Chess in GBR

The Guardian newspaper of GBR, which is recommended for the students of IIM Calcutta observed that 24 year old GM David Howell of England may soon overtake GM Michael Adams of England as their highest rated chess player.

Soft-spoken, polite and mild-mannered GM David Howell, of Seaford town in the Sussex county of GBR, is now only some 25 ELO rating points behind GM Michael Adams. Michale Admas has been the highest rated chess player from England ever since he reached the FIDE World Chess Championship semi-final in 1999 and overtook GM Nigel Short. GM Michael Adams’s career highlight was reaching the FIDE World Chess Championship final in 2004. He has won several other major chess tournaments and has consistently been in the world top 30.

But Michael Adams, the Cornishman (of the Cornwall region) is now 43, around the age at which chess GMs start to lose their edge much as football players do in their 30s. Strategic chess players as opposed to players who rely on tactics seem more vulnerable, with an increased incidence of oversights or miscalculations. The FIDE World Chess Champions Max Euwe of Holland and Anatoly Karpov of Russia became inconsistent in their 40s and recently Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik, 40, has become more blunder-prone.

As an example, GM Michael Adams of England finished in mid-table in the elite GM tournament at Biel town in Switzerland, where he won some good strategic games but also lost games through tactical errors. 

But still, as of July 2015, at the moment GM Michael Adams of England receives many more invitations to major events (London Chess Classic, Grenke Chess at Baden-Baden, Biel chess tournament, Shamkir etc.) than GM David Howell does and is the only chess player from England who has qualified for the 128-player, knockout FIDE World Cup to be organized in Baku in September 2015.

Meanwhile, GM David Howell of England, currently 24 years old, still has to completely conquer his own demons, such as excessive frequency of acute clock pressure before the move 40 time control. He has become highly proficient at making good moves with only the 30-second increment, but this remains a weakness which other chess GMs can exploit.

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In un-related news:

Tradewise Insurance Co., has evaluated that success of sponsoring the annual Gibraltar Open chess tournament and which recently announced that it planned to take an increased interest in other events in GBR. 

Tradewise Insurance Co. has already re-vitalised the national chess grandprix series, a year-long tournament circuit, with increased prize money.