Chess
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Your support makes all the difference.While Deep Blue has been grabbing the headlines this week, the English chess team have been quietly progressing to what could be their best result ever. After seven rounds of the European team Championship in Pula, Croatia, England lead the field, are two points ahead of Russia, Armenia, Croatia and Germany. In the last four rounds they have beaten Spain 31/2-1/2 , Hungary and Croatia by 3-1 and Armenia by 21/2-11/2.
With five wins and two draws, Matthew Sadler has made a major contribution to the team's success. Here is his win from the fifth round, in which 23...Ne3!! must have taken his opponent completely by surprise. After 24.fxe3 Qg5, the threats of Qxe5 and Qxe3+ can both be defended, but after 25.Qc3 Qh5! the double threat of Qxh2+ and Qe2 is too much.
White: Dizdar (Croatia)
Black: Sadler (England)
1 Nf3 d5 21 Ne5 Rxb2
2 g3 Nf6 22 Qc4 Nd5
3 Bg2 e6 23 e4 Ne3
4 0-0 Be7 24 fxe3 Qg5
5 c4 0-0 25 Qc3 Qh5
6 d4 dxc4 26 Rd8+ Kh7
7 Qc2 a6 27 Rd2 Rxd2
8 a4 Bd7 28 Qxd2 Qxe5
9 Rd1 Bc6 29 Qd4 Qg5
10 Nc3 Bxf3 30 Rf1 e5
11 Bxf3 Nc6 31 Qc3 f6
12 Bxc6 bxc6 32 Kg2 Qg4
13 Bg5 Rb8 33 Qc4 a5
14 e3 Nd7 34 h3 Qd7
15 Bxe7 Qxe7 35 Qc2 Qc6
16 Ne4 Rb4 36 Rd1 Rb4
17 Nd2 c5 37 Rd8 Rxa4
18 Nxc4 Rfb8 38 Rc8 Rb4
19 Rac1 h6 39 Qd3 Qxc5
20 dxc5 Nf6 White resigns
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