'Paignton' Underway

THE 69th annual Devon congress began this afternoon at Torquay's Livermead House Hotel with the first round of the new nine-round premier.

Black to make his 26th move in Mike Waddington (FM2023/188) - Spanton (1881/168)

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26...Ne4?!
Better was 26...Qf7. After 27.Qe2 (27.Qxf7+ Kxf7 is equal), Black has time to cover d5 with, for example, 27...Rd8.
27.c4 dxc4
Forced, but now Black's queenside is weak.
28.bxc4 g6?!
Weakening the long dark diagonal. My main analysis engines Stockfish10 and Komodo10 prefer 28...b6 or 28...Ree8!?, in each case with a slight edge for White.
29.Qh6 Rf8
Also problematic is 29...Rae8 30.Rd8, eg 30...b6 31.Bb2.
30.Bb2
Now the bishop also has the a3-f8 diagonal to work on.
30...Qf5?!
Stockfish10 gives 30...Rfe8, when 31.Rd8 transposes to the note to Black's 29th move, but also good is 31.Qf4.
Komodo10 gives 30...Qf7 31.Qf4 Nc5 31.Rd6, with a large advantage for White.
31.f3 Nc5 32.e4 Qg5
Keeping queens on is even worse, eg 32...Qe6 33.Ba3 b6 34.Rd6 Qxc4 35.Rxf6!
33.Qxg5 fxg5 34.Ba3 Re5 35.Rb1 Rf7?
I have played some doubtful moves since the diagram position, but this is an out-and-out mistake. Better was the passive 35...Rb8, when White can choose between several pleasant lines including 36.Kf2 b6 37.Kg3 Kf7 38.Rd6 (Stockfish10) and 36.Rd6 Nxa4 37.Rd7 Nc5 38.Rc7 (Komodo10).
36.Rd8+ Rf8 37.Rxf8+ Kxf8 38.Rxb7 (1-0, 47 moves)

Chess - September 2019

THE second part of my free three-issue subscription to Chess arrived this week, with Michael "Awesome" Adams on the front cover.
There are 60 glossy pages, including the covers, and it has a normal retail price of £4.95.

September 2019 Chess … propped on my laptop after I boarded a train to Torquay yesterday for the 'Paignton' congress

CONTENTS
Chess Editorial IM Malcolm Pein reflects on the British Championships at Torquay and includes notes to an Aronian rapid win over Carlsen.
60 Seconds With … Q&A with English-based Polish WGM Katarzyna Toma, who credits Boris Zlotnik's Chess Knowledge, Training, Mastery with helping her achieve her first WGM norm.
Boris Gelfand's Remarkable Comeback Notes to some games and positions from an Israeli tournament won by Gelfand ahead of a field that included Peter Svidler and Luke McShane.
Best Of British Detailed notes by Luke McShane on a win over Pavel Eljanov, and short notes to a David Howell win over Sam Shankland.
Awesome Adams Detailed notes to four Michael Adams' wins at the British and to a win each by Jovanka Houska and Katarzyna Toma.
Never Mind The Grandmasters Carl Portman reflects on the British Championships, and includes positions from three games.
A Three-Way Go FM Terry Chapman reflects on the 50+ seniors section of the British Championships.
A Humdinger Detailed notes to the British Championships game Palliser-Howell.
All The Wrong Moves Stephen Moss reviews a fellow journalist's account of two years playing chess at c1400 level.
A Little Bird Just Told Me Tweets from chess players.
The Flanders Position Michael Reeve looks in detail at a position on the cover of a chess novel.
BH Wood In Gijon Extract from a book about tournaments held in a Spanish city from 1944-65.
Find The Winning Moves 24 positions.
How Good Is Your Chess? Daniel King on a 35-move win by Ding Liren.
All That Glisters Is Not Gold FM Carl Strugnell provides detailed notes to two games he played this year in Serbia.
Studies With Stephenson Two composed positions.
Overseas News Brief reports and four games, two with very detailed notes.
Home News Brief reports, forthcoming September events and a game with detailed notes.
Solutions To Find The Winning Moves.
This Month's New Releases Two detailed reviews and 14 brief mentions.
Saunders On Chess John Saunders reflects on last-round mindsets.

Old Chessnut Updated

HAVING yesterday revisited one of the most famous chess games ever played, Morphy - Brunswick/Isouard, Paris Opera House 1858, I suddenly wondered if anyone had played 3...Bg4?! in the Philidor against me, and, if so, whether I handled it reasonably.
It turns out I faced the move once, ten years ago.
Spanton (2034) - Willi Ingold (1801)
Liechtenstein 2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4?! 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6? 7.Qb3
I am fairly sure I knew, or at least suspected, we had been following Morphy's gem up to this point, but now my opponent varies, and not in a good way, from that game's 7...Qe7!?
7...Qd7? 8.Qxb7 Bc5!?
This is best, according to my main analysis engines Stockfish10 and Komodo10, although 8...Qc6?, which runs into 9.Bb5, is more common in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database.
9.Qxa8 0-0 10.Be3
10.Qb7 was played in three Mega19 games to reach this position (in a fourth, Black resigned before White could make his 10th move).
10...Bxe3 11.fxe3 Qg4 12.0-0 Nbd7 13.Qxa7 Qxe4 14.Bd3 Qh4 15.Nd2 e4? 16.Rf4 Qh5 17.Nxe4 Ng4 18.Rxg4
Black chose this point to offer a draw, which certainly showed a highly developed state of optimism.
18...Qxg4 19.Qxc7 Nb8 20.a4 Nd7!? 21.a5 h5 22.h3 Qe6 23.a6 Ne5 24.a7 f5 25.a8=R
I cannot recall if I was showing off or was too lazy to get up and hunt for a queen.
25...Rxa8 26.Rxa8+ Kh7 1-0

Old Chessnut

GOING through an old copy of Chess magazine from July 2007, I came across an article more than a page long - and remember that Chess uses an a4 format - on the famous game in which Paul Morphy beat an aristocratic consulting team at the Paris Opera House.
I find it hard to believe there are many, if any, regular readers of Chess who have not seen the game before. It would be difficult to prove, but I suspect it may be the most-published game of all time.
The main rival to such a claim must be the 1851 Immortal Game between Anderssen and Kieseritzky.
It may well be there are better games than these two, although quality in such cases is subjective, but none that has been published so often.
Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to take (yet) another look at Morphy's gem, but this time with the help of the analysis engines Stockfish10 and Komodo10.
Morphy - Duke of Brunswick/Count Isouard
Philidor Defence
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4?!
This move goes back to at least 1795, but by the time of this game had been superseded by 3...f5 and (today's favourite) 3...exd4.
4.dxe5 Bxf3
The engines reckon it is better to give up a pawn by 4...Nd7!?, which has been played by many strong players including Albin, Lasker, Mieses, Blackburne, Nimzowitsch and, in more modern times, by at least six players rated over 2400.
Is ...Nd7 any good? Well, according to ChessBase's 2019 Mega database, Albin won both his outings with it, and Blackburne scored +3=1-0.
5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6?
The most popular move in Mega19, but the superior 6...Qd7 had been played in George Atwood - Jonathan Wilson, London 1795. Atwood continued, as Morphy was to do, with 7.Qb3, when 7...c6 meant that at least Black was not losing material (but 1-0, 22 moves).
7.Qb3 Qe7!?
Fischer called this "a clever move," his point being that 8.Qxb7 would allow the aristos to get queens off the board with 8...Qb4+. They would in all likelihood have still lost, but would have had the satisfaction of the game lasting a lot longer than it did (and Morphy would have spent a lot longer sitting in the duke's luxury box with his back to the opera).
Later in 1858, in Morphy's match against the Prussian Daniel Harrwitz, the weaker 7...Bd6? was played. Morphy won in 59 moves.
8.Nc3
The engines prefer the prosaic 8.Qxb7 but Morphy, at least metaphorically, may have had one eye on the opera.
8...c6 9.Bg5
Fischer reckoned this puts Black in zugzwang: "He can't develop his knight because his (b) pawn is hanging (and) the bishop is blocked by the queen."
9...b5?!
It is easy to condemn this move, but in 15 subsequent games to reach the position after 9.Bg5, the text was played in 12 of them.
The engines reckon best play is 9...Na6 10.Bxf6 gaf6 11.Bxa6 bxa6 12.0-0, with a miserable game for Black.
10.Nxb5! cxb5 11.Bxb5+ Nbd7 12.0-0-0 Rd8
Fischer points out that breaking the pin on the queen's knight with 12...0-0-0? loses instantly to 13.Ba6+ Kc7 14.Qb7#
13.Rxd7 Rxd7 14.Rd1 Qe6 15.Bxd7+ Nxd7 16.Qb8+! Nxb8 17.Rd8+
The exact same game last occurred in Mega19 in Edmundo Luz (2059) - Jose Correa (1686), Maranhão (Brazil) 2018.

Next Up

THE annual Devon County Chess Association congress, commonly called Paignton, starts in Livermead on the outskirts of Torquay on Saturday.
That is a day earlier than usual because the seven-round premier has been upgraded to a nine-round "norm" tournament, which is being played over eight days.
Unless there is a dramatic late influx of strong entries, norms will be impossible. But with a first prize, sometimes known as an Arkell stipend, of £850 and a British Championship qualifying place at stake, it should be an interesting event.
Here are the entries:

No.		Name	FideID	FED	Rtg	Club/City
1	GM	Arkell Keith C	400270	ENG	2445	4NCL Cheddleton
2	CM	Villiers Thomas	427209	ENG	2218	Barnet Elizabeth
3		Seymour Timothy P	412112	ENG	2100	4NCL Surbiton
4	CM	Wheeler John F	408417	ENG	2072	Cosham
5		Brusey Alan W	406880	ENG	2054	Newton Abbot
6		Peters Stephen G	406040	ENG	2027	Aylesbury
7	FM	Waddington Mike P	410497	ENG	2023	Dorchester
8		Menadue Jeremy FS	404349	ENG	2016	Cornwall Cca
9	CM	Rosen Daniel B	405418	ENG	2012	Ashtead
10		Horton Justin	412228	ENG	2003
11		Dilleigh Stephen P	408379	ENG	2000	Horfield & Redland
12		Brown Alan M	409804	ENG	1991	4NCL MK Phoenix
13	CM	Kirby Peter J	409014	GCI	1988	Horfield & Redland
14		French Angus J	410810	ENG	1984	Streatham
15		Pickersgill Adrian O	404519	ENG	1948	Eastbourne
16		Spanton Tim R	404802	ENG	1881	Battersea
17		Fleri Matthew	5602165	MLT	1793	Malta
18		Fleri Luke	5602173	MLT	1647	Malta
19		Robertson Jim	2403471	SCO	1576	Scotland
20		Weinberger Peter		ENG	105	New England

Why Can't All My Opponents Play like This?

Balakrishnan Jagadeesh (1695/144) - Spanton (1881/168)
Northumbria Challengers Round 9
Irregular QP
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 e6 3.g3 c5
Before this round, BJ had gained 46 Fide elo, so he is not the mug this game makes him seem.
4.Bg2!?
Kasparov and Kramnik have played this, but it does seem strange at first sight to allow Black a central pawn-majority.
4...cxd4
More popular are 4...Nc6 and 4...Nf6, but Kasparov has played the text.
5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.0-0 Bc5 7.Nb3 Bb6 8.Bf4?
Watch this bishop - it plays a major role in the farce that ensues.
The mainline in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database runs 8.c4 Nge7 9.cxd5 Nxd5, when Black's central pawn-majority has gone. Stockfish10 and Komodo10 reckon White has an edge.
8...e5 9.Bc1 Be6 10.Nc3 Nge7 11.Bg5? f6 12.Be3?? d4 13.Bd2
It's an easy quip to make, but a stronger move was 13.Resigns.
13...dxc3 14.Bxc3 0-0 15.Qe1 Qc7 16.a4 a5 17.Nd2 Rfd8 18.b3?! Nd4 19.Bxd4 Bxd4 20.c3?
This jettisons a pawn and allows Black to pin the white knight.
20...Bxc3 21.Rc1 Rac8 22.Qd1 Rxd2 23.Qxd2 Bxd2 0-1
My final score of +3=3-3 saw me lose 13.4 Fide elo with an ECF grading performance of c164.4.

My Most Shocking Blunder Ever

I THINK I must have been overdoing the chess of late, causing tiredness and staleness.
How else to explain the following shocker from this morning's eighth round of the Northumbria Challengers?

Black to make his 27th move in Michael Hubbard (1946/174) - Spanton (1881/168)

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Black wins easily after 27...Nxc5 28.Ba3 Kg8. But note that 28...Kf7? is much less clear as White has 29.Bxc5 Rxc5 30.Nb7 with Nd6+ to follow.
Instead the game saw 27....Rxc5?? 28.Nxb7 (1-0, 44 moves)

Tiviakov Scandinavian

Spanton (1881/168) - Boris Stoyanov (1592/146)
Northumbira Challengers Round 7
Tiviakov Scandinavian
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 g6
Most popular are 5...a6 and 5...c6, but the text has been played by Kramnik and Caruana, and is a favourite of Tiviakov's.
6.Bc4
The mainline in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database runs 6.Nb5 (this is why Black usually plays 5...a6 or 5...c6) Qb6 7.c4 c6 8.Nc3 Bg7, when my main analysis engines, Stockfish10 and Komodo10, much prefer White. Nevertheless, Kramnik and Tiviakov are among strong players who have tried this line as Black.
6...a6 7.Ne5!?
This may be new at this point, although we have transposed to a known position.
7...e6
I expected 7...Be6,  when I was leaning towards 8.Bxe6 Qxe6 9.0-0, with Re1 to come, but 8.Qf3!? also looks good.
8.Bg5
I rejected 8.Bf4 because of 8...Nh5, missing that 9.Ne4 is strong. However, the text is also good.
8...Bg7?!
This natural-looking move is almost certainly a mistake, which suggests Black's whole set-up is dodgy. Better was 8...Nbd7, and if, as in the game, 9.Qf3, Black can grab a pawn with 9...Qxd4, although White has plenty of compensation. After 8...Nbd7, the engines prefer 9.0-0, with a clear edge for White.
9.Qf3 Nbd7 10.Ne4 Qb4+?
Better was 10...Qxd4, but the forced line 11.Bxf6 Nxe5 12.Qf4 leaves White a pawn up and with a continuing attack.
11.c3 Nxe5
Or 11...Qxb2 12.0-0 with a huge attack.
12.Nxf6+ Kf8 13.dxe5 Qxc4
Black played 13...Bxf6 and resigned without waiting for White's reply in Davide di Trapiani (2090) - Sergio Garofalo (1826), Modena Championship 2012.
14.0-0-0 Ke7
Or 14...Qxa2 15.Rd8+ Ke7 16.Nd5#
15.Ng8+ 1-0

Unrated & Ungraded - But Good Enough To Beat Me

FACED a junior with neither a Fide rating nor an ECF grade in round six of the Northumbria Challengers this morning.

Black to make his 13th move in Hangxuan Zhang - Spanton (1881/168)

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13...Qd8?? 14.Nc7+! (1-0, 42 moves)
I should have played 13...Bc6, and if 14.b4, then 14....Qd7. White has lots of compensation for his pawn deficit, but it's a  game.

Opposite Bishops Drama

ASSESS this ending from this afternoon's round five of the Northumbira Challengers.

White to make his 65th move in Spanton (1881/168) - Raj Bhopal (1931/202*)

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65.Ke4?
White wins with the attacking 65.Kd4, eg 65...Bb8 66.Kc5 Kf5 67.Kc6 etc (Komodo10), or 65...g5 66.a6 Bh2 67.Kc5 g4 68.fxg4 hxg4 69.b4 Bg1+ 70.Kc6 Ke5 71.b5 Ke4 72.b6 etc (Stockfish10).
After the text, the game should be drawn.
65...Ke7 66.a6 Bb8 67.b4?
But now White is losing. Correct was 67.f4, when Black seems unable to make progress. One line given by both engines runs 67...f5+ 68.Kf3 Kf6 69.Bc4 e5 70.fxe5+ Kxe5 71.Bf7 Kf6 72.Be8 h4 73.Kg2 g5 74.Kh3. If 67...f6 68.Kf3 g5, then 69.b4, and Black cannot make progress.
67...Ba7?
Winning is 67...f5+ followed by ...g5.
68.b5?
Again f4 draws, with lines similar to those at move 67.
68...Kd6?!
Simpler is 68...g5, followed by ...f5, but the text wins too.
69.Kf4
It is too late for 69.f4 to draw - after 69...f5+ 70.Kf3 e5 71.fxe5+ Kxe5, Black's remaining kingside pawns are unstoppable as there is no pressure from the rear from the white bishop.
69...f6 70.Ke4 g5 71.Bc4 f5+ 72.Kd3 h4 (0-1, 82 moves)
*Most recently published ECF grade - July 2017.

Black To Play And Draw

BLACK to make his 31st move in Yaoyao Zhu (1842/165) - Spanton (1881/168), Northumbria Challengers round four.

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31...Qb3
Counterplay, as so often, seems to be the best try.
32.Qd6
Komodo10's choice. Stockfish10 narrowly prefers 32.Qd7, when the engines agree the mainline runs 32...Kg7 33.Kh2 Qxc3 34.Qe7 Qc2 35.Qxe5+ Kg8, with a slight edge for White, presumably thanks to better piece-coordination.
32...Re8 33.Qd7 Re6 34.Qd8 Kg7 35.Rd3 Rf6
The crisis for Black has passed, and by now I was hoping, without good cause, that I might even get an advantage.
36.f3 Qc2 37.Qd7
YZ offered a draw while I was thinking about my next move.
37...Qe2 38.Kh2 Qc2 39.Qd8 Qe2  ½–½

Lucky Escape

NARROWLY missed a humiliating loss against a junior in round three of the Northumbria Challengers this afternoon.

I had tried fruitlessly to win a drawn bishop-and-pawn ending, during which my opponent three times offered a draw while my clock was running.

Eventually we reached the following position:

White to make his 47th move in Spanton (1881/168) - Samuel Parry (1773/152)

Feeling I had tried everything I could, I played Bf6 and offered a draw, which was quickly accepted. Can you see what we both missed?

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47.Bf6?? is a gross blunder. Black wins with 47...h5+, eg 48.Kf3 Kf5 49.a3 (the only move to stop Black quickly winning the h4 pawn) Bf4 50.Be7 Bc1 51.b3 Bb2 52.Bc5 Bc3, and the h4 pawn falls anyway (or the d4 pawn after 53.Bb4 Bxd4). If White tries to save the h4 pawn with 49.Bg7 Bb4 50.Kg3, then 50... Be1+ 51.Kh3 Ke4, and again White loses either the d4 or h4 pawn.

Last Chance

MY round-two game this morning in the Northumbria Challengers was an up-and-down encounter both players could have won - or, to put it another way, both deserved to have lost.
The last chance came in a rook-and-pawn ending.

Black to make his 41st move in David G Hall (1683/154) - Spanton (1881/168)

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41...Ke7?
White is fine after this defensive move. Almost certainly winning was 41...Kd5, followed by advancing the c pawn. The point is White has not got time to go after the a pawn, eg 42.Rf7 c4 43.Rxa7 c3 44.Rc7 Kd4, etc.
The game finished:
42.Kh4 Rd6 43.Kg4 Re6
A better try was 43...Ke6, but White seems to be fine. The main line given by Komodo10 and Stockfish10 runs 44.Rf8 Kd5 45.f4 Kc4 46.Rc8 Kb3 47.Rc6 Rd8 48.f5 Kxa4 49.f6 Kxb5 50.Rc7 a5 51.f7 a4 52.Kh5 a3 53.Kxh6 Kc4 54.Ra7 Kb3 55.Rb7 Kc2 56.Rxb6 a2 57.Ra6 Kb2 58.Rb6+ Kc2 59.Ra6 etc. There are alternatives for both sides, especially early on, but none seems to alter the outcome.
44.Kh4 Rf6 45.Kg4 h5+!? 46.Kg5
Not 46.Kxh5?? Rxf4 47.gxf4 c4.
46...Rxf4 47.Kxf4 Kf6 48.Ke4 Kg5 49.Kd5 h4 50.gxh4+ Kxh4 51.f4 Kg4 52.Ke5 c4 53.Kd4 Kxf4 54.Kxc4 Ke5 55.Kc3 Kd5 ½–½

Northumbria Congress Underway

I FACED a junior in round one of the Northumbria Challengers this evening.
Spanton (1881/168) - Rajeiv Ratnesan (1647/171)
Caro-Kann Classical
1.Nc3 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.Nf3 Nd7 7.h4 h6 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bd2 Qc7 12.0-0-0 Ngf6 13.Ne4 0-0-0

White to make his 14th move

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14.Nxf6!?
More than 2,000 games in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database have White playing g3, but the text has been tried by Spassky and Leko.
14...Nxf6 15.Qe2 Bd6 16.Ne5!?
The most popular move in Mega19 is g3?!, but that loses a clear tempo compared with 14.g3 Nxe4 15.Nxe4 Nf6 16.Qe2. Strong players have preferred Kb1.
16...Rhf8!?
This looks strange, but the idea is to to be able to play ...Nd7 to exchange knights. The analysis engines Stockfish10 and Komodo10 prefer 16....c5.
17.g4!?
This may be a new move. I wanted to free the king's rook from protecting the h5 pawn, but the engines prefer 17.f4 or 17.c4!?
17...Nd7
In the postmortem RR said he should have played 17...c5, when the engines continue 18.Bf4 c4!? 19.Bd2!? Bxe5 20.dxe5 Nd5 21.c3, which they reckon is equal. Part of the reason he did not play 17...c5 was fear of 18.g5!? cxd4 19.gxh6?? Bxe5 20.hxg7 Rg8 21.h6, but the engines point out a complete answer in 21...d3.
18.Rhe1 Kb8 19.Kb1 c5?
By now ...c5 is a mistake. The engines give 19...Nxe5 20.dxe5, although after 20...Bc5 (or 20...Be7), White gets the slightly better game by setting up Hans Kmoch's (in)famous quartgrip with 21.f4.
20.Nxd7+ Rxd7 21.dxc5
Even better was 21.Bc3!, when the engines give best play as 21...c4 22.d5 with a large advantage for White.
21...Bxc5 22.Bc3 Rg8?
The engines reckon Black had to play 22...Rxd1+ 23.Rxd1 f6 24.Qxe6 Bxf2, although White's pieces are better coordinated and it looks like a difficult defence for Black.
23.Rxd7 Qxd7 24.Rd1
An immediate capture on g7 is also good.
24...Qc6 25.Bxg7
Black cannot save the h6 pawn, but made the situation worse with:
25...Bd6? 26.Rxd6 1-0

North Of The Humber

ARRIVED in Newcastle late yesterday afternoon for Tim Wall's Northumbria congress, which is being held at a Novotel roughly halfway between the city centre and the airport.

The playing venue being prepared last night

There are three nine-round tournaments, Masters, Challengers (U2050 & U180) and Major (U1825 & U150), and two one-day junior rapids.
The main tournaments feature one round this evening (18.30) followed by four days of two rounds (10.00 & 15.00).
I am playing in the Challengers, which has the following entrants:

No.		Name	FideID	FED	Rtg
1		Hubbard Michael	430137	ENG	1946
2		Muellenbruck Stefan	24618446	GER	1935
3		Bhopal Raj	2404443	SCO	1931
4		Nandi Robin J	434604	ENG	1920
5		Reynolds Mark A	421227	ENG	1917
6		Bielby Paul R	429864	ENG	1916
7		Jennings Richard	2404435	SCO	1915
8		Riding Mick D	430102	ENG	1893
9		Macnaughton Alistair	461059	ENG	1885
10		Spanton Tim R	404802	ENG	1881
11		Wynarczyk Raymond	415081	ENG	1847
12		Couch Mark	441490	ENG	1840
13		Robson Paul E	424803	ENG	1829
14		Kane Robert	420468	ENG	1822
15		Mcguinness Simon P	450146	ENG	1819
16		Parry Samuel	460397	ENG	1773
17		Gogia Armaan	452203	ENG	1754
18		Macdonald Ciaran	486400	ENG	1743
19		Turner James	430293	ENG	1719
20		Hall David G	2402394	SCO	1683
21		Ratnesan Rajeiv	439320	ENG	1647
22		Stoyanov Boris	456462	ENG	1592
23	AFM	Bridgeman Niamh	343113833	ENG	1511

Wild One

TURNED out on top board for The Dogs Of Battersea against East London Knights in the 150-average division of London's Summer League. Barring unforeseen circumstances, this will be my last club match of the 2018-19 season.
Oliver Finnegan (160) - Spanton (168)
Barry Attack
1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 e6 3.Bf4
White's opening looks like a cross between the Veresov (1.d4, 2.Nf3, 3.Bg5) and the New London (1.d4, 2.Bf4). I call it the Barry Attack, although that name is usually reserved for when White plays d4, Nc3 and Bf4 against a Black set-up involving an early kingside fianchetto.
3...Bd6 4.e3 Nc6!?
This may be a new move in this position, although it transposes to a known continuation.
5.Nf3 Nge7
5...Nf6 was played in Guillermo Buxade Roca (2201) - Iosif Grinberg (2279), EU Seniors 2007 (½–½, 43 moves).
6.Bg3 Nf5 7.Nb5!?
This somewhat surprised me, but, at least for a while, it is the analysis engine Komodo10's top choice.
7...Nxg3 8.hxg3 Be7
Black has gained the bishop-pair, but the manoeuvre has cost time, and means kingside castling will always be double-edged while White has a rook on the half-open h file.
9.a3 a6 10.Nc3 b6 11.Bd3 Bb7 12.Qe2
On 12.Rxh7?! Rxh7 13.Bxh7 g6 14.Qd3, I planned 14...Kd7!
12...h6
Not immediately necessary, but likely to become so.
13.g4
Stockfish10 and Komodo10 prefer 13.e4, giving White a slight edge.
13...b5 14.Rh5 g6
The threat of White's thrust g5 has been reduced, but the h pawn has been weakened.
15.Rh3 b4 16.Nb1
The engines slightly prefer 16.axb4 Nxb4 17.Na4, but OF was presumably reluctant to give up his light-square bishop.
16...Bf6 17.c3 bxc3 18.Nxc3 e5
It makes sense to open the position for Black's bishops, even though this means danger for both kings.
19.dxe5 Nxe5 20.Nxe5 Bxe5 21.Rc1
Committing the white king to finding shelter on f1, where it does seem as if it will be relatively safe. The black king still has flexibility, which is another way of saying it is hard to work out where it might be safe.

Black to make his 21st move

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21...0-0! 22.Kf1
22.Rxh6 d4 is dangerous for White. The engines' main line runs 23.Ne4 dxe3 24.fxe3 Rb8, with lots of play for the pawn.
22...Re8 23.Qc2 d4?!
Defending the h pawn by 23...Bg7 or 23...Kg7 was more prudent.
24.Nd1?!
White probably should have preferred one of two sharper tries, both of which lead to approximately equal positions:
A) 24.exd4 Bxd4 25.Bxg6 Qf6 26.Bd3 Rad8, when Black has very active play for the pawn. This line is not forced, eg Black could sac a second pawn with 25...fxg6 26.Qb3+ (26.Qxg6? Bg7) Kg7 27.Qxb7 Rb8 28.Qxa6, when the engines again reckon Black has full compensation for his material deficit.
b) 24.Bc4!? (this is the engines' suggestion - it did not occur to me) dxc3 25.Qxg6+ Bg7 26.Bxf7+ Kf8 27.Bxe8 Qxe8 28.Qxe8+ Rxe8 29.bxc3, with a better-for-White position similar to one we get in the game. But capturing the knight straightaway may not be Black's best - instead the engines give 24...Qg5!? 25.f4 Bxf4 26.exf4 Qxf4+ 27.Kg1 dxc3, when it is Black rather than White who is temporarily two pawns up. Again the engines reckon the position is roughly even.
24...Qd5?!
Other queen moves were possible, and it seems that best was 24...Qd7, although 24...Qg5!?, 24...Qd6 and 24...Qf6 all at one point become the top choice of Stockfish10 and/or Komodo10.
25.f3?
This safeguards g2, but a better way of doing this was to gain a tempo with 25.f4, when 25...Bd6 26.Bxg6!? fxg6 27.Qxg6+ Kf8 28.Qf6+ Qf7 29.Qh8+ Ke7 30.Qxd4 is better for Black, according to the engines, but they differ as to how much.
25...Rad8?
Black is much better after the simple 25...dxe3.
26.Bc4 Qc6 27.Rxh6?
The en prise h pawn is at last captured, but it was still poisoned.
I expected 27.Bxf7+?! Kxf7 28.Qxc6 Bxc6 29.Rxc6 dxe3, when Black is much better because White's pieces are uncoordinated, eg 30.Nxe3 Bf4 31.Nc4 Rd1+ 32.Kf2 Rde1, winning.
However, the engines find a major improvement in 27.g5! h5 28.Bxf7+ Kxf7 29.Qxc6 Bxc6 30.Rxc6 dxe3 31.Rxe3, with maybe just a small edge for Black, as now …Bf4? is met by Rf6+.
27...Kg7 28.Rh3 dxe3 29.Nxe3 Bf4?
Missing White's reply. Winning was 29...Bd4, when Black has a very strong attack for the pawn.
30.Nf5+! gxf5 31.Qxf5

Black to make his 31st move

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31...Rd1+!
31...Qxc4+!? 32.Rxc4 Rd1+ 33.Kf2 Rd2+ is a draw by repetition.
32.Rxd1 Qxc4+ 33.Kg1 Be3+?
I played this almost automatically, but stronger are the engines' 33...Be5 and 33...Bc8.
34.Kh1 Qf4 35.Rh7+?
The game is equal, according to the engines, after 35.Qh7+ Kf8 36.Rh5 Ke7 37.Rf5 Qh6+ 38.Qxh6 Bxh6.
35...Kg8 36.Qh5 Bd4 37.g5?!
This counters the threat of ...Bxf3!, but the engines reckon a better way of doing that was 37...Qxf7+ (37...Rxf7+ transposes) 38.Qf7 Rxf7+ 39.Kxf7 Rxd4, when Black is better, but there is a lot of play left.
37...Qf5 38.Rh6?!
Again it was probably better to give back the exchange.
38...Bg7
Good enough for a large advantage, but the calm 38...Bxb2! was even better.
39.g6 Qxh5+ 40.Rxh5 fxg6

After the fireworks, the game has reached an ending which the engines reckon Black is winning (Stockfish10) or at least has the upper hand (Komodo10)

41.Rc5 Re7 42.b3 Be5 43.Kg1
Not 43.Re1?? Rh7+ 44.Kg1 Bd4+.
43...Bd6 44.Rg5 Kf7 45.b4 Re3 46.Ra5 Ke6 47.Kf2 Re5?!
When the opponent has two rooks and you have one, it is usually not a good idea to exchange rooks as there is a certain redundancy in having two pieces of the same type (note that the normal bishop-pair is not redundant as the bishops cover different squares, but two dark-square bishops certainly would be).
I forced an exchange here for two reasons: a) two bishops v rook is a larger material advantage, ratio-wise, than two bishops & rook v two rooks, b) we were both short of time, and getting a pair of rooks off reduces the chance of mishaps.
48.Rxe5+ Kxe5 49.g3 Bc6 50.f4+ Kf5 51.Rc1 Bb5 52.Kf3 Kf6 53.g4 c6 54.Rd1 Ke7 55.f5!?
The engines like this move. Early on it is Stockfish10's top choice, before slipping to second place, and becomes Komodo10's top choice after being demonstrated on the board. I guess the point is that if White stands pat, Black will eventually organise his pieces and threaten to win a pawn or pawns, so it makes sense to exchange as many as possible.
55...gxf5!?
Presumably it is for the same reason that Stockfish10 prefers 55...g5, even though White gets a protected passed pawn. Komodo10 rates the two moves almost identically, but with a slight preference for the text.
56.gxf5 Be5 57.Re1 Kf6 58.Kg4?
This loses a pawn. Correct was 58.Ke4, when 58...Bb2 can be met by 59.Rb1!, the point being that 59...Ba3 60.Kd4! Kxf5 61.Kc3 etc is a draw. Black would therefore have to try other manoeuvres with the bishops, but I have not been able to find a win.
58...Bd3 59.Re3 Bxf5+ 60.Kf3 Ke6 61.a4?
Presumably hoping to exchange more pawns, but that is unrealistic, and the main effect of the move is to weaken White's queenside.
61...Bc2 62.a5 Kd5 63.Ke2 Ba4?
Black wins with 63...Bd6 as White cannot save the b pawn.
64.Kd3 Bb5+ 65.Kc2 Bd6 66.Kb3 Kd4 67.Rh3 Bc4+ 68.Ka3 Be5 69.Rf3 Bd5 70.Rh3 Kc4 71.Ka4 Be4 72.Rh4 Kd4 73.Ka3 Kd5 74.Rh5 Bd3 75.Kb3 Be2 76.Rh7 Bd1+ 77.Ka3 Bd4
I have been playing rather aimlessly, hoping to somehow win the b pawn, but maybe there is no way to do it. The engines are convinced Black is winning, but they too seem unable to come up with a winning plan as long as the white rook keeps harassing from the side.
78.Rd7+?
The only playable check, since 78.Rh5?? is a gross blunder, but I believe White is fine if he plays 78.Rh4!?, even though both engines flash red.
78...Kc4 79.Rd8 Bc2 80.Ra8 Bc3 81.Rb8
Objectively better is 81.Rxa6, but Black still wins both white pawns, and therefore the game, eg 81...Bxb4+ 82.Kb2 Ba4 83.Ra8 Kb5 84.a6 c5 85.a7 Kb6 etc.
81...Bd2 82.Kb2 Ba4 83.Ka3 Bb5 (0-1, 105 moves).
East London Knights won the match 3-1.
My updated Battersea statistics for 2018-19
Event...Colour...Grade...Opponent's Grade...Result
CLL........B..........167...….........196...............…D
LL...…….B...…...167...………..159...………….D
CLL...…..B...…...167...………..161...………….W
CLL...…..B...…...167...………..190...………….D
LL...…….W...…..167...………..161...….………W
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..148...………….D
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..165...………….W
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..160...………….D
CLL...…..W...…..167...………..159...………….D
LL...…….B...…...167...………..168...………….D
LL...…….W...…..171...………..159...………….W
CLL...…..B...…...171...………..198...……….….L
CLL...…..B...…...171...………..169...…………..L
CLL...…..B...…...171...………..196...…………..L
LL...…….B...…...171...………..182...…………..D
CLL...…..W...…..171...………..189...…………..L
LL...…….B...…...171...………..178...…………..L
CLL...…..B...…...171...………..164...…………..D
LL...…….B...…...171...………..188...………….W
CLL...…..B...…...171...………..200...…………..L
LL...…….B...…...171...………..169...…………..L
CLL...…..W...…..171...………..186...…………..D
CLL...…..B...…...171...………..153...…………..D
LL...……W...…...171...………..188...…………..L
LL...……W...…...171...………..159...…………..L
LL...……W...…...171...………..153...…………..L
CLL...…..B...…...171...…….….172...……….....D
LL............B.........171................139..................W
LL...….….B...…..171...…….….214...……....….L
LL...……..B...…..171...………..173...……….….L
LL...…….W...…..171...………..166...…………..L
SL...……..B...…..171...………..167...………….W
LL...…….W...…..171...………..122...………….W
SL...……..B...…..171...………..159...………….W
SL...…….W...…..168...………..140(est)………W
SL...…….W...…..168...………..183...………….W
SL...……..B...…..168...………..160...………….W
Overall this season for Battersea I have scored +12=12-13 for a grading performance of 169.
In season 2017-18 I scored +10=8-9 for a grading performance of 175.
CLL - Central London League; LL - London League; SL - Summer League

Dragon On

THE latest free version of the Komodo analysis engine, Komodo10, can be downloaded at https://komodochess.com/downloads.htm
As a test, I gave Komodo10 and Stockfish10 a position that has been doing the rounds on the internet lately.

It took Komodo10 32 seconds and Stockfish10 59 seconds to find White's winning move

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1.Bh1!!
White mates in four moves against any defence, eg:
1...Kxh1 2.Kf2!
2.Kf1 only draws, at best, because Black's knight can check White's king in three moves.
2...Nc7 3.Nc1 Nd5 4.Ne2
White mates next move with 5.Ng3#. But if the White king were on f1, Black could win, after the same sequence, with 4...Ne3+ 5.Kf2 Nf5.

Can Anyone Work Out What Is Going On Here?

ALEKHINE'S Defence (1.e4 Nf6) seems to be making something of a comeback in club chess, assuming it ever went away.
At least that has been my recent experience: I have faced Alekhine's Defence three times in the past year, which is as many times as in the previous ten years put together.
It has made me think I may need to come up with something more forcing than my usual reply of 2.Nc3.
The obvious place to start is ChessBase's 2019 Mega database. It features more than 61,000 games with 2.e5, with White scoring 54%. There are more than 22,000 games with 2.Nc3, when White's success rate drops to 48%.
Lots of other second moves have been given an outing, but only one has given White a plus score: 2.c4!?
White scores 55% - one percentage point more than with 2.e5 - from 30 games. That is a small sample size, but it is not as if 2.c4!? has only been played by rabbits. Among those with White have been Ildar Ibragimov (2637), Gennadi Kuzmin (2546), Peter Lukacs (2460) and Ta Lin (2410).
Now comes the really bizarre bit - only two games featured the reply 2...Nxe4, and both those were games between unrateds.
Why do players refuse the gift? What is it they fear?
Taking the four top players to have tried 2.c4!? in chronological order, we get the following:

Peter Lukacs (2460) - Nelson Pinal (2405)
Capablanca Memorial Group B 1983
1.e4 Nf6 2.c4!? g6!? 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.d4 d6
The game has transposed to a mainline King's Indian, which White won in 22 moves.

Ta Lin (2410) - Ian Rogers (2515)
Kuala Lumpur Zonal 1990
1.e4 Nf6 2.c4!? e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3!? d5
The game has transposed to a one-off position from the Flohr-Mikenas System in the English. It was apparently drawn in 17 moves, although the whole score in Mega19 looks suspicious (the final position is winning for White, according to Stockfish10 and Komodo9).

Gennadi Kuzmin (2546) - Andrei Kovalev (2459)
Ukraine October GM 1999
1.e4 Nf6 2.c4!? g6!? 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.d4 0-0 5.Be2 d6
The game has transposed to a mainline King's Indian. It is recorded as a win for Black in 22 moves, but in the final position White has a mate-in-eight and is anyway massively ahead on material.

Ildar Ibragimov (2637) - Elliott Liu (2162)
Las Vegas National 2006
1.e4 Nf6 2.c4!? g6!? 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.d4 d6
Once again the game has transposed to a mainline King's Indian. White won in 73 moves.

So what can be concluded? Sadly, I have not stumbled across a challenge to the Alekhine, let alone a refutation.
The fact is, despite the evidence from Mega19, c4 on move two against the Alekhine should be annotated 2.c4?! or, more probably, 2.c4?
Secondly, and more worryingly, there is some very dodgy data in Mega19, which can seriously skew statistics when sample sizes are small.

Chess Perks

ONE bonus of attending the British Chess Championships is that there are usually perks to be had.
For those without easy access to the Chess & Bridge shop in London, it must have been pleasing to see the company's well-stocked bookstall, especially in these days of decreasing bookstall-attendance at congresses.
There were even generic chess T-shirts for sale, although none, alas, themed for the championships.
That being the case, and despite the interesting books on prominent display (DVDs were not so easy to view, so I gave them a miss), I resisted the temptation to buy - something of a personal best for me.
However, I did not come away emptyhanded. As well as picking up a free old copy of Chess magazine, I also took out a free three-month subscription.
I used to be an avid magazine buyer - at various times I subscribed to Chess, BCM, Chess Life, New In Chess and Inside Chess, and I still have every copy of Chess Circuit and Weekend Chess.
But the internet destroyed much of  the magazines' usefulness for me - their "news" sections tended to be so out-of-date that they could have been more properly renamed "olds."
There were always parts of most magazines that simply held no interest for me - stamp collecting, problems, "humorous" cartoons and hagiographic interviews being leading culprits.
What I really wanted was instruction, which I felt was sometimes in short supply, and informative reviews of the latest books and DVDs.
My three-month subscription to Chess will give me a fair chance to see how things stand today.
The first issue of my subscription  - "Volume 84 No.5 August 2019" - arrived while I was in the Czech Republic.

August Chess … the cover features 20-year-old Russian GM Aleksandra Goryachkina

The magazine, which has a cover price of £4.95, has a thin feel to it but consists of 60 glossy pages with plenty of colour photos (something that can be taken for granted today, but was not the case only a short time ago).
CONTENTS
Editorial Executive editor Malcom Pein's take on the current state of chess, including detailed notes to two Giri games and his opinion on the Igors Rausis cheating scandal (Pein wants a life ban).
60 Seconds Q&A with IM Adam Hunt, who includes his Chess Strategy: Move By Move as among "the three best chess books."
Havana Good Time! Five games and two positions from the Capablanca Memorial.
Is Magnus Beatable? Two Carlsen draws and one position from Zagreb.
Find The Winning Moves 24 game positions.
Getting Hackneyed Two games with notes, one game with just a single annotation and a position - all from Hackney's most-recent season in the Middlesex League.
Readers' Letters Featuring a Paul Littlewood brevity with one note, and information about Vera Menchik.
The Rise of Aleksandra One game and one position from the Women's Candidates.
How Good Is Your Chess? GM Daniel King with another game from the Women's Candidates.
Vera Menchik: Challenging The Status Quo One game and one position, but mostly a recap of the life of the first women's world champion, marking the 75th anniversary of her death.
Trends In The Chess Openings The Réti was the most popular opening in June among GMs and IMs, according to a chart credited to Hiarcs 14 via TWIC.
A New Initiative One game and two positions from a rapid tournament in Stockton-on-Tees.
Women's Chess Month A view from Hammersmith chess club.
Growing Up A Wood Interview with the son of Chess magazine founder BH Wood.
Never Mind The Grandmasters Carl Portman details how he beat a player graded 83.
Studies With Stephenson Three studies.
Pattern Recognition Matthew Lunn on the dangers of relying on pattern recognition.
Playing Chess Below Canterbury Cathedral James Essinger describes, with edited extracts, his new partially-chess-themed novel.
Overseas News Seven short reports, including British involvement in the St Louis Summer Classic.
Home News Ten short reports, plus a Forthcoming Events diary.
Solutions To Find The Winning Moves.
This Month's New Releases Long reviews of books on the Sicilian Taimanov and Emanuel Lasker. Brief mentions of five other books, one DVD and two magazines.
A Little Bird Just Told Me Chess tweets.
Saunders On Chess John Saunders' take on the current state of chess.
In addition there are adverts for new publications and upcoming tournaments, so all-in-all quite a lot to get through.

"White Scores Badly" / "Black Scores Below Average"

"WHITE scores badly" and "Black scores below average."
Those terse words sum up my chess career, at least according to ChessBase's 2019 Mega database.
I have 862 games in Mega19, scoring 42% ("badly") as White, and 40% ("below average") as Black.
As should be readily apparent, the verbal descriptions are relative, ie a player is expected to score more as White than as Black.
Generally speaking, White scores 55% across most large databases (I will leave you to work out Black's percentage).
So I score significantly below the norm with both colours, but this is not unusual for someone with a modest rating, just as stronger players tend to score "above average," "well," etc.
How accurate are the conclusions in Mega19? This naturally depends on how many games a player has in the database.
My total of 862 is definitely well above the mean. It is rare, when I prepare for opponents, that I find they have more games in the database than I do.
Even so, 862 is just 23.7% of the actual number of competitive games I have played - in my personal database I have 3,637 games, including correspondence ones (Mega19 does not have correspondence games as ChessBase markets them separately).
My real career percentages are 51% as White - four percentage points below the norm - and 47% as Black - two percentage points above the norm.
So, while the exact percentages are different, Mega19 has got it right: I perform better, relatively speaking, as Black.
By the way, I am sure we have all had the experience of talking to people who say they play just as well, or even better, as Black. I have yet to meet one who has been able to tell me, even approximately, what his actual scores are with both colours.
When you are preparing to play people, and you discover they play relatively better as White or as Black, what does this tell you?
I am now leaving the realm of objective numbers and instead giving opinions, but, having thought about this quite a bit, I like to think there is more than just a grain of truth in my conclusions.
Opponents Play Better As White
*Like to have the initiative (decline any gambit they offer if you possibly can)
*May have a pet system, eg 1.b3, which is reeled off ad nauseum (beware trying to reply with something offbeat - they have probably seen it before)
*Could well be happy going for a small edge in a "boring" position they can grind out to a win, or at worst a draw (thus avoiding big rating losses)
Opponents Play Weakly As White
*Do not know much theory
*Unlikely to be able to refute wild Black gambits (try the Englund?)
*May be stodge merchants whose main aim in chess is to avoid defeat, and so will agree to a draw at the first sign of Black activity
Opponents Play Better As Black
*Defend well (time to give the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit a rest)
*Have a repertoire of sharp lines to catch unwary opponents
*Will be well-prepared for your main lines (time to try that new variation you have been thinking about)
Opponents Play Weakly As Black
*Defend poorly and are thus highly vulnerable to gambits
*Are scared of theory and so play dubious lines, hoping their surprise value will make up for other deficiencies
*Tend to delay castling in open games, leaving the king vulnerable, and/or tend to castle early in closed games, when giving the king's address away early is often a mistake

Is This Really A Draw?

Spanton (1881) - Paul Vlkovic (1833), Olomouc seniors round nine

Black has just played 59...Rb2-d2 and offered a draw

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The answer seems to be: yes, it really is a draw
Both my main analysis engines, Stockfish10 and Komodo9, reckon Black is winning. Stockfish10 has Black at +3.42 pawns; Komodo9 at +2.24 pawns.
But as long as White keeps his rook protecting the f pawn, and threatens the bishop when possible, there seems no way for Black to make progress.
The engines try various manoeuvres, but nothing significantly changes, including the advantage they reckon Black has. That last point is often a tell-tale sign a position is drawn - otherwise the evaluation would change as one side improves its position.
My final score of +4=3-2 saw me gain 7.4 Fide elo. I came third-through-seventh - fourth on tiebreak.

The Final Countdown

HERE are the pairings for the final round this morning of the Olomouc seniors.

Bo.	No.			Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg		No.
1	5			FIALA Jiri	1875	4½		7½	FM	POKORNY Zdenek	2215		1
2	2		FM	SHILOV Sergej	2129	7		5		GALVANEK Ladislav	1971		3
3	4			SPANTON Tim R	1881	5		5		VLKOVIC Pavol	1833		7
4	30			RICICA Pavel	1000	4½		4½		POKORA Lubomir	1834		6
5	8			ORAL Josef	1806	4½		4½		TERPSTRA Wiep	1795		10
6	19			NEUYMINA Nadezhda	1613	4½		4		PINDURA Vladimir	1561		21
7	9			MIKULKA Jan	1805	4		4		MADAR Vladimir	1727		14
8	13			KASPAREK Jiri	1744	4		4		MACURA Petr	1412		29
9	17			NOVAK Borivoj	1637	3½		3½		HORAK Miroslav	1722		15
10	22			ALEKSEEVA Tatiyana	1554	3½		3½		KIRS Pavel	1568		20
11	16			FELDVABL Vilem	1682	3		3		KRYST Konrad	1635		18
12	23			DIVIS Jan	1545	3		3		GLACNER Karel	1493		25
13	28			MILFORT Vaclav	1325	2½		2		NOVAK Miroslav	1376		26
14	11			VAGOVSKY Jozef	1780	4½	0			not paired
15	12			LACHA Jan	1768	4½	0			not paired
16	24			DOSOUDIL Pavel	1532	2½	0			not paired
17	27			MISUN Miroslav	1369	1½	0			not paired

And below are the standings, taking into account tiebreaks which will be used to determine prizes, after eight rounds.

Rk.	SNo			Name	FED	RtgI	RtgN	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1		FM	POKORNY Zdenek	CZE	2215	0	7,5	36,0	39,5	36,00
2	2		FM	SHILOV Sergej	UKR	2129	0	7,0	33,0	36,0	29,75
3	3			GALVANEK Ladislav	SVK	1971	0	5,0	35,0	38,5	20,50
4	4			SPANTON Tim R	ENG	1881	0	5,0	35,0	38,0	19,25
5	7			VLKOVIC Pavol	SVK	1833	0	5,0	34,0	37,5	19,00
6	12			LACHA Jan	CZE	1768	0	4,5	34,5	36,0	17,25
7	30			RICICA Pavel	CZE	0	1000	4,5	33,5	37,0	18,25
8	10			TERPSTRA Wiep	NED	1795	0	4,5	33,0	36,0	15,25
9	11			VAGOVSKY Jozef	SVK	1780	0	4,5	32,5	36,5	20,25
10	8			ORAL Josef	CZE	1806	0	4,5	30,0	33,5	17,25
11	19			NEUYMINA Nadezhda	RUS	1613	0	4,5	29,5	31,0	16,25
12	5			FIALA Jiri	CZE	1875	0	4,5	28,5	31,5	17,00
13	6			POKORA Lubomir	CZE	1834	0	4,5	27,5	30,5	17,25
14	13			KASPAREK Jiri	CZE	1744	0	4,0	34,5	38,0	16,00
15	14			MADAR Vladimir	CZE	1727	0	4,0	32,5	35,0	15,50
16	29			MACURA Petr	CZE	0	1412	4,0	28,5	31,5	13,50
17	9			MIKULKA Jan	CZE	1805	0	4,0	28,0	30,5	12,00
18	21			PINDURA Vladimir	CZE	1561	0	4,0	26,0	27,5	12,00
19	17			NOVAK Borivoj	CZE	1637	0	3,5	31,5	34,5	13,00
20	15			HORAK Miroslav	CZE	1722	0	3,5	30,5	33,5	11,75
21	20			KIRS Pavel	CZE	1568	0	3,5	29,0	31,5	12,75
22	22			ALEKSEEVA Tatiyana	RUS	1554	0	3,5	25,5	27,0	8,50
23	16			FELDVABL Vilem	CZE	1682	0	3,0	30,0	32,0	9,00
24	23			DIVIS Jan	CZE	1545	0	3,0	25,5	28,0	9,75
25	18			KRYST Konrad	CZE	1635	0	3,0	25,0	27,0	7,50
26	25			GLACNER Karel	CZE	1493	0	3,0	23,5	25,0	6,50
27	28			MILFORT Vaclav	CZE	1325	0	2,5	25,0	27,0	7,00
28	24			DOSOUDIL Pavel	CZE	1532	0	2,5	24,0	25,5	6,75
29	26			NOVAK Miroslav	CZE	1376	0	2,0	24,5	26,5	5,50
30	27			MISUN Miroslav	CZE	1369	0	1,5	22,5	24,0	3,00

As can be seen, the two FMs cannot be caught by the rest, but the order they finish in is yet to be decided. Meanwhile, if I can win my final game, I have a decent chance of third prize.