4NCL - The Four Nations League - www.4ncl.co.uk/pre2010

Daily Telegraph

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This article is used on the 4NCL web site with permission.

The fifth and sixth rounds of the 4 NCL took place at the weekend at the Britannia Hotel in Coventry and Guildford ADC continued their domination of proceedings. The Surrey club retained the top two placings in Division one with Guildford ADC 1 on a perfect score and their second team on 10/12 match points, narrowly ahead of Hilsmark Kingfisher on game points.

Guildford ADC 1 were very severe on Bristol who managed just one draw in round five but they had a few worrying moments against Wood Green the following day before running out winners 5-3.

Gawain Jones’s superb form continued as he scored wins over GM Peter Wells and IM Roland Berzinsh on top board for Slough Sharks. England youngest ever GM David Howell playing on top board for Guildford ADC2 sacrificed a rook and scored a notable victory over Jon Speelman who is playing for the ADs this season.

GM Tony Kosten has lived in France for many years but is a regular for Guildford ADC 1 in the 4NCL. He also plays for Marseille in the French League. Kosten is an expert on the English Opening which begins 1.c4 and is generally thought of as a quiet way to play. Kosten’s book ‘The Dynamic English’ shows this is not necessarily so.

A Kosten - J Rudd
4NCL (5)

English Opening

1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.a3 e5?! 6.b4! cxb4? (6...d6 Kasparov - Karpov World Ch. (4) Seville 1987, Kasparov won.) 7.axb4 Nxb4 8.Ba3 Nc6 9.Nb5 ( ‘Catastrophic for Black’ - Kosten) 9...Nge7? (9...Bf8 10.Bd6 Bxd6 11.Nxd6+ Kf8 12.c5 Nf6 13.Qb3 Qe7 14.Nf3) 10.Bd6! 0–0 11.Bc7 Qe8 12.Nd6 Nf5 13.Nxe8 Rxe8 14.c5 e4 15.Ra4 Nfd4 16.e3 Ne6 17.Bd6 1–0

Rudd

board

Kosten

Position after 10.Bd6 threatening Nc7+ and Bc7, Black must lose his queen.

There was a rest day at Wijk aan Zee Corus tournament. The B group is currently led by the Dutch GM Jan Smeets who was off to a flying start after defeating one of his main rivals in a very complex sacrificial game.

G Sargissian (2658) – J Smeets (2538)
Corus B Wijk aan Zee (1)
Semi Slav

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.g4 h6 8.Bd2 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Be2 Bb7 11.g5 hxg5 12.Nxg5 Qb6 13.Nce4 Nxe4 14.Nxe4 Be7 15.b4 a5 16.bxa5 Rxa5! 17.Nc5 Nxc5 18.dxc5 Bxc5 19.Bxa5 Qxa5+ 20.Kf1 Bd6 21.Bf3 Ke7 22.h4 b4 23.Rd1 g5 24.Qe4 Ba6+ 25.Be2 Qxa2 26.Bxa6 Qxa6+ 27.Kg2 Qb5 28.h5 b3 29.Rd2 f5 30.Qb1 Be5 31.Rd3 b2 32.Qc2 Ra8 33.Rhd1 c5 34.e4 Ra1 35.exf5 b1Q 36.Rxb1 Rxb1 37.fxe6 g4 38.Qd2 Qc6+ 0–1