There were 170 chess players of all ages and abilities at the 37th annual Kidlington Congress.

At the beginning of the fifth and last round on Sunday afternoon there was all to play for in the top section. Seventeen-year-old Richmond junior Peter Batchelor held a half-point lead over the field – thanks partly to a bizarre slip-up by his opponent Philip Tozer in round 4.

Returning to an equal endgame after a comfort break and seeing it was his turn to play, Philip immediately captured a pawn with his rook. This was in reply to the move he had expected Peter to have made. Unfortunately for Philip, Peter had not made the expected move – but delivered check. Thus Philip had made an illegal move and touched a piece to boot – so was obliged by the rules to block the check with the touched piece, lost his rook and of course the game. Peter was paired against the Northamptonshire player James Jackson on board one for the last round while Venkat Tiruchirapalli and Jim Burnett battled on board two.

The exciting board one game is given below.

White: Peter Batchelor

Black: James Jackson

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.Nf3 Bg7 8.h3 0–0 9.Bd3 Nh5!? A provoking move and an interesting way to avoid the theory which accompanies the main lines. One such well-trodden path runs 9...b5 10.Nxb5 Re8 when Black regains his pawn since 11.Nc3?! is met by 11...Nxe4.

10.g4 Nf6 11.Bf4 Re8 12.0–0 h5 13.Nh2 Perhaps James’ idea was to meet 13.g5 with 13...Bxh3!?

13...a6 14.a4 Qe7?! 15.Bg3 Nbd7 16.f4 hxg4 17.hxg4 c4!? 18.Bc2 Qd8! 19.Qd2?! It was a better idea to keep c5 under control with 19.Bf2

19...Nc5 20.e5 White’s position looks over-extended; so I think one can conclude that Black’s provocation has worked. Perhaps here 20.f5 Nfxe4 21.Bxe4 Nxe4 22.Nxe4 Rxe4 23.fxg6 fxg6 24.Qc2 was an idea – but to play this White would have to admit to himself that his position was poor.

20...Nxg4 21.e6 Nh6 22.Nf3 fxe6 23.Bxg6!? Nb3 24.Qe2 In the post-mortem it was suggested that 24.Qh2 Nxa1 25.Bh4 Qb6+ 26.Kh1 Bd7?! 27.Bg5 was a better try.

24...Nxa1 25.Rxa1 Bd7 26.Ng5!? Once more, if White had accepted his prospects were poor, he might have tried the pragmatic 26.Bxe8 Qxe8 27.Qxc4 Nf5 28.Bf2 Qh5 29.Qe4 with chances to hang on.

26...exd5 27.Qh5?! 27.Bxe8 Qxe8 28.Qf3. 27...Qb6+! 28.Bf2 Qxb2 Now Black is winning lots of material and unfortunately for White, the mate is just not there.

29.Rb1 Qxc3 30.Rxb7 Re7! 31.Bf7+ Nxf7 32.Rxd7 Nxg5 32...Rxd7 33.Qh7+ Kf8 34.Ne6+ Ke7.

33.Rxe7 Qc1+ 34.Kg2 Qxf4 35.Rxg7+ Kxg7 36.Bd4+ Qxd4 37.Qxg5+ Kf7 Black is a rook up, there’s clearly no perpetual and the game ended shortly. 0-1.

So James Jackson vaulted over Peter to share first with the board two victor, Jim Burnett.