We’re now at the final stage of the tournament. With only 3 rounds to go, the pressure is firmly on and every game will prove to be crucial. After a difficult game yesterday, Simon was paired against Stuart Conquest, the 1998 British Champion. As you can see, the pairings don’t get any easier!

Simon chose to wheel out the French – not a bad idea, especially when you have just released two DVDs on the same opening. (Good bit of promotion there, Simon!) ;o) Stuart, a notoriously difficult player to prepare against due to his vast opening repertoire, decided to play a fairly offbeat line in the Advanced Variation. In fact, the position that arose after 8…Nh4 cannot be found in any chess databases at Ginger HQ. Following on from the opening, Black had more control of the centre whereas White had a useful space advantage. The position was fairly dynamic and White seemed to have a slight advantage, however, when given the chance, Stuart should have swapped off Black’s most active piece, namely the dark squared bishop on f6.

Later on in the game, Black exchanged White’s dark squared bishop on d4 with his knight and made full use of his bishop pair by opening the position up. Stuart mistakenly allowed Black to roll his centre pawns down the board. Take a look at the final position below to see Black’s overwhelming pawn storm.

Simon now faces tournament leader and number one seed Mickey Adams with the black pieces. If anyone can stop Mickey in his tracks, it’s Simon. Stay tuned for the outcome!

Further to the previous post, the Killer French DVDs are now ready and UK orders will be dispatched today. Click http://www.gingergm.com/shop/dvds/ to purchase copies from our shop!

Do you recognise these faces? Some players and supporters before the rest day enjoying some well earned refreshments at the Dolphin pub in Canterbury.

What is the sum of their combined FIDE ratings from the July 2010 list? The first correct answer drawn from the hat at the close of the British Championship wins the two parts of the new Ginger GM Killer French DVD!

Click the ‘Read more…’ link to see the photo full-size.

Answers to Alexandra@blackthornetransport.co.uk. Please send your name, address and email address.

Good luck!

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Round 8 presented Simon with his first grandmaster pairing of the tournament in the shape of Nick Pert, former World U18 Champion.

Nick decided to play the Accelerated Dragon and surprised Simon on move 7 with Qa5. Unnerved by Nick’s choice, Simon gallantly soldiered on and completed his development. Later on in the game, Black committed a serious error by playing 18… b5, a move which seems unnatural given the positioning of Black’s queen in relation to White’s rook on c1.

Regrettably, Simon didn’t choose the most accurate continuation and played 20. Ne6 instead of 20.Qf3, a move which gives White a big advantage due to the fact that Black has so many weaknesses.

On move 23, Simon still had the advantage and a position was reached whereby White had an extra piece for two pawns. Although Black was on the ‘back foot’, he played resourcefully and forced White to commit a number of inaccuracies. Nick made excellent use of his extra pawns and an ending was reached where White had to face the wrath of Black’s three connected passed pawns despite having an extra piece. A draw was agreed in the position below as both players are unable to make much progress.

Simon is now lying in joint 3^rd place with 5.5 points out of 8. He’s been desperately unlucky not to win the last two games but the fact that he’s getting these good positions against strong opposition shows that he’s playing well.

Elsewhere in the tournament, Michael Adams stormed to victory in round 8 and now leads with an impressive 7.5 points out of 8 games. IM Adam Hunt beat IM Jovanka Houska to achieve his 2nd GM norm. Congratulations from all of us at gingergm.com!

British Champion? Pah! At Ginger HQ, we were more interested in who was going to win the coveted title of Ginger Champion! With so much pride and honour at stake, this game was always going to be a hotly contested affair and needless to say, both players did not disappoint.

Adam chose to play the Richter-Rauzer Attack against Simon’s Classical Sicilian setup. In typical fashion, White quickly completed his development and started punting his h-pawn down the board with the sole aim of creating havoc on Black’s kingside. Meanwhile Simon, who wisely chose to leave his king in the centre for the time being, wasted no time in mounting an attack on White’s queenside-castled king with the typical a7-a6 and b7-b5 plan. Whilst Adam’s attack seemed to run out of steam, Simon’s was gaining full momentum, so much so that he managed to play b3 in the following position:

On move 24, Simon missed his chance to take full advantage of his huge attack. He chose to play 24… Qa4 in the position below, whereas 24… 0-0 followed by either Na5 or Rc7 would have been better. White is never really threatening to capture on b3 because 25… Qa4 gives Black a big advantage due to the fact that the knight is pinned to the rook on d1.

Later on in the game, Simon sacked the exchange on c3 – now let’s be honest, we all knew that he would be itching to sack somewhere along the lines. It was more a matter of when rather than if. You can see Simon’s moment of glory below:

It was soon clear that Black had more than enough compensation for the exchange so Adam felt that he had to sacrifice the material back in order to keep his position alive. Although Simon was a pawn down in the later stages of the game, he still had a slight advantage as White’s king was so vulnerable. Unfortunately, Black needed a few extra pieces on the board if he wanted to mate White and the position soon petered out to a draw where both players were unable to make progress.

Sadly, the title of ‘Ginger Champion’ cannot be awarded as the game was left undecided. Perhaps we can arrange for a re-match soon. Best of three guys?

Here at Ginger GM we’re eagerly anticipating the Round 7 game at the British between occasional columnist Ginger IM Adam Hunt and Ginger GM himself Simon Williams!

You can follow the action live from 2.15pm at the British Chess Championships website. Will we see a Killer French?

‘Team Ginger’ wanted to see a Simon victory before the rest day and that’s exactly what he gave them! Simon chose to surprise his opponent at the start of the game by playing 1. Nf3 f5 2. e4! and the opening shocker seemed to pay off as Black spent a considerable amount of time working out his best plan of action. Simon achieved a slight advantage out of the opening and a position was reached where both players had opposite coloured bishops. Although the position appeared difficult to win for White, Black’s pawn structure presented itself with a number of weaknesses which Simon duly capitalized upon. The following position was reached near the end of the game where Black has just played the rather dodgy looking 53… Rg1 (53… Ra8 would have been better).

Simon played 54. Kc5 and successfully converted his advantage.

The scores on the doors after round six are as follows:

GM Michael Adams 5.5

GM Nick Pert, GM Stephen Gordon, GM Stuart Conquest, GM Simon Williams, GM Danny Gormally, IM Jovanka Houska, IM Adam Hunt 4.5

As you can see, Simon is currently lying in joint 2^nd place along with six others! Mickey has been in pretty impressive form during the first week and runs the risk of running away with the title unless one of the ‘chasing pack’ can stop him. There are still five rounds left to go so it’s still all to play for.

Wishing Simon all the best for the 2^nd week of the British Championships. Keep fighting… and winning

WARNING… CHESS FANS WITH A SENSITIVE DISPOSITION SHOULD LOOK AWAY NOW… THIS GAME CONTAINS SCENES OF A DRAWISH NATURE!

So, ‘Team Ginger’ has finally arrived in Canterbury to support Simon but unfortunately, he was on the black side of a less than scintillating game where pieces were being swapped off left, right and centre. In all fairness, when you’re Black against such a solid opponent, sometimes there is little that you can do to breakthrough. Simon had a slight advantage in the ending due to his superior king position and pressed for the win but unfortunately, the position was just too balanced.

Rather than show you a position from this game, we’re treating you to a photo Mr Ginger GM in full action at the British! Stay posted for more photos from the weekend…

WARNING… CHESS FANS WITH A SENSITIVE DISPOSITION SHOULD LOOK AWAY NOW… THIS GAME CONTAINS SCENES OF A DRAWISH NATURE!

So, ‘Team Ginger’ has finally arrived in Canterbury to support Simon but unfortunately, he was on the black side of a less than scintillating game where pieces were being swapped off left, right and centre. In all fairness, when you’re Black against such a solid opponent, sometimes there is little that you can do to breakthrough. Simon had a slight advantage in the ending due to his superior king position and pressed for the win but unfortunately, the position was just too balanced.

Rather than show you a position from this game, we’re treating you to a photo Mr Ginger GM in full action at the British! Stay posted for more photos from the weekend…

Round 4 GM Simon Williams v Mark Rich 1 – 0

It’s every chess player’s worst nightmare – scrolling down the pairings only to find that you’re paired against a friend who also happens to play in the same team(s) as you. This is exactly what happened in round 4. So, how did the two Drunken Knights prepare for such an occasion? The answer’s pretty obvious given the team they play for – they headed down the pub the night before to celebrate the encounter!

Anyway, back to the game. Mark decided to play the Nimzo-Indian against Simon but made a positional mistake in the opening when he played 6…b6 because after 7. Bg2, Black can never really develop his bishop to b7 as White can play Nd2, exploiting the fact that the black knight on e4 is pinned.

Mark realised this and played 8…d5 in the game, however, by doing so, he weakened his position further. Simon quickly took advantage of this and won a pawn on move 13 in the position below:

Black’s position collapsed shortly after this and the game ended on move 25 in White’s favour.

Simon now has 3 points out of 4 and is back in business!