Happy Birthday GM Harold James Plaskett born on this day (March 18th) in 1960
Here is his Wikipedia entry
Here are his games
Jim obtained his FM norm in 1980 according to Gino de Felice.
From Chessgames.com :
“Harold James (Jim) Plaskett was born in Dkeliha, Cyprus. He was awarded the IM title in 1981 and became a GM in 1985. Plaskett’s tournament results include first place at Plovdiv 1984 and a tie for second at Hastings 1984-85. He was British champion in 1990.”
[pgn]
[Event “Lugano Open-11”]
[Site “Lugano”]
[Date “1986.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Plaskett, H James”]
[Black “Miles, Anthony John”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “A21”]
[WhiteElo “2435”]
[BlackElo “2610”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “65”]
[EventDate “1986.02.??”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “SUI”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 1998”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1997.11.17”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1997.11.17”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
{[%evp 0,63,23,-14,-18,0,2,7,48,-11,8,-6,5,5,5,16,31,34,45,5,38,24,87,87,118,
50,74,46,46,35,63,45,34,32,45,51,67,-52,-10,-186,-158,-177,-159,-133,-150,-121,
-139,0,183,196,180,206,414,442,442,0,158,311,307,307,29993,29994,29995,29996,
29997,29998]} 1. c4 e5 2. e3 d6 3. Nc3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 Ne7 6. d4 O-O 7.
Nge2 Nd7 8. O-O {[#]} ({Relevant:} 8. b3 exd4 9. Nxd4 Nc6 10. O-O Nxd4 11. exd4
Nf6 12. Bf4 c6 13. Rc1 Bf5 14. d5 c5 15. h3 h5 16. f3 a6 17. g4 hxg4 18. fxg4
Bc8 19. Bg5 Qe8 20. Rxf6 Bxf6 21. Bxf6 Qe3+ 22. Kh1 Bxg4 23. Qg1 Qh6 24. Ne4
Bf3 25. Ng5 Bxg2+ 26. Qxg2 Rae8 27. Qg4 Re3 28. Rg1 Rfe8 29. Qd7 Rf8 30. Qg4 b5
31. Kh2 bxc4 32. bxc4 Rb8 33. Rg2 Re1 34. Qd7 Qf8 35. Ne6 Qh6 36. Ng5 Qf8 37.
Qg4 Qh6 {Makarichev,S (2495)-Arnason,J (2500) Oslo 1984 1-0}) 8… f5 $146 ({
Predecessor:} 8… exd4 9. Nxd4 Nb6 10. b3 c5 11. Nde2 d5 12. Ba3 dxc4 13. Bxc5
Qc7 14. Qd6 Qxd6 15. Bxd6 Re8 16. Rac1 cxb3 17. axb3 Be6 18. b4 Rad8 19. Bc5
Ned5 20. Nxd5 Nxd5 21. Bxa7 Nxb4 22. Nf4 Bf5 23. Bb6 Rc8 24. Rxc8 Rxc8 25. e4
Bd7 26. Rb1 Na2 27. Nd5 Rc2 28. Be3 b5 29. h3 Nc3 30. Nxc3 Bxc3 31. Rd1 Be6 32.
Bh6 Ba5 33. Ra1 Ba2 34. Bf1 Bb6 35. Bxb5 Bxf2+ 36. Kh1 Bxg3 37. Bf1 Be5 38. Rd1
{Shvedchikov,A (2395)-Tukmakov,V (2580) Gomel 1983 0-1}) 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. b3 c6
11. Ba3 Qe8 12. f4 e4 13. Qd6 $14 {[#]} (13. g4 $1 fxg4 14. Nxe4 $16) 13… Rf7
14. Rad1 Nf8 15. Rd2 Ne6 16. Bh3 g5 17. fxg5 Ng6 (17… Bf8) 18. Bxf5 Bf8 {
At last!} 19. Nxe4 $5 (19. Bxg6 hxg6 20. Qe5 Rxf1+ 21. Kxf1 Qf7+ $15) 19…
Bxd6 20. Nxd6 Qd8 (20… Qe7 21. Nxf7 Qxa3 22. Nh6+ Kg7 23. h4 Qb4 $17) 21. Rd3
$1 {Jim was particularly proud of this move} Rxf5 ({If} 21… Qa5 22. b4 {
is the point of Rd3}) (21… Qf8 22. h4 Rxf5 23. Rxf5 Qg7 24. Nf7 Qa1+ 25. Rf1
Qxf1+ 26. Kxf1 Kxf7 27. Nc3 $11) 22. Nxf5 Qxg5 $4 {and Miles goes wrong} ({
There is a draw by repetition after} 22… Qxd3 23. Nh6+ Kh8 24. Bb2+ Ng7 25.
Nf7+ Kg8 26. Nh6+ $11) 23. h4 Qh5 $2 {[#] Black is already lost} (23… Nxh4
24. Ne7+ Kg7 25. e4 Qg4 26. Bb2+ $18) 24. g4 $1 Qxg4+ 25. Neg3 Qh3 26. Nh6+ Kg7
{[#]} 27. Nhf5+ $4 {This slip almost gives away the win.} (27. Ngf5+ {is the
correct knight.} Kf6 28. Bb2+ Ne5 29. e4 Qxd3 30. Ng4+ Kf7 31. Nxe5+ Ke8 32.
Nxd3) 27… Kf6 $4 {Miles returns the favour.} (27… Kf7 {This accurate king
move salvages a draw.} 28. Nh6+ Ke8 29. Ne4 c5 30. Nf6+ Ke7 $11) 28. Nh5+ Ke5
29. Nfg3 Nef8 30. Bb2+ Ke6 31. Ng7+ Ke7 32. Ba3+ {and it is checkmate in one
move after} c5 33. Bxc5# {An incredible game after a quiet and unassuming
start.} 1-0
[/pgn]
In December of 2021 Camberley Chess Club (ECF Club of the Year for 2021) had Jim as an invited guest to one of their Tuesday evening Zoom calls. Here is a taster of the full video:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RaRDp5-0BI[/embedyt]
James Plaskett almost became a millionaire
