Holy Grail

Gawain Jones has fought his way to the no. 1 position on the UK ranking list by a series of recent successes in the world team championship, the Reykjavik Open, and now by scoring first prize in the Sigeman closed invitational tournament in Malmo, Sweden. Gawain’s live rating is now 2,709, ahead of Howell and Sadler on 2,692, Adams 2,690 and McShane 2,688. Leading scores in Malmo (out of 7) were: Jones 5, Harikrishna 4½ and Grandelius 4.
 
Hillarp Persson-Jones: Sigeman & Co, Malmo 2019
 
1 c4 c5 2 Nc3 g6 3 g3 Bg7 4 Bg2 Nc6 5 Nf3 d6 6 0-0 e6 7 a3 Nge7 8 Rb1 0-0 9 b4 White has chosen a fairly sedate version of the English Opening where he hopes to gain a slight initiative on the queen’s flank. Black’s next move shores up his defences in that sector. 9 … b6 10 e3 Black does not fear 10 b5 Na5 since White has no effective discovery against the black rook on a8 by moving the king’s knight.