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Michael Adams-Shreyas Royal
English Championship, Kenilworth, July 2025
White to play, position after 29…g7-g6
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 d4 d5 6 Bd3 Bf5 7 O-O Be7 8 Re1 O-O 9 Nbd2 Nd6 10 Nf1 c6 11 Bf4 Bxd3 12 Qxd3 Na6 13 Ng3 Nc7 14 h4! Attacking prospects on the kingside give Adams the edge, despite the innocuous appearance of the symmetrical pawn structure. Ne6 15 Be5 Re8 16 h5 f6 The weakening of the g6 square makes it harder for Black to evict a knight from f5 and turns out to be crucial in the long run. 17 Bxd6 Bxd6 18 Nf5 Qd7 19 N3h4 Nf8 20 Qf3 Bc7 21 Qg4 Kh8 22 g3 22 Ng6+ hxg6 23 hxg6 Rxe1+ 24 Rxe1 Re8 25 Qh5+ Kg8 currently leads nowhere, as the Nf8 guards the h7 square. But Adams has seen that a rook on the h-file would lend decisive force to the attack. Qf7 23 Kg2 Rad8 24 c3! A brilliant finesse. Adams probably considered 24 Rh1 Re4 25 Ng6+ Kg8 26 Qxe4! dxe4 27 Nfe7+ Qxe7 28 Nxe7+ Kf7 29 Nf5 g6 30 hxg6 hxg6 31 Ne3 Rxd4 and judged that Black can put up considerable resistance. Defending the d-pawn with c2-c3 is a subtle way to amplify the threat. a5 24…Rd7 was more stubborn, to defend the e7 square. 25 Rh1 Re4 26 Ng6+ Nxg6 26…Kg8 27 Qxe4 dxe4 28 Nfe7+ wins comfortably now. 27 hxg6 Rxg4 28 gxf7 Re4 29 Rae1 g6 (see diagram) Allowing mate, but there was nothing better, e.g. 29…Rf8 30 f3 Rxe1 31 Rxe1 and Re1-e8 wins. 30 Rxh7+ Black resigns as 30…Kxh7 31 Rh1 is mate.
Vitiugov won his final round game in style:
Nikita Vitiugov-Ameet Ghasi
English Championship, Kenilworth, July 2025
White to play, position after 29…Bh6-f8
30 Bxg5 fxg5 31 Nxg5 Qh5 32 Nf7+ Kg8 33 Bd1 33 N5h6+! Bxh6 34 Bd1 was a beautiful winning line, because 34…Bg4 35 Bxg4 Qxg4 36 Nxh6+ wins the house. Qh7 34 Ng5 Qh8 35 Bg4 35 g3! was stronger, which keeps the knight out of f4, since 35…hxg3 36 Qxg3 would win on the open g-file Rad8 36 Qf3 Nf4 37 g3 hxg3 38 Qxg3 Bg7 39 Rg1 Bxf5 40 Bxf5 Nd6 40…Rd6 41 Ne6 Nxe6 42 Bxe6+ Rdxe6 43 dxe6 Rxe6 still offers good chances to defend. 41 Ne6 Nxf5 42 exf5 Nxe6 43 fxe6 Qh6 44 Re4 Re7 45 Rh4 Qf6 46 Qh3 Black resigns 46…Kf8 dodges Rh4-h8#, but then Rg1-f1 wins the queen.
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Scotsman
a day ago
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Glasgow Times
2 days ago
- Glasgow Times
Kenyan doping is ruining athletics, so what can be done?
A positive test result here, a missed test there, is absolutely nothing new. But the tsunami of positive doping tests that's been coming out of Kenya in recent years, and particularly recent months, is ravaging the sport, to such an extent that it will take years to repair. The list of Kenyan athletes who are currently serving a doping ban is astonishingly lengthy - almost 150 - and it's getting longer by the day. For decades, Kenya has been an athletics powerhouse. Some of the sport's true greats hail from this East African nation, including Eliud Kipchoge, David Rudisha, Kip Keino and Brigid Kosgei, plus many more. Eliud Kipchoge is one of the true athletics greats to hail from kenya But all that success has now been overshadowed by a doping epidemic that's threatening to rival the Russian doping scandal given how many athletes are being found to have cheated. The pattern over recent years has been that, every few weeks, and occasionally every few days, it's announced that a Kenyan athlete has committed an anti-doping violation. The most significant positive test result was announced last month, with the revelation of a suspension for Ruth Chepngetich. Her positive doping result sent shockwaves through athletics and has caused a significant dent in any trust that's left in the sport. In October of last year, at the Chicago Marathon, Chepngetich produced one of the most impressive performances the world of athletics has ever seen. The 30-year-old obliterated the women's marathon world record, running 2 hours 9 minutes 56 seconds, breaking the previous world record by almost two minutes and becoming the first female to break the 2:10 barrier for the distance. It was a remarkable run, particularly as it came from an athlete who has shown little potential to achieve such a remarkable time. From literally the minute Chepngetich crossed the finish line in Chicago, the scepticism in her performance was overwhelming, and the allegations were flying. Surely, observers said, Chepngetich's performance wasn't legitimate. That she had slashed four minutes from her own previous best also fuelled the doubt - improvements of that magnitude just don't happen in elite sport. The doubt over the legitimacy of Chepngetich's performance was entirely understandable and, as it's turned out, completely justified. Last month, it was announced that she had been suspended for an anti-doping violation. She tested positive for the banned substance, a diuretic called hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), which was detected in a sample collected from her in March. Her suspension was announced last month. What was so jarring about Chepngetich's positive doping test was that yes, it was shocking, but it wasn't, in any way surprising. Firstly, her performance seemed too good to be true and when that's the case, more often than not, it is too good to be true. And secondly, the constant stream of positive test results coming out of Kenya means every single Kenyan athlete is looked upon with a degree of suspicion. And, all too often, that suspicion turns out to be justified. Ruth Chepngetich is the highest-profile Kenyan athlete to be suspended for doping (Image: PA) While Chepngetich may be the highest-profile athlete to fail a doping test and be banned from the sport (her world marathon record, however, will still stand as her positive test didn't come until after that performance), it seems she's merely a symptom of a far greater problem. And it's a problem that's threatening to cause irreparable damage to athletics, a sport which has already had more than its fair share of doping scandals with which to contend. Since Chepngetich's positive test just a few weeks ago, a further six Kenyan athletes have been handed suspensions for doping offences. While taking performance-enhancing drugs is far from restricted to athletics athletes, or far from restricted to Kenyan athletes, what is unusual is just how many high-profile Kenyan individuals have been suspended for testing positive. In contrast, all other countries who have a significant number of suspended athletes have attracted far less scrutiny due to the suspended athletes being, in the main, considerably less successful than their Kenyan counterparts. The number of high-profile Kenyan athletes who have violated anti-doping rules is truly astonishing; from former marathon world record holder Wilson Kipsang to ex-half marathon world record holder Abraham Kiptum to Rio 2016 Olympic marathon gold medallist Jemima Sumgong to London Marathon winner Daniel Wanjiru to world 1500m gold medallists Asbel Kiprop and Elijah Manangoi, the roster of banned names parades some quite astonishing quality. And when added to the dozens of lower-profile athletes who've also been suspended for anti-doping violations, the total number of suspended Kenyan athletes is extremely alarming. Such numbers points to a significant problem, and it's a problem that isn't only tainting Kenyan athletics, it's tainting the entire sport and every athlete involved in it. This has been going on for a number of years now - as far back as 2022, the Kenyan cabinet secretary for Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts, claimed his country was in a 'serious war against doping' - and while there's suggestions things have improved somewhat, there can be little doubt that the Kenyan doping epidemic is still ravaging the sport. A recent New York Times expose of the Kenyan doping problem highlighted the high levels of poverty within the country, which results in the risks of doping being comfortably outweighed by the potential benefits of doping, one of which is earning significant financial rewards. To use the moral argument to discourage doping - that doping goes against the spirit of sport - is a difficult battle to win when an individual could potentially pull themselves and their family out of poverty if their doping gets the desired results. An outright ban for Kenya is the obvious solution, but those at the helm of World Athletics seem unlikely to make such a move. There is a belief within the global governing body that, unlike Russia which was issued with a complete ban just over a decade ago, Kenya's doping isn't state-run as it was in Russia. It may be a mere detail, but it is an important detail. So without an outright ban, the only path forward is the one that continues to try and fight the doping problem, and catch the doping cheats. Certainly, while the swathe of positive doping tests is a bad look for athletics, it does suggest that fewer athletes are getting away with it than in the past. Recently, the President of World Athletics, Seb Coe, said 'I believe in the future, we will have a drug-free sport.' I'm not, I'm sorry to say, nearly as optimistic. But we definitely need a reduction in drug cheats because if things continue in this current vein, with Kenyans bulldozing the reputation of athletics, pretty soon there'll be no sport to speak of.
