British Chess Championships 2007

The 94th Annual Championship

Monday 30th July - Saturday 11th August

Great Yarmouth College in Norfolk

Live games Event website Webcam Crosstable

August 10: Congratulations to Jacob Aagaard of Bearsden CC who has won the 94th British Championship in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk with a score of 8.5/11. Aagaard took the title after a tense last round battle against English GM Glenn Flear. IM Stephen Gordon failed to convert a favourable position against GM Tony Kosten which would have resulted in a play-off. Defending champion GM Jonathan Rowson won to finish as joint runner-up with Gordon a half point behind.

Aagaard won with an exceptional style of bold play which included just one draw. The critical last round game was typical with Aagaard grabbing what ultimately became a hot pawn and Flear missing moments to gain a clear advantage - 22 Nxc7! looks good. Flear can repent at leisure over his rash 37 b4 to strip pawn cover from his own king. Aagaard had compensation for the exchange but suddenly there were attacking possibilities too. Aagaard took full advantage to record a great win.

Play over Jacob Aagaard's 11 games

Keti Grant of Edinburgh retained her British Woman Champions title for a fourth successive year.

Jacob Aagaard rd 11	Jonathan Rowson rd 11	Keti Grant
Rowson v Knott rd 1	Aagaard v Rowson rd 6	Aagaard v Gordon rd 10

All photos above by Bob Jones - ECF publicity officer

Keti, Robt, Jacob	Keti, Jacob	Keti, Jacob, Ali
Howie hat	Andy	Charlotte
Jacob	Callum	Connor
L:R David,Robbie, Keti, Jacob, Ali, Charlotte, Andy, Matthew

Photos above by Phil Thomas - Andy Cap by Lara

Atticus site photo report

The Alternative British by Andy Howie

Once again we travelled en-masse to the British. 36 players entered various events in an effort to bring the silverware north.

First to strike gold was Conor Woods and Calum MacQueen playing in the U16 Championships. Neither lost a match and finished on 5.5/7 a full point ahead of their nearest competitors. Conor was awarded the U15 title and Calum the U16.

Our other success in week 1 came from Matthew Thomas who came joint first in the Junior Open.

There were some excellent performances from Ian and MaryAnn McDonald in the U11 and U13 respectively. MaryAnn was the lowest graded player in her section and came agonisingly close to taking the Girls U13 title.

As we moved into the second week, we had further successes. Charlotte Childs won the Junior Open week 2 with Matthew Thomas second. Ali Roy won the U12 Girls Championship. In the U100, Andy Howie played Mark Smith of Edinburgh for the title. Andy won with Mark coming joint second. Finally Robbie Coleman capped of an excellent performance in the Major Open to win a grading prize.

 

*******

August 1: Congratulations to Jacob Aagaard who gained the Grandmaster title in round 3 of the British Championship currently underway in Great Yarmouth. A birthday win against GM Mark Hebden in round 2 took Jacob tantalisingly close to the GM 2500 limit. Jacob had previously recorded the required three norms.

Round 3 against a 2314 rated English junior Li Wu looked a more modest task to gain 3 rating points and achieve a lifetime ambition. However it was a game of fluctuating fortunes in which Jacob finally secured the win in exciting style (queen sac). A start of 3/3 suggests the British title is a realistic aim to add to his status as Scotland's fifth GM.

 

 

Preview: It was 61 years ago that another Aberdonian was the last Scottish player to win the British title when Robert Forbes Combe drew his final round game with William Winter in the British Championship in Nottingham on August 20, 1946. Recently we haven't had to reminisce much about Combe since the current Scotland no.1 Jonathan Rowson has won for the last three years.

Rowson joins a select band of players to have won the British three or more times. Penrose was the last player to record three wins in a row in 1969 - the last of a sequence of four. The longest winning run was seven consecutive titles by Atkins, the final victory in the sequence in Glasgow 1911.

10	Penrose, Jonathan	1958	1969
9	Atkins, Henry	1905	1925
6	Yates, Frederick	1913	1931
4	Hodgson, Julian	1991	2000
3	Golombek, Harry	1947	1955
3	Mestel, Jonathan	1976	1988
3	Short, Nigel	1984	1998
3	Speelman, Jonathan	1978	1986
3	Sultan Khan, Mir	1929	1933
3	Rowson, Jonathan	2004	2006

Rowson is again top seed for the 2007 event. Scottish fans have the added interest of IM Jacob Aagaard, the Glasgow resident Dane, who now flies the Saltire. Keti Grant of Edinburgh was runner-up in 2006 and goes for a fourth Womens title in a row.

How Rowson won in 2006

How Rowson won in 2005

How Rowson won in 2004