Chess

A little spat has broken out this week between a couple of my esteemed colleagues. On Monday, the front page of The Guardian carried a cheerful little story about the defeat of an International Master by a nine-year-old boy. Leonard Barden, who knows about such things, described the winner, Gawain Jones, as "the youngest chess player to defeat an international master". The previous record was set by the 10-year-old Judit Polgar in 1987.

The Guardian story, however, rather underplayed the fact that it happened in a quick-play event, where accidents are endemic, whereas Polgar's win was achieved at normal slow rates of play. What made the tale more fun, however, was the identity of the loser: he was the Daily Telegraph's chess correspondent, Malcolm Pein. "The loser is not planning to mention his defeat in his column today," The Guardian announced.

The following day, however, the Telegraph struck back with a fine feature- length riposte by Malcolm Pein, explaining the anxieties of facing a runny- nosed child if you are out of practice, are concerned about the football results, have a train to catch, and forget to look at your chess clock until you have only a few seconds left.

We shall refrain from taking sides in this unseemly matter, but it seems to us that the least we can do is to publish the moves of this historic game of no importance. So here they are. It was played in the final round of the ICI Katalco Congress at Norton Hall in Middlesbrough and, as you will notice, Malcolm Pein had a totally winning position when he ran out of time. But his young opponent had certainly given him a lot to think about.

White: Malcolm Pein

Black: Gawain Jones

1 e4 c5 17 a3 Rxc3

2 Nf3 d6 18 axb4 Rc7

3 d4 cxd4 19 Bf2 Qa4

4 Nxd4 Nf6 20 Kb1 Rfc8

5 Nc3 g6 21 c3 dxe5

6 f4 Bg7 22 fxe5 Nf5

7 Bb5+ Bd7 23 g4 Nh6

8 Qe2 0-0 24 Be3 Qb3

9 Bxd7 Qxd7 25 Nd4 Qa4

10 Be3 Qg4 26 Bxh6 Bxh6

11 Nf3 Nc6 27 Qxh6 e6

12 0-0-0 Nh5 28 Nf3 a5

13 Qd2 Rac8 29 Rd3 axb4

14 h3 Qd7 30 Red1 Re8

15 e5 Ng3 31 Ng5

16 Rhe1 Nb4 White lost on time