Michael Adams scythed through the opposition at Bournemouth this week to win the British championship with 10/11, a record-equalling score for the 103 years of the competition. The Cornishman, 44, won his last six games to match the landmark total set by his friend Julian Hodgson against a much weaker field in 1992. In the final round on Friday, with the title already virtually secure, Adams overran his opponent, Michael Brown, with a dashing checkmate attack in 29 moves.
It was an imperial and commanding performance, the best he has ever played in the national championship, and it demonstrated that, at 44, the Cornishman is still close to his peak and able to see off younger rivals.
Adams’s key games were in rounds 7-9, when he met strong, ambitious opponents in their 20s and crushed all three. He ground out a patient queen and pawn endgame with Black against David Howell by precise and subtle technique, stormed David Eggleston’s king defences, then won again with Black in a sharp tactical skirmish against the No3 seed, Gawain Jones.
Before the event Howell and Jones were reckoned serious contenders for the title whereas the Durham master Eggleston played the tournament of his life to achieve his second grandmaster result. Eggleston did so well in the first seven rounds that he could afford to lose to both Adams and Howell and still be sure of his norm due to his strong opposition. Howell came second on 8.5, with Jones and Justin Tan on 8.
Adams has now won five of the six championships in which he has competed since he first captured the title as a 17-year-old at Plymouth 1989. A decade ago he was ranked world No4 and he is still placed among the global top 30. A calm and resilient temperament, stamina for long games, and a subtle spider web style akin to that of the former world champion Anatoly Karpov are some of the ingredients.
It is often debated, and will be argued among future chess generations, whether Adams or Nigel Short is England’s all-time best player. The likely answer is rather similar to the Bobby Fischer v Garry Kasparov debate. Short had the higher absolute peak in his form of 1991 and 1992 when he defeated Karpov, then at the height of his powers, in a candidates match. Adams, though, has been consistent among the top echelons of world chess for a longer period.
As often, Adams chose a strategic approach against Eggleston’s Sicilian Defence, and was rewarded when Black got a passive middle game. At move 11 for Black, the solid plan b6 with Rc8 and Nc5 seems easier than allowing an isolated a6 pawn. Move 24 was the time to try to push the pawn to a4, since Black’s choice of Ne8? weakened his king. Adams seized his chance with 27 f4! and 36 f5! leading to 40 Bf4! and a speedy mating attack.
Michael Adams v David Eggleston
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 Nf6 4 Nc3 cxd4 5 Nxd4 a6 6 g3 e5 7 Nde2 Be7 8 Bg2 O-O 9 O-O Be6 10 a4 Nbd7 11 Be3 Ng4 12 Bd2 Ngf6 13 a5 Qc7 14 b3 Rfc8 15 Ra2 b5 16 axb6 Nxb6 17 Qa1 Qb7 18 Rd1 Bd7 19 Bg5 Rc6 20 h3 h6 21 Be3 Qc8 22 Kh2 Bd8 23 Rd2 h5 24 Rd3 Ne8? 25 Qd1 a5 26 Nb5 Qb8 27 f4! Bf6 28 fxe5 Bxe5 29 Nbd4 Rc8 30 Nf3 Be6 31 Nf4 Bxf4 32 gxf4 a4 33 Ng5 axb3 34 Rxa8 Nxa8? 35 cxb3 g6 36 f5! d5+ 37 Kh1 gxf5 38 exd5 Bd7 39 Qxh5 Nd6 40 Bf4 Qb4 41 Qh7+ 1-0
The chess action now moves to St Louis, where the elite began play at 7pm on Friday in the $300,000 Sinquefield Cup. Magnus Carlsen, the world champion, is not competing due to preparation for his November title defence against Russia’s Sergey Karjakin, for which there are rumours that the venue will be confirmed early next week as downtown New York. In Carlsen’s absence the St Louis favourites will be France’s world No2, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and the US champion, Fabiano Caruana.
3454 1 Rd6! Qxd6 (Qe2 2 Rdxd7 Qf1 3 Rf6! takes longer, but the black king is trapped) 2 f3+ Kh5 3 Kh3 g5 4 Rg7! and g4+ mates.
