The Chess England event was a rare test of UK skills against strong foreign opposition
Master chess in central London is rare, although the annual ChessFest in Trafalgar Square attracts more than 20,000 visitors.
In London’s clubland in Pall Mall, the RAC clubhouse has hosted the Oxford v Cambridge Varsity match for almost half a century, while the Athenaeum was the venue for a dramatic match in 2023 where the record-breaking prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan defeated the former British champion Peter Lee.
Now there is a new event, the Army and Navy Club Pall Mall Masters, played last weekend and sponsored by Chess England, whose popular tournaments are organised frequently in north-west London and the surrounding areas.
There was only a break of a few days after the Samarkand Olympiad, which seemed to affect the Spectator columnist GM Luke McShane, who was in contention for an individual medal with the England team in Uzbekistan but was in poor form in Pall Mall.
In contrast, France’s GM Jules Moussard won the Super Rapid on 7.5/10 with GM Gawain Maroroa Jones a strong second on 6.5 after both performed well at the Olympiad. The Frenchman also won the Blitz on 7/10, while GM Praveen Balakrishnan of the US tied with GM Ameet Ghasi in the Challengers Rapid on 6/9 and won the Challengers Blitz outright on 6/9 ahead of IM Marcus Harvey on 5.5.
An interesting aspect for other tournaments was that the Rapid and Blitz were held on the same weekend, with civilised starting and finishing times of 10am and 7pm. This could be a solution to the well-known phenomenon where players in a single classical or rapid tournament are out of contention after three rounds on Saturday and then decide to withdraw, in some such cases abandoning congress play permanently.
Speed chess produces more checkmate finishes than slower time limits, due to players continuing to the bitter end in the hope of a blunder or simply not noticing the mate threat. Here is one example and here is another.
Meanwhile, the English Championships in classical, rapid and blitz versions have been announced for Peterborough from 24 October to 1 November, with an increased prize fund of more than £20,000. Full details of how to enter are here.
At the moment the championship contest looks a straight fight between GM Jones and the nine-time British champion GM Michael Adams, with GM Ghasi as the main challenger.
Qualification has also been completed for the UK Blitz Championships, where 16 cities each produced a qualifier, with London having three. Sivanandan is the defending British women’s champion and strong favourite, and the Harrow 11-year-old underlined her claims by travelling to Belfast for the qualifier and winning all her 17 games there.
The Open event is less predictable, with the defending champion, GM Danny Gormally, GM Ghasi, IM Aaravamudhan Balaji and the juniors FM Stanley Badacsonyi and FM Supratit Banerjee all having chances.
4045: 1…Qxe5! and White resigned. If 2 dxe5 Ne2+ 3 Kc2 Bg6+ 4 Qe4 Bxe4 mate. Other replies leave White at least a rook down.
