Tuesday 7 August 2012

Congrats, Gawain

Just thought I'd close the book on the 2012 British Championship. At the end of the 11 rounds GM Gawain Jones and GM Stephen Gordon had tied for first, which meant a playoff the following day. These things can often be a battle of nerves, and this is how it looked from here ("forgot how to play chess" was a comment from Gawain post-playoff).
Gawain managed to win the playoff 2-0 although I suspect it was all decided by the first game. Amazingly he lost his queen for a piece, but with the title on the line continued to play on. As with these "Why doesn't my opponent resign?" positions, the longer the game, the more frustrating it becomes, and Gordon seemed to flounder a bit. Eventually Gawain co-ordinated his remaining pieces and even though material down for most of the game, conjured up a victory. I'm sure it was a demoralising loss for his opponent, and Gawain wrapped up the title with a much more straight forward win in the second game.
If you wish to play through the games they are still up at the tournament website.

No comments: