Michael Adams took first place at the Chessable English Championship in Kenilworth last weekend, winning the tournament with 6/7. In the third round, he was on the ropes in the endgame against Mark Hebden, but survived after several unexpected twists. In the diagram position, Adams has two plausible captures available but surprisingly, neither is the best move. Instead 62…Nc4! is best, thanks to the unfortunate situation of White’s knight: 63 Re2+ Kd4 64 Nxa4 Rxa3 65 Nb2 Ra2 and the pin recovers material.

Mark Hebden-Michael Adams
English Championship, Kenilworth, May 2023
(see left diagram)

62…Rxa3 This move attempts to improve upon 62…Rxc3 63 Rxb2 Rxa3 64 Rb4! when a future Ra3-a1 and a4-a3 will allow White’s rook to move to a4, taking up its optimal position behind the pawn on the a-file. By capturing the pawn first, Adams tries to situate his own rook to the side of his passed a-pawn, which gives more opportunities for counterplay against White’s kingside pawns. 63 Rxb2 Overlooking a winning tactic: 63 Re2+! Kf5 (other king moves allow Nd5+/Nb5+ and Rxb2) 64 Nb5! Ra2 (since 64…Rb3 allows 65 Nd4+) 65 Nd6+ Kg6 66 Nc4 a3 67 Nxa3 and with two extra pawns, White wins. Rxc3 64 Rb5+ Kf6 65 Ra5 a3 Black’s rook can do several jobs from c3, so now the draw is within reach. 66 h4 Kg6 67 Ra6+ Kf5 68 Ra4 Re3 A clever move, anticipating the drawing resource which follows. 69 g3 Re4. It is worth sacrificing the a-pawn to advance the king to g4. 70 Rxa3 Kg4 71 Ra2 Draw agreed. Though White is two pawns up, his rook is obliged to guard the second rank against checks. There is no way to progress.

The reigning English women’s champion found herself in danger in the following pawn endgame. For example, 42…h6 43 b6! forces Black to give ground, and after 43…Kg7 44 Ke6 White will win the race. In fact, 42…Kg7! is the only drawing move. Then 43 Ke6 Kg6 leads to a race, where White promotes on b8 and black promotes on h1, with a draw.

John Emms-Lan Yao
English Championship, Kenilworth, May 2023
(see right diagram)

42…b6 This plausible move is the decisive mistake, because of the plan which Emms now executes. 43 Kg5! Kg7 44 Kh5 h6 Retreating the king allows Kh5-h6 and g4-g5-g6, with similar effect. 45 g5 hxg5 46 Kxg5 Ultimately, Black’s king must give ground which costs the b6 pawn. Kf7 47 Kf5 Ke7 48 Ke5 Kd7 49 Kd5 Kc7 50 Ke6 Kb7 51 Kd7 Ka7 52 Kc7 Ka8 53 Kxb6 Kb8 54 Ka6 White must go to the a-file. If 54 Kc6 Ka7! 55 b6+ Ka8! and 56 Kc7 is stalemate. Ka8 55 b6 Kb8 56 b7 Black resigns