The Hawk v Rest of the World
Here's the full game (so far) in our fascinating correspondence game with Jonathan Hawkins (The Hawk).
Game On!
Our worldwide online correspondence game, featuring Jonathan (The Hawk) Hawkins against the Rest of the World, is now under way!
Moves so far...
1 d2-d4 Ng8-f6
(The move with the most votes from the Rest of the World! 1...d7-d5 was the other major choice.)
2 c2-c4 e7-e6
(The biggest vote winner for the RoW. 2...Ne4 and 2...Nc6 were popular choices too.)
3 Nb1-c3 Bb4
(The famous Nimzo-Indian Defence - one of Black's best defences. Voted for by you, the Rest of the World!)
4 Qc2
(The Hawk goes for one of the most popular main lines.
4...d5
5 cxd5 exd5
6 Bg5 h6
(The most popular move by the Rest of the World. Black tries to tempt the Bishop to break the annoying pin on the Knight.)
7 Bh4
(Maintaining the pin, thus keeping up the pressure)
The Rest of the World now opted for:
7 ... c5
Black wants to attack White's centre as soon as possible. Both sides need to be careful here as there is a lot of tension developing and the Knights look usefully placed but are pinned out of action for the time being.
The Hawk has replied with 8 dxc5
The Rest of the World now played 8...g5. The idea is to break the pin on the Knight so it has the option of reinforcing the pin on the White Knight with a subsequent ...Ne4.
The Hawk replied with the forced move: 9 Bg3
Black played 9...Ne4. This puts more pressure on the Knight on c3, which cannot move due to the pin by the Bishop. Black is hoping to apply more pressure by bringing his out to either f6 or a5.
The Hawk replied: 10 e3 This makes way for the Knight on g1 to hop out to e2 to add protection to the pinned Knight. It also prepares to develop the Bishop from f1 and takes away Black's option of pushing the pawn to d4.
Now 10...Na6, 10...Bf5, 10...Qf6, 10...Bxc3+ and 10...Bxc5 all attracted a number of votes but the winner was 10...Qa5. Black not only keeps up the pressure on the pinned but manages to increase it. White replied by adding further protection to the pressure point with 11 Ne2
This position hit the headlines in 1993 when Nigel Short played it as Black in a World Championship match against Garry Kasparov.
11 Ne2 was Kasparov's improvement over an earlier game in which he had tried 11 Be5 and Short had drawn quite easily.
It will be interesting to see how much further this game will travel into mainline ches opening theory! There must be a new move ('a novelty') coming soon, but when will it be?
Black chose 11 ...Bf5. Now there are serious threats such as 12..Nxg3, discovering an attack on the White Queen and attacking a Rook at the same time.
Thus The Hawk felt inclined to move his Bishop and played: 12 Bxb8 so we now have a very complicated position.
12...Rxb8 13 Nd4 Attacking the Bishop! The two most popular moves, as voted for for by The Rest of the World, were: 13 ...Bg6 (keeping the threats against the White Queen) and 13 ...Bd7, protecting the Black King. The latter was the top scorer after the voting was completed.
13...Bd7
And now The Hawk replied with 14 Bd3
There is lots of pressure on the Ne4 but Black has a three-way attack on the Nc3! What is going on here? Black played 14...Nxc3 and White castled 15 0-0.
Latest Moves (29/2/2008)
The Rest of the World opted for: 15 ...Qxc5
The Hawk replied with 16 a3
Black's Bishop and Knight are both under attack. However, Black is temporarily a piece ahead and can afford to give one back without ending up in a losing position.
The Rest of the World opted for: 16...Ba5
Black has retreated the Bishop,allowing The Hawk to take the Knight if he so wishes.
Instead, he played 17 b4, forking the Queen and Bishop. But don't firget: Black is a piece ahead and can afford to give one back to get rid of some of the pressure.
The Rest of the World played 17...Bxb4, giving back the extra piece but selling it for a price of two pawns. The Hawk replied with the natural 18 axb4, giving us this position... 
Join in our fascinating clash. Can one man outplay the Rest of the World? Add your vote and follow the action here! The diagram shows the current position.
Now it's up to you!
What should Black play here?
How To Vote For The Next Move
Yes - absolutely anyone from Novice to Grandmaster can vote for the next move!
The most popular suggested move will then be played on the online board.
The Hawk will reply by the end of every weekend and then the process will start all over again.
If the move is forced - for example, there is only one possible move to get out of check, then I will play the move without waiting for the vote
There are several ways to register your suggested move.
The most suitable method for most of you will be to send it via email to me at:
chesslinksproject@hotmail.co.uk
I will see a lot of you through the week on my normal 'rounds' so I will be able to take some votes directly.
Closing date for votes: 6.00 p.m. Thursday 20th March
You don't need to give any further details if you don't want to, but you are very welcome to pass comment on the moves and the way the game is going. I will present some of your comments here.
Members of the Marsh Towers forum will able to cast their votes in a special thread there too.
Bogus votes, including multi-voting by individuals, will be deleted