The city of Liverpool was founded in 1207 as King John issued letters patent to announce the foundation of the borough of Liverpool. Thus in 2007 the city celebrates its 800th birthday. From September 4th to 9th the city hosted a 800th Anniversary Summit Chess Match UK-China. Teams of six male and two female players competed in a Scheveningen-style match.The rate of play was all moves in 2 hrs plus 30 seconds per move. The English team included both Michael Adams and Nigel Short, the first time for almost 20 years that the two have played together in an event on British soil. The Chinese team included top stars Wang Yue, Bu Xiangzhi and Ni Hua, plus 13-year old schoolgirl sensation Hou Yifan. Alongside the match, there was also a nine-round International Open, with a prize fund in the region of £10,000-£12,000.

China defeated the UK team by an emphatic 28 points to 20. The decisive factor was undoubtedly the Chinese players' tenacity and staying power. UK team captain Jonathan Speelman commented in his speech at the Closing Ceremony that "(...) had the match been using that revolting English custom of adjudicating the games after four hours' play, the final result would have been a lot closer!" Indeed it would - time after time, the British players saw precious half points slip through their fingers in the fifth and six hours' of play, as the pressure of the time-limit, plus the incredible staying power and resourcefulness of the Chinese players proved too much.

The guest of honour at the Closing Ceremony was Mr Gong, the Consul-General at the Chinese Consulate in Manchester.

The open tournament saw victory of German GM Daniel Fridman (7/9) who came ahead a group of seven, of which podium placed were taken by GM Berg (Sweden) and GM Dgebuadze (Belgium) - 6.5/9 both.

UK (20p): GM Adams 3.5, GM Short 3, GM Rowson 1.5, GM Pert 1.5, GM Jones 2.5, GM Howell 2, IM Arakhamia-Grant 6, IM Houska 2
China (28p): GM Wang Yue 4, GM Wang Hao 4, GM Zhang Pengxiang 4, GM Bu Xiangzhi 3.5, GM Ni Hua 4, WGM Hou Yifan 2.5, WGM Shen Yang 6, WFM Ding Yixin 3.5

see tournament's homepage
see ChessBase report

/ taken from www.chessbase.com /