Jones and McShane defied the odds at the European individual championship but Short had a nightmare at the Bangkok Open

England’s small group of grandmasters who compete abroad have been in action recently, sparking some impressive results but also a couple of truly disastrous moments.

The European individual championship in Batumi, Georgia, clashed with the world title candidates in Berlin so had a low profile. In previous years the event has been dominated by Russia and Eastern Europe, and the only two gold medalists from the West were both former Soviet players.

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The field was packed with highly rated grandmasters so that the British champion, Gawain Jones, was seeded only 30th, and Luke McShane 34th. The English duo defied the odds, were up with the leaders throughout, and at the end finished in a big group which tied for second on 8/11, half a point behind the Croatian gold medallist, Ivan Saric.

Jones, who was unbeaten, and McShane, who lost just once, were placed fourth and sixth on tiebreaks. No English player has ever won a medal at this championship, but Jones and McShane improved on all their predecessors and comfortably reached their primary target, two of the 23 qualifying places for the valuable 128-player 2019 knockout World Cup.

The British champion Jones went on to the Dubai Open, where he was again unbeaten and finished sixth on 6.5/9. Then to the Sharjah Masters, where besides the usual corps of experienced GMs a flock of teenage talents entered from India, Iran and Uzbekistan. The prodigy generation is improving fast. Iran’s Parham Maghsoodloo, 17, won with 8/9, the world’s current youngest GM, Nodibirek Abdusattorov, 13, beat a 2700-rated opponent, while Jones suffered in a bizarre second-round finish.

Jones wore down the Uzbek talent Javokhir Sindarov, 13, and slowly squeezed his way to an ending of two bishops against a knight. After a marathon 122 moves they reached Kf6, Ng2 v Kg4, Bs c6 and d2 where White’s g2 knight is stranded with no escape square and will be captured next turn. But the last capture was on move 72, so that Sindarov in this resignable position successfully claimed a draw under the 50-move rule.

Thus Jones fell for an obscure rule and faded in the last three rounds, but what occurred to Nigel Short at the Bangkok Open this week was much worse. The former world title challenger is a regular at Thailand’s annual event, won it in 2017, began this week with 3.5/4, and as the No 2 seed looked set for a strong performance. In round five Short steadily outplayed India’s youngest and newest IM, 11-year-old D Gukesh, and reached a won ending two pawns up.

Then, disaster. Short gave a rook check, forgot to press his clock and after a few minutes his flag fell. He wrote on Twitter: “Lose with dignity … is a bit hard when your opponent is fully aware that you have not pressed your clock and jumps up and down with glee the moment your flag falls.”

In one of the quickest GM wins at Sharjah, India’s Baskian Adhiban, who had the world champion, Magnus Carlsen, on the verge of defeat at Wijk 2017, crushed a 2700-rated Ukrainian in only 21 moves.

The opening, a Caro-Kann where Black follows a Vishy Anand 3…c5 strategy, is level until White’s 12 Nc3? (12 c5 keeps control) gives Black the opportunity for piece activity by 13…Qxf6! since White is firing blanks on the a1-h8 diagonal.

White should still try 14 c5, since as played the black army swarms into attack. The final and fatal blunder is 18 cxd5?(18 Bf1) allowing the rook to join the attack.At resignation White’s position is just horrible, with numerous mates in one threatened and 22 gxh3 allowing Qxg1 mate.

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Yuriy Kryvoruchko v Baskaran Adhiban

1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 dxc5 e6 5 Nf3 Bxc5 6 a3 Ne7 7 Bd3 Ng6 8 0-0 Nc6 9 b4 Bb6 10 Bb2 Nf4 11 c4 0-0 12 Nc3? f6 13 exf6 Qxf6! 14 Na4? Bd4! 15 Nxd4 Nxd4 16 Kh1 Qg5 17 Rg1 e5 18 cxd5 Rf6 19 Bf1 Rh6! 20 h3 Nde2 21 Qb3 Bxh3! 0-1

Shamkir, with Carlsen, and the US championship, with his challenger Fabiano Caruana, both continue this weekend and can be viewed live and free online with move-by-move grandmaster and computer commentary. Try it, it’s fun. The tips and ideas will improve your own play.

3563 1 c4+ Rxc4 2 e4+ Rxe4 3 Ne7+ Rxe7 4 Nc7+ Rxc7, stalemate draw.