Knockout

The 2018 UK Knockout, won by Gawain Jones, ahead of Luke McShane (silver) and Michael Adams (bronze), was played in conjunction with the rather unsatisfactory finale of last year’s Grand Tour. The latter ended in victory for the US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, who prevailed over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final. Sadly there was a dearth of decisive games. In contrast, the UK Knockout was packed with excitement. A fine example was this win by Gawain Jones, in the enterprising style of Mikhail Tal.
 
Jones-Howell: UK Knockout, London 2018; Giuoco Piano
 
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 0-0 Nf6 5 d3 d6 6 c3 a5 7 Re1 White has chosen the Giuoco Piano, which means ‘quiet game’. There are more vigorous alternatives for White involving a quick d4 but Jones has entered one of the quieter sub-variations of an already quiet system. 7 … h6 8 Nbd2 0-0 Avoiding the aggressive 8 … g5, along the lines of the game of the year published in this column on 5 January, which can here be parried by 9 d4 exd4 10 Nb3 since 10 … dxc3 fails to 11 e5.