British Championships: Howell wins with 9.5/11

by ChessBase
8/10/2013 – A 44-move draw against the other top seed, Gawain Jones, officially gave 22-year-old GM David Howell the title for 2013 British Champion, which had been clear after the penultimate round. He finished one and a half point clear of the field, with a 2768 performance. In equal second with 8.0/11 were Jones, Stephen Gordon and Mark Hebden. Here's our final report with special thanks to the organisers.

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

A record-breaking number of over 1000 players are taking part in the 2013 British Championships, attracted by a combination of the beautiful venue and the fact that it’s the 100th in a series stretching right back to 1904. This year it is taking place in the Riviera International Centre in Torquay. There are 23 different sections at the 2013 British Championships, catering for all ages and abilities, but the main focus of interest is on the Championship itself. There are 106 players taking part, of whom 33 are titled players, including thirteen grandmasters. The Championship runs from 29th July to 10th August 2013.

Top results in round eleven

There was an element of anti-climax at the start of the round, knowing that the big prize had already been decided. But that didn’t prevent a large crowd of spectators and photographers gathering around the top board. In fact, if Jones had been able to spring a surprise, it would undoubtedly have take a little of the shine off Howell’s prize, so there was no sign that he was in danger of resting on his laurels. The others, too, were fighting amongst themselves for a place on the prize list. In spite of the fact there were draws a-plenty, they were mostly hard-fought – only Lalic and Arkell settled for a quick draw.

No. White
Rating
Black
Rating
Result
1 GM Howell, David W L
2639
GM Jones, Gawain C B
2643
½-½
2 GM Wells, Peter K
2479
GM Hebden, Mark L
2555
½-½
3 GM Gordon, Stephen J
2521
IM Meszaros, Gyula
2255
1-0
4 IM Zhou, Yang-Fan
2469
GM Gormally, Daniel W
2496
½-½
5 GM Lalic, Bogdan
2489
GM Arkell, Keith C
2444
½-½
6 IM Palliser, Richard J D
2453
GM Flear, Glenn C
2456
½-½
7 Longson, Alexander
2279
IM Ghasi, Ameet K
2459
½-½
8 IM Hawkins, Jonathan
2517
IM Kolbus, Dietmar
2288
½-½
9 Weller, Jean-Luc
2172
GM Williams, Simon K
2481
½-½
10 Harvey, Marcus R
2202
GM Emms, John M
2469
½-½
11 Wadsworth, Matthew J
2136
GM Kosten, Anthony C.
2458
½-½
12 GM Ward, Chris G
2432
Mackle, Dominic
2216
1-0
13 IM Bates, Richard A
2375
Horton, Andrew P
2032
½-½
14 Haria, Ravi
2133
IM Fernandez, Daniel
2346
0-1
15 Weaving, Richard
2196
IM Knott, Simon J B
2318
1-0
16 FM Chapman, Terry
2308
FM Storey, Charles
2214
½-½
17 Tambini, Jasper
1979
FM Carr, Neil L
2290
0-1
18 IM Rudd, Jack
2280
Yeo, Michael J
2170
½-½
19 Girdlestone, Paul C
2155
FM Eggleston, David J
2363
0-1
20 Osborne, Marcus E
2269
Lenier, Jude A
2119
1-0

Final top rankings (after eleven rounds)

The fact is that Howell likes Torquay. He won there in 2009, and nowhere else. When Bob Jones first did the publicity job, at Torquay in 1997, he was asked by the local TV company to obtain the oldest player in the building to act out a short encounter with the youngest. Bob located an old gent, while a colleague, Victor Cross, brought along a five-year-old boy, who quickly outplayed his vastly senior opponent while the camera rolled. The boy was called David – David Howell.

Rank Name
Score
Rating
TPR
W-We
1 GM Howell, David W L
9.5
2639
2768
+1.57
2 GM Jones, Gawain C B
8.0
2643
2514
-1.21
3 GM Hebden, Mark L
8.0
2555
2593
+0.71
4 GM Gordon, Stephen J
8.0
2521
2574
+0.88
5 GM Gormally, Daniel W
7.5
2496
2459
-0.19
6 GM Lalic, Bogdan
7.5
2489
2440
-0.42
7 GM Wells, Peter K
7.5
2479
2483
+0.32
8 IM Zhou, Yang-Fan
7.5
2469
2474
+0.32
9 GM Flear, Glenn C
7.5
2456
2372
-0.74
10 GM Arkell, Keith C
7.5
2444
2468
+0.59
11 IM Ghasi, Ameet K
7.0
2459
2495
+0.65
12 IM Palliser, Richard J D
7.0
2453
2452
+0.20
13 GM Ward, Chris G
7.0
2432
2334
-0.99
14 IM Fernandez, Daniel
7.0
2346
2429
+1.31
15 FM Carr, Neil L
7.0
2290
2209
-0.97
16 Longson, Alexander
7.0
2279
2392
+1.56
17 IM Meszaros, Gyula
7.0
2255
2384
+1.89
18 Weaving, Richard
7.0
2196
2424
+3.15
19 IM Hawkins, Jonathan
6.5
2517
2371
-1.80
20 GM Williams, Simon K
6.5
2481
2379
-1.18
21 GM Emms, John M
6.5
2469
2234
-2.85
22 GM Kosten, Anthony C.
6.5
2458
2351
-1.19
23 IM Bates, Richard A
6.5
2375
2211
-2.03
24 FM Eggleston, David J
6.5
2363
2246
-1.40
25 FM Chapman, Terry P D
6.5
2308
2314
+0.24
26 IM Kolbus, Dietmar
6.5
2288
2382
+1.39
27 IM Rudd, Jack
6.5
2280
2254
-0.21
28 Osborne, Marcus E
6.5
2269
2283
+0.29
29 FM Storey, Charles
6.5
2214
2347
+1.81
30 Harvey, Marcus R
6.5
2202
2225
+0.34
31 Rayner, Francis
6.5
2186
2166
-0.32
32 Weller, Jean-Luc
6.5
2172
2329
+2.17
33 Duff, Rufus
6.5
2157
2198
+0.70
34 Wadsworth, Matthew J
6.5
2136
2325
+2.59
35 Horton, Andrew P
6.5
2032
2315
+3.97

At last we meet! Top seeds David Howell and Gawain Jones drew in 44 moves.

Peter Wells vs Mark Hebden was a Scotch that ended after 48 moves in a draw

Selection of games from round eleven

Select games from the dropdown menu above the board

Game of the day by Andrew Martin

Game of the day: GM Stephen Gordon, 2521, vs IM Gyula Meszaros, 2255

Rd 11 Game of the Day GB Ch 2013 Torquay

Photos provided by Brendan O'Gorman and Keverel Chess

Our daily reports on the British Championship have been wonderfully supported by two people present in Torquay. They were IM Andrew Martin, whom our users know well, and Bob Jones, a local chess history writer, who helped us appreciate how far the event has come in its 100 years, sending us his interesting essays on the milestones on the way – on the great characters, the champions and their games. Bob is not so well known to our readers, so here's a little bio.

Bob Jones, the proprietor of Keverel Chess, has been involved in chess for most of his life. While at Exeter University in 1961, he set the inaugural World Marathon Chess record, which was recognised by the Guiness Book of Records and published in their 1962 edition. He retired in 1993 after 25 years as a headteacher and started Keverel Chess, first publishing magazines of local interest. He then cooperated with FM Owen Hindle in writing a biography of the first official British Chess Champion, Cecil De Vere. Published in 2001, it was shortlisted for the BCF Chess Book of the Year in 2002.

Bob has also written a history of the Paignton Congress and published Keith Arkell’s autobiography, Arkell’s Odyssey. He has written a weekly chess column for westcountry newspapers for 15 years. He enjoys resurrecting the lives of almost forgotten westcountry chess-players, and these may be found on the biographies page of his website. He also branched into dealing in rare and second-hand chess books.

Keverel Chess has also organised an annual Seniors’ Chess Congress for 14 years in his home town of Exmouth, Devon, the only one of its kind in the country when it started. Bob Jones is General Secretary and a Vice President of the West of England Chess Union, and in 2005 received the BCF President’s Award for services to chess.


Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.


Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register