British Championships: Two GM with perfect scores

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.

Use scroll bar to view the entire Riviera Centre venu

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.

We brough you the results and pairings of round three in our previous report. Here now are selected games and Andrew Martin's video commentary of the Game of the Day.

Selection of games from round three

Select games from the dropdown menu above the board

Game of the Day Round three GB Ch 2013

GM David Howell, rated 2639, vs IM Yang-Fan Zhou, 2469: 1-0 in 73 moves!

GM Stephen Gordon, 2521, vs IM Daniel Howard Fernandez, 2346: 1-0 in 49

GM Daniel Gormally, 2496, vs GM Anthony Kosten, 2458: 0-1 in 21 moves

You will want to run through the moves of this games on our Javascript player:

IM Richard Palliser, 2453, vs GM Mark Hebden, 2555: 0-1 in 40 moves

Top 25 ranking after round four

• Full results and rankings of all 106 players here

Relaxing in the beautiful Torquay setting of the British Championship 2013

The English Riviera Wheel, which takes you 60m hight over Torquay

Photos provided by Brendan O'Gorman and Keverel Chess

To really appreciate how far the event has come in its 100 years, one needs to take the opportunity to look back at some of the milestones on the way – the great characters, the champions and their games. To do this, IM Andrew Martin is using his computer skills to pick out some key games from the past and run his expert eye over them. Similarly, Bob Jones, local chess history writer, is compiling a set of ten pages, each on a past champion and one of his/her games. These will appear, one at a time, in the daily championship bulletins.

British Champions & Their Games - No. 3

1926 – Edinburgh

Just as Atkins’ promotion to college principal forced him into a long withdrawal from tournament chess, his mantle alighted on a Yorkshire trainee accountant. However, unlike Napier and Atkins, Fred Dewhirst Yates [Note: the well-known British author Leonard Barden informed us that is the correct name, while the popular rendering as “Frederick Dewhurst Yates” is erroneous] forsook formal training to become a chess professional. In international tournaments he tended to beat the best players but lose to the back-markers, which often kept him out of the prizelists. Two tournament wins and four draws against Alekhine speaks for itself, and there were many others who felt the sharp edge of his combinative sword; Reti (4), Bogoljubov & Tartakower (3 each).

Yates (above) won the British Championship six times, in 1913 (Cheltenham), 1914 (Chester), 1921 (Malvern), 1926, 1928 (Tenby) and 1931 (Worcester). The fact that Atkins, in a short return to the event in 1924 & ’25, regained his title including two head-to-head wins against Yates, points up the unfulfilled potential Atkins always had.

It is well-known that he died of carbon monoxide poisoning in his Bloomsbury lodgings at the age of 48. His best games collection was unfinished and completed by W. Winter under the original title 101 Of My Best Games of Chess.

Andrew Rowland Benedick Thomas (right) had much in common with Atkins; maths teacher, pianist, vacation chess-player, and inevitably his chess suffered as a consequence. This was his first tilt at the event, and he went on to amass 113 points in the British Championship over the years. A much fuller biography may be found here.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN 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.