Obituary: John Eric Littlewood (25 May 1931 - 16 Sept 2009)

FIDE Master and highly regarded member of our chess community, John Littlewood, has died aged 78.

John, about to start his game in the MCA Lightning Championships 2008

John was born in Sheffield in 1931, the fourth of eleven siblings. He started playing chess at aged 13 and at 16 joined local clubs finding almost immediately that despite not playing chess for very long he could beat almost everyone.

He went on to study at Sheffield University, winning three university tournaments and the Sheffield Championship.

After his national service John began his career as a French teacher in Lincolnshire. He was invited to the British Championship in York 1959, did well for his first time and was duly nick-named ‘the Lincolnshire poacher’, a name he protested against because he was born in Sheffield.

After his good performance in York he was invited to play in the prestigious Hastings tournament in 1961/2 and it was there that he played his famous game against Botvinnik, the World Champion at the time. John started with a strong attack that would have destroyed most players, but then Botvinnik turned the game around and defeated him. Botvinnik includes the game in his autobiographical “Best Games 1947-1970”.

Round 8, British Championship 2009

In the same event he played and beat the US GM Arthur Bisguier in 23 moves. After the game Bisguier said “What do they feed this guy on? Raw meat?” John went on to compete in a further 4 Hastings Premiers in the years ahead.

John played in two Olympiads (1962 and 1972), several Anglo-Dutch matches, and European and World Seniors. He is proud to have defeated Uhlmann on two occasions. He also managed the national blind chess team and was at one stage the Director of Junior Chess.

His brother Norman also played in four Olympiads and his son Paul is an International Master, having won the British Championship in 1981. Both John and Paul competed in the British Championship in Torquay this year and in total John competed in 19 British Championships, his best score in 1962 being 7½/11.

During this year's Championships John would frequently visit the commentary room and with no ill intent, grill Andrew Martin during his commentaries. He always had something constructive to say about the position or game under discussion and would do so in his confident, ebullient manner.

John lived in Skelmersdale and had seven children and eight grandchildren.

In 2006 he won the British Senior Championship in Swansea after a very hard fought tournament and in 2008 tied for first place in the same event in Liverpool; at 77 he was one of the oldest players taking part. He also had a chess column ‘Littlewood's Choice’ in the ECF monthly newsletter ChessMoves, sending his most recent contribution for publication the night before he died.

John was also an accomplished writer and author. His books included ‘How to Play the Middle Game in Chess’ a reissue of his popular middle game guide using examples from contemporary play and ‘Learn Chess: Teachers' Book.1’ co-written with Edward Penn.

He also translated ‘Complete Chess Strategy’ and 'Planning The Pieces’ both by Ludec Pachman and ‘Chess Tactics’ by Alexander Kotov.

The small sample of games here includes his wins against Gligoric and Bisguier, and his famous game against Botvinnik from the 1961/62 Hastings Premier and his draw against Smyslov at Hastings 1962/63.

Many of us knew John through his huge contribution to chess in the Merseyside Region and will be deeply shocked and saddened by his passing. He was a true gentleman of the game, both gracious in victory and defeat.

Our sincere condolences to Paul and all his family.

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS

John Littlewood's funeral will take place on Thursday 24th September at 3pm at St Helen's Crematorium, Rainford Road, St Helens, WA10 6DF (01744 677406). This will be followed by a reception, to which all are invited, at Holland Hall Hotel, Lafford Lane, Upholland, Lancs WN8 0QZ http://www.hollandhallhotel.co.uk/ (01695 624426).

Family flowers only but donations in lieu of flowers to ARLAP please http://www.arlap.org.uk/

ECF Obituary
BCM Obituary
John Carleton's personal appreciation

Game, Set and Mate

Whilst watching the predictable looking match between sister’s Serena and Venus Williams from Wimbledon and trying to fill the gaps doing something ‘useful’ on the web, I came across this article on the Indian Chathurangam website.

Anand prefers Tennis to Chess
World Champion Viswanathan Anand might have been a Tennis player depriving India of its first Grandmaster, but for the alarm clock. He also attended a coaching camp for the game in his childhood. "They wanted me to wake up at 5-30 am every day and jog, so I gave up the game," he said.

"Had I not become a Chess player, I would have loved to be in Fine Arts or Information Technology - in which one can sit alone and work his brains," he said. Asked how he felt at being one of the eminent personalities of the country, Anand said simply, 'I enjoy it'. Revealing how he concentrated during a gruelling game, Anand said "I do a lot of preparation before a game. So, I know the first 10 or 15 moves. Of course in critical moments one really has to push oneself and that is very challenging".

The Champion candidly confessed that he hated losing to rivals he did not like. "It really hurts then". He could, however, reconcile himself to defeat if the writing on the wall became clear to him within half an hour even if the game dragged on for hours. He felt that a sound sleep before the game increased concentration.



What made a true sportsperson? The Grandmaster said "Probably, the desire to compete and play in a healthy way to bring out the best in oneself". Asked to spell out his initial feeling on winning the World Championship, Anand said "Confusion. Suddenly everybody rushed to the stage. It took half an hour for the feeling to sink in".

Chased by autograph hunters, whose autograph would he wish to take? the question came from a young lady. "Any pretty woman, of course," he said with a glance at wife Aruna, as the packed auditorium burst into laughter. Aruna, who enjoyed the interaction, proved equally good at fielding questions.

"How difficult is Anand as a husband?"
"He is very simple and down to earth," she replied.

Fischer's Fury

First published in 1969 'My 60 Memorable Games' is a collection of Fischer’s games from the 1957 New Jersey Open to the 1967 Sousse Interzonal. The book includes nine draws and three losses, has been described as a 'classic of objective and painstaking analysis' and is regarded as one of the great pieces of chess literature.

Original cover design (Simon & Schuster 1969)

Bobby Fischer

Batsford released a new edition in 1995 when John Nunn converted the original descriptive notation to algebraic. Fischer denounced the new edition, accusing Batsford of 'changing everything in my book, the notation, the format, the pages, the analysis... and without paying royalties.' It emerged that they had added faulty analysis to one game, incorrectly believing Fischer had overlooked a mate in 4.

Batsford cover design 2008 edition

Chess historian Edward Winter discovered that there had also been over 570 textual changes. He wrote in CHESS magazine that '... entire notes of Fischer’s had been omitted, individual words had been deleted, other words had been added', and 'Fischer’s wording had simply been changed without justification'.

In 2008, Batsford reissued the book using Fischer's original words claiming that the only change made was the conversion to algebraic notation, although a review found that several typographical errors and notation mistakes have also been corrected.

See Winter's article 'Fischer's Fury' in which he examines the claims.

Below, a fine example of the young Fischer's play against Petrosian, one of the world's toughest GM's at the time and a future World Champion (1963-69). The game is fully annotated in My60MG's.

Robert James Fischer - Tigran Petrosian, [B17]
Bled ct Bled ct, 1961
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.Bc4 Bf5 8.Qe2 e6 9.Bg5 Bg4 10.0–0–0 Be7 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Qxf3 Nd5 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Kb1 Rd8 15.Qe4 b5 16.Bd3 a5 17.c3 Qd6 18.g3 b4 19.c4 Nf6 20.Qe5 c5 21.Qg5 h6 22.Qxc5 Qxc5 23.dxc5 Ke7 24.c6 Rd6 25.Rhe1 Rxc6 26.Re5 Ra8 27.Be4 Rd6 28.Bxa8 Rxd1+ 29.Kc2 Rf1 30.Rxa5 Rxf2+

31.Kb3 Rh2 32.c5 Kd8 33.Rb5 Rxh3 34.Rb8+ Kc7 35.Rb7+ Kc6 36.Kc4 1–0

Download all 60MG's in PGN or view them here

When opportunity knocks

One of the greatest attacking players of all time the creative Latvian Grandmaster Mikhail Tal had a genius for posing problems for his opponent with tempting ways to go wrong, combined with a gift for producing hair raising complications. Botvinnk was amazed by Tal’s intuitive skills and also by his ability to calculate complex variations.

Latvian Grandmaster Normunds Miezis, a visitor to England during the memorable events of the last few years, shows here how to introduce complications and intuitively attack an opponent who, through a series of errors, opens the barn door.

Normunds Miezis (2540) - Nigel Rodney Davies (2478) [A21]
European Union Championships Liverpool ENG (8), 16.09.2008

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.g3 Bxc3 4.dxc3 d6 5.e4 Nc6 6.Bg2 Be6 7.Qe2 Qd7 8.h3 Nge7 9.Nf3 h6 10.b3 0–0 11.Ba3 a5 12.Rd1 Rfd8 13.Nd2 Na7 14.f4 f6 15.f5 Bf7 16.Nf1 b5 17.Ne3 bxc4 18.bxc4 Qa4 19.Bc1 Nac8 20.g4 Nb6 21.Bf1

g5? lashing out and passing the initiative to White 22.fxg6 Nxg6 23.Qf3 Nxc4 better were 23...Rab8 or Nf4 24.Nf5 Be6? 25.Nxh6+ Kh7 26.g5

Qc2?? a very weak move handing the game to White on a plate 27.Nf5! Kg8 28.gxf6 the position is hopeless now and Black could resign 28...Kf8 29.Ng7 Bf7 30.Bh6 White's pieces pile in for the kill

30...Rdb8 31.Ne6+ Kg8 32.Bxc4 Rb2? 33.Rg1! Kh8 34.Bg7+ Kg8 35.Rxg6!

1–0. A comfortable win for Miezis exploiting Black's inability to handle the tactics.

Avoiding silly mistakes

In recent years amateur players have made a habit of doing well against, or even beating titled professionals. This is to do with sheer determination, hard work and a commitment to improved personal achievement.

After 35 moves Black had easily managed to neutralise any 'ideas' presented by his - ahem - Grandmaster opponent Nigel Davies, reaching the position below, a level R+P ending.

Black: Luke Boumphrey (2025)

   White: GM Nigel Davies (2478)

Black now played the cunning but straightforward 35…Rd5!

To which Davies, seemingly unable to look one move ahead, replied 36. Rxe7??

Allowing the very simple 36…b5+ forcing immediate resignation.

A nice 2008 win for Boumphrey and giving several onlookers a huge chuckle.

Maybe Nigel could add this game snippet into his newly promised book in a chapter titled ‘How to avoid silly mistakes.’

Conduct at the board

Last year at the British Championships in Liverpool hundreds of juniors took part in a magnificent festival of chess alongside adults in a wide variety of events. Their behaviour particularly at the board was impeccable, even the U8’s and U9’s managed to sit quietly and courteously, listening to instructions before play and showing tremendous self control throughout their games.

In contrast, during a recent match at the Adelphi we witnessed behaviour by a junior member from a visiting team who’s attitude and conduct was at best unfortunate and at worst deplorable, showing blatant disregard for the feelings of his opponent and to the rule regarding player conduct (12.6 It is forbidden to distract or annoy the opponent in any manner whatsoever).

During the game he twisted a plastic pen over the board making a cracking sound, rattled a drink containing ice-cubes and when the glass was empty crunched them noisily, adjusted his opponents pieces when it wasn’t his move and when asked to stop said ‘I don’t have to.’ During the game he also rapped his fingers on the table over and over again. This all took place over a period of at least 15 minutes.

His father intervened eventually but only after our player, former British Correspondence Champion Frank Boyd, had expressed his opinion in no uncertain terms and found it necessary to leave the board to seek advice.

Things came to a head when the young man blundered, losing a pawn and position leaving little choice but to resign which he did by knocking his king onto the floor. Shortly after he left with his father, making no attempt to apologise.

The player is from Widnes, the same ‘club’ Grandmaster Davies says he is proud to play for and where he hopes to ‘pass on a few tricks of the trade so that other members improve as well.’ Maybe the tricks he is referring to include behaviour of this sort, or the conduct of players he is keen to improve, which is it?

The incident alone is unremarkable; a teenager losing his rag, perhaps tired, stressed or just not in the mood, but add it to the catalogue of incidents Atticus Chess Club have been subjected to this season, a picture is emerging. Only last year Davies talked openly about ‘…REAL intimidation next season…’ and now we can see what this means for chess in Merseyside.

Grandmaster intuition or lack of it

Nigel Davies has taken to posting his wins against amateur players in local league matches. Perhaps as a GM he is proud of such achievements, who knows. To balance the books see this small example of how easy it is for a professional player to come to grief .... against an amateur.

Referring to player intuition he says, 'It is interesting that a player's 'intuition' normally improves with age (experience) whilst their tactical ability will tend to deteriorate.' 

Well, in the position below Nigel's intuition deserted him completely; he gets out-smarted by a simple knight manoeuvre and following a disastrous blunder, is mated. This must have come as a great shock bearing in mind that his opponent, Jonathan Blackburn, was rated nearly 300 Elo points fewer than him at the time. This must be one of the most humiliating defeats he's ever had.

Black: Jonathan Blackburn (2196) - Atticus 1

White: Nigel Davies (2477) - Widnes 1

Black has just played 33...Nce5. A very good centralising move, connecting both knights and threatening mate in 1. White, after a few minutes thought, played the comical and disastrous 34. Nf6?? allowing the very embarrassing 34...Qh3 mate!

No doubt Nigel spent very little time looking for excuses for this turn of events as he once admitted, ‘One very important aspect of actually achieving something is, I believe, the ability to avoid making excuses, in all their guises.’

It’s just a shame such sentiments don’t apply to his use of mobile phones.

Death by ringtone......well not for me

During last year’s EU Championship at the World Museum in Liverpool Nigel Short resigned his game in round 2 against Keti Arakhamia-Grant when his Nokia phone rang. A few quiet words were exchanged at the time, no arbiter was called to the board and Nigel signed the scoresheets well aware of the rule (12.2b) If a player's mobile phone rings in the playing venue during play, that player shall lose the game.

In 2003 Ruslan Ponomariov became the first player to be disqualified when his phone rang during a game. At the time he was the reigning FIDE world champion but unlike Nigel, Ponomariov protested, refused to sign the scoresheets and slunk off.

Last weekend during round 8 of the FIDE rated 4NCL event at Hinckley Island a similar thing happened when Nigel Davies’s phone went off.

(left) Davies in play against D'Costa. Seconds later his phone bleeped.

Heads turned, some people stood up, there was muffled conversation and some hurried fumbling but the anticipated resignation never occurred. Instead a very embarrassed looking Davies left the playing room apparently to ‘ask the arbiter what I should do’. He was gone for over five minutes.

Eventually Arbiter Roger Edwards arrived and spoke to Lorin D’Costa.

Davies then sat down and played 13.Rd1 by which time D’Costa had left the playing room not returning for some considerable time. He could be seen outside talking to chess colleagues and clearly unhappy about the decision to give only a warning.

D’Costa’s scoresheet after 12…0-0

And by the time he returned to the game he was over 40 minutes behind on the clock. D’Costa eventually lost the game.

Nigel has subsequently written that he was ‘prepared to fall on his sword and resign’ and 'appreciative that my opponent didn’t make a big thing of it or push for a default.’ But the point surely is that his opponent shouldn’t have to push for anything and that resignation was the right thing to do. Another example of heads I win, tails you lose, it seems.

To avoid just this sort of exploitation FIDE have taken a further step to tighten the regulation in the new laws which apply from 1st July this year.

(12.3b) Without the permission of the arbiter a player is forbidden to have a mobile phone or other electronic means of communication in the playing venue, unless they are completely switched off. If any such device produces a sound, the player shall lose the game. The opponent shall win.

Excuses such as ‘my mobile phone woke itself up’ or it 'gave a beep to say it was running short of juice’ are preposterous and FIDE have clearly heard enough and had enough of such nonsense.

The digital switchover continues

It’s good to see another chess club take the step to digital technology. Prescot & Knotty Ash have now followed Formby and Atticus (and perhaps others too?).

The TV digital switchover started last year and by 2012 the analogue signal will be switched off. And it’s not just in TV, the world is going digital. You might not think this affects you but it does.

In many large-scale events such as Blackpool, 4NCL, Gibraltar, British and EU Championships, digital clocks are used and are here to stay.

DGT 2000 clocks being used at the Blackpool Congress

You might be surprised to learn that the most common clock the DGT 2000, has been around for about 14 years! It’s now been replaced by the DGT 2010. Many of you will also be familiar with the DGTXL which connects to web servers via the DGT boards, used for public game broadcasts. See these clocks including discount deals here

A normal feature of electronic clocks is that they only add the second time period (15 minutes in MCA league) when one player’s time has reached 0:00 and not after the 35th move. This is because discrepancies can occur with the move counter (e.g. double pushes). So if you make your 35th move within the first time control just continue play and the clock will add on your extra time automatically. There is no need to stop the clock or make any adjustments to it.

Georgiev's 20km walk....for chess

After a month of training – mainly walking and saunas – Kiril Georgiev was ready to take the challenge and play a simultaneous exhibition against 360 opponents. For every move the Bulgarian GM had to walk half a kilometer, and after six hours of play had made only eight moves.

After 14 hours and 8 minutes (according to some sources 14 minutes) Georgiev won his last game, thus achieving 284 victories, 70 draws and only 6 losses. His scoring percentage was about 88%. The record was broken!

Read the full story on ChessBase

A bolt from the Black!

Take a minute to look at this position. White has just played 22.Qxb7 and looks to be in complete control, a rook and two pawns up. Faced with the ‘inevitable’ Black finds a move that ends the game immediately. Can you see it?

The game was played in the 1974/5 Hastings Masters between GM Rafael Vaganian from Armenia and GM Albin Planinec from Slovenia.

Answer: 22…Qc7+! 0-1 A classic deflection move, after 23.Qxc7 Nb3 is mate!

Reference: 'Littlewoods Choice' ChessMoves Jan/Feb 2009, p.14.

Wijk aan Zee final round

All eyes have been on the hard fought and incredibly close A group at this year's Corus. Six players share the lead with 7/12. Magnus Carlsen, who finally won a game has joined five others including Levon Aronian in the lead. But quietly and with tremendous fighting spirit, 'veteran' GM and British favourite Nigel Short has taken the B group by storm suffering only one loss to the lack-lustre Sashikiran. Today he and Rustam Kasimdzhanov will battle it out for first place, Nigel on 8/12 plays black against Fabiano Caruana rated 2646 with 7½ and Kasimdzhanov also on 8/12 with black plays Alexander Motylev rated 2676 with 7/12. The final round starts at 11:30 GMT today one hour earlier than normal!

Nigel Short on 8/12 and leader of the B group with a performance rating of 2760 - photo: John Nunn.

Boris Spassky in Gibraltar

by Stewart Reuben, photo by Zeljka Malobabic of Monroi

People often say to me, “Grandmasters are very stand-offish.” My response is usually, Have you ever approached one?” “Oh, no I couldn’t do that.” “Well,” I respond, “Is it not you who is being hard to talk to?” One of the glories of the Gibraltar Chess Festival is that not only play takes place in the Caleta Hotel, but also that is where most of the players stay. Thus you can meet socially players from all over the world from many different backgrounds.

(left) GM Boris Spassky with Stewart Reuben

This year Boris Spassky, World Champion 1969-72, was a guest of the hotel for three days. It was his defence of the title against the American, Bobby Fischer, which caught the interest of the general public more than any other in the 1500 year history of chess. It is true that Bobby won their epic clash, but that in no way detracts from the status of Boris as one of the great icons of the game ... (read more)

7th Gibtelecom Chess Festival 2009

Born in 1970, Gary Quillan from Merseyside (pictured left below) is a very experienced and popular member of the English chess scene. He has been the strongest untitled player in the country for some time now (he could become an FM any time he likes, of course, having a rating well in excess of 2300); he has a couple of IM norms to his name.

Gary plays for Waterloo Chess Club who compete in division 2 of the MCA League. At the 2007 UK vs China match in Liverpool, there was an entertaining photo-shoot set up with Gary and England no.1 Mickey Adams, which mimicked a similar photo of the two of them which had been published in a UK newspaper 25 years earlier when the two of them had been playing in the National Primary Schools Championship - click here to see the 1982 and 2007 photos (navigate to the bottom of the page). Neither of them has changed a bit!

Round one
On top board, first out of the hat Gary (2357) played GM Vugar Gashimov who outrated him by nearly 400 points.

Quillan,Gary (2357) - Gashimov,Vugar (2723) [A00]
Gibtelecom Masters Gibraltar (1.1), 27.01.2009
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.c3 Bg7 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 d5 6.exd5 Nf6 7.Nc3 0-0 8.Bc4 Nbd7 9.0-0 Nb6 10.Bb3 Nfxd5 11.Re1 Be6 12.Bg5 Re8 13.h3 Nc7 14.Bf4 Ncd5 15.Be5 Nxc3 16.bxc3 Bd5 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Ne5 Rc8 19.Qd2 Rc7 20.Ng4 Qd6 21.Re5 Rec8 22.Rae1 h5 23.Qh6+ Kg8

Gary pondered a while and then played the crushing 24.Re6!! hxg4 25.Rxd6 exd6 26.hxg4 Bxb3 27.axb3 Rxc3

So, how does White win this position? Stuart Conquest, commenting on the game in Gibraltar, found the winning idea of 28.g3!! followed by Kg2, Rg1 and Black is lost as he is unable to defend the mating threat. Unfortunately, Gary was unable to find this move and instead played 28.Re3. Now the game continued 28...Nd5 29.Rxc3 Nxc3 30.Kf1 a5 31.f4 d5 32.f5 Rc6 33.Qf4 Ne4 34.Qb8+ Kg7 35.Qxb7 Rc1+ 36.Ke2 Rc2+ 37.Ke3 Rc3+ 38.Ke2 [Fritz prefers 38.Kf4 here but after g5+ 39.Ke5 Nf6 it's difficult to see how white can make progress] Rc2+ 39.Ke3 Rc3+ 40.Ke2 draw.

References:
John Saunders - 'Who's who' Gibraltar website
Chessbase article - 28 Jan 2009
Game annotations by FM Steve Giddins

High quality, entertaining league chess

The Najdorf is one of the most complex of all chess openings. It remains one of Black's most popular responses to 1.e4 and is named after the Polish-Argentinian GM Miguel Najdorf 1910 - 1997. The oldest and easily the sharpest response by White is an immediate 6. Bg5, generally countered by 6...e6, followed by 7. f4, hoping to exploit the pin on the knight. The most well known response by Black is 7...Be7, when the main line continues 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0-0-0 Nbd7 and now 10.g4 or 10.Bd3. In this game both players demonstrate their knowledge of the Najdorf main line and produce a fine example of high quality, entertaining chess.

Mizanur Rahman E163 (Atticus 1) - Stuart Smiley A147 (Wallasey A) [B99]
MCA League, Div1, Bd3, 26.01.2009
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3 Qc7 9. 0–0–0 Nbd7 10. Kb1

10...b5 11.e5!?N [more usual is 11.Bd3 or 11.g4] Bb7 12.Qg3 dxe5 13.fxe5 Nh5 [13... >= Qxe5!? 14. Bf4 Qh5=/+ 15. Be2 Qg6 and Black is fine] 14.Qg4 Bxg5 15.Nxe6! fxe6 16.Qxh5+ g6 17.Qxg5 b4?? [17... >= O-O was necessary 18. Qe7 Rf7 19. Qxe6 Qxe5 20. Qxe5 Nxe5 gives Black good practical chances] 18.Bb5 bxc3 19.Bxd7+ Qxd7 20.Rxd7 Kxd7 21.Qf6 Bd5 22.Qf7+ Kc6 23.Qe7 Rad8 24.b4 Rc8

25.Rf1 Rc7 26.Qd6+ Kb7 27.a4 Bxg2 28.Rf6 Bd5 29.a5 Bc4 30.Qb6+ Kc8 31.Rxe6 Rf8 [both players were now in something of a time scramble but still alarmingly for the spectators, quite preoccupied with keeping the score! 31... Bxe6? 32. Qxa6+ Rb7 33. Qxe6+ Kb8 34. Qd6+ Ka7] 32.Rf6 Rd8 33.Rd6 Rf8 34.Rf6 Rd8 35.Rd6 Rf8 36.Rd1 Re8 37.Qd4 Be6 38.Rd3 Bf5 39.Rxc3 Rxc3 40.Qxc3+ Kb7 41.Kb2 Re6 42.Qd4 g5 43.c4 Rh6 44.Qd2 Rh4 45.Qxg5 [again >= 45. Qd5+ makes for a quicker finish but again both players were in serious time trouble at the very end of the second time control 45... Kc8 46. e6 Bxe6 47. Qxe6+ Kc7+-] 45...Rxh2+ 46.Kc3 Rc2+ 47.Kd4 Bd7 48.Qe7 Kc8 49.Kc5 1–0 [A highly enjoyable game (for the spectators!) played with courage and exemplary use of the clock.]

Click here to see additional comments and play through the game move by move.