TWIC is 30. First issue 17th September 1994.
Hastings Chess Congress 2009-10 (6)
Hastings Round 6 Report
FM Steve Giddins - Sunday 3rd January 2010
Steven Giddins reports on Round 6 of the Hastings Chess Congress 2009-10.
Qui gladio ferit, gladio perit
It has been suggested to me, by a certain cynical German of my acquaintance, that some of my readers may be a little baffled by the various Latin quotations, with which my reports this week have been peppered. I personally find this hard to believe, since I feel sure that the deleterious effects of downgrading the role of the classics in the modern education system is more than compensated for by the wonders of the internet, and particularly Google. A simple copy and paste operation on the offending phrase is sure within a nanosecond to produce an English translation, plus full background notes. Nonetheless, I have been persuaded that a glossary of terms should be included in these reports. Being a man who always listens to the advice of my elders and betters, I have therefore decided that such a glossary should be offered to my readers today. Fortunately, Alex McFarlane, the Chief Arbiter of the Hastings Masters, just happens to have been keeping such a list of translations throughout the week, so I am able to offer this for your education and delectation, without the need to perform any significant labour myself. I am unsure of the precise details of Alex's classical education, but I know him to be a recently-retired schoolmaster in the excellent Scottish education system, so I am fully confident of the reliability of his efforts. Without further ado, therefore, I set out below a list of the English translations of all those Latin tags used in reports 1-5, which I trust you will find helpful:
| Abusus non tollit usum | The WC is not available to the coach party |
| Laudator temporis acti | In the absence of Stewart Reuben, someone has to take the temporary position of acting God. |
| Fata obstant | The large unobliging arbiter |
| Gaudeamus igitur | The peroxide blond chav wore a gaudy tracksuit |
| Stevius Giddenae | An ancient scribe who believed that the quill is mightier than the computer |
| Labor omnia vincit | The government wants a tougher tax on all wines |
| Non carborundum | We do not use duplicate scoresheets |
| Ad captandum vulgus | Increase the thick captain's vulgarity |
| Ignorantia legis neminem excusat | The candy coated chocolate drops do not excuse my stupid legs |
| Don’t panic | Panicus nautus |
| Hodie mihi, cras tibi | I’m a hoodie, but you’re thick |
| Doctus cum libro | The physician has pornographic literature |
| Annus mirabilis | An odd place to put a looking glass |
| Terra incognita | Disguised fright |
| Anno urbis conditae | I am aware our players without opponents obtained neckwear fraudulently. ("Ah know oor byes conned a tie".) |
| Aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus | Alexander from Spain gets an extra point for sleeping at our house. |
| Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus | A portion of Colin the Scottish golfer must be his ridiculous nasal passage. |
| Sic transit Gloria mundi | The vomit in the back of the Ford van will be cleaned by Gloria after the weekend |
Back at the chess, round 6 of this year's Hastings Masters saw another batch of tremendously hard-fought games. On board two, Keith Arkell found himself hoist by his own petard, in the unaccustomed role of having to defend a slightly worse endgame. Despite defending unguibus et rostro, he was unable to hold:
Drozdovskij - Arkell
With R+B v R+N, and the superior queenside pawn structure, White stands better, but it is hard to make progress. Bobby Fischer won a number of classic examples of such endings, including two in his 1971 Candidates match against Taimanov. 41.Rc4 Rd6 42.Ra4 Rd7 43.Rc4 Rd6 44.Kf1 Kd8 45.Ra4 Rd7 46.Ra6 Rc7 47.Ra4 Rd7 48.Ra6 Rc7 49.Ke1 Re7+ 50.Kd1 Rd7 51.Kd2 Kc8 52.Kc3 Kb7 53.Ra4 Ne2+ 54.Kc2 Nd4+ 55.Kd3 Nf5+ 56.Kc3 Kb6 57.Rb4+ Kc7 58.Rc4 Ne7 59.Rd4 Rxd4 60.Kxd4 Kd6 After the game, the players were agreed that Black should not have allowed the exchange of rooks. With rooks on the board, it is almost impossible for White to make progress, whereas now, the superiority of his bishop over the short-stepping knight is magnified. 61.Kc4 Nc8 62.Kb4 Nb6 63.b3 Nd7 64.Ka5 Nc5 65.Bf1 Ne4 66.Bc4 Nxf2 67.Bxf7 Ne4 68.Bxg6 Nxg3 69.Ka6 Ne2 70.Kxa7 Nc1 71.Bb1 Kc5 72.Kb7 Kb5 73.a4+ Ka5 74.Bc2 Ne2 75.Bd1 Nd4 76.b4+ Kxb4 77.Kb6 c5 78.a5 c4 79.a6 Nb5 80.Bxh5 c3 81.Bg6 Nd6 82.h5 1-0
Second seed Zbynek Hracek won a classic Sicilian counterattack against his French IM opponent:
Philippe,Christophe (2430) - Hracek,Zbynek (2624) [B87]
Hastings Masters (6), 02.01.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Be7 8.Be3 0-0 9.Qe2 b5 10.0-0-0 b4 11.Na4 Qc7 12.f3 Nbd7 13.g4 Nc5 14.g5 Nfd7 15.h4 Nxa4 16.Bxa4 Nc5 17.Bb3 Nxb3+ 18.axb3 Bd7 19.h5 a5
20.g6 Bf6 21.Qh2 h6 22.gxf7+ Rxf7 23.Rhg1 a4 24.bxa4 Rxa4 25.Nb3 e5 26.Qd2 Be6 27.Kb1 Ra6 28.Qxb4 Qc6 29.c3? Presumably missing Black's 30th, but the white position is already looking extremely suspicious. Rb7 30.Na5
30...Ba2+! 31.Kc1 Rxb4 32.Nxc6 Rxc6 33.Bxh6 Bb3 34.Rde1 Rb7 35.Bg5 Rf7 36.h6 g6 37.Kd2 Bxg5+ 38.Rxg5 Kh7 39.Reg1 Rf6 40.Ra1 Rxf3 41.Kc1 0-1
Kjartansson kept up his challenge by beating Furman with the black pieces, whilst Simon Ansell did the same at the expense of young Peter Williams. Jonathan Hawkins' bid for a third and final IM norm is well on track after another win, whilst John Anderson, who came close to a norm here last year, renewed his chances, with a surprise win against Simon Williams.
Yesterday saw the announcement of the £100 Best Game prize for the Masters tournament, generously sponsored by the Trustees of Horntye Park, our playing venue. Anyone wishing to enter a game for consideration for this prize can do so at the Control Desk. Your correspondent is the judge for this prize, so naturally, any player submitting his game with annotations, written in Latin, will have an obvious head start...The announcement of the prize immediately generated a potential contender, in the shape of following attacking effort, by a player outrated by some 250 points:
Green,Andrew D (2151) - Eggleston,David J (2367) [C00]
Hastings Masters (6.16), 02.01.2010
1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Qe2 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.g3 b5 6.Bg2 dxe4 7.dxe4 b4 8.Nbd2 Ba6 9.Nc4 Nc6 10.e5 Nd5 11.Qe4 Qb8 12.Ne3 Qd8 13.Bd2 Bc5 14.0-0-0 Bxe3 15.Bxe3 Rb8 16.Qg4 Rg8 17.Qe4 Rh8 18.Qg4 Kf8 19.Ng5 Nce7 20.Qf3 Qe8 21.Nxe6+ Kg8 22.Nc5 Bc4
23.Bh6 Qc6 24.e6 f5 25.Nd7 Rd8 26.Rhe1 gxh6 27.Qh5 Ng6 28.Qxf5 Rxd7 29.exd7 Kg7 30.Bxd5 Bxd5 31.Qxd5 Qxd5 32.Rxd5 Rd8 33.Re8 1-0
