British Championship 2016 - Day 8

Another day, another serene Adams victory. I won't say the result is a foregone conclusion, especially since Black against Jones today can be a tricky pairing for anyone, but the English number one has to be the favourite. Perhaps now we turn our attention to the norm-seekers; I understand that Eggleston has a GM norm in the bag with a round to spare, Tan is close to getting one as well, whilst Brown, Osborne and Batchelor seem like the best prospects for IM norms. (Though I don't know the detailed regulations that well.)

The puzzle for round 7 offered the chance to improve on Black's play in Kalaiyalahan-Mitra, where he accepted a draw just after White had erred:

Much like last year, blunders have overtaken brilliancies as the fortnight has gone on, so finding a Game of the Day gets harder. Arkell won another good passion-killer game, this time against Storey, but my eye was caught by a nice IQP win by John Emms. Black meets his end soon after the thematic d5 break is achieved:

As for a puzzle, take your pick! Klingher-Menadue saw an ingenious queen sacrifice that didn't work, Rudd-Zhu is an ending that neither player will want to look back on, and Mason-Shepherd saw Black miraculously avoid being mated only to go down in a simplified endgame. However, the real tragedy of the day was undoubtedly the game between Matthew Payne and Marcus Harvey. Early on, White put a knight en prise, which Black declined thanks to a mutual blind spot. Eventually White made amends for that and sacrificed the knight instead, getting a strong attack.

M. Payne - M. Harvey - White to Play

Black just played 29... Bg7-d4?? (what was the only move?), which gives White the chance to force a brilliant mate. How?