Several Welsh players put in very strong performances at the 2017 British Championships and are in with a good chance of winning the Roy Clunes Award, which will be announced later this week. Two of the leading contenders for this award, given for the best performance by a Welsh player at the British Championships, are Ethan Chung from St John’s College, Cardiff, and Tom Brown, who plays for Cardiff. Ethan Chung won the under 10s with a score of 6/7, and Tom Brown won the Major Open with 6/9.
Other players that excelled include:
- Hiya Ray (St John’s College Cardiff), joint third in the Under 11s with 5/7 and joint British Girls’ Under 11 Champion
- Shayanna Sivarajasingam (Cardiff), British Girls’ Under 16 Champion
- Chirag Guha (Sutton Coldfield), joint third in the under 14s
- Venetia Sivarajasingam (Cardiff) and Hiya Ray (St John’s College Cardiff), joint British Girls’ Under 11 Champion
Ethan went into the last round tied for first place with last year’s under 9 champion, James Merriman – a well-known top English prospect, coached by GM Chris Ward. Ethan, out-graded by about 200 points, looked to take the initiative by adding a new opening to his repertoire.
“After some thought we came up with something he’d never played before and should, we hoped, be accident-proof,” explains his coach, Tim Kett.
What Ethan and Kett had not considered was the offer of an early draw, securing the title of joint champion for both players. That happened, with Ethan declining and embarking on an al-out attack. Here’s the game, with light notes supplied by Tim Kett:
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Be3 { Kupreichik’s Variation. Nothing all that special but chosen as it enables White to be sure of early castling and a solid base from which to launch a middlegame attack. } 5…Qb6 6.Qd2 cxd4 7.cxd4 Bd7 8.Nf3 Rc8 9.Nc3 Bb4 10.Bd3 Na5 11.O-O Nc4 12.Bxc4 { Understandable but, the alternative 12.Qe2 was possible because of the tactical reply } 12…Nxb2 13.Nxd5 $1 ) 12…Rxc4 13.Rfc1 Ne7 14.a3 Bxc3 15.bxc3 O-O 16.Bg5 Ng6 17.h4 h6 $2 { [#] Black is already in trouble here and in fact 17….h5 ! is practically forced } 18.Bxh6 $1 { Ethan needs no second invitation } 18…gxh6 19.Qxh6 Rfc8 20.Ng5 $6 { Giving Black the chance of a reprieve. Now 20. ..Nf8! would have meant White should have no more than a perpetual check } ( { The forced win was } 20.h5 $1 Nf8 21.Qg5+ Kh7 22.Qf6 Be8 23.h6 ) 20…Be8 $2 21.Nh7 $1 { now it is all over } 21…f5 22.h5 Ne7 23.Nf6+ Kf7 24.Qh7+ Kf8 25.h6 1-0
