The English Championships concluded last weekend in two dramatic playoff matches. In the open event, Gawain Jones defeated last year’s winner Michael Adams by 1.5-0.5. The first game saw Adams pressing in a complex queen endgame, but he lost after an astonishing oversight which allowed mate in one move. Though Adams pushed hard for a win in the second game, patient defence from Jones secured the draw and the title.
In the women’s championship, last year’s winner Katarzyna Toma faced Elmira Mirzoeva, the formerly Russian woman grandmaster who transferred her federation to England earlier this year. In the rapid playoff games, Mirzoeva took the lead with a convincing victory, but the second game saw Toma turn the tables with an unlikely counterattack in a lost position. So they went to blitz games, where Mirzoeva won by 1.5-0.5.
Both tournament winners fashioned wins from unpromising positions earlier in the event.
Peter Roberson-Gawain Jones
English Championships, Kenilworth, June 2024
The chances seems to lie with White, but Jones unearths unexpected counterplay. 36… Bh4! threatening mate with Bh4-g3+ 37 Ne4 Re1! 38 d6 Cunningly played, since 38…Bg3+ 39 fxg3 fxg3+ 40 Nxg3 Rxe8 41 Nxf5+ gxf5 42 d7 wins. But Jones’s powerful response shows that it was better to defend the Re8, e.g. 38 Re8-e6. 38…Ng3! 39 fxg3 fxg3+ 40 Nxg3 Rxe8 41 d7 Re3 42 Nf1 Re1 In case of 42…Rd3 White is saved by a profusion of forks: 43 Ne5! Rd5 44 Ne3! 43 Nd2 Rd1 43…Rc1! was stronger. 44 Ne4 44 Nf3! Bf6 45 Nfd4 leads to an odd impasse where neither side can make progress. Rxd7 45 g3 Rc7 46 Ne5 Rc2+ 47 Kh1 Re2 48 Ng4+ Kg7 49 gxh4 Rxe4 White resigns
Zoe Varney-Elmira Mirzoeva
English Women’s Championships, Kenilworth
Mirzoeva was in huge trouble earlier in the endgame, but by this point she is pushing for the win.
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