We send birthday wishes to GM Nick Pert born this day (January 22nd) in 1981.

Nick won the Southern Counties (SCCU) championship for the 2016-17 season sharing with Richard Bates.

Here is Nick’s Wikipedia entry

[pgn]
[Event “Hastings Masters op”]
[Site “Hastings”]
[Date “2007.12.30”]
[Round “3”]
[White “Pert, Nicholas”]
[Black “Dinger, Florian”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E12”]
[WhiteElo “2539”]
[BlackElo “2378”]
[Annotator “Pert,N”]
[PlyCount “97”]
[EventDate “2007.12.28”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “10”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “CBM 122”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2008.01.30”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2008.01.30”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,97,19,31,14,30,28,4,27,41,33,17,24,8,18,-2,24,3,15,-15,12,-2,3,-2,7,
-20,-16,-17,-10,15,16,-19,62,1,8,40,51,51,48,33,53,53,82,79,72,72,64,66,61,64,
72,64,75,65,69,65,79,71,59,54,61,51,52,43,58,39,56,54,46,48,70,65,81,44,81,80,
65,62,65,48,47,-15,-21,-17,-8,-116,-109,-114,-94,-88,233,311,397,396,414,407,
346,377,604,624]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. a3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5
7. e3 {The old main line is going through a mini-revival recently, so I
thought I would try and keep up with the trends. Here g6 is a popular move for
Black, but the game transposed to a more common variation which can also be
reached as follows:} (7. Qc2 Be7 8. e4 Nxc3 9. bxc3 O-O 10. Bd3 c5 11. O-O Qc7
12. Qe2 Nd7 13. Bb2) 7… Nd7 8. Bd3 c5 9. e4 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Qc7 11. O-O Be7 12.
Bb2 O-O 13. Qe2 {By a strange move order we have reached one of the main
positions of the Petrosian Variation of the Queen’s Indian.} Rac8 14. Nd2 {
One of Black’s main plans in this position is to close down the centre, and
hence limit the potential of White’s bishops by playing c4 and e5. This move
is designed to add more control to the c4 square, whilst readying kingside
expansion with f4.} Bg5 $5 {An interesting way to stop f4. Another alternative
is to put the queen on f4 before the pawn gets there! Then if White wants to
shift the queen he has to weaken the long diagonal with g3.} 15. Rad1 $146 {
This is technically a novelty, but according to my database the position has
been reached once before by transposition.} e5 $6 {Black goes for it and
challenges the centre right away. Rfd8 comes into consideration as a useful
alternative.} 16. Nf3 (16. d5 Bxd2 17. Qxd2 c4 {I expect this was his
intention, closing up the position, but probably White has slightly the better
of it with the bishop pair if he can find a way to activate them.}) 16… Bf6
17. Bb5 $1 {I don’t want Black to close me in with c4.} cxd4 18. cxd4 exd4 19.
Nxd4 Nc5 20. Nf5 $1 Bxb2 {This hands White a comfortable edge. The risky Bxe4
was the other option when white has the choice between 2 reasonable ways to
fight for the advantage.} (20… Bxe4 21. Nh6+ (21. Bxf6 Bxf5 22. Be7 Rfe8 23.
Bxe8 Rxe8 24. Bd6 {with a pull for White.}) 21… Kh8 22. Bxf6 gxf6 {is also
possible when Black has an extra pawn, but a weak king provides at least
sufficient compensation.}) 21. Qxb2 f6 22. Nd6 Rb8 {Forced.} (22… Rcd8 23.
Qa2+ Kh8 24. Nf7+ Rxf7 25. Qxf7 {Wins.}) 23. f3 $6 (23. e5 {I think e5 is
marginally preferable. This ensures that White’s king is safer than Black’s.
However the game continuation keeps a strong hold in the centre and blunts
Black’s bishop.}) 23… Kh8 $1 24. Rf2 Ba6 {Black is advised to swop his
bishop for White’s more active counterpart.} 25. Bxa6 Nxa6 26. Rfd2 Nc5 27. Qc3
(27. Rd5 {I wanted to continue with Rd5 and Qf2 -> kingside but Na4 would have
been irritating threatening a fork on c3.} Na4 28. Qb3 Nc3 29. Nb5 Nxb5 30.
Qxb5 Rbd8 $14) 27… h6 $1 {Black has found some strong moves, and the task of
converting the edge is not easy.} 28. h3 {I tried to look for a way to
consolidate my own king position, but it is not so simple with my pawn on f3.
Moving the f pawn around a castled king, can often leave it much more
vulnerable.} Kh7 {Black hopes to play Rbd8 without any Nf7+ problems.} 29. Kh1
Rbd8 30. Qc2 Kg8 31. Qc4+ Kh7 32. Qd5 Rd7 $6 {Probably Qd7 was better covering
the f5 square.} 33. Qf5+ Kg8 34. Qg6 $1 Ne6 $1 (34… Rfd8 {Black would love
to play this move but it fails tactically.} 35. Ne8 Rxd2 36. Rxd2 Rxd2 37.
Nxf6+ {And mate follows.}) 35. Qg4 Nc5 36. Qg6 Ne6 37. Qg4 {I repeated as my
time was getting low and I needed to make it to move 40.} Nc5 38. Rd5 $6 (38.
f4 $1 {Would have been stronger, ready to support the d6 knight with e5
against Rfd8 ideas. I rejected this based on a miscalculation.} Qc6 39. Nf5
Nxe4 40. Rxd7 Nf2+ 41. Kg1 Nxg4 42. Ne7+ {Wins for White, but Black could
fight on with 39…Rc7. In fact White would probably be best off playing 39.
Kh2 looking after the king – the most important feature of major piece
endgames.}) 38… Kh7 $1 39. h4 $2 {I start going wrong in time trouble.} (39.
Qf5+ Kg8 40. Qg6 Kh8 41. h4 {is a more accurate version of the same idea.})
39… Rfd8 $1 40. Nf5 $2 (40. Qf5+ Kg8 41. e5 {Still retains a slight edge.})
40… Rxd5 41. exd5 g6 $1 {The only move but a very important one. I’d seen
this and hoped that h5 might have maintained the initiative for White but…}
42. Ng3 (42. Qg3 {Moving to an equal ending was probably the best option, but
I was still after more.}) (42. h5 gxf5 43. Qg6+ Kh8 44. Qxf6+ Kg8 45. d6 Qd7 {
Looks at least ok for Black.}) 42… h5 $1 {Before White plays h5 – so now i’m
obliged to sacrifice a piece.} 43. Nxh5 gxh5 44. Qxh5+ Kg7 $4 {After a fine
series of moves, my young opponent finally cracks.} (44… Kg8 45. d6 (45. Qg6+
Qg7 46. Qf5 Rd7 {And Black is slightly better.}) (45. Rd4 Qh7 {is the point,
when the black king can hide on h8.}) 45… Rxd6 46. Qg6+ Kf8 47. Qh6+ Ke8 48.
Qg6+ Kd7 49. Rxd6+ Qxd6 50. h5 {It is still not over but Black has the better
chances.}) 45. Rd4 $1 {Now I think Black is lost, but he comes up with an
interesting last roll of the dice.} Ne6 46. Rg4+ $1 (46. Qg4+ $2 Ng5 47. hxg5
$4 Qc1+ 48. Kh2 Rh8+ 49. Kg3 Qe1+ 50. Kf4 Qe5#) 46… Kf8 47. Qh6+ $1 Ke7 (
47… Ng7 48. Qh8+ {Wins}) 48. Re4 $1 Rxd5 49. Qg7+ {And Black resigned since:}
(49. Qg7+ Kd6 (49… Kd8 50. Qg8+ Kd7 51. Qxe6+ Kd8 52. Qe8#) 50. Rxe6+ {
wins the queen.}) 1-0
[/pgn]

In 2021 Nick took first place for the first time at the Covid affected British Championships in Hull with 6.5/9 with a TPR of 2414 reducing his rating by 4.2 Elo points. His highest rated opponent was 2480 (Danny Gormally).

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