2006 British Chess Championships: Jonathan Rowson Wins!

by John Lee Shaw



The British Chess Championships 2006 took place between August 6th and 23rd, at the University of Wales, Swansea. The main tournament consisted of 11 rounds, with time control of 40 moves in 2 hours followed by 20 moves in one hour. Thereafter, the players had an extra 30 minutes each in which to complete the game. Entrants included: Lalic, Hebden, Arakhamia-Grant, Davies, Rowson.

Play opened with fighting chess, only 7 games of the 31 boards being drawn. Mark Hebden emarged the early tournament leader, being the only player on a 100% score after round 3. A victory over Chris Ward in round 4 maintained this standing, and it took the eventual winner Jonathan Rowson to stop the run, in round 5 ...


Hebden,M (2532) - Rowson,J (2579)
British Championships, Swansea, Round 5 11.08.2006

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.Nc3 c6 7.e3 Nd7 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 g6 10.0-0 Bg7 11.Qc2 Qe7 12.Rad1 0-0 13.Rfe1 a6 14.a3 b6 15.e4 Bb7 16.d5!? [see diagram, below]

"This appears to be a new move in this line. 16.Ba2 had been tried previously, in Cebalo-Khenkin 2002, which had continued: 16...Rac8 17.e5 c5 18.d5 c4 19.Qe4 Qc5 20.Qg4 h5 21.Qh3 Qe7 22.Bb1 Rc5 and eventually White had been victorious. Hebden's choice of d5 is quite logical I suppose, given his nicely situated rooks." 16...b5 "of course, the drawback to White's last, is that it does rather present the c4-bishop as a target for Black. 16...Ne5 was an alternative, leaving White with 17.Nxe5 as the best way of keeping his bishop on. After 17...Bxe5 18.Qd2 Kg7!? Black would be quite happy with his position I feel, and the crossfire of bishops could be extremely telling later on. The text move must surely have been anticipated." 17.Ba2 "There is not really anything better than this, though fickle engines might give 17.dxc6 as being good for White. They do quite quickly re-evaluate their opinion upon playing it, however, and give lines thereafter as being either equal or bad for White. After 17.dxc6, Black's best is to recapture ...Bxc6, after which White seems to have little better than to play the spectacular-looking 18.Bd5 and head for a draw via 18...exd5 19.exd5 Qc5." 17...c5 18.Qd2 c4 "perhaps rushng this slightly -- developing a rook to d8 may have served black better. Even so, White's play up to this point seems to have reached a crux. Black seems to have things quite under control, and ways forward are not obvious. Hebden continues with the best path, though this only seems good for equality."  19.dxe6 Nc5 20.exf7+ Rxf7 [see diagram, below]

"Here, with piece quality and activity compensating for his pawn, Black is at the very least equal - perhaps even beginning to swing things." 21.Nd5 Qf8 22.Bb1 g5 "I don't really like this move, but it seems quite playable, especially with the rook and queen lined up along the f-file. I am not a big fan of opening my king position, however, and would probably have chosen one of the alternatives -- either ...Rd7 or ...Rae8"  23.Qe3 "It is not easy to see a clear continuation for White here, but I do not think that this was the way to play. It is not so much that the move simply seems to hang b2, (Hebden had no doubt looked at that possibility and felt comfortable as it seems to be quite equal, as shown in the next comment), but I feel that White had to continue with 23.e5, or risk being worse." 23...Re8 "23...Bxb2 does black no favours really, as after 24.e5 Re8 25.Qd2 Bxd5 26.Qxd5 White has tempo on the pinned f7-rook (Bg6 is threatened for example) and black has stalled a little." 24.Re2 Ne6 25.e5? "this move allows tactics from Black, Rdd2 or h3 were superior and would have held the balance." 25...Nf4? "missing 25...Bxd5 26.Rxd5 Nf4 and a considerable advantage" 26.Nxf4 "it is white with the edge now." 26...Rxf4 27.Qb6 Qe7 "this move is not really good enough, better was exchanging the bishop with 27...Bxf3. However, this still give white a clear advantage after 28.gxf3. After the text, Black's position is extremely bad, and White just has to play the right moves." 28.Qg6 "This was not it. A tad too eager. Better was Nd4! when Black is in a very precarious position." 28...Qe6 "obviously black wants some exchanges." 29.Qxe6+ "a little bit too obliging, Qh7+ followed by Bg6 would have kept things difficult for Black." 29...Rxe6 30.Rd8+ Rf8 31.Rxf8+ Kxf8 32.Be4 "black's situation, here, is tricky, because as active as White's pieces are, to trade them off would be to worsen the endgame. One of those 'heads you win, tails I lose' situations." 32...g4 33.Nd4 Rb6 34.Bxb7 Rxb7 35.f4 "Hebden could have tried for more, here, with 35.Ne6+ Ke8 36.f4" 35...gxf3 36.gxf3 Rd7 37.Ne6+ "37.Nf5 was more dangerous." 37...Kf7 38.Nc5 "38.Nxg7 Kxg7 39.f4 may have offered more." 38...Rd1+ "a little misguided -- 38...Rd5 was better and would probably lead to equality after 39.e6+ Ke7 40.Nxa6 Rg5+" 39.Kf2 Rd5 40.e6+ Ke7 41.Nxa6 Re5 42.Nc7 "this was probably White's last chance to try for more, with 42.Rd2. A possible continuation would be: 42...Rxe6 43.Nc7 Re5 44.f4 Rh5 45.Kg3 Rc5 46.Re2+ with advantage. As it is, there was not a lot to do other than work towards exchanges and a draw." 42...Rc5 43.Na6 Re5 44.f4 Rxe2+ 45.Kxe2 Bxb2 46.Nc7 Bxa3 47.Nxb5 "and here, the players shook hands and split the point."

The above result maintained Hebden's position at the top of the table, with an impressive 4.5 points from 5 rounds. A half point behind him were Haslinger, Rowson, and Pert. With 13 players all within 1 point of the lead, things were very much wide open. The half way stage was reached and passed in the space of a round (a funny thing that about 11-round tournies) and Hebden scored another draw, this time against Stewart Haslinger. With a win over Jonathan Rowson, Nicholas Pert joined Hebden at the top of the scoreboard with 5/6. In round 7, the two would meet, and agree a rather disappointing 14-move draw. This allowed fellow competitors Parker and Gormally to catch up, and join them in the lead with 5.5

In the following round, Mark Hebden began to lose ground with a loss to Jonathan Parker, who took over the lead with 6.5/8. A half point behind him were Pert and Gormally who drew with each other. Round 9 saw draws at the very top of the table, which kept Parker in the lead on 7 points, and saw Jonathan Rowson join Gormally and Pert in joint second place, a mere half point behind. With a win over Daniel Gormally in round 10, Rowson drew level with Jonathan Parker, and they led the field on 7.5 points going in to round 11, where they would play each other for the Championship.


Parker,J (2509) - Rowson,J (2579)
British Championships, Swansea, Round 11 18.08.2006

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 b6 5.Bg5 Bb7 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 d6 9.Nd2 Nbd7 10.f3 Qe7 11.e4 g5 12.Bf2 c5 [see diagram, below]

"This appears a new try. Previously, 12...Nh5 had been the most popuar choice here." 13.Qa4 Nh5 14.h4 "not my kind of move usually, and I don't think it is the very best here (e5 or Qc2 being good alternatives) but it seems quite playable." 14...0-0-0?! "An interesting psycological factor, here, is that a draw in this game is not really a good result if you want to win the tournament. Pert and Arakhamia-Grant were just a half point behind. Of course, it is possible that Rowson simply blundered here (hanging a7), but it is equally as possible that he was willing to lose in order to win. Black's best move, here, of 14...g4, is quite drawy, and so Rowson opts for fighting chances." 15.Qxa7 "the engines evaluate this position as winning for White, but they are extremely materially minded. If pieces are exchanged and we get to an endgame, then I would probably agree, but at this time, I don't think things are quite so bad for Black. However, it is hard to see where compensation for the pawn lies." 15...Kc7 16.Qa4 f5 17.Qc2 g4 "whether move 14 was a blunder or not, Rowson wants to win this tournament, and is prepared to roll his sleeves up and fight for it. Here he goes for complications, showing confidence in his ability to outplay his opponent, and giving much scope for a mistake." 18.fxg4 Nhf6 19.Bd3 "gxf5 is not much better if any." 19...Nxg4 20.Bg1 f4 "...e5 was better, but not very adventurous, and so Rowson perhaps once again opted for worse in order to be able to fight for better."  21.Nf3 "In the space of just a few moves, White's advantage has evaporated." 21...e5 "with equality."  22.h5 Qf7 "I am a little bit baffled by this move, I must say. I can only think that it was in anticipation of Nh4 from White (h5 hangs) -- but then, it is quite strange that White plays it anyway."  23.Nh4 Qxh5 24.Rh3 [see diagram, below]

"In this position, Black has fully recovered himself. White, actually seems to have hit a proverbial brick wall." 24...Rhe8 25.Nf5 Qg5 26.d5 h5 27.Qb2 Ra8 28.Be2 "both players had played quite accurately up to this point, but Be2 is a little too slow. White really had to stand and fight with 28.g3, which should be equal with correct play." 28...Ra6 "black is beginning to take hold of the position steadily but surely." 29.Bf3 Rea8 30.Qb3 Ra3 "30...Ndf6 looking to follow with ...Bc8 was even stronger!" 31.Qb2 R8a4 "Once again, ...Ndf6 was strong." 32.Bd1 Ra8? "obviously, nerves were rampant at this stage, and Rowson missed 32...Rxc4! (if 33.Qxa3 Rxe4+ is winning for Black. Best is 33.Nxd6 Kxd6 34.Qxa3, but Black still has a substantial advantage)." 33.Bf3 R3a5 34.Rh1 R8a6 35.Rh3 Bc8 "after some messing about, Rowson finally arrives at the potent plan of targetting the f5-knight." 36.Rh1 Nf8 37.Nh4 Nh7 38.Qd2 Bd7 39.Kf1 Nhf6 40.Ke2 Ra4 "and here, with too many problems to contend with, Jonathan Parker resigned his first game of the tournament. Fittingly, it was to the champion."


And so, Jonathan Rowson became British Champion for the 3rd time in succession, with a final score of 8.5/11. Rowson finished top in a field of 62 other entrants, which included 8 GM's and 31 other titled players. Second, was Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, just a half point behind Rowson. (Arakhamia-Grant took the ladies title with her score of 8/11, however.) Joint 3rd were Gormally, Hebden, Jones, and Parker, all on 7.5 points.

Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson
British Champion 2006

British Chess Championships Final Top Standings: Rowson -- 8.5; Arakhamia-Grant -- 8.0; Gormally, Hebden, Jones, Parker -- 7.5; Davies, Haslinger, Lalic, Palliser, N. Pert, R. Pert, Ward -- 7.0.