London Classic 2018 - Bedford Chess Club

Richard Bodily reports:-

I did visit again this year but only last Friday. They’ve split the venue and several days were sold out at the smaller site, Google HQ. Still good to see the Fide open though, just a few hours wandering around.

Anyway, I always look at the results in Round one for any surprises and there was one on Board 1, GM Bognor (2610) lost to Johnson (2111)!! That’s a 255 losing to Steve Ledger.

To be fair to the GM he recovered well to finish 0.5 point off the top.

Ed – Take a look at the game. See how the GM steadily builds up an advantage over the first 37 moves and then …!? – there’s hope for us all it seems.

   [Event "London Chess Classic - Open"]  [Site "chess24.com"]  [Date "2018.12.09"]  [Round "1"]  [White "Bogner, Sebastian"]  [Black "Johnson, Daniel"]  [Result "0-1"]  [Board "2"]  [WhiteElo "2610"]  [WhiteTitle "GM"]  [WhiteCountry "SUI"]  [WhiteFideId "4692055"]  [WhiteEloChange "-9"]  [BlackElo "2111"]  [BlackCountry "SWE"]  [BlackFideId "1721283"]  [BlackEloChange "18"]   1. d4 {[%clk 1:30:30]} d5 {[%clk 1:30:30]} 2. c4 {[%clk 1:30:30]} e6 {[%clk  1:30:30]} 3. Nc3 {[%clk 1:30:30]} Be7 {[%clk 1:30:30]} 4. cxd5 {[%clk 1:30:30]}  exd5 {[%clk 1:30:30]} 5. Bf4 {[%clk 1:30:30]} c6 {[%clk 1:30:30]} 6. e3 {[%clk  1:30:30]} Bf5 {[%clk 1:30:30]} 7. Nge2 {[%clk 1:30:30]} Qb6 {[%clk 1:30:30]} 8.  Qd2 {[%clk 1:30:30]} Nf6 {[%clk 1:30:30]} 9. Ng3 {[%clk 1:30:30]} Bg6 {[%clk  1:30:30]} 10. h4 {[%clk 1:30:30]} h5 {[%clk 1:30:30]} 11. Be2 {[%clk 1:30:30]}  Nbd7 {[%clk 1:30:30]} 12. Rc1 {[%clk 1:30:30]} Nf8 {[%clk 1:30:30]} 13. Bg5  {[%clk 1:30:30]} Ne4 {[%clk 1:30:30]} 14. Ngxe4 {[%clk 1:30:30]} Bxe4 {[%clk  1:30:30]} 15. Bxe7 {[%clk 1:30:30]} Kxe7 {[%clk 1:30:30]} 16. Nxe4 {[%clk  1:40:57]} dxe4 {[%clk 1:30:30]} 17. Rc5 {[%clk 1:17:41]} Nd7 {[%clk 0:43:41]} 18.  Rxh5 {[%clk 1:18:07]} Rxh5 {[%clk 0:41:36]} 19. Bxh5 {[%clk 1:18:34]} Nf6 {[%clk  0:40:33]} 20. Be2 {[%clk 1:18:58]} Rd8 {[%clk 0:39:55]} 21. Qc3 {[%clk 1:15:01]}  Nd5 {[%clk 0:39:55]} 22. Qa3+ {[%clk 1:15:01]} Qb4+ {[%clk 0:39:55]} 23. Qxb4+  {[%clk 1:15:01]} Nxb4 {[%clk 0:39:55]} 24. a3 {[%clk 1:15:01]} Nd5 {[%clk  0:39:55]} 25. g4 {[%clk 1:12:07]} Kd6 {[%clk 0:29:22]} 26. g5 {[%clk 1:12:07]} g6  {[%clk 0:37:55]} 27. Kf1 {[%clk 1:15:23]} Rh8 {[%clk 0:36:06]} 28. Kg2 {[%clk  0:54:31]} Ke7 {[%clk 0:36:06]} 29. Kg3 {[%clk 0:54:55]} Kd6 {[%clk 0:36:06]} 30.  Kg2 {[%clk 0:53:27]} Ke7 {[%clk 0:36:06]} 31. Kg3 {[%clk 0:53:51]} Kd6 {[%clk  0:36:06]} 32. Bg4 {[%clk 0:54:16]} Ke7 {[%clk 0:36:06]} 33. h5 {[%clk 0:54:41]}  gxh5 34. Bf5 {[%clk 0:55:06]} f6 35. g6 {[%clk 0:55:31]} Kf8 36. Bxe4 {[%clk  0:55:50]} Ne7 37. Bf3 {[%clk 0:56:15]} h4+ 38. Rxh4?? {[%clk 0:56:15]} Nf5+ {[%clk  0:22:10]} 0-1