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3357: Michael Adams v Maxime
Vachier-Lagrave,
Wood Green v Guildford. How
did Black (to play)
induce rapid resignation? |
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England's national league,
the 4NCL, developed into its usual two-horse
race last weekend when Wood Green and
Guildford both won all 10 matches before
squaring off in Monday's final round. It was
possibly the strongest ever UK club match,
as both teams clocked a 2650 average rating
(world top 100 or better) and were packed
with elite grandmasters.
Wood Green were led by the
England No1, Michael Adams, and included
Alexei Shirov, who had already played on the
winning teams in the Russian and German
leagues. The Guildford manager, Roger
Emerson, countered with a shrewd approach,
basing his team on hungry and ambitious
young GMs headed by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave,
known in France as MVL and one of those who
have made 1990 the best vintage birth year
for GMs in chess history.
Guildford struck early
before the key encounter by fielding their
best squad in the penultimate round, which
they won 8-0, and so took their game points
tie-break total ahead of Wood Green, meaning
that 4-4 in the crunch match would win the
title.
The final looked level after
two hours play, but swung to Guildford when
Gawain Jones scored with a fierce attack and
the world's top teenager, Anish Giri, 19,
outplayed the England No2, Luke McShane.
MVL provided the clincher
when he boldly took on Adams in the
Englishman's pet line in the Najdorf
Sicilian, invaded with his rooks and
finished off in this week's puzzle. The
result puts the young Frenchman on the verge
of the world top 10. Demoralised Wood Green
failed to win a game and Guildford triumphed
6-2.
Earlier Nigel Short won with
this speedy attack in Guildford v White
Rose. The Be3/Qd2/Bh6 plan is a routine
method to undermine a king's Bg7 guard and
even the tactical shots 19 Nf5! opening up
the g file and 27 Rd7! forcing mate are
well-known in such positions. The move which
most interested me was 5 Ne2! in the
opening. 5 Nc3 b5 is normal, when Black will
have counterplay when White castles long.
Short's subtle 5 Ne2 waits for Black to
commit to b7-b5 (when White could counter by
a2-a4), make a passive response (when c2-c4
is an option) or play as in the game e7-e5
which eventually weakened d5 and f5.
Nigel Short v Colin
McNab
1 d4 d6
2 e4 g6 3
Be3 Bg7 4 Qd2 Nf6 5
f3 c6 6 Ne2! e5 7
Nbc3 Qe7 8 O-O-O O-O
9 g4 b5 10
Ng3 exd4 11 Bxd4 b4
12 Nce2 c5 13 Be3
Ne8 14 Bh6 Bxh6 15 Qxh6
Nc6 16 Nf4 Ne5 17
Nd5 Qe6 18 Be2 f6
19 Nf5! gxf5 20
gxf5 Qf7 21 Rhg1+ Ng7
22 f4 Kh8 23
fxe5 dxe5 24 Ne3 Bb7
25 Bc4 Qe7 26
Rg4 Ne8 27 Rd7!
1-0
3357: 1...Ra1! 2 Kb4
Ra2! and White is helpless against Rga1 with
Rxd2 and Ra2 forcing Rxa2 bxa2 or else
winning the a3 pawn when it's easy.
Article reproduced with Leonard Barden’s
permission
Photo by John Saunders
