GM Gordon

Stephen J. Gordon (born September 4, 1986) is a chess grandmaster from Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. In September 2004, he took a break from his A-level studies at The Blue Coat School, Oldham to compete in the thirteenth Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International. In 2005, while still a FIDE Master, he finished 6th in the British Championships ahead of a Grandmaster and several International Masters. At the EU Individual Open Chess Championship held at Liverpool in 2006, he led the tournament after eight rounds and finished a very creditable (joint) second, a half point behind winner Nigel Short and level with Luke McShane among others. Probably his best result to date however, was second place in the 2007 British Championship, narrowly losing his share of the lead in the final round. In previous rounds, he defeated both tournament victor Jacob Aagaard and previous champion Jonathan Rowson. By 2008, his rating had reached grandmaster level, although the title itself had not yet been secured. At the British Championship in Liverpool, he almost repeated his performance of the previous year, by taking a share of third place. He was the British under-21 Champion each consecutive year between 2005 and 2008. He became a grandmaster on August 1, 2009. He has been one of the co-presenters of the chess podcast The Full English Breakfast since its inaugural show in October 2010.

In the above middlegame puzzle of Smith–Morra Gambit patterns, it is Black to play. As usual, limited Houdini discovered Rc8 is the best move (-2.70) to make White's position weaker.

The following is the full game in PGN format as usual.

[Event "93rd ch-GBR"]

[Site "Swansea WLS"]

[Date "2006.08.07"]

[Round "1"]

[White "Ledger, S"]

[Black "Gordon, S"]

[Result "0-1"]

[WhiteElo "2177"]

[BlackElo "2443"]

[ECO "B21"]

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 a6 4.cxd4 d5 5.e5 Nc6 6.Nc3 Bf5 7.Bd3 Bxd3 8.Qxd3 e6 9.Nf3 Nge7 10.O-O Nf5 11.b3 h5 12.Bb2 g5 13.Nd1 g4 14.Ne1 Bh6 15.Nc2 Qg5 16.Bc1 Qg6 17.Bxh6 Rxh6 18.Qd2 h4 19.Nde3 Rh5 20.Nxf5 Rxf5 21.Rac1 h3 22.g3 Rf3 23.Rfe1 Rd3 24.Qf4 a5 25.Re3 Rd2 26.Rc3 Qe4 27.Qxe4 dxe4 28.Re3 a4 29.b4 Nxd4 30.Nxd4 Rxd4 31.a3 Rad8 32.Kf1 R8d5 33.Rc8+ Ke7 34.Rc7+ Kf8 35.Rxb7 Rxe5 36.Ra7 Rd1+ 37.Re1 Rd2 38.Re2 e3 39.Ra8+ Kg7 40.Rxa4 Rd1+ 0-1