John Henderson Reports on the British Championships in Scarborough

Round 4 Thursday 2nd August 2001

THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX

THERE comes a time when, as a journalist, you just have to acknowledge the contribution made to the game from sponsors, who after all are generous enough to fund the game. It always difficult to find sponsors with an interest in chess, therefore it helps if the guys at the top making the decisions know a thing or two about the game rather than stand up at the end to give a speech that invariably starts with “I don’t play the game myself, but...”

Take, for example, the Smith & Williamson British Championships, and their Young Masters tournament that runs just a week or two before the big event. The driving force behind the company’s support of chess is unquestionable the man at the top who’s no slouch at the game: Group Managing Director Gareth Pearce.

As ever, Gareth was around to do the official duties on the opening day, and of course will be back for the prize giving ceremony to hand out the trophies and the cheques. Unfortunately he can’t be here for the two weeks of the tournament, as someone at Smith & Williamson (have I mentioned the company enough times now, Gareth?) has to stay at the office back in London to earn the money to keep the generous sponsorship flooding in. However, like you, I know for a fact that after he has a hard day at the office, he’s tuning into the TWIC coverage, closely following exactly what’s happening at “his” tournament.

A former Welsh junior internationalist in the 1970s, he knows more than a bit or two about the game and actually qualified to play in the British proper way back in the early 1980s when he came second equal in the Major Open. Unfortunately for Gareth, he was unable to take his rightful place in the Championship when, like many a good man that’s gone before him, he fell into the usual rat race: got married, big job in the City, kids and hefty mortgage.

So, in a typical Viktor Kiam-esque moment (“I liked the company so much, I decided to buy it!”), Gareth instead had to be content with being the sponsor of the tournament – for which we thank him.

(Photo of Leonard Barden courtesy of John Saunders of BCM)

This has been a tradition in British Chess for some of our major sponsors. Way back in 1977, with the help of Leonard Barden, Lloyds Bank, one of the UK’s leading banks established a programme of support for chess in schools and universities, and arranged a simultaneous match between then world champion Anatoly Karpov and ten England juniors.

Very generous. But there was more. In the same year, the bank initiated what has been regarded as perhaps the best British international tournament: the Lloyds Bank Masters. A lot of this funding had much to do with the Bank’s chairman, Sir Jeremy Morse, who was also a noted chess problemist in his own right. A FIDE International Judge for Chess Composition, he also wrote an interesting book on the subject in 1995, entitled Chess Problems: Tasks and Records, published by Faber & Faber. Go to the excellent ChessBase Study CD, and there you’ll find four superb studies composed by Morse, his best being #24772 of 58801.

Can you find the mate in eight for white?

Solution at the end of the article

Another benefactor of British Chess is Terence Chapman (a contemporary of Gareth Pearce), he of the top IT consultancy firm The Terence Champman Group. As a junior, Chapman was also a good chess player. A former British under-14 champion and England junior international captain, much like Gareth Pearce, he decided to give up chess in the 1980s to make – which he did – his fortune in the City.

In a recent charity odds match, he took on Garry Kasparov mano a mano – give or take a pawn or two! – at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand in London. Maybe it’s just coincidence here, but since Chapman lost to Gazza, the shares in his once valued £100m company have dived in a manner that makes Bayern Munich’s Steffan Effenberg look like a rank amateur. But that’s IT stock for you these days – in the last year they’ve gone from Boo.com to Boo-hoo.com.

The temporary blip in the market ain’t enough to harm an established firm such as the Terence Chapman Group. Companies like this will always survive (say’s he hopefully with a portfolio that includes shares in it!).

Apart from some prestigious, annual junior awards, The Terence Chapman Group provides the sponsorship for the British Grand Prix, which has over 10,000 UK congress players compete for over £25,000 in prize money on the gruelling tournament circuit each year. Again, this is due mainly to the influence of veteran journalist Leonard Barden, a guy who has an uncanny knack for spotting a potential top GM before the kid can utter its first words to its parents. He’s the sort of person who, when the doting parents-to-be go for a scan to determine the sex of the child in the womb, would be on hand to let them know also its potential Elo rating. If only he had the same gift for spotting a winner at the racetrack, he’d be a millionaire by now (which reminds me, Len, the £5 I lost in the bet is in the post).

The Grand Prix started life in 1974 under the original sponsorship of Cutty Sark, and has since had three further sponsors. The Grand Prix was (again) an original idea of Leonard Barden. And, like some sort of chess Statto, he meticulously calculates all the results from the various tournaments – not just at GM level but also female, junior, amateur, senior and disabled who are all eligible for a prize – each week in Britain to determine the best tournament player of the year on the circuit.

And, due to the success of the Grand Prix, and due to the fantastic results generated by 1 e4 c5 2 f4 against the Sicilian, it subsequently led to the system being christened the “Grand Prix Attack”.

In 1620 Greco mentioned the idea of 2 f4 against the Sicilian, although at that time the idea was to adopt an advanced pawn structure similar to the French Defence. Philidor went on to mention a similar usage of 2 f4 in the second edition of his book Analyse du Jeu des Exchecs in 1777.

The real turning point for the opening came in the shape and form of the great Dane himself, Bent Larsen, who caused a stir with 2 f4 in the 1960s; a subject which he covered in great detail in the excellent R.H.M. book How To Open A Chess Game.

The big breakthrough for this aggressive system came in 1976 and the Grand Prix victory of Dave Rumens (who coincidently is once again playing in the Championship as he stood in at last moment to prevent a bye – and was cruelly dubbed “Dracula has risen from the grave!”), who was so inspired by a game by the legendary Bobby Fischer who played a famous reversed Grand Prix against the English Opening of Anthony Saidy in New York 1969.

Taking a leaf out of Fischer’s book (and not to mention the fact that he would also have it with an extra tempo with white), Rumens used it to devastating effect against the Sicilian in over 25 tournaments in the year he won the Grand Prix. These games were manna from heaven for a chess journalist, and Barden subsequently christened it “The Grand Prix Attack”.

Following in Rumens’ mating footsteps, a number of young English masters such as Mark Hebden, Julian Hodgson and Willie Watson followed his example to notch-up impressive wins in the gladiatorial arena of the weekend tournament circuit.

In the 1990s, the opening became accepted at the top level after being adopted by a number of world-class players such as Adams, Anand, Ivanchuk and Topalov. Not to mention Nigel Short who used it to beat Boris Gelfand on his way to challenge for the World Championship.

Fittingly, or game of day from the fourth round features a typical Grand Prix Attack.

Chandler,M (2540) - Palliser,R (2337) [B23]

1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 A common way of playing the Grand Prix Attack these days as it avoids the Tal Gambit with d5 - first played by the maestro against an Englishman! - a line that took all the fun out of the GPA with Larsen's original 2 f4. 2 f4 d5 3 exd5 (There's is another solution – 3 Nc3 -that's called the Hebden Variation, though on the tournament circuit it became better known as the "Toilet Variation", because Mark was unfortunate to let on in the pub one night exactly where he was when he became "inspired". 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 e6 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 g3 Nf6 7 Nf2 g6 8 Bg2 Bg7 9 0–0 0–0 10 Nd3 Ng4 11 Nxc5 Qb6 12 d4 Nxd4 13 Nxd4 Qxc5 14 Qxg4 e5 15 Qf3 e4 16 Qxe4 Bf5 17 Qxb7 Bxd4+ 18 Kh1 Qxc2 19 Qb3 Rac8 20 Qxc2 Rxc2 21 Re1 Rb8 22 Bd5 Rd8 23 Bb3 Rf2 24 h4 Bg4 25 Bd1 Bxd1 0–1, Hebden,M-Mestel,J/British Ch., 1986.) 3 ..Nf6 4 Bb5+ Bd7 5 Bxd7+ Qxd7 6 c4 e6 7 Qe2 Bd6 8 dxe6 fxe6 9 d3 0–0 10 Nf3 Ng4 11 Nc3 Nc6 12 0–0 Bxf4 13 Qe4 Qd4+ 14 Qxd4 cxd4 15 Bxf4 dxc3 16 Bd6 Rfd8 17 c5 cxb2 18 Rab1 b6 19 Rxb2 bxc5 20 Bxc5 Rxd3 21 h3 Nf6 22 Rc1 Rad8 23 Kh2 e5 24 Bf2 e4 25 Rxc6 exf3 26 Bxa7 Rd2 27 Rcc2 Rxc2 ½–½ Hartston,W-Tal,M/Tallinn 1979/MCD. 2 ..d6 3 f4 g6 4 Nf3 Bg7 5 Bc4

The Vinken Variation has proved the most resilient over the years - especially with lower rated players. It's the route one to goal technique: f5 followed by Qe1–h4, with mate to follow! 5 ..Nc6 6 0–0 6 f5!? gxf5 7 d3 would be more in the spirit of the Grand Prix Attack. 6 ..e6 7 d3 Nge7 8 Qe1 h6 Buy delaying castling, Palliser hopes to take some of the sting out of the white attack. 8 ..0–0 9 f5! it's not exactly a forced win for white, but it sure as hell makes defending for black very, very tricky: 9 ..exf5 10 Bg5 (10 Qh4 h5 11 Bg5 Qd7 12 Rae1 Kh8 13 Bf6 fxe4 14 dxe4 Ng8 15 Bxg7+ Kxg7 16 Qf4 a6 17 Rd1 b5 18 Rxd6 Qg4 19 Qe3 Nge7 20 Bd5 Bb7 21 h3 Qc8 22 Qxc5 b4 23 Na4 Qc7 24 Nd4 Rac8 25 Bxf7 Qa5 26 Ne6+ 1–0 Horn,P-Payen,A/Geneve 1990/EXT 97 (26)) 10 ..h6 11 Qh4! Qd7 12 Bxh6 f4 13 Bxg7 Kxg7 14 Ng5 Rh8 15 Qxf4 1–0 Chapman,A-Streuber,P/Hessen 1999/EXT 2000. 9 Bd2!? 9 Bb3 a6 10 e5 Nf5 11 Kh1 Nfd4 12 Ne4 Nxf3 13 Rxf3 dxe5 14 fxe5 Nxe5 15 Rf1 g5 16 Qg3 0–0 17 Bxg5! hxg5 18 Nxg5 Ng6 19 Rae1 Qe7 20 Rf5! Bf6 21 Nxe6!! fxe6 22 Rxe6 Kg7 23 Rxe7+ Bxe7 24 Rxf8 Bxf8 25 h4 1–0 Anand,V-Gelfand,B/Wijk aan Zee 1996. 9 ..Nd4N 9 ..0–0!? 10 Bb3 d5 11 Rd1 f5 12 exd5 exd5 13 Kh1 a6 14 Ne2 Kh8 15 Qg3 Qd6 16 Ne5 Kh7 17 Rde1 Be6 18 c3 Bg8 19 d4 cxd4 20 cxd4 Nc8 21 Bc3 N8a7 22 h4 h5 23 Ng1 Nb5 24 Ngf3 Bh6 25 Ng5+ Short,N-Gelfand,B/Linares 1992/CBM 28/0–1 (58); 9 ..a6 10 a4 Nd4 (10 ..Rb8 11 Kh1 Nb4 12 Bb3 b5 13 axb5 axb5 14 Nxb5 Rxb5 15 Ba4 Bd7 16 Bxb5 Bxb5 17 Bxb4 cxb4 18 Qxb4 Bc6 19 Ra6 ½–½ Boronyak,A-Horvath,C/Zalakaros 1992/EXT 97 (19)) 11 Nxd4 cxd4 12 Ne2 d5 13 Bb3 dxe4 14 dxe4 d3 15 Ng3 dxc2 16 e5 Qb6+ 17 Qe3 Qxe3+ 18 Bxe3 Nf5 19 Nxf5 gxf5 20 Rac1 Bd7 21 Rxc2 Bc6 22 a5 0–0 23 Bb6 Be4 24 Rc3 Delchev,A-Kuczynski,R/Pula 1998/EXT 2000/1–0 (48) 10 Nxd4 cxd4 11 Ne2 d5 Premature - Black would have been much better keeping his options open: 11 ..0–0 12 Bb3 (12 Qh4?! Nc6 13 Qg3 Na5=) 12 ..a5 13 a4 Bd7! and black's going to get good counterplay on the queenside with ideas like b5. 12 Bb3 0–0 13 Rd1! Nc6 14 Kh1 Qd6? Black's problem is how to complete his development with the problem bishop on c8? Therefore, he should have played 14 ..a5! 15 a4 (15 Ba4 Qb6!; 15 f5?? a4!) 15 ..b6 16 exd5 (16 Qf2 dxe4 17 dxe4 Ba6 and black's generating good , active play himself.) 16 ..exd5 17 Qg3 Re8 18 Rde1 Ne7! 19 Qf3 Be6 20 Ng3 Qd7 21 h3 Rac8 and he's still in this game with a rock-solid position. 15 f5!

Ouch! This energetic move cuts black in half. White's got all his pieces on there best squares, and now launches a brutal assault. 15 ..exf5? Black's best now was a piece sac for an impressive looking pawn chain: 15 ..dxe4!? 16 f6! e3 17 fxg7 Kxg7 18 Bc1 f5 19 c3 (19 Qh4 e5 20 c3 f4 and black has serious compensation.) 19 ..e5 20 cxd4 (20 Qh4 f4!) 20 ..exd4 21 Nxd4!? Nxd4 22 Bxe3 Nxb3 23 Qc3+ a nasty little intermezzo 23 ..Kh7 (23 ..Qf6 24 Qxb3 b6 25 d4!) 24 Qxb3 and black still has many problems to solve due to the lack of development: 24 ..b6 (24 ..f4 25 Bd2 a5 26 Rde1!) 25 Rde1! Be6 (25 ..Bb7 26 Bf4 Qd7 (26 ..Qd5? 27 Re7+ Kh8 (27 ..Kg8 28 Rxb7!) 28 Qc3+!) 27 d4 Bd5 28 Qh3 Qg7 29 b3 Rae8 30 Be5 with the better prospects.) 26 Bc5! Qxc5 27 Rxe6 and white is much better. 16 exd5 Ne7 17 Bb4 Ooops! 17 ..Qd7 18 c4 18 Qf2 Rd8 19 Bxe7 Qxe7 20 Nxd4 is also strong but Chandler wants more. 18 ..dxc3 18 ..Re8 19 Qf2 and black's going to suffer big-time. 19 Nxc3 Re8 20 Ba4 Bxc3 21 Bxc3 Palliser can't prevent Qe5 mating without dropping serious material: 21 Bxc3 Nxd5 (21 ..Qd6 22 Bxe8 wins.) 22 Qxe8+! 1–0

Renowned Dragon expert Chris Ward has probably faced the Grand Prix Attack more times on the circuit than any other. In the fourth round, this win over Keith Arkell put him into the joint lead with Pete Wells.

Arkell,K (2431) - Ward,C (2493) [A38]

1 c4 c5 2 Nc3 g6 3 g3 Bg7 4 Bg2 Nc6 5 a3 A pet move of Yasser Seirawan. The idea is to go on the queenside as quickly as possible with an early b4. 5 ..Nf6 6 Rb1 a5 There's many moves for black here, but this is the best as it completely stifles white's ambition of playing b4. 7 Nf3 0–0 8 0–0 d5 9 cxd5 Nxd5 10 Nxd5 Qxd5 11 d3 Rd8N 11 ..Qh5 12 Be3 Bg4 13 Qb3 Rab8 14 Qb5 Rfc8 15 Qxc5 Nd4 16 Qxh5 Nxe2+ 17 Kh1 gxh5 18 Rfd1 b5 19 h3 Be6 20 Bf1 Rc2 21 Ne1 Rxb2 22 Rxb2 Bxb2 23 Bxe2 Bxa3 24 Ra1 Bb2 25 Rb1 Bc3 26 Bf4 Rc8 27 Nf3 b4 28 Bd1 Bd5 29 Kg1 (29 Kg2 e5 30 Bg5 e4 31 dxe4 Bxe4 32 Rc1±) 29 ..a4 30 Nd2 a3 31 Bb3 Bxb3 32 Nxb3 a2 33 Rd1 e5 34 Be3 Ra8 35 Bc5 Ra3 36 Na1 Ra5 37 Be3 b3 38 Nxb3 Rb5 39 Bd2 Rxb3 40 Bxc3 Rxc3 41 Ra1 Ra3 42 f4 f6 43 g4 hxg4 44 hxg4 exf4 0–1 Abolianin,A-Afek,Y/Gent 1999/EXT 2000 (44). ; 11 ..Qd6 12 Nd2 Nd4 13 Ne4 Qb6 14 Bd2 a4 15 b4 axb3 16 e3 Nc6 17 Qxb3 Qa7 18 Rfc1 Qxa3 19 Nxc5 Qxb3 20 Rxb3 Ra2 21 Bc3 Ne5 22 Bxe5 Bxe5 23 d4 Bd6 24 Bxb7 Bg4 25 Kg2 Rb8 26 Rcb1 Korn,J-Sieg,U/Germany 1981/EXT 97-B/0–1 (50) 12 Be3 Qd6 13 Qc2 b6 Not so good is 13 ..Nd4 14 Nxd4 cxd4 15 Bd2 a4 16 Rfc1 as white has good prospects in the long-term on the queenside. 14 Bf4 Qd7 15 d4 15 Ne5?! Bxe5 16 Bxe5 Bb7 17 Bc3 Nd4 18 Bxd4 Bxg2 19 Kxg2 cxd4 20 Rfc1 Rac8 21 Qd2 Qd5+ is good for black. 15 ..Bxd4 16 Rbd1

16 ..Ba6! The only move. Chris is reveling in this sort of double-edged position. 17 e3 The complications all come down in black's favour: 17 Ne5 Nxe5! 18 Bxa8 Nc4 19 Bg2 Nxb2 20 Rb1 Nc4 21 Rb3 Qa4 22 Rfb1 b5! with a big advantage. 17 ..Bxf1 18 Kxf1 Rac8 19 exd4 Nxd4 20 Nxd4 20 Ne5!? Qe6! (20 ..Nxc2? 21 Nxd7±) 21 Qc4 Qf5! 22 Qd3 (22 Re1 b5) 22 ..Ne6! winning. 20 ..cxd4 21 Qb3 b5 22 Be4 a4 23 Qf3 Rc5! A nice little move that forces the bishops to retreat as the pawns advance on the kingside. 24 Bd2 f5 25 Bb1 e5 26 Bb4 Rcc8 27 h4 Qc6 28 Qxc6 Rxc6 29 Bd3 Rb8 30 f3 Kf7 31 Ke2 Ke6 32 Bb1 Rbc8 33 Bd3 Rc1!

A brave choice. Black has to find a way to orchestrate a breakthrough - his only option being to open the game up. 34 Bxb5 There's no real difference if white exchanges rooks first: 34 Rxc1 Rxc1 35 Bxb5 Rc2+ 36 Kf1 Rxb2 37 Bxa4 e4 etc. 34 ..R8c2+ 35 Rd2 e4 36 Bxa4 Rxd2+ 37 Bxd2 Rb1 38 fxe4 No better is 38 b4 Rb2 39 Kd1 e3 40 Bc1 e2+ 41 Ke1 Rb1 42 Kxe2 Rxc1 with a simple win. 38 ..fxe4 39 b3 Rb2 40 Kd1 e3 The rest is academic now. 41 Bc1 e2+ 42 Ke1 Rb1 43 Kxe2 Rxc1 44 Bb5 Ke5 45 Bd3 Rc3 46 a4 Rxb3 47 a5 Rb2+ 48 Kf3 Rb3 49 Ke2 Kd5 50 a6 Ra3 51 Kd2 Ra2+ 52 Kc1 Kc6 53 Bc4 Rh2 54 Bg8 Rh3 55 Bxh7 Rxg3 56 Bg8 Kb6 57 Bf7 Kxa6 58 Kd2 Kb5 59 h5 g5 60 Be6 Kc5 61 Bf5 Rg2+ 62 Kd3 Rh2 0–1

Solution to study earlier: Morse,J. te17, 1955

1 Qe8+ Kc7 2 Qb8+ Kc6 3 Qb7+ Qxb7+ 4 axb7 Na6 5 Ka7 Kb5 6 c4+ Ka5 7 b3! Nb4 8 b8N Nd3 9 Nc6# 1–0

You can contact John Henderson at: jbhthescots@cableinet.co.uk

The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of TWIC, Chess & Bridge Ltd or the London Chess Center.