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Last revised: 02 April, 2005.

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MANX CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2005

VICTORY FOR NEVILLE GILL IN THE MANX CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS

ROUND 5 REPORT by Alan Ormsby

Neville Gill is the 2005 Manx Chess Champion. In one of the most dramatic finishes in the history of the tournament, he beat the top seed, Keith Allen, in a time scramble to take the title for an incredible nineteenth time.

Although both players finished with 4 points, Neville takes the title on tiebreak.

Neville has kindly commented on the game elsewhere. Computer analysis shows that Keith missed a big opportunity in the middle game (35..Nc3+!) when he could have given up his knight and pawn for a rook. This slight material advantage would have at least led to a draw, sufficient for Keith to take the title.

A King and Rook endgame was reached with Neville having a big advantage on the board but with the pressure of knowing that he had to win the game to take the title. In severe time trouble both players made mistakes but Neville was able to force the promotion of a pawn, Keith resigning with only 6 seconds left on his clock. This was Keith’s first ever loss in local chess.

Elsewhere, John Griffin drew with Jonathan Waugh, sufficient to take third place on tiebreak from Glenn Cross and Henrik Fabri, who beat Alan Robertson and Zahed Miah respectively.

Mike Ware finished strongly by beating Sanjay Reddy with the black pieces, to finish on 3 points with Jonathan Waugh.

Rod Wiseman was another player to finish the tournament strongly as he beat Richard Mylrea by showing better knowledge in a King and Pawn endgame.

Final Scores: N Gill, K Allen 4; J Griffin, G Cross, H Fabri 3½; J Waugh, M Ware, 3; Z Miah 2½; A Robertson, S Reddy, R Furner, B Keig, R Wiseman 2; A Ormsby 1½; R Mylrea 1; J Barrow 0.

Round 5 Game annotated by Neville Gill
Move 35......a3. Keith Allen says 35...Nc3 check wins at least a R for a N and P. Black would have most likely won the game after this although my time was very short so it is not definite! Such is life!!
Black Keith Allen

White Neville Gill
All winter I have had problems with the "1½ hours for all moves" time limit. Against Jonathan Waugh in the Douglas Club Championship I even lost on time in a position that was certainly not lost. Therefore in this game I decided to make reasonable moves quickly and avoid time shortage if at all possible.
It is far from easy to get a draw if that is all that is required. A player tends not to play his normal game. In an identical situation against George Ellison at Scarborough 2001 I rashly exchanged queens instead of playing a move I knew perfectly well was stronger. After that it was uphill all the way. A tournament is not over until it is over! Possibly that is why Keith Allen chose the Slav Defence, a solid opening he said he had never played before.
White Neville Gill (188 BCF); Black Keith Allen (188 BCF) Slav Defence
1	d4	d5
2	c4	c6
3	Nc3	Nf6
4	e3	e6	In an earlier round Alan Ormsby played 4.......a6
5	Nf3	Nbd7
6	Bd3	dxc4
7	Bxc4	b5
8	Bd3	Bb7
9	e4	b4
10	Na4	c5
11	e5	Nd5
12	0-0	h6	Christine Fleur, a French ladies champion, played 12.....cxd4 13.Nxd4 Nxe5 13.Bb5+ and we eventually drew (Monarch Assurance).
13	Qe2	Rc8
14	Bd2	Be7	Black cannot castle because of Qe4
15	Nxc5	Bxc5!	Much better than Nxc5
16	dxc5	Nxc5
17	Bb5+	Ke7!	The King is quite safe here. If 17.....Bc6 18.Bxc6+ Rxc6 19.Nd4 and 20.Qg4
18	Rad1	Qb6
19	Bc1	Rhd8	White has nothing at all. Black is the only one who might win this position. But throughout the game I had a significant lead on the clock and this proved decisive.
20	Nd4	Ba6
21	Bxa6	Qxa6
22	Qxa6	Nxa6
23	Rfe1	Rc5
24	Kf1	Nb8
25	Bd2		White continues to make his "reasonable moves" in the hope that something will turn up
25		Rc4
26	Re4	Rc5	An important moment. During the game we both thought that 26.....Rdc8 could be met by 27.b3 but Black is OK. He was beginning to run short of time already
27	Nb3	Rb5	Conceding the "c" file gave me real hope. If 27.....Rc2 28.Bxb4+ Nxb4 29.Rxd8 Kxd8 30.Rxb4 attacks the Knight
28	Rc1	a5
29	Ke2	Rd7
30	Rec4	a4
31	Nc5	Ra7
32	Nd3		From here the Knight attacks b4 and defends e5
32		Nd7
33	f4	Rab7	Now White can force a useful exchange
34	Nc5?	Nxc5
35	Rxc5		If Black does nothing in particular the White King will go to c4
35		a3?	Keith Allen says 35...Nc3 check wins at least a R for a N and P. Black would have most likely won the game after this although my time was very short so it is not definite! Such is life!!
36	Rxb5	Rxb5
37	b3	f6	Black must keep lashing out
38	exf6+	Kxf6
39	Kf3		This move is not the best but there is a neat tactical point I could not resist. If 39.....e5 40.Rc6+ Kf5? 41.g4 mate
39		e5?	Black played it! He had very little time left for reflection
40	Rc6+	Ke7
41	fxe5	Nc3
42	Bxc3	bxc3	Threatening 43.....Rxb3! and if 44.axb3 a2 45.ra6 c2
43	Rxc3	Ke6
44	Rc6+	Kxe5
45	Ra6	Kd4
46	Rxa3	Rf5+	By now moves were coming thick and fast
47	Ke2	Kc3
48	Ra7	Rg5	Black is completely lost of course
49	g3	h5
50	Rb7	h4
51	gxh4		I remember playing this move instantly. The excitement was getting to me. With about 3 minutes on my clock I had plenty of time to find 51.Kf3
51		Rg2+
52	Kf3	Rxa2
53	Rxg7	Kxb3	Both players had stopped keeping score and tournament controller Alan Ormsby was doing it for us. Here 54.Rc7 Rxh2 55.Kg4 was the simplest win
54	Rg2	Ra5
55	Rg5	Ra2
56	h3	Kc4
57	Re5	Kd4
58	Re1	Kd5
59	h5	Rh2
60	Kg4	Rg2+
61	Kf5	Rf2+
62	Kg6	Rh2
63	h6	Rxh3
64	Rg1		1-0
The last game to finish. We need a new time limit! No championship should be decided like this.

Leaders after 4 rounds

4 Points :- Keith Allen

3 Points:- Neville Gill; John Griffin

2½ Points :- Zahed Miah; Jonathan Waugh; Glenn Cross; Henrik Fabri

Results Round 4 - 24th February 2005
White		Black
K Allen (3)	1 - 0	G Cross (2½)	Sicilian Dragon, 22 moves
J Waugh (2)	½ - ½	N Gill (2½)	Ruy Lopez, 63
A Robertson (2)	0 - 1	J Griffin (2)	French Defence, 19
Z Miah (2)	½ - ½	S Reddy (1½)	Italian Game, 59
A Ormsby (1½)	0 - 1	H Fabri (1½)	Alekhine’s Defence, 45
B Keig (1)	0 - 1	R Furner (1)	Grunfeld Defence, 55
M Ware (1)	1 - 0	R Mylrea (1)	Italian Game, 35
R Wiseman (0)	1 - 0	J Barrow (0)	Bishop’s Opening, 42

ROUND 4 REPORT by Alan Ormsby

The contest for the 2005 Manx Championship is now down to just the top two seeds, Keith Allen and Neville Gill. In a fitting climax to the tournament, they are set to face each other in the final round on 24 March. Neville will have the advantage of the white pieces and will need to win in order to take the title on tie-break. John Griffin cannot win the tournament as he lost to Keith Allen in their individual game.

Neville is very fortunate to still be in contention for the title as he escaped with a draw after being on the brink of defeat in his game with Jonathan Waugh. Jonathan had the white pieces and played a variation of the Ruy Lopez whereby he gave up bishop for knight in order to weaken black’s queenside pawn structure. Gradually, Jonathan was able to exchange most of the pieces which magnified black’s pawn weaknesses in the resulting endgame. However, as always, the clock played a significant role in the game and Jonathan by now only had 2 minutes remaining to make all his moves. On move 49 he missed a sequence of moves that would have left him 2 pawns ahead giving him an easy win. Instead, the game continued with Jonathan only one pawn ahead, an endgame which Neville was able to hold and force a draw.

At the start of the round, Glenn Cross was still in contention for the title and he played the aggressive Sicilian Dragon against Keith Allen’s king’s pawn opening. Keith chose a quiet continuation keeping a slight advantage in the early middle-game when Glenn made an error leading to the loss of a rook for a knight. There was no doubt that Keith would have eventually converted this advantage and so Glenn resigned.

John Griffin is still in the hunt for second place after a convincing victory over Alan Robertson in just 19 moves. Alan tried an offbeat variation against John’s favourite French Defence but it backfired as John won a pawn in the opening. The game later ended when Alan overlooked a knight fork, losing the exchange

Although he can no longer defend his title, Henrik Fabri is still in with a chance of second place after beating Alan Ormsby with his favourite Alekhine’s defence. In a risky winning attempt, Alan played an exchange sacrifice in return for obtaining the bishop pair and a dangerous passed pawn. However, Henrik was able to stop the progress of the pawn and after exchanging queens and a set of rooks, the pawn fell, Henrik winning in the endgame.

Zahed Miah had two very lucky escapes playing the white pieces against Sanjay Reddy. Sanjay built up a big attack against Zahed’s King but missed the best continuation which would have forced the win of Zahed’s queen. Zahed later blundered his knight but Sanjay returned the favour, the game ending in a draw.

Leaders after 3 rounds

3 Points :- Keith Allen

2½ Points:- Glenn Cross; Neville Gill

2 Points :- John Griffin; Zahed Miah; Jonathan Waugh; Alan Robertson

Results Round 3 - 10th February 2005
White		Black	Notes
J Griffin (2)	0 - 1	K Allen (2)	Sicilian Defence, 36 moves
N Gill (1½)	1 - 0	A Ormsby (1½)	Slav Defence, 37
G Cross (1½)	1 - 0	H Fabri (1½)	Nimzo-Indian Defence
M Ware (1)	0 - 1	Z Miah (1)	Italian Game, 26
R Furner (1)	0 - 1	J Waugh (1)	Queens Pawn Game, 32
R Mylrea (1)	0 - 1	A Robertson (1)	Sicilian Defence, 52
S Reddy (½)	1 - 0	R Colvin (-)	(Score not available)
B Keig (0)	1 - 0	R Wiseman (0)	Philidor’s Defence, 29
J Barrow (0)	Default

ROUND 3 REPORT by Alan Ormsby

Glenn Cross produced the best performance of the competition so far with a stunning victory over defending champion, Henrik Fabri, leaving him in joint second place just half a point behind the number one seed, Keith Allen.

Glenn faced Henrik’s Nimzo-Indian defence, an opening whereby black gives up bishop for knight in the hope of obtaining the better pawn structure. On move 25, Henrik had the opportunity of exchanging his knight for bishop that would have led to a queen and pawn endgame with at least equal chances. However, he decided to avoid this sequence and suddenly found himself on the defensive as Glenn was able to advance a passed pawn, shepherded by his bishop. The endgame may have been defendable but Henrik left himself desperately short of time and resigned with only 2 seconds remaining on his clock.

Keith Allen had the black pieces against John Griffin and played the Sicilian Defence. John played aggressively but overlooked a neat tactical sequence that lead to Keith winning two pawns. Keith finished the game clinically by giving back both pawns in order to force a winning king and pawn endgame.

Neville Gill joined Glenn in second place with a straight forward win against Alan Ormsby. Alan missed a tactic in the opening which led to the loss of two pawns. Although he obtained very active pieces, there was never enough compensation for the lost material. Neville gradually forced a series of exchanges and won easily in the endgame.

Jonathan Waugh is amongst a group of three players in joint fourth place after his best game of the tournament so far. His opponent was Rich Furner who was ahead on material by grabbing two pawns. However, this opened lines to his king and Jonathan obtained a huge attack through his queen and two bishops. Rich did well to survive so long but the result was never in doubt.

Zahed Miah pulled off a shock by beating Mike Ware with the black pieces. Although Zahed obtained a slight advantage in the opening, he was faced with a tricky position in which he could win a bishop but at the expense of Mike obtaining a very dangerous attack against the black king. Zahed made the right decision by playing a good defensive move and converted his advantage after Mike’s attack fizzled out

Leaders after 2 rounds

2 Points :- John Griffin; Keith Allen

1½ Points:- Alan Ormsby; Glenn Cross; Neville Gill; Henrik Fabri

Results Round 2 - 27th January 2005
White		Black
A Ormsby (1)	½ - ½	G Cross (1)	Sicilian Najdorf, 35 moves
Z Miah (1)	0 - 1	J Griffin (1)	French Advance, 43
K Allen (1)	1 - 0	M Ware (1)	Scotch Game, 10
A Robertson (1)	0 - 1	N Gill (½)	Larsen Opening, 27
H Fabri (½)	1 - 0	B Keig (0)	Evans Gambit, 29
J Waugh (0)	1 - 0	R Colvin	Pirc Defence, 29
J Barrow (0)	0 - 1	R Mylrea (0)	English Opening, 30
R Wiseman (0)	0 - 1	R Furner (0)	(Moves Not Available)
Half point Bye	½	S Reddy (0)

ROUND 2 REPORT by Alan Ormsby

Keith Allen and John Griffin are the joint leaders after two rounds of the 2005 Manx Chess Championship and are set to play each other in round three.

Keith surprised Mike Ware with the Scotch Game, an active king’s pawn opening. This seemed to take Mike by surprise and he quickly got into difficulties before blundering a piece which caused his instant resignation.

John Griffin played his favourite French Defence against Zahed Miah who put up very good resistance, despite having a far lower rating. Zahed gave up a rook and two pawns for two minor pieces and established a knight on a very active outpost which led to him winning back a pawn. However, John’s rooks were also very active and he may have held a slight advantage when Zahed blundered away his bishop on move 35 and with it, the game.

Alan Ormsby’s game against Glenn Cross was the round’s most dramatic encounter. A Sicilian Defence led to castling on opposite sides of the board and a race to attack each other’s king. Alan held a slight advantage in the early middle game but overlooked a knight manoeuvre from Glenn that led to a huge attack against the white king. In desperation Alan gave up rook for bishop to stop Glenn castling but it didn’t stop his king being chased into the middle of the board where it looked doomed. However, Glenn became very short of time and was unable to finish off his opponent, Alan hanging on for an undeserved draw. Subsequent analysis showed white was completely lost in the final position. This result leaves both players on 1½ points, in joint third place.

Neville Gill and Henrik Fabri are the only other players on 1½ points after comfortable wins over Alan Robertson and Brian Keig respectively.

There were no surprises in the other games. Special mention goes to Rob Colvin who stepped in at the last minute to play Jonathan Waugh and put up good resistance before Jonathan eventually made his experience tell.

Round 3 is being played on the 10th February and the draw will be published in next week’s Courier.

The Elementary FIDE Swiss System has been used, whereby a random draw was used to determine the first round pairings.

ROUND I REPORT by Alan Ormsby

The top board game of Gill v Fabri was an uneventful draw. Glenn Cross beat Jonathan Waugh after the latter got his queen trapped which he had to give up for a bishop. Jonathan eventually lost on time in a very bad position. The evening's best performance was probably Zahed Miah who ground down Brian Keig. Brian resigned when it became inevitable that Zahed would queen a pawn. There were no shocks in the other games.

White Black

S Reddy 0 v 1 A Robertson (Default)

R Furner 0 v 1 K Allen (Kings Indian Attack, 20 moves)

G Cross 1 v 0 J Waugh (Kings Indian Defence, 38 moves)

J Griffin 1 v 0 J Barrow (Orang Utan Opening, (that is,1.b4.) 36 moves)

R Mylrea 0 v 1 A Ormsby (Caro Kann, 29 moves)

B Keig 0 v 1 Z Miah (Vienna Game, 49 moves)

M Ware 1 v 0 R Wiseman (Philidor Defence, 25 moves)

N Gill ½ v ½ H Fabri (Queens Indian Defence, 26 moves)

This year’s tournament will be held at the Belsfield Hotel in Douglas on the following Thursday evenings:

Round 1	13 January
2	27 January
3	10 February
4	24 February
5	10 March

Clocks will start promptly at 7.45pm.

There are 16 entries for the tournament as follows:

Ranking	Name	IOMCA Grade
1	Keith Allen	210
2	Neville Gill	195
3	Henrik Fabri	170
4	Jonathan Waugh	155
5	Alan Ormsby	144
6	Glenn Cross	141
7	John Griffin	126
8	Mike Ware	121
9	Alan Robertson	108
10	Rich Furner	101
11	Zahed Miah	100 (e)
12	Sanjay Reddy	100 (e)
13	Richard Mylrea	92
14	Brian Keig	80
15	Rod Wiseman	67
16	Jamie Barrow	65 (e)

Rate of play will be all moves in 90 minutes. Quickplay Finish Rules apply.

It is my aim (Alan Ormsby) that the draw will be distributed by email at least 7 days before each round and will be made available upon telephone request to those without email. It will also appear on Richard Sargent’s website.

MANX CHAMPIONSHIPS 2004

VICTORY FOR SWEDEN IN THE MANX CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Manx Chess Championships has just finished with the largest number of competitors in decades. 14 players endured 7 rounds over 2 months and at the final round it was possible that a repeat of last year could occur with either one player winning outright or a three way tie would be the outcome.

As events turned out, one winner emerged as the overall champion - Henrik Fabri, from Sweden who works for the Isle of Man Government as a dentist, won at his first entry to the competition. Henrik has only been on the island for a year but has made a great impact on the chess arena, proving this with an impressive total of 6½ pts out of a possible 7.

Runner up was Chris Beards with 6 pts. Chris entertained the tournament with some flashy play and it is good to see a player of such quality return to Isle of Man chess.

Stalwart of Manx chess, Jonathan Waugh came in third with 5½ pts. As one of last years champions, he will perhaps be slightly disappointed to hand over the trophy due to some strong impressive performances.

FINAL SCORES; Henrik Fabri 6½; Chris beards 6; Jonathan Waugh 5½; Mike Ware, Alan Robertson, Rich Furner 4; Richard Mylrea 3½; Robert van Ollfen, John Griffin, Edward Milner 3; Glenn Cross, Derek Ware 2½; Paul Rodgers 1½; Rod Wiseman 1

Chess on the Isle of Man is thriving. Later this year the 13^th Monarch Assurance Chess Festival, followed by the Inaugural World senior Team Championships are being held in Port Erin. In 2005, for the first time, the Isle of Man will be hosting the British Chess Championships at the Villa Marina. This event normally lasts 2 weeks and up to a thousand chess players, aged from under 8 years to over 80 years, will be taking part in the various competitions.

TENSE FINISH TO THE MANX CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS

With the final round of the Manx Chess Championships being held tonight (Thursday 25th), a battle of stamina is expected after six rounds of competitive play.

Chris Beards is currently leading with Jonathan Waugh, Mike Ware and Henrik Fabri close on his tail, being made particularly interesting as Mike and Henrik have a game in hand, the game in hand being that they are to play each other!

A full report of the final scores in what has been an enthralling tournament will appear in next week’s paper

Round 5 - 4 March 2004

FIXTURES

Fabri 1-0 Cross

Waugh ½-½ Beards

Griffin 0-1 M Ware

Mylrea 0-1 R van Olffen

Milner 0-1 Furner

Rodgers ½-½ D Ware

Wiseman 0-1 Robertson

Current scores:-

4½ Henrik Fabri

4 Mike Ware; Chris Beards

3½ Jonathan Waugh

3 Robert van Olffen; Rich Furner

2½ Glenn Cross; Paul Rodgers

2 Richard Mylrea ; Edward Milner; John Griffin; Derek Ware; Alan Robertson

0 Rod Wiseman

Round 4 - 26 February 2004

FIXTURES

M Ware 0-1 Beards

Fabri 1-0 Mylrea

R van Olffen 0-1 Waugh

Cross ½-½ Milner

Rodgers 0-1 Griffin

Robertson 0-1 Furner

Wiseman 0-1 D Ware

Current scores:-

3½ Henrik Fabri; Chris Beards

3 Mike Ware; Jonathan Waugh

2½ Glenn Cross

2 Richard Mylrea; Robert van Olffen; Edward Milner; John Griffin, Paul Rodgers; Rich Furner

1½ Derek Ware

1 Alan Robertson

0 Rod Wiseman

Round 3 - 5 February 2004

FIXTURES

Mylrea 0-1 M Ware

Fabri 1-0 Waugh

Beards 1-0 Griffin

R van Olffen 1-0 A Robertson

Cross 1-0 Rodgers

Milner 1-0 D Ware

Furner 1-0 Wiseman

Mike Ware has taken the sole lead in the 2004 Manx Chess Championship. He is the only player with maximum points, winning convincingly against Richard Mylrea. Mike has had a good run lately, being the Best Manx Player in the Monarch Assurance congress.

White: Richard Mylrea - Black: Mike Ware; (French Defence) 1.e4 e6 2.f4 d5 3.e5 Nd7 4.d4 c5 5.Be3 cxd4 6.Bxd4 Bc5 7.Nf3 Ne7 8.g3 Nf5 9.Bh3 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Qb6 11.Nb3 a5 12.Nxc5 Nxc5 13.Qd4 Qc6 14.Nc3 b5 15.a3 0-0 16.0-0-0? (White never got going in this game. After 16.0-0-0? Black had a huge attack on the White King) Bd7 17.b4 axb4 18.axb4 Na4 19.Nxa4 Rxa4 20.Rd3 Rc8 21.Kd2 Qxc2+ 22.Ke3 Ra2 23.Rd2 Ra3+ 24.Ke2 Qb3 25.Rhd1 Qf3+ 26.Ke1 Re3+(White could have resigned now!) 27.Qxe3 Qxe3+ 28.Re2 Qc3+ 29.Kf1 Qxb4 30.Ra1 g6 31.R1a2 Qd4 32.Rad2 Qb6 33.Bg2 b4 34.Rd3 Bb5 35.Rb3 Rc1++ 0-1

Only five games were played on the night. Glenn Cross always looked like winning his game with Paul Rodgers. Since his initial setback Glenn has been giving his opponents no chance at all!

White: Glenn Cross - Black: Paul Rodgers; (Slav Defence) 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 e6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Na6(a) 6.Bd3 g6 7.0-0 Bd6 8.a3 0-0 9.b4 Nc7 10.c5 Be7 11.Ne5 Nb5? 12.Nxb5 cxb5 13.Bxb5 a6 14.Bd3 Ne4 15.Qc2 Ng5 16.Bd2 h5 17.f4 f6? 18.Nxg6 Rf7 19.fxg5 Bf8 20.gxf6 and White won comfortably 1-0

(a) 5.....Nbd7 is better than 5.....Na6 and if 6.....g6 then 7.....Bg7 has to be played.

Chris Beards beat John Griffin in a tough battle eventually decided in a King and pawns ending

White: Chris Beards - Black: John Griffin; (Queens pawn opening) 1.Nf3 Nc6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bg5 Be7 6.c3 h6 7.Bf4 g5 8.Be3 Na5 9.Ne5 Nd7 10.Qa4 c6 11.Nd2 Nxe5 12.dxe5 b5 13.Qc2 Qc7 14.f4 Bb7 15.b3 0-0-0 16.Nf3 g4 17.Nd2 h5 18.b4 Nc4 19.Nxc4 dxc4 20.Qe4 a5 21.Bc5 axb4 22.Bxb4 Qd7 23.Bxe7 Qxe7 24.a4 Rd7 25.Qe3 Qd8 26.axb5 cxb5 27.Bxb7+ Rxb7 28.Ra8+ Rb8 29.Qc5+ Qc7 30.Rxb8+ Kxb8 31.Qxb5+ Qb7 32.Qxb7+ Kxb7 33.Kd2 h4 34.Rb1+ Kc6 35.Ke3 hxg3 36.hxg3 Rh3 37.Kf2 Rh2+ 38.Ke3 Rg2 39.Kd4 Rxg3 40.Kxc4 Re3 41.Rg1 Re4+ 42.Kd3 Rxf4 43.e3 Rf5 44.Ke4 Rg5 45.Kf4 Rg6?(a) 46.Rxg4 Rxg4+?(b) 47.Kxg4 Kd5 48.Kf4 Kc4 49.Kg5 Kd3 50.Kf6 Ke4 51.c4 1-0

(a) 45.....Rf5+! draws.

(b) 46.....Rh6! Can white win?

The Swedish player Henrik Fabri gave the best performance of the tournament so far. He always seemed to have the edge against Jonathan Waugh. One felt that Waugh should have been able to draw but he did not! Waugh said later that he was most impressed with Fabri’s play.

White: Jonathan Waugh - Black: Henrik Fabri; (Alekhine's Defence) 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Be2 e6 6.0-0 Be7 7.h3 Bh5 8.c4 Nb6 9.Nc3 Nc6 10.exd6 cxd6 11.d5 exd5 12.cxd5(a) Bxf3 13.Bxf3 Ne5 14.Be2 0-0 15.Be3 Rc8 16.Bd4 Bf6 17.Rc1 a6 18.b3 Re8 19.f4(b) Ned2 20.Bg4 Nxd5!(c) 21.Bxf6 Nd5xf6 22.Qxd6 Nxg4 23.hxg4 Nf6 24.Qxd8 Rcxd8 25.g5 Ng4 26.Rfe1 f5 27.gxf6(e.p.) Nxf6 28.Kf1 Kf7(d) 29.Na4 Rxe1+ 30.Kxe1 Nd5 31.g3 h5 32.Rd1 Re8+ 33.Kf2 Nf6 34.Nc5 Rc8 35.b4 b6 36.Nax6 Rc2+ 37.Kf3 Rxa2 38.b5 Ra3+ 39.Kg2 Rb3 40.Nc7 Ne4 41.Rd4 Rxg3+ 42.Kh2 Re3 43.Nd5 Re2+ 44.Kg1(e) h4 45.Nxb6 h3 46.Rd5 h2+ and mate with the Knight on the next move 0-1

(a) Better 12.Nxd5 (H.F.)

(b) White is making too many pawn moves. Just what Black hopes for in this opening!

(c) A move like this has to be based on exact calculations.

(d) White should be able to hold the draw but he goes downhill gradually.

(e) 44.Kh3! (H.F.)

Dutch player Robert van Olffen defeated Alan Robertson and undoubtedly both van Olffen and Fabri have brought something new and vital to Manx chess.

Leading Scores are:- 1.M Ware 3 points; 2.Fabri, Beards 2½ points; Waugh, Mylrea, Cross, van Olffen 2 points. Round 4 will be played Thursday 26th Feb after a two week break to give the players a much needed rest from the intense struggle. In the next round Mike Ware will be playing either Fabri or Beards.

Current scores:-

3 Mike Ware

2½ Henrik Fabri; Chris Beards

2 Richard Mylrea; Robert van Olffen; Glenn Cross; Jonathan Waugh

1½ Edward Milner

1 Alan Robertson; John Griffin; Paul Rodgers, Rich Furner

½ Derek Ware

0 Rod Wiseman

Round 2 - 29 January 2004

Current scores:-

Waugh, M Ware, Mylrea 2 points

Fabri, Beards 1½ points

van Olffen, Cross, Griffin, Robertson, Rodgers 1 point

Milner, D Ware ½ point

Wiseman, Furner 0 points

There was a sensation in round 2 of the 2004 Manx Chess Championship when top seed Robert van Olffen lost on time against Mike Ware. A player has to make 40 moves in 1½ hours and van Olffen only made 25. He had an excellent position when his time ran out and might well have gone on to win but rules are rules!

`Mike Ware (White) v Robert van Olffen (Black) – Caro Kann`
Robert van Olffen
	`1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.dxe4 e5 5.Ngf3 Bg4 6.Be2(a) Nd7 7.h3 Bh5(b) 8.Nc4 Qc7 9.0-0 Ngf6 10.Nfd2 Bxe2 11.Qxe2 Nc5 12.b3 b5 13.Nb2 Ne6(c) 14.Nd3 Bc5 15.Nf3 Nd4 16.Nxd4 Bxd4 17.Bb2 Bxb2 18.Nxb2(d) 0-0 19.Rfe1 a5 20.a3 Rfd8 21.Rad1 Rd4 22.Rxd4 exd4 23.Qf3(e) Re8 24.Qd3 Qe5 25.f3 Nd5! 26.Nd1 1-0 (TIME) (f)` `Diagram; Position after White's 26th move.`
Mike Ware

(a) Better 6.h3! Bxf3 7.Qxf3

(b) On move 6 this would not have been possible because of g4 and Nxe5.

(c) Black is outplaying his opponent. This Knight can go to f4, d4 or c5.