TOP 100 SPORT SITES
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| Vick wins Eagles' courage award PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Michael Vick has won the Ed Block Courage Award, voted on by his teammates on the Philadelphia Eagles.... hosted.ap.org |
London Classic: Howell's breakthrough Britain's David Howell ended up joint third in the prestigious London tournament - a real achievementNi Hua-Howell, London Chess Classic 2009. Black to play.While Carlsen and Kramnik scrapped it out at the top of the London Chess Classic, there was an intriguing battle taking place in the middle order: who would emerge as the leading English player? Nigel Short crashed, Luke McShane was patchy, but Michael Adams and David Howell showed consistency, tying for joint third. For Howell, this was a breakthrough at the top level.RB Black looks very comfortable : a pawn up, rook on the seventh rank, powerful bishop bearing down on what's left of the enemy king position, and the d-pawn one square away from queening. Let's try the obvious first – 1...Re1. White can't take the rook, which would allow the pawn to promote, so he'd probably play 2 Kg2. Now what? I can't find any tricks that would enable the pawn to get to d1 and I don't want to exchange rooks because the bishops of opposite colour ending would only give White chances to draw. Trouble is, I don't see what to do next.Perhaps 1...Bd6 is better, threatening to take on h2 with check. 2 h3 doesn't save the pawn after 2...Rh2+, when Black would be two pawns up. Maybe this is the way to go. Forget about trying to force a quick promotion and mop up White's broken kingside pawns while his pieces are passively placed.DK Grabbing another pawn isn't bad, but it does allow White to flap around. After 3 Kg1 Rxh3, I would take the chance to move the king off the back rank: 4 Kf2 followed by Ke3. Of course Black is winning, but some work is still required. In the initial position, it's worth asking, what exactly can White do? Precisely nothing if the black pieces stay as they are. In which case all Black needs to do is activate his king. Howell played 1...Kf8 with the simple plan of marching the king down the board. After 2 Bd1 Re1 3 Kg2 Ke7 4 Bc2 Kf6 5 h3 Ke5 White resigned. He can only watch while the king moves to c1 to force the pawn through.chess@guardian.co.ukChessRonan BennettDaniel Kingguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Dimitar Berbatov may need knee surgery, says Sir Alex Ferguson Dimitar Berbatov may require exploratory knee surgery after being left out of the squad for Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Birmingham City. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Emmanuel Adebayor could return to Eastlands this week Emmanuel Adebayor, the Manchester City forward, could return for the Premier League game away to Everton on Saturday. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Solwhit wins Irish Champion Hurdle • Charles Byrnes's six-year-old wins Irish Champion Hurdle• Totesport makes Solwhit 7-2 front-runner for CheltenhamSolwhit landed the fifth Grade One success of his fledgling career by winning the Irish Champion Hurdle for Charles Byrnes and Davy Russell at Leopardstown. The favourite won by four-and-a-half lengths from Donnas Palm, with Sublimity coming in third.The six-year-old burst on the scene at last year's Grand National meeting and has followed that up with wins at the Punchestown Festival, in the Morgiana Hurdle, the December Festival Hurdle and has now added his name to an illustrious roll of honour for Ireland's premier hurdle race.His only blemish came at Newcastle in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle where he was only third behind Go Native but the slow pace was against him that day. Totesport now make Solwhit their 7-2 favourite for the Champion Hurdle, with Paddy Power more impressed at 3s."All he wants is a properly run race and he got that today," said Byrnes. "That's all we wanted all season. The Fighting Fifth they absolutely walked and sprinted for three furlongs. He's absolutely brilliant to jump – the fastest jumper I've ever had. You could see in the parade ring that he's so calm and takes everything really easy."Hopefully we'll get him in the same form for Cheltenham. My only concern for Cheltenham would be good ground. He does handle good ground but might need a bit further on it, although he'll take his chance. He doesn't take much work, which after the weather we've had is a big help.Russell added: "He travelled well into the straight, I was off the bridle before Sublimity but that's normal. He jumped accurately today and even idled before the line. He's lived up to our expectations. The hill at Cheltenham will be tailor-made for him, but that's only my opinion as I've never ridden a Champion Hurdle winner there before."Horse racingguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |