Chess

THE BRITISH CHESS LEAGUE reached its conclusion with my team, Guildford, finishing first and second, as expected.

With little suspense in the final weekend of fixtures, much of the attention switched to the drama of English chess politics. The English Chess Federation has been hit by a rash of resignations by a faction of board members. A disagreement about future levels of spending seems to be at the heart of the matter. This became a major issue when a recent bequest left the ECF with a million pounds in the bank.

Back on the chessboard, a team-mate, English grandmaster Mark Hebden, scored an easy win on the last weekend by using an improvement found while analysing a game we played against each other last year.

White: M Hebden; Black: A Ledger. Opening: Pirc/ Philidor.

1 d4 d6 2 e4 Nf6 3 Nc3 e5 4 dxe5 dxe5 5 Qxd8+ Kxd8 6 Bc4 Ke8 7 Nf3 Bd6 8 Bg5 Nbd7 9 0-0-0 a6 10 Bb3 h6 11 Bh4 b5 12 Rhe1 Bb7 13 Bxf6! After refusing to capture a couple of moves ago, this feels inconsistent, but the situation has changed: Black can't avoid an exchange of light-squared bishops.

My game against Hebden, in Liverpool last year, had continued 13 Nd5 Nxd5 14 exd5 f6 when, if anything, Black is already better as the bishop on h4 is locked out of play. 13...Nxf6 14 Nd5 Nxd5 Unless Black allows shattered pawns on the f-file, there is little choice. 15 Bxd5 Rb8 16 Bxb7 Rxb7 17 Rd5! It's all about creating a square for the knight; meanwhile Black's bishop remains passive. 17...f6 18 Nh4 With the f-pawn no longer on f7, g7-g6 is impossible and the knight finds an ideal post. 18...Kd7 19 Red1 Rb6 20 R1d3 Ke6 21 Rg3 g5

Then the knight takes permanent residence on f5, so the passive 21...Kf7 had to be played. 22 Nf5 Rbb8 23 h4 gxh4? Black's position was grotesque, but allows a quick mate. 24 Rg7 The threat is Rxd6+ then Re7 mate. 24...Rbe8 25 f4! Black can't take the pawn due to Nd4 mate, so there's no defence to the threat of 26 Nd4+ exd4 27 f5 mate. Black resigned.