Monday, August 12, 2013

Howell Wins


Based on notes from 2009


The only surprise was that securing the half-point no points he needed took about two and a half four hours instead of the thirty minutes max that I'd expected, but David Howell wakes up this morning as the new British Champion.

Howell finished up on 9 9.5/11, only half a point and a half clear of his nearest challengers although his victory seemed much more comprehensive than that. For the record Mark Hebden and Gawain Jones and Simon Williams Stephen Gordon finished second equal on 8.5 8/11.

Not much in the way in rook endings from Our Champion. Of the 60+ in Torquay, in fact, Howell contributed only this ...










... so let's just say that while his opposition might have seemed familiar to him, his pairings were as tough as they could be.

Howell at the British 2013
GM Jones 
GM Gormally 
GM Williams 
GM Hebden 
GM Wells 
GM Gordon 
GM Ward 
IM Ghasi 
IM Zhou 
IM Rudd 

Howell at the British 2009 
GM Conquest 
GM Williams
GM Wells 
GM Gormally 
GM Jones 
GM Gordon 
GM Hebden 
IM Lane 
IM Palliser 
IM Trent 
IM Littlewood




Howell about to close out the tournament



So congratulations Davey boy. Enjoy the £5,000. But, how about a rook ending or two next time? Some of us have got blogs to fill, you know?




PS: Champion's photo from www.papiermache.co.uk/

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