, but Grandmasters of Mickey’s strength don’t often win tournaments. They usually play in events in which a mid-table finish is a perfectly reasonably result.

The pressure of suddenly being the overwhelming favourite at the start of a tournament can lead to accidents, especially as each opponent could rise to the occasion and produce a special effort.

Over the next three Mongoose postings – starting tomorrow – we shall take a look at some key positions from the eleven games played by the new champion and chart his path to victory.

The British Chess Championship is now under way. The venue is the University of Kent in Canterbury and there are nine Grandmasters heading a field of 76 participants.

GM Michael Adams is the clear favourite to take the title. With a rating of 2706, he stands nearly 200 ELO points ahead of his nearest rival. His first two games appeared to be very comfortable wins. Round three sees GM Adams paired with IM Pert. Three other players are also on maximum points after two rounds.

There’s very good coverage, including live games, on the official site:

http://www.britishchess2010.com/

Last year’s London Chess Classic was surely one of the most exciting events of 2009.

The field of players for the 2010 tournament has recently been announced and there is some big news…undisputed World Champion Vishy Anand will be one of the participants!

The full line-up is:

Vishy Anand (World Champion)

Vladimir Kramnik (former World Champion)

Magnus Carlsen (ranked number 1 in the world)

Hikaru Nakamura

Michael Adams

Nigel Short

Luke McShane

David Howell

What a fantastic set of players! They will be battling it out at the The Olympia Conference Centre from 8-15 December.

I am hoping to be there for the duration of the event to provide frequent, on-the-spot updates for this blog.

The official website is:  http://www.londonchessclassic.com/

So, suddenly it’s all over. 12 tough games have entertained the chess world and the match has been decided without the need to resort to play-off games.

Here’s a final round up of the key moments…

Anand brought out a big gun in the ninth game: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3, allowing the Nimzo-Indian Defence. It was a combative but scrappy game, with several wins being missed by White.

A key moment arrived on the last move of the time control.

Anand – Topalov

Game 9

Anand played the illogical 40 Rh8+?, allowing the Black King to escape from the back rank. After further twists and turns, the game was drawn on move 83. Instead, both 40 Re2 and 40 Re4 are known to be serious winning tries.

Topalov – Anand

Game 10

It was the challenger’s turn to press in game 10. The Bishop pair and passed pawn looked to be adding up to a serous plus for White, but Anand proved that his nimble Knight  could still influence matters.

In this position he temporarily ignored the attack on his Bishop and played 45 …Nc4!  This freed the d6 square for his Bishop and after 46 Bc1 he was able to swap a pair of Bishops with an eventual …Bf4-d6-a3.  The game was drawn after 60 moves.

With the match tied at 5-5 with just two games to go, it was important to push even harder with the White pieces.

Anand – Topalov

Game 11

Anand’s surprise English Opening (1 c4)  hadn’t given him much and the game seemed to be heading for a draw. Was the Champion’s plan to draw his way to the play-offs, in which, based on past Rapidplay results, he would be the firm favourite?

Indeed, 49 Kg3 would have allowed a repetition after 49 …Ne4+ (assuming Topalov would have been happy with it). Instead, Anand appeared to gamble with 49 Rd2?! and after 49 …Nxb5 50 f5 with unexpected complications. However, the game was still drawn after 65 moves.

On to game 12. I presume Anand would be happy to draw but Topalov would not. Which opening would we see? Certainly not the Grunfeld and the Slav may find itself under pressure too. Anand’s choice was excellent – the old Lasker Defence to the Queen’s Gambit; not so easy to create winning chances for either side. How ironic that it would produce the only Black win of the match.

Topalov – Anand

Game 12

Anand’s 30 …f5 produced an impetuous response: 31 exf5? (31 Nd2 is surely an improvement. Self-clearing the long diagonal is a very strange way to play this position) 31 …e4! 32 fxe4? Qxe4+ 33 Kh3 and suddenly everything was looking excellent for Black.

In the last blog entry, I wrote: ‘Meanwhile, I’m sticking with my prediction of a narrow win for Anand as I still think Topalov will play something hasty at a key moment and suffer for it.’

Our concluding ‘moment’  shows the last move the whole titanic match.  56 … Qg7 0-1

Congratulations to GM Anand, who has successfully defended his title by the score of 6.5 – 5.5 and will be our champion for at least another two years. If the plans to bring the 2012 match London proceed as planned, I should be in a position to report ‘live’ from the venue.

It’s been another dramatic week at the World Chess Championship.

Here’s an interesting moment from each game of the middle section of the match.

Topalov – Anand

Game 5

Despite what I said about not wanting to see too many games featuring the Slav Defence, I think the position after the second move of game five is very significant. Anand clearly doesn’t feel confident about matching Topalov’s terrific opening preparation – at least as far as the Grunfeld is concerned – so he sticks to his 2 …c6 guns. The game was drawn after 44 moves.

Perhaps he will stick with throughout the match now, or at least until the need arises for a win with Black in game 12.

Anand – Topalov

Game 6

The champion will have been happy to reach the halfway stage while maintaining his point advantage, but it was hard work. Topalov showed his will to win was as strong as ever in this game. A pawn down, he now played 45...Rd2-d3 instead of allowing a repetition of position. Anand’s Knights did amazing things in this game. Despite Topalov’s lack of drawing spirit, the point was shared after move 58.

Anand – Topalov

Game 7

Anand’s second consecutive White took us into the second half of the match and game 7 proved to be the most interesting so far. Wild complications ensued (who said the Catalan was boring?). In the position (above), Anand has just placed 30 Rd1-c1, allowing what looks like a devastating attack. However, even after 30...Rxh2+, Black could find no way to progress and the game was drawn on move 58.

Topalov – Anand

Game 8

The Challenger was more determined than ever in game 8. He put the Slav under serious pressure and Anand had to bail out into an opposite coloured Bishop ending. However, they are not automatically draws and there is often a tough defensive chore to be done before a draw is eventually secured.  Anand has just played 54..Bb5-c6? which turned out to be a big mistake, as the Bishop now faces an impossible task to try and defend the h7 pawn. Topalov wrapped the game up in just two more moves.

So the match is tied at 4-4 after eight games and with only four games left (barring play-offs) the margin of error is being dramatically reduced with each and every game.

What can we expect now? Two more Catalans from Anand, and a repaired Slav? Or have both players been saving something (1 e4!?) for this critical phase of the match?

Meanwhile, I’m sticking with my prediction of a narrow win for Anand as I still think Topalov will play something hasty at a key moment and suffer for it.

I’ll be back with four more key moments after game 12.

The first third of the 2010 World Chess Championship has now been completed.

I think games 1-4 (of 12) surpassed expectations, with three decisive encounters and some sparkling sacrificial attacks.

It’s easy to find deep analysis all over the net, so here’s a small selection of interesting moments; one from each game.

Topalov – Anand

Game 1

Maybe Anand was tired after his very long and difficult journey and perhaps the Grunfeld was the wrong choice for the first game. Here, Topalov unleashed 24 Nxf6! and won shortly afterwards. The word is that the whole game was preparation from start to finish and that should have served as an early warning for the champion that the challenger was better equipped in the homework department.

Anand v Topalov

Game 2

Things were different in the next game. Playing a Catalan, Anand steered clear of Topalov’s preparation and exploited the latter’s lack of patience. Topalov played the impatient 25 …Ne3. Anand later took advantage of weaknesses in Black’s structure and converted his advantage into a winning Rook and pawn ending.

Topalov – Anand

Game 3

The only draw from the first third of the match came in game three. Bye bye Grunfeld, hello Slav. In this position, it looks like the White Queenside pawns could be weaknesses, but Topalov played the instructive 26 c6 when suddenly Black’s pawns could easily end up as targets. However, Anand played calmly and accurately and the game ended in a draw.

Anand – Topalov

Game 4

I thought that the match was shaping up to be a classic battle of preparation v patience but Anand really let rip in game four, (another Catalan) with a brilliant sacrificial attack starting with 23 Nxh6+ It was almost as if the White pieces had been handled by….Topalov!

So there has been plenty of excitement already and I’m sure there’s more to come.

I’ll be back after game 8 to present four more key moments of the match.  Is it time for Topalov to switch hands and reach for the King’s pawn?

The 2010 World Chess Championship is scheduled to start at the end of this week. There may be a slight delay due to transport difficulties, but we’ll all be watching top level action again soon enough.

As the match is to be held in Bulgaria, Anand, the defending champion, is giving Topalov home advantage. Whether or not this makes any real difference for chess players is a moot point. Anand will certainly be tired after his long and difficult journey.

12 games are due to be played, followed by tie-breakers if required.

Who is the favourite? Current form isn’t all the best indication; players sometimes hold back opening secrets and energy leading up to big matches. Anand had a fairly quiet Wijk aan Zee tournament, sharing fourth place and remaining unbeaten. Meanwhile, Topalov won at Linares in his usual style – winning four games but losing one.

ChessBase Magazine no. 135 neatly sums up the scores between the players. Taking into account Classical, Rapid, Blitz and Blindfold games, Anand has 23 victories to his name and Topalov 14.  There have been 50 draws.  So Anand looks to be clear favourite, based on what has happened in the past. However, the scores are much closer when considering purely Classical encounters, with Topalov enjoying one more win than the champion.

In recent times, Topalov does some to be the ‘hungrier’ player and he will be keen to take his chance granted by FIDE’s ’special privileges’, which gave him a match with Kamsky at the very end of the qualification cycle.

However, I see Anand as the slight favourite. In 2008, his match play against Kramnik really was fantastic. He won three games without reply in the first half of the match – two with Black – and even wrapped up the contest with a game to spare. Not many – if any – people predicted that at the time.

King’s pawn players will hoping to see more 1 e4 openings this time around and I suspect even 1 d4 fans will be keen to see less Slavs than we have grown accustomed to. With both players being equally capable of playing ‘left handed’ and ‘right handed’, it will be very interesting to see which battlefields they select and in which directions theory will be developed.

I doubt very much that Anand will allow himself to drawn into any controversial sideshows so we should all be able to look forward, with confidence, to a fine and exciting duel between two of the best chess players in history.