Plaskett a favorite in Hastings tourney

By Kristianus Liem

JAKARTA (JP): The 1996/1997 Hastings Challengers Chess Tournament, which was held at the Pier, England, from Dec. 28, 1996 to Jan. 5, 1997, proved to be a truly challenging contest for the 144 participants.

They were vying for the 1,000 Pound Sterling first prize plus an invitation to next year's Hastings Premier Chess Tournament (with bigger prizes and better categories) over nine rounds Swiss system.

No less than 12 GMs, 13 IMs and 13 FMs took part. Local Grandmaster James Plaskett proved to be the favorite, sprinting away with four match points from four rounds! His consistently aggressive and enterprising approach to each game paid dividends. A crucial game was with Grandmaster Colin McNab from Scotland in round four.

In round eight, on 6 MP from seven rounds, Plaskett was caught by Latvian GM Igor Rausis, who was by then well acclimatized to the conditions at Hastings and simply frustrated Plaskett by refusing to enter into any complications. Rausis then defeated Grandmaster Joe Gallagher from Switzerland in similar fashion to take a well-earned first place with 7,5 MP.

Plaskett, who took the same 7 MP with McNab, securing the second qualifying place for next year's Hastings Premier on a tie-break. The others top scorer were IM Graeme Buckley (England), IM Bjarke Kristiansen (Denmark), GM John Emms (England), IM Yves Pelletier (Switzerland) and IM Wolfram Schon (Germany), all with 6,5 MP.

White: GM Colin McNab

Black: GM James Plaskett

English Opening

1.c4 b6 2.b3 Bb7 3.Bb2 e6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.e3 d5 6.Be2 Bd6 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.d4 0-0 9.Nbd2 Ne4 10.Nxe4 dxe4 11.Ne5 f5 12.Nxd7 Qxd7 13.f4

The move 13.c5 Be7 would achieve nothing.

13...Qe7

To prepare ...c5.

14.Rf2 c5 15.g4?! cxd4 16.gxf5??

Losing move. Here probably White should have played the inferior move 16.Qxd4.

16...d3 17.Rg2 e5

Black cannot take the Bishop by 17...dxe2? because 18.Qxd6! Qxd6 19.Rxg7+ Kh8 20.Rxb7+ e5 21.Bxe5+ Qxe5 22.fxe5 and White wins.

18.Bh5

For 18.Bg4 Black can play 18...Bc8 and then take the f5-pawn.

18...Rxf5 19.Qg4 Raf8 20.Kh1!?

See diagram. Plaskett hit White with a bombshell of a move.

20...Rxf4!! 21.exf4 Rxf4 22.Qh3

There were no decent alternatives. If 22.Qg5 e3 (this move was more accurate than 22...Qxg5) 23.Qxe7 Bxe7 24.Kg1 (or 24.Bxe5 Rf2 25.Rag1 e2 26.Bc3 Bxg2+ 27.Rxg2 Rf1+ 28.Rg1 Bc5 White loses) 24...Bxg2 25.Kxg2 Rf2+ 26.Kg3 Rxb2 again White loses.

22...e3 23.Bg4 Bxg2+

A thematic continuation was 23...e2! 24.Be6+ Kh8 25.Bd5 Rf1+ 26.Rg1 Rxa1 27.Bxa1 d2 and one of that pawn became a Queen.

24.Qxg2 e4 25.Be6+

This did not alter things much.

25...Kf8 26.Bd5 e2 27.Rg1 g6

The move 27...Be5 also good.

28.Bc1 Rh4

And here 28...e3! was simpler.

29.h3 Ke8

Black wants to play ...Qd7 without allowing White win a rook via Qf2+ and Qxh4.

30.Bg5?

30.Bc6+ was essential.

30...Qxg5!!

Black sacrificed his Queen that led the game to a spectacular ending!

31.Bc6+ Kf8 32.Qxg5 Rxh3+ 33.Kg2 Rh2#

White resigned. This pure mate very rarely happens in practical play. 0-1