What to do on a hot summer’s day just before I fly off to central Asia for a while? It was a good time to meet up with fellow Bedfordshire chess player FM Gary Kenworthy in Leighton Buzzard and enjoy the day with him -we arranged to meet at The Swan Hotel.
To get there, I had to take the X2 bus from Luton. It went along a bus lane on the edge of town, up through Dunstable and the Bedfordshire countryside beyond it; the short grass in the fields all bright yellow in the sun, due to no rain this long hot summer. The journey was pleasant, as England looks best in the summer sun, and a trip down memory lane soon unfolded as I wondered when the last time I went to Leighton Buzzard was, a place I have only ever been to to play chess. Even though I began tournament chess there in 1988, and played there dozens of times after, it was difficult to find my bearings when I got off the bus. I soon realized that the last time I came was 1997 and I could only vaguely remember the town centre but found the hotel soon enough thankfully.
The hotel had a wetherspoons bar in it. With it being not yet 11 am upon arrival, I ordered a vegetarian breakfast, and being British, a cup of tea, of which there were free refills for, so I could have as many cups as I liked -then Gary soon arrived carrying bags with copies of gamescores. We have been chatting online for a fair few years now, and so it was good to finally meet and catch up. A solid 3 hours and a bit more of chatting about chess, with a few other things thrown in was spent. Gary is very knowlegeable about the British chess scene -much more so than I-and so there was lots to talk about it in times present and past but mostly past. He has had many positions of seniority over the years and has come to know most on the English playing ciruit, so there were many exchanges of stories that went on. He also brought along a publication of his victory over GM Adams, which I had been asking for. (please see below). He’s a very pleasant gentleman, we have many mutual friends, and a good time was had all in all.
FM Gary’s win against GM Adams
No GM has won the British Chess Championships more than GM Adams (9 times, 87 games unbeaten) and no British player has had a higher rating than him (2761ELO), and no British player has come closer to becoming world champion than him (he came very close to beating Kasimdzhanov in the final in 2004) which makes him the best if you ask me. Gary tells me he was rated 213 (2298ELO) and GM Adams was rated 263 (2673 ELO) when they played in 92. The game was a quickplay, which meant they only had 30 mins each.
I have typed out the game below. Don’t forget you can always go to Lichess analysis board if you want to run it through an engine. https://lichess.org/analysis. Just cut and paste what’s below and insert, its in raw pgn form and very easy to do.
The game
G. Kenworthy v M.Adams British Quickplay Championships 1992, Hammersmith, London (Time control 30 mins)
e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 d4 exd4 c3 dxc3 Bc4 d6 Nxc3 Nf6 Qb3 Qd7 Ng5 Ne5 Bb5 c6 f4 cxb5 fxe5 dxe5 Be3 Bd6 Rd1 0-0 Nxb5 h6 Rxd6 Qg4 Rxf6 gxf6 Nf3 Qxe4 Nd6 Qb1 Qd1 Qxd1 Kxd1 Be6 Ke2 Rfd8 Ne4 f5 Nc3 f4 Bc5 Re8 g3 e4 Nd4 Bg4+ Ke1 b6 Ba3 f3 Nd5 Kg7 Ne3 Rad8 b3 Bd7 Bb2 Kg6 Kf2 Re5 g4 Ra5 a4 Be6 h4 Bxb3 h5 Kh7 Nxb3 Rxa4 Bf6 Rd6 Be5 Ra2+ Kg3 Re6 Bf4 a5 Nd4 Re8 Ndf5 a4 Nxh6 a3 Nxf7 Rb2 g5 a2 g6 Kg7 Ra1 Re2 Bg5 Re6 Kf4 f2 Kf5 Rxe3 h6 Kf8 Bxe3 Ke7 Bxf2 Rf6+ Kxe4 Rxf2 h7 Rh2 h8=Q Rxh8 Nxh8 Kf6 Rxa2 Kg7 Kf5 1-0
N.B I do not have access to a scanner presently and will upload clearer images in due course, most likely very soon.
What should we in Bedfordshire make of this game?
Was Gary the first from Bedfordshire to beat GM Adams? Not so. GM Plaskett informs me that he once beat him in a blitz game in Leeds in 1986, when GM Adams was only 14, untitled and had a rating of 2260, a bit more than 200 points lower than GM James Plaskett at that time. However, he pointed out that his record against him after that was not so good and no other victories were had. The tournament in which FM Kenworthy beat GM Adams had greater prestige and was played when GM Adams had already become a GM and had a much higher rating, making him a much tougher opponent. That tournament should not be confused with the quickplay held at the British Championship every year, which is an informal affair and a seperate entity. Some info about the actual tournament played in and the list of winners over the years can be found here. https://www.ecfresource.co.uk/results/. It should be noted that Gary has informed me that the results for 1992 are not entirely accurate and that it was a 4-way tie for first place and not a 2-way tie. He also informs me that he finished 0.5 points behind the leaders and won prize money for that. To have beaten England’s greatest ever player is something to be proud of, and only GM James Plaskett and FM Kenworthy from Bedfordshire have done it but since Adams was much higher rated and more developed as a professional when he lost to Gary, more credit should go to him I think. Also, there’s quite a big difference between having 5 and having 30 minutes on the clock. I did ask Gary whether he or GM Adams ran short of time in the game and he informed me that neither he nor GM Adams did. Perhaps this stands as the greatest victory ever claimed by a Bedfordshire chess player. It does need to be remembered, however, that both GM James Plaskett’s victory and FM Gary Kenworthy’s victory were both with shorter time controls and not gained in classical chess.
M J M
Luton
McCreadyandChess 