Sidcup’s David Gilbert was joint winner of the London Classic Weekday event at Olympia for players with an ECF grade under-135. David finished with four points out of five, tied with Hugh Tassell, another Kent player.

In the photograph both are playing with Black pieces in the final round of the event.

Photo courtesy of Brendan O’Gorman

Photo courtesy of Brendan O’Gorman

David won his first two games relatively comfortably, then faced a stiff task against his Sidcup teammate, Bob Mitchell, in the third round. Bob had the better of the game which went for 60 moves, but David defended stoutly and held out for a draw. He was even more fortunate in the fourth round where he came up against Oxford mathematics student Sam Bentham. David found himself a piece down for two pawns, but managed to create counter-play with two passed pawns. The threat was too much for Sam who gave back the piece for two pawns and the game petered out to a draw. David was now running in a tie for second and faced the leader Peter Rawcliffe in the final round needing a win to finish top. Peter is a seasoned performer at this level and won his section at the Berks and Bucks congress earlier in the year with a convincing 5.5/6.

PGN Notation

[pgn height=400 layout=horizontal autoplayMode=none] 
[Event "London Under 135"] 
[Site "Olympia"] 
[Date "2014.12.12"] 
[Round "5"] 
[White "Rawcliffe, Peter"] 
[Black "Gilbert, David J"] 
[Result "0-1"] 
[BlackElo "132"] 
[ECO "B01"] 
[EventDate "2014.12.12"] 
[WhiteElo "129"] 
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 { the so-called Pytel-Wade Scandinavian } 
4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.g3 Bg4 
7.Bg2 ( 7.Bf4 Bxf3 ( 7...Qe6+ 8.Kd2 ) 
8.Qxf3 Qxd4 { Black appears to win a pawn but White has Nb5 to test Black's resolve } ) 
7...e6 8.O-O Nbd7 
9.a3 { White wants to play Bf4, but doesn't like Black playing Qb4 so tries to stop that } 
9...Qc7 10.Bf4 Bd6 11.Bxd6 Qxd6 12.Qd3 O-O 13.Rae1 Bxf3 
14.Bxf3 Rad8 15.Bg2 Nb6 16.Rd1 Rd7 17.Rd2 Rfd8 
18.Rfd1 Qe7 19.Qe2 Nbd5 20.Ne4 Nxe4 21.Qxe4 Qg5 
22.Qe2 c5 { Speculating. It's not the best move by a long way but I decided to go for it to open up the game. This is the last round and he's half-a-point ahead. I need a win for first place. } 23.c4 ( 23.dxc5 { would have been nice! } 
23...Nc3 ) 23...Nb6 24.f4 Qe7 25.d5 Kf8 26.dxe6 Rxd2 
27.Rxd2 Rxd2 28.Qxd2 Nxc4 29.Qd7 { a mistake? } 
29...Qxd7 ( 29...Qxe6 { would have been better, but over the board I thought the clearer path was with the Queens off } 
30.Qd8+ Qe8 31.Qxe8+ Kxe8 32.Bxb7 Nxb2 ) 30.exd7 Ke7 
31.Bxb7 Nxb2 32.Bc6 Nc4 33.a4 Nb6 34.Kf2 a5 
35.Ke2 Nxd7 
36.Kd3 Nb6 37.Bb5 Kd6 38.Be8 Ke6 39.Bc6 f6 40.Be8 Kd6 
41.Bb5 Kd5 42.Be8 c4+ 43.Kc3 Kc5 44.h3 Nd5+ 45.Kd2 Kb4 
46.Kc2 Nb6 47.f5 Nxa4 48.h4 Nc3 49.g4 a4 50.g5 h6 
51.g6 a3 { White resigns. I'm joint winner sharing £300. } 0-1 [/pgn]

David Gilbert