Winning Chess

THE English 65+ championship at Kenilworth, Warwickshire, was won by international master Paul Littlewood, whose score of +5=1-1 left him a half-point clear of the field.

Going into the last round, he was tied in the lead with IM Peter Large, Fide master Terry Chapman and 15th seed Paul Hutchinson.

Large and Chapman drew, which left the door open for Littlewood.

Paul Hutchinson (2038 ECF/1970 Fide) - Paul Littlewood (2274 ECF/2317 Fide)

King's Indian Defence

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 0-0 5.Bg5!?

This is second-most popular in ChessBase's 2024 Mega database - narrowly ahead of 5.g3, but well behind 5.e4.

5...h6 6.Bh4 d6 7.e3 c6 8.Be2 a6 9.Qc2

The main move is 9.0-0, against which Littlewood has lost twice in games in Mega24.

9...b5 10.b4?!

This may be a novelty, and is not liked by Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1. The commonest continuation in Mega24, albeit from a small sample, is 10.a3, while the engines like 10.0-0.

10...a5 11.bxa5

Not 11.a3? axb4.

11...g5 12.Bg3 b4 13.Nb1 Qxa5 14.0-0

Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position?

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Black has pressure against the white queenside, but can also choose to play on the kingside. The engines reckon Black is at least slightly better.

14...Nh5 15.Nbd2 f5?!

The engines much prefer 15...Nxg3 or 15...Bf5.

16.Nb3 Qc7 17.Rad1?!

The engines give 17.c5, claiming at least a slight edge for White.
17...Nxg3 18.hxg3 c5 19.Ne1!? Be6 20.Bf3 Ra3 21.d5?!

Closing lines looks natural when facing the bishop-pair, but the text makes White's remaining bishop bad, and weakens dark squares. Instead 21.dxc5 dxc5 22.Bd5 deals with the bishop-pair, and gives White at least a slight edge, according to Komodo14.1, although Stockfish16 reckons the position is equal.

21...Bc8!?

The engines give Black a positionally won game

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22.Nd3 Nd7 23.e4 g4 24.Be2 fxe4 25.Nf4 Ne5 26.f3?

The engines reckon this sacrifice makes matters much worse.

26...exf3 27.gxf3 Bf5 28.Qc1 gxf3 29.Bxf3 Rxa2

Black is two pawns up, one of which is a protected passer,  and has the bishop-pair, as well as the safer king

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30.Rd2 Ra3 31.Bd1 Qd7 32.Bc2 Bxc2 33.Qxc2 Qf5 34.Qd1 Qg4

Now White cannot avoid queens coming off.

35.Qxg4 Nxg4 36.Nc1?! Rxg3+ 37.Kh1 Rh3+!? 38.Kg1 Bd4+ 39.Rxd4!?

Desperation.

The game finished:

39...Rg3+ 40.Kh1 cxd4 41.Nce2 Rh3+ 42.Kg1 d3 43.Nd4 Rg3+ 44.Kh1 Rxf4!? 45.Rxf3 d2 0-1