96th British Chess Championships 2009

David Howell secures his first title

IM Malcolm Pein of the Daily Telegraph

Monday August 10th 2009

David Howell duly captured his first British title with a draw playing white against Gary Lane in the eleventh and final round at Torquay. Howell's score of 9/11 was one the highest in recent years. He was unbeaten over the two week competition and hardly ever under pressure. At 18 Howell becomes the second youngest player to capture the title after Michael Adams who was 17 when he triumphed at Plymouth twenty years ago.

Adams went on to become one the world's leading players and Howell certainly has the potential should he decide to pursue that path. Howell and Adams both take part in the Staunton Memorial which is underway at Simpson's in the Strand and will be covered each day here.

Round eleven results: David Howell draw Gary Lane; Gawain Jones 0-1 Mark Hebden; Simon Williams 1-0 Stephen Gordon; Richard Palliser 1-0 Peter Wells; Andrew Greet 0-1 Stuart Conquest; Thomas Rendle 0-1 Danny Gormally;

Final scores: 1 Howell 9/11; 2-3 Williams, Hebden 8.5; 4 P alliser 8; 5-6 Conquest, Gormally 7.5; 7-14 Wells, Trent, Summerscale, G Jones, Rudd, Lane, Hawkins, Constantinou 7;