The Miles Report

by Tony Miles
The British Championship
This year's British Championship resulted in another win for the
reigning titleholder Julian Hodgson. Last year Hodgson took the
title fairly easily since the tournament clashed with the World
Championship in Las Vegas, distracting most of his main rivals.
This time the road to victory was a little more bumpy.
With Adams and Short otherwise engaged, Julian started as top
seed, with his rating having gone up to the dizzy heights of 2640.
However he was held to a draw in the first round by the lowly rated
Mahesh Chandran, as was the second seed Jon Speelman by Simon
Buckley. As it happened, there was only one other draw in the
entire first round, which by a strange quirk of the pairing system
lead to a second round pairing of Hodgson v Speelman!
Julian does not have a great record against Speelman, and this
meeting did nothing to improve it, with black winning in 30
moves. Thereafter the lead was held by Summerscale, Hebden and
then Ward, but gradually Hodgson began to chew his way back
through the field. He won three games in a row before dropping
another draw, leaving him still a point off the lead at the half way
point. However a second burst of four wins left the field trailing
behind, and a quick last round draw was enough to clinch the title
again.
Leading scores:
8/11 Hodgson
8 Ward
7 Chandler, Gormally, Hebden and Speelman
The decisive game, from the tenth round:
White: Hodgson Black: Ward
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5
The faithful Tromp strikes again!
2...e6 3.e4 h6 4. Bf6 Qf6 5.c3
A small change from the more usual 5.Nc3.
5...d6 6.Bd3 e5 7.Ne2 g6 8.O-O Bg7 9. f4
The point of White's play - he establishes a pawn centre.
9...ed 10.cd Nc6 11.e5 de 12de Qd8 13. Nbc3 O-O 14. Rc1 g5
(See Diagram)
A slightly fishy attempt to reactivate the Bg7, but otherwise
White's central grip will give him an edge.
15. Nd5!
A nice move, retaining his hold on the position. Of course 15...Qd5
is impossible because of 16.Bh7.
15...gf 16.Nef4 Ne5 17. Rc7
The dominant N on d5 makes things difficult for Black,
particularly with his kingside weakened. The following sequence,
exchanging light squared Bishops does not help, but it is hard to
suggest anything better.
17...Bg4 18.Be2 Qg5 19. Bg4 Ng4 20.h3 Ne5 21. Nh5 (See
Diagram)
The initiative spreads toward the black King.
21.... Rad8 22.Ng7 Qg7 23.Ne7 Kh8 24.Qc2
The focus switches to f5.
24...Rd3
This attempt at activity backfires , but White's advantage was
serious anyway.
25.Rc8 Rdd8 26.Rd8 Rd8 27.Qe4 Rd2 28.Nf5 Qf6 29.Nh6
Decisive - stripping away the pawn cover from the black King.
29...Qh6 30.Qe5 Qg7 31.Qe4 Rb2 32.Rf4 (See Diagram)
32...Rb6 33.Qe8 Qg8 34.Rh4 Kg7 35.Qe5 Kf8 36.Rh8 1-0
An impressively smooth performance from Hodgson.
On a lighter note take a look at the following position from the
game Vukovic (2471) v Aldrovandi (2351) from the European
Championship
After the moves 1 e4 c5 2 b3 Nc6 3 Bb2 d6 4 Bb5 e5 5 f4 this
position was reached (See Diagram)
If you haven't seen it try to guess Black's next move. (I am
attempting to be helpful by suggesting you guess... If you work it
out logically call your nearest psychiatrist immediately! Come to
think of it, have 10 guesses...) And if that is too easy try to predict
the result and length of the game! Have fun... [The solution may be
found at the end of this article.]
Solution (Move it somewhere if you can Hanon!)
I first came across this position in a bar in St Vincent. Jan Timman
was shaking his head incredulously " Can you believe what Black
played in this position?" he asked me... At the time he had no idea
of the result of the game.
The move that made such an impression was 5...g5 ( forgive me
for failing to append any ?s or !s.....but I do not feel qualified. Did
you get it in 10 guesses??)
The game concluded 6 fe Bg7 7 Na3 Nge7 8 Nc4 O-O 9 ed Nd4
10 Bd4 cd 11 de Qe7 12 Nb2 Qe4 13 Kf1 Qf5 0-1
Planet Aldrovandi ?!!