2 months ago
Freddy Waldhausen Gordon, a 15-year-old from George Heriot’s school, Edinburgh, came done pinch a stunning burst to seizure nan yearly British Rapidplay title successful Peterborough pinch a people of 9.5/11, defeating nan apical seeded GM, Gawain Maroroa Jones, successful nan last information successful a must-win game by a checkmating onslaught wherever White’s queen and some rooks each invaded Black’s rear rank.
Maroroa Jones was successful problem early successful nan decisive game, soon had to concede rook for knight, and a 2nd nonaccomplishment of nan speech followed astatine move 32. At nan end, 39 Rxg7+ and 40 Qg8 mate could only beryllium delayed by Black giving up his queen.
It was nan 37th staging of nan British Rapidplay, whose accelerated clip limit of each nan moves successful 15 minutes for each player, positive a 10 seconds increment per move, makes it imaginable to clasp an full 11-round tourney successful a azygous weekend. More than 200 players competed. No Scot had ever won it previously. First prize was £1500. The Four Nations Chess League organisation connected behalf of nan English Chess Federation was excellent.
Final scores were Waldhausen Gordon (Scotland) 9.5/11, Jones and Shreyas Royal (England) 9, Yichen Han (Netherlands), 12-year-old Supratit Banerjee and Siva Mahadevan (India) 8.5. Eight players connected 8 points included Trisha Kanyamarala (Ireland), Harriet Hunt (England), and 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan (England), who tied for nan women’s title. All 3 women’s co-champions received £500.
Waldhausen Gordon, Royal, Banerjee and Sivanandan are teenagers aliases pre-teens, but whereas he past 3 are each being helped pinch their tourney expenses and coaching by nan £1.5m assistance which nan chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has made disposable for nan astir promising English talents, Waldhausen Gordon will person precisely zero owed to devolution rules.
Chess Scotland officials person been defeated successful their attempts to unafraid thief from Holyrood for either nan nationalist team, for which Waldhausen Gordon was a prima performer astatine nan 2025 European Championships successful Batumi, Georgia, aliases for nan teen personally.
The Chess Scotland chair, Alex McFarlane, wrote successful nan English Chess Forum: “As an illustration of nan vexation that tin beryllium encountered, I was seeking money from Glasgow. I met pinch personification from leisure who was sympathetic but not successful their remit truthful effort culture. Same consequence but this clip I was told to effort cducation. I did, but was met by ‘Sorry, effort leisure.’ I admit I gave up astatine that point.”
Waldhausen Gordon is already proving himself arsenic a campaigner for Scotland’s astir breathtaking chess talent of each time, perchance surpassing nan three-time British champion Jonathan Rowson and George Henry Mackenzie, who won astatine Frankfurt 1887 up of astir of nan elite players of his era.
In 1 of nan chess.com Titled Tuesday events successful January 2025, Waldhausen Gordon moreover defeated nan world No 1, Magnus Carlsen, erstwhile nan Norwegian overstepped nan clip limit successful an ending a pawn down pinch a +1.54 advantage for nan Scot.
Waldhaussen Gordon has made a quantum jump successful nan past fewer weeks. Last period he achieved his last qualification for nan IM title successful Graz, Austria, while successful Peterborough past play he already performed astatine GM level, pinch a tourney capacity standing of 2613 against what would person been nan GM norm of 2600 successful a classical event.
Maroroa Jones whitethorn good see himself unlucky. The Yorkshire grandmaster played a near-perfect tournament, starting pinch 8 consecutive victories, drafting easy pinch Black against his assumed main rival, Michael Adams, successful information nine, drafting again against nan coagulated Royal successful information 10, past uncovering himself overwhelmed by nan Scot astatine nan death.
Royal was different who did small wrong, but fell half a constituent short. England’s youngest grandmaster, 17, had six Blacks, including a tie against Jones which went down to bare kings. His final information victory, complete pinch a queen sacrifice, was among his champion wins.
Banerjee is accelerated emerging arsenic nan jewel successful nan crown successful Reeves’s investment. The Sutton Grammar pupil, 12, who spends only an hr aliases 2 connected chess connected weekday evenings owed to schoolhouse homework, qualified for his first IM norm astatine nan 2025 British Championship and continued his good tally past m onth erstwhile he won chess.com’s competitory under-13 online title up of an world field.
At Peterborough, Banerjee was unbeaten pinch a 2498 performance, which would person been easy an IM norm successful a classical tournament. His results included a last information triumph complete nan 2024 Rapidplay champion, GM Daniel Gormally, wherever his clever maneuver snared a knight and nan game, positive a triumph complete nan beardown IM Peter Roberson wherever he ruthlessly exploited his opponent’s poor action of a square for nan queen astatine move 24.
The 3 women co-champions each scored impressively. An 8/11 full is good supra nan norm for female players successful a mixed event. Hunt, nan erstwhile world under-20 girls champion, met by acold nan strongest section of nan trio. Kanyamarala mislaid successful information one, but recovered well. Sivanandan was fortunate successful nan last information erstwhile IM Richard Bates forgot astir his timepiece and mislaid connected clip successful a drawn position.
Sivanandan is being freely compared to nan all-time Nos 1 and 2 women, Judit Polgar and Hou Yifan, but nan 2 legends some made immense jumps successful spot from property 11 onwards. It remains to beryllium seen whether nan talented Harrow schoolgirl tin lucifer their pace.
Next Wednesday, Sivanandan will commencement among nan 436 players successful nan historical Reykjavik Open, staged annually since 1964 erstwhile Mikhail Tal won, and including a remainder time excursion to Bobby Fischer’s grave. Her target will beryllium her 2nd WGM norm, pursuing her first successful France past year, and requiring a 2400 performance, which she missed only narrowly successful Cannes past month.
4016: 1…Nxh3+! 2 gxh3 ( if 2 Kh2 Nxf2+ 3 Kg1 Ng4 soon leads to mate) Qxg3+! 3 fxg3 Rxf1+ 4 Kh2 Rh1 mate.
