BCPS

The Final of the 2011-2012 British Chess Solving Championship, sponsored by Winton Capital Management, was held at Eton college on Saturday 18th February. A strong field included four guest solvers from abroad, three of them solving GMs. The event featured another impressive performance from five-times former World Champion Piotr Murdzia from Poland, who won the event without dropping a point. Runner-up was Belgium's Eddy van Beers, fresh from his success in the International Solving Contest last month. In third place, just edged out on time, was Scottish o-t-b GM Colin McNab, who thereby claimed his first British Championship. Colin is only the sixth solver to win the British title since the event began 32 years ago. Britain's former World Champions Jonathan Mestel and John Nunn placed 4th and 5th respectively. A notable performance was recorded by David Hodge, competing in his first event, who finished 11th, ahead of many-times British Champion David Friedgood.

Top scores 1.P.Murdzia 65/65; 2. E. van Beers 61; 3.C.McNab 61, 4.J.Mestel 59; 5.J.Nunn 56. The BDS Website has the full results and the problems used.

Two compositions from the event:

L. Gugel and V. Shipov Magyar Sakkvilag, 1930 Mate in 2

1.Ne4! (threat 2.Nd2) 1...Qc6 2.Nfd6 1...Qb7 2.Ne7 1...Qxf5+ 2.Qxf5 1...Kxe4 2.Bxd5 The white knight sacrifices itself, while unpinning the black rook. Some were caught by the try 1.Nb1?, defeated by 1...e4!

György Bakcsi Sakkélet, 1998 Mate in 3

1.Qg2! (threat 2.Qg8 mate) 1...Bxg2 2.Nxf5+ and 3.Ne7 1...Nxg2 2.Nc2+ and 3.Nb4 1...Rxg2 2.Ne2+ and 3.Nc3 1...Nc7 2.Ne6+ and 3.Nxc7 1...Nb6 2.Qg8+ Kc5 3.Qc4 After each capture on g2 the knight exploits the fact that the capturing piece can no longer capture on d3.