Isle of Man International 2017

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

Isle of Man International 2017

September 24, 2017

Further Round Two games

Round 2, Sept. 24, 2017
Naiditsch, Arkadij (2702) – Hambleton, Aman (2479)
C42 Petrov, Classical Attack, Chigorin variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Be7 7.O-O Nc6 8.Re1 Bf5 9.Nc3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 O-O 12.Rb1 Na5 13.Re2 c6 14.Bf4 Bf6 15.Rbe1 Nc4 16.h3 h6 17.Nh2 Bg5 18.Bxg5 Qxg5 19.Ng4 Nd6 20.Re5 Qg6 21.Qg3 Rae8 22.Rxe8 Rxe8 23.Rxe8+ Nxe8 24.Qb8 Qe6 25.Kf1 Qe7 26.Qxa7 f6 27.Ne3 Nd6 28.Qc5 Qe6 29.a4 Kh7 30.a5 Nf5 31.c4 Nxe3+ 32.fxe3 Qxe3 33.cxd5 Qf4+ 34.Ke2 Qe4+ 35.Kd1 cxd5 36.g4 Qh1+ 37.Kd2 Qxh3 38.Qc8 h5 39.Qf5+ Kh8 40.Qxh5+ Qxh5 41.gxh5 Kg8 42.c4 dxc4 43.Kc3 Kf7 44.Kxc4 f5 45.Kd3 Kf6 46.Ke3 Kg5 47.d5 f4+ 48.Ke4 Kg4 49.d6 f3 50.Ke3 Kg3 51.d7 f2 52.d8=Q f1=Q 53.Qg5+ Kh3 54.Qxg7 Qe1+ 55.Kf3 Qd1+ 56.Kf4 Qd2+ 57.Kf5 Qd3+ 58.Kg5 Qe3+ 59.Kg6 Qe4+ 60.Kh6 Qe3+ 61.Qg5 Qe6+ 62.Kg7 Qd7+ 63.Kf8 Qc8+ 64.Ke7 Qc7+ 65.Ke8 Qc8+ 66.Kf7 Qd7+ 67.Kf8 Qc8+ 68.Kg7 Qd7+ 69.Kh6 Qe6+ 70.Qg6 Qe3+ 71.Kh7 Qe7+ 72.Kg8 Qd8+ 73.Kg7 Qe7+ 74.Qf7 Qe5+ 75.Kg8 Qg3+ 76.Kf8 Qd6+ 77.Ke8 Qe5+ 78.Kd7 Qb5+ 79.Kc8 Qxa5 80.Qe6+ Kh4 81.h6 Qa8+ 82.Kd7 b5 83.Ke7 b4 84.h7 Qa7+ 85.Qd7 Qe3+ 86.Kf7 Qf4+ 87.Ke8 1-0

Good grief! Another queen and pawns endgame.

The position after White’s 53d move:



I understand that Eric Hansen is not playing so that he can help Aman get his third grandmaster norm
________

Round 2, Sept. 24, 2017
Piasetski, Leon (2286) – Brunello, Sabino (2555)
A05 Reti, King’s Indian Attack, Spassky’s variation

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 b5 3.Bg2 Bb7 4.O-O e6 5.d3 c5 6.e4 d6 7.Nh4 Nc6 8.f4 Be7 9.Nd2 Qb6 10.Kh1 h6 11.f5 e5 12.a4 b4 13.Nc4 Qc7 14.Ne3 Na5 15.Nd5 Bxd5 16.exd5 c4 17.dxc4 Nxc4 18.b3 Nb6 19.a5 Nbd7 20.Nf3 O-O 21.Nd2 Rab8 22.Nc4 Rb5 23.Rf2 Nc5 24.Bb2 Nfd7 25.Qf1 Rfb8 26.Rd1 a6 27.Bc1 Nb7 28.Be3 Nxa5 29.Nxa5 Rxa5 30.f6 Nxf6 31.Rxf6 Bxf6 32.Be4 Qe7 33.Bxh6 gxh6 34.Qf5 Bg7 35.Rf1 Rc5 36.Qh7+ Kf8 37.Bg6 Rb7 0-1

Round 2, Sept. 24, 2017
Hou Yifan (2670) – Paehtz, Elisabeth (2453)
C88 Ruy Lopez, Closed

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.a4 Nd4 12.Nxd4 exd4 13.axb5 axb5 14.Rxa8 Bxa8 15.Na3 Bb4 16.Bd2 Bxd2 17.Qxd2 Qd7 18.Qg5 h6 19.Qe5 c5 20.Nxb5 Qxb5 21.Bxd5 Qxb2 22.Bxa8 Rxa8 23.Qxc5 Ra1 24.Rxa1 Qxa1+ 25.Kh2 g6 26.Kg3 h5 27.Kh4 Qa8 28.f3 Qd8+ 29.Kg3 Qb8+ 30.f4 Qb2 31.Kh4 Qb7 32.Kg5 Kh7 33.Kf6 Qd7 34.f5 Kg8 35.g4 hxg4 36.hxg4 gxf5 37.gxf5 Qd8+ 38.Qe7 Qb6+ 39.Kg5 Qa6 40.Qe4 Kh7 1-0

Round 2, Sept. 24, 2017
Sokolov, Ivan (2603) – Vignesh, B. (2260)
A61 Benoni, Nimzowitsch (Knight’s tour) variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5 g6 7.Nd2 Bg7 8.e4 O-O 9.Be2 a6 10.a4 Re8 11.O-O Nbd7 12.Qc2 Ne5 13.h3 g5 14.f4 gxf4 15.Rxf4 Bh6 16.Rf1 Be3+ 17.Kh1 Nfg4 18.Nd1 Rb8 19.Ra3 Qg5 20.Bxg4 Nxg4 21.Nf3 1-0

Round 2, Sept. 24, 2017
Kramnik, Vladimir (2803) – Balint, Vilmos (2281)
A80 Dutch, King’s Knight

1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 b6 5.O-O Bb7 6.c4 Be7 7.Nc3 O-O 8.b3 Qe8 9.Bb2 Qh5 10.d5 Na6 11.Nd4 Nc5 12.Qxh5 Nxh5 13.Be2 Nf6 14.dxe6 dxe6 15.b4 Nce4 16.Nxe6 Rfc8 17.Nxe4 Bxe4 18.Rfd1 Bxb4 19.c5 Kf7 20.Bc4 Ke7 21.f3 b5 22.Bb3 Bc2 23.Nxg7 Bxd1 24.Nxf5+ Ke8 25.Rxd1 Nd7 26.Ng7+ Ke7 27.Rd4 Bxc5 28.Re4+ 1-0

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

Isle of Man International 2017

September 24, 2017

Round Two

Magnus Carlsen’s Round Two opponent:

Eugene Perelshteyn (born 1980) is a chess grandmaster and author. He earned the International Master title in 2001 and the Grandmaster title in 2006. He won the U.S. Junior Closed Championship in 2000.

In 2001, Perelshteyn was awarded the Samford Chess Fellowship by the US Chess Trust. After taking two years off from school to play chess professionally, Perelshteyn returned to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and graduated in 2004.

There was talk of him having an advantage over Magnus in the early game but he couldn’t keep up the good moves and the World Champion ground him down.

Jonas Lampert, the 20-year-old German master, drew with Vishy Anand.

A selection of games from the top boards

Round 2, Sept. 24, 2017
Perelshteyn, Eugene (2524) – Carlsen, Magnus (2827)
B07 Pirc-Robatsch

1.d4 g6 2.e4 d6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Be3 a6 5.Nf3 b5 6.Bd3 Nd7 7.e5 Bb7 8.e6 fxe6 9.Ng5 Nf8 10.O-O Qd7 11.Re1 Nf6 12.a4 b4 13.Na2 Qxa4 14.Qe2 h6 15.Nf3 Kf7 16.Bd2 b3 17.Nc3 Qd7 18.cxb3 Rb8 19.Ra3 Nd5 20.Ne4 Kg8 21.h4 Qe8 22.Bxa6 Bxa6 23.Qxa6 Bf6 24.Qc4 Nd7 25.Nc3 N7b6 26.Qe2 Qf7 27.Ne4 Rf8 28.Nxf6+ exf6 29.Qxe6 Qxe6 30.Rxe6 Kf7 31.Re1 Rb8 32.Rc1 Nc8 33.Ne1 Nce7 34.Nd3 g5 35.hxg5 hxg5 36.b4 Rh4 37.Bc3 Rbh8 38.g3 Rh1+ 39.Kg2 R8h2+ 40.Kf3 g4+ 41.Kxg4 Rxc1 42.Nxc1 Rxf2 43.Be1 f5+ 44.Kh3 Rxb2 45.Nd3 Rc2 46.b5 Nf6 47.Rb3 Re2 48.b6 cxb6 49.Rxb6 Ne4 0-1

Round 2, Sept. 24, 2017
Lubbe, Nikolas (2515) – Caruana, Fabiano (2799)
E43 Nimzo-Indian, Fischer variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Bd3 Bb7 6.Nf3 O-O 7.O-O d5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.a3 Bd6 10.b4 Nbd7 11.Qb3 a6 12.a4 Re8 13.Ba3 Qe7 14.b5 c6 15.bxc6 Bxc6 16.Rfc1 g6 17.h3 Bb7 18.Bxd6 Qxd6 19.a5 b5 20.Bxb5 axb5 21.Nxb5 Qe7 22.Nc7 Ba6 23.Nxe8 Qxe8 24.Rc6 Kg7 25.Qa4 Qb8 26.Rcc1 Ra7 27.Rab1 Qe8 28.Ra1 Qe7 29.Qc6 h6 30.Nd2 Bb7 31.Qb5 Ba6 32.Qc6 h5 33.Nb3 Bc4 34.Nd2 Bd3 35.Qc8 Ne4 36.Nxe4 Bxe4 37.f3 Bd3 38.Kf2 Bc4 39.Rcb1 h4 40.Qc6 Ra6 41.Qc7 Re6 42.Rb7 Ba6 43.Rb3 Kh7 44.Rab1 Kg7 1/2-1/2

Round 2, Sept. 24, 2017
Lampert, Jonas (2514) – Anand, Vishy (2794)
B18 Caro-Kann, Classical variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.c3 Nd7 7.Nf3 e6 8.Bd3 Ngf6 9.O-O Be7 10.Re1 O-O 11.Bxg6 hxg6 12.Bg5 c5 13.Qe2 cxd4 14.Nxd4 Re8 15.a3 Qb6 16.Rad1 Rac8 17.Nf3 Red8 18.Ne4 Nc5 19.Nxc5 Qxc5 20.Rxd8+ Rxd8 21.Rd1 Rxd1+ 22.Qxd1 a6 23.h3 Ne4 24.Bxe7 Qxf2+ 25.Kh2 Qg3+ 26.Kg1 Qf2+ 27.Kh2 Qg3+ 28.Kg1 Qf2+ 1/2-1/2

Round 2, Sept. 24, 2017
Nakamura, Hikaru (2781) – Olafsson, Heigi (2512)
A05 Reti, King’s Indian Attack

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.b3 Bg7 4.Bb2 c5 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.c4 d6 7.O-O e5 8.Nc3 O-O 9.e3 Re8 10.d3 Rb8 11.Ne1 a6 12.Nc2 Bg4 13.Qd2 Qd7 14.Nd5 Bh3 15.Nb6 Qe6 16.f4 exf4 17.gxf4 Ne4 18.dxe4 Bxg2 19.Qxg2 Bxb2 20.Rad1 Bg7 21.f5 Qxe4 22.fxg6 hxg6 23.Rxd6 Qxg2+ 24.Kxg2 Rbd8 25.Rfd1 Rxd6 26.Rxd6 Rd8 27.Rd7 f5 28.Ne1 Bh6 29.Kf2 f4 30.e4 Re8 31.Nd5 Bg7 32.Rxb7 Rxe4 33.Nf3 Nd4 34.Rb8+ 1-0

Round 2, Sept 24, 2017
Praggnanandhaa, R (2500) – Adams, Michael (2738)
C50 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 O-O 6.h3 d6 7.c3 Ne7 8.Re1 Ng6 9.Nbd2 Bb6 10.Bb3 c6 11.d4 Re8 12.Bc2 Be6 13.Nf1 exd4 14.cxd4 d5 15.e5 Ne4 16.N1d2 f5 17.exf6 Nxd2 18.Bxd2 Qxf6 19.Bg5 Qf7 20.Qd3 Rf8 21.Nh4 Rae8 22.Nxg6 Qxg6 23.Qxg6 hxg6 24.Bxg6 Bxd4 25.Bxe8 Bxf2+ 26.Kh2 Bxe1 27.Rxe1 Rxe8 28.b4 b6 29.Re3 c5 30.bxc5 bxc5 31.Ra3 d4 32.Rxa7 c4 33.Re7 Rxe7 34.Bxe7 c3 35.Bb4 Kf7 36.Kg3 Bd5 37.Kf4 Ke6 38.g4 Bc6 39.h4 Kd5 40.h5 Kc4 41.Bf8 d3 42.Bxg7 c2 0-1

Round 2, Sept. 24, 2017
Xiong, Jeffery (2633) – Kojima, Shinya (2403)
D12 QGD Slav

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bd2 e6 7.Nh4 Bg4 8.Qb3 b5 9.cxd5 exd5 10.h3 Be6 11.Qc2 g6 12.Nf3 Nbd7 13.Bd3 c5 14.dxc5 Nxc5 15.Nd4 Rc8 16.Rd1 Bd6 17.a3 O-O 18.b4 Nxd3+ 19.Qxd3 Rc4 20.O-O Bb8 21.f4 Qc7 22.Nce2 Rc8 23.Bc1 Ne4 24.Bb2 Qd6 25.Ba1 Bc7 26.Nf3 Bb6 27.Ne5 Rc2 28.Nd4 R2c7 29.f5 Qxe5 30.Nxb5 Nc3 31.Nxc3 Rxc3 32.fxe6 fxe6 33.Bxc3 Qxe3+ 34.Kh1 Rxc3 35.Qxa6 1-0

Simon showed the conclusion of this Shirov game because he liked the knight plumped down on c1.

Round 2, Sept. 24, 2017
Woellermann, Jan (2384) – Shirov, Alexei (2630)
D11 QGD Slav

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6.g4 Bg6 7.Ne5 e6 8.Nd2 Nbd7 9.Nxg6 hxg6 10.Bg2 Bd6 11.O-O O-O 12.h4 dxc4 13.Nxc4 Bc7 14.b3 Nd5 15.g5 b5 16.Nd2 Qe7 17.Nf3 e5 18.dxe5 Nxe5 19.Bb2 Rad8 20.Qe2 Ng4 21.Rfe1 Ba5 22.Red1 Bb6 23.Bd4 c5 24.Bb2 c4 25.Bd4 Nf4 26.Qc2 Nd3 27.Bxb6 axb6 28.bxc4 Ngxf2 29.Rd2 Nb4 30.Qb3 bxc4 31.Qxc4 Nfd3 32.Re2 Rc8 33.Qd4 Nc1 0-1

Final position in Woellermann-Shirov




Round Two results and Round Three pairings to follow

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

Isle of Man International 2017

September 23, 2017

Round One games (continued)

Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
L’ami, Alina (2286) – Sokolov, Ivan (2603)
E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d6 5.Bd2 Qe7 6.e3 Nbd7 7.a3 Bxc3 8.Bxc3 e5 9.O-O-O a6 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.Nf3 O-O 12.g4 Nxg4 13.Rg1 Ngf6 14.Qf5 Re8 15.Bd3 g6 16.Bc2 e4 17.Nd2 Ne5 18.Qf4 Neg4 19.Nxe4 Nh5 20.Qf3 f5 21.Ng3 Ng7 22.e4 f4 23.Nf5 gxf5 24.exf5 Nf6 25.Rde1 Qf7 26.Rxg7+ Kxg7 27.Qg4+ Kf8 28.Bb4+ Re7 29.Qxf4 Ng8 30.f6 Ke8 31.Bxe7 Be6 32.Qe5 Kd7 33.Rd1+ Ke8 34.Qxc7 Nxe7 35.fxe7 Qxe7 36.Ba4+ Kf8 37.Qf4+ Qf7 38.Qh6+ Ke7 39.Qh4+ Kf8 40.Rd4 Rc8 41.Bc2 Rxc4 42.Rd8+ Kg7 43.Qxh7+ Kf6 44.Qh6+ Ke5 45.Qe3+ Kf6 46.Rd4 Rxd4 47.Qxd4+ Ke7 48.f4 Qh5 49.Qb4+ Ke8 50.Qe4 1-0

Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
Mueller, Philipp (2220) – Tari, Aryan (2588)
A20 English, Kingside Fianchetto

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c6 4.Nf3 e4 5.Nd4 d5 6.Nc3 dxc4 7.Nc2 Bc5 8.Ne3 O-O 9.Qc2 Be6 10.Nxe4 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 f5 12.Bf3 Na6 13.O-O Nb4 14.Qb1 f4 15.gxf4 Rxf4 16.Be4 Qg5+ 17.Kh1 Bxe3 18.Bxh7+ Kh8 19.dxe3 Rh4 20.f4 Qg3 0-1

Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
Ju, Wenjun (2574) – Balinto, Vilmos (2281)
87 Dutch, Leningrad, Modern main line

1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.O-O O-O 6.c4 d6 7.Nc3 Qe8 8.Nd5 Nxd5 9.cxd5 c6 10.dxc6 bxc6 11.d5 c5 12.Ng5 Na6 13.h4 Rb8 14.Rb1 Nc7 15.Qc2 h6 16.Nh3 e5 17.dxe6 Bxe6 18.b3 Bf7 19.Rd1 Nb5 20.Bb2 Nd4 21.Bxd4 cxd4 22.Nf4 Rc8 23.Qd2 Rc5 24.Rbc1 Qb5 25.Rxc5 dxc5 26.Rc1 Rd8 27.e4 d3 28.exf5 gxf5 29.Bf1 Be5 30.Nxd3 c4 31.bxc4 Bxc4 32.Qxh6 Rxd3 33.Qg6+ Kf8 34.Rxc4 Rd1 35.Qxf5+ Ke7 36.Qe4 Kd6 37.Kg2 Qd5 38.Qxd5+ Rxd5 39.Rc2 a5 40.a4 1-0

Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
Kolbus, Dietmar (2320) – Praggnanandhaa, R. (2500)
D24 QGA

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.d4 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e3 a6 6.a4 b6 7.Bxc4 Bb7 8.O-O Bb4 9.Qe2 O-O 10.Na2 Bd6 11.Rd1 Qe7 12.b3 c5 13.Bb2 cxd4 14.exd4 Nc6 15.Bc3 Rfe8 16.Ne5 Nd5 17.Qd2 Nxc3 18.Nxc6 Bxh2+ 19.Kf1 Bxc6 20.Nxc3 Qh4 21.Qe3 Bf4 22.Qh3 Qxh3 23.gxh3 Bd7 24.Kg2 Rec8 25.Kf3 Bd6 26.Ke3 Be7 27.f4 Be8 28.Ra2 Bb4 29.Ne4 Kf8 30.d5 exd5 31.Bxd5 Ra7 32.Rd4 a5 33.f5 Rc1 34.Kf3 Rd7 35.Re2 Rf1+ 36.Rf2 Rxf2+ 37.Kxf2 Re7 38.Kg3 Rd7 39.Kf4 Ke7 40.Rd3 f6 41.Nf2 Bc5 42.Nd1 g6 43.Nb2 gxf5 44.Rd2 Bg6 45.Nc4 Bd6+ 46.Nxd6 Rxd6 47.Re2+ Kf8 48.Bc4 Rd4+ 49.Kg3 f4+ 50.Kf2 Bf7 51.Rc2 Bxc4 52.bxc4 Ke7 53.c5 bxc5 54.Rxc5 Rxa4 55.Rh5 Kf7 56.Rxh7+ Kg6 57.Ra7 Ra3 58.Ra8 a4 59.Ra5 Ra1 60.h4 a3 61.h5+ Kh6 62.Ra6 a2 63.Rxf6+ Kxh5 64.Rxf4 Rb1 65.Ra4 a1=Q 66.Rxa1 Rxa1 0-1

Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
Hambleton, Aman (2478) – Fenil, Shah (2362)
A07 Reti, King’s Indian Attack, Yugoslav variation

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2 Bg4 4.O-O Nd7 5.h3 Bh5 6.d3 Ngf6 7.Qe1 e5 8.e4 dxe4 9.dxe4 Be7 10.Nh4 O-O 11.Nf5 Bc5 12.Nd2 Bg6 13.Nb3 Bb6 14.a4 a5 15.Bd2 Bxf5 16.exf5 Re8 17.Rd1 Qc7 18.Qe2 h6 19.Qc4 e4 20.Bf4 Ne5 21.Qe2 Qc8 22.g4 Nd5 23.Bg3 Nd7 24.Kh2 Bc7 25.Nd4 Nf4 26.Qe3 Nd5 27.Qb3 Nc5 28.Qc4 Nd7 29.Ne2 N7f6 30.Rde1 h5 31.g5 h4 32.gxf6 hxg3+ 33.Nxg3 Nxf6 34.Bxe4 Nxe4 35.Rxe4 Qxf5 36.Kg2 Bxg3 37.Rxe8+ Rxe8 38.fxg3 Qe4+ 1/2-1/2

Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
Maloberti David (2132) – Piasetski, Leon (2286)
E11 Bogo-indian Defence

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 c5 5.e3 b6 6.a3 Bxd2+ 7.Qxd2 Bb7 8.Nc3 Bxf3 9.gxf3 cxd4 10.Qxd4 Nc6 11.Qd6 Qe7 12.Nb5 Qxd6 13.Nxd6+ Ke7 14.Rd1 Ne8 15.Nxe8 Rhxe8 16.Rg1 g6 17.Rg5 a6 18.f4 h6 19.Rg3 Ra7 20.e4 d6 21.Rb3 Rb8 22.Rbd3 Rd8 23.Be2 Rad7 24.Rh3 h5 25.f5 e5 26.fxg6 fxg6 27.Rg3 Kf6 28.Kd2 Nd4 29.Rdg1 Rg7 30.Bxh5 Rdg8 31.Bg4 Rh8 32.h3 a5 33.Rf1 g5 34.b3 Rc7 35.Rc3 Rb8 36.Rb1 b5 37.cxb5 Rxc3 38.Kxc3 Nxb5+ 39.Kb2 d5 40.exd5 e4 41.a4 Nd6 42.Kc3 Ke5 43.b4 Rb7 44.Rb2 Rc7+ 45.Kb3 Rb7 46.b5 Kxd5 47.Rd2+ Ke5 48.Rc2 Kd5 49.Rd2+ Ke5 50.Rc2 Kd5 51.Rd2+ 1/2-1/2

Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
Seyfried, Claus (2173) – Houska, Jovanka (2393)
B13 Caro-Kann, Panov-Botvinnik Attack

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Be6 7.c5 g6 8.Bb5 Bg7 9.Ne5 Qc8 10.Qa4 Bd7 11.O-O O-O 12.Re1 e6 13.b4 Nxe5 14.dxe5 a6 15.Bxd7 Nxd7 16.Bb2 a5 17.bxa5 Nxc5 18.Qd4 Rxa5 19.Rac1 b6 20.a4 Qa6 21.Ba3 Nb3 22.Qd1 Nxc1 23.Bxf8 Bxf8 24.Qxc1 Qc4 25.h3 Rc5 0-1

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

Isle of Man International 2017

September 23, 2017

Round One Results and Round Two Pairings

Bo. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg

1 GM Perelshteyn Eugene 2524 1 - 1 GM Carlsen Magnus 2827
2 IM Lubbe Nikolas 2515 1 - 1 GM Caruana Fabiano 2799
3 IM Lampert Jonas 2514 1 - 1 GM Anand Viswanathan 2794
4 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2781 1 - 1 GM Olafsson Helgi 2512
5 IM Praggnanandhaa R 2500 1 - 1 GM Adams Michael 2738
6 IM Visakh N R 2458 1 - 1 GM Eljanov Pavel 2734
7 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2716 1 - 1 GM Panchanathan Magesh Chandran 2481
8 GM Howell David W L 2701 1 - 1 IM Batsiashvili Nino 2472
9 IM Gaponenko Inna 2437 1 - 1 GM Short Nigel D 2698
10 IM Wallace John Paul 2413 1 - 1 GM Sutovsky Emil 2683
11 GM Leko Peter 2679 1 - 1 IM Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 2457
12 IM Degtiarev Evgeny 2412 1 - 1 GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2676
13 GM Fressinet Laurent 2657 1 - 1 IM Yankelevich Lev 2443
14 IM Roberson Peter T 2403 1 - 1 GM Granda Zuniga Julio E 2653
15 GM Grandelius Nils 2653 1 - 1 IM Zatonskih Anna 2424
16 IM Houska Jovanka 2393 1 - 1 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2652
17 GM Xiong Jeffery 2633 1 - 1 IM Kojima Shinya 2403
18 Woellermann Jan 2384 1 - 1 GM Shirov Alexei 2630
19 GM Bok Benjamin 2620 1 - 1 IM Eggleston David J 2400
20 IM Krishna C R G 2367 1 - 1 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2617
21 GM Bindrich Falko 2598 1 - 1 IM Bellin Robert 2344
22 GM Tari Aryan 2588 1 - 1 WGM Enkhtuul Altan-Ulzii 2327
23 IM Ledger Andrew J 2361 1 - 1 GM Ju Wenjun 2574
24 GM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan 2568 1 - 1 Ojas Kulkarni 2289
25 FM Jessel Stephen 2334 1 - 1 GM Lenderman Aleksandr 2565
26 FM Zwahr Paul 2306 1 - 1 GM Deac Bogdan-Daniel 2559
27 GM Swapnil S. Dhopade 2532 1 - 1 IM L'ami Alina 2286
28 FM Babar Michael 2130 1 - 1 GM Harika Dronavalli 2528
29 GM Kramnik Vladimir *) 2803 0 - 0 Balint Vilmos 2281
30 GM Gelfand Boris 2737 ½ - 1 Fischer Daniel 2100
31 GM Salomon Johan 2476 ½ - ½ GM Almasi Zoltan 2707
32 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2702 ½ - ½ IM Hambleton Aman 2479
33 IM Zumsande Martin 2471 ½ - ½ GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2702
34 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2695 ½ - ½ IM Basso Pier Luigi 2460
35 GM Rapport Richard 2675 ½ - ½ IM Kjartansson Gudmundur 2456
36 IM Kiewra Keaton 2433 ½ - ½ GM Movsesian Sergei 2671
37 Raja Harshit 2423 ½ - ½ GM Adhiban B. 2670
38 GM Hou Yifan 2670 ½ - ½ IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2453
39 Arjun Kalyan 2406 ½ - ½ GM Jones Gawain C B 2668
40 GM Riazantsev Alexander 2666 ½ - ½ GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2426
41 IM Harsha Bharathakoti 2394 ½ - ½ GM Akobian Varuzhan 2662
42 GM L'ami Erwin 2611 ½ - ½ GM Tarjan James 2412
43 GM Svane Rasmus 2595 ½ - ½ WGM Rapport Jovana 2327
44 Loos Roland 2393 ½ - ½ GM Timman Jan H 2573
45 FM Fenil Shah 2362 ½ - ½ GM Wagner Dennis 2564
46 IM Piasetski Leon 2286 ½ - ½ GM Brunello Sabino 2555
47 IM Watson John 2247 ½ - ½ GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2552
48 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V 2543 ½ - ½ FM Loew Gerald 2262
49 Heimisson Hilmir Freyr 2185 ½ - ½ GM Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag 2534
50 IM Brown Michael William 2499 ½ - ½ Maloberti David 2132
51 IM Nihal Sarin 2483 ½ - ½ CM Thilakarathne G M H 2053
52 GM Khmelniker Ilya 2480 ½ - ½ Harari Zaki 2027
53 GM Sokolov Ivan 2603 0 - 0 Vignesh B 2260
54 FM Yoo Christopher Woojin 2254 0 - 0 GM Bogner Sebastian 2599
55 GM Huschenbeth Niclas 2596 0 - 0 Mueller Philipp 2220
56 WIM Osmanodja Filiz 2245 0 - 0 GM Tregubov Pavel V. 2589
57 Allen Keith 2231 0 - 0 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2573
58 GM Pichot Alan 2565 0 - 0 FM Lorscheid Gerhard 2192
59 GM Donchenko Alexander 2559 0 - 0 Seyfried Claus 2173
60 IM Esserman Marc 2453 0 - 0 Coathup Roger H 2125
61 Player Edmund C 2202 0 - 0 GM Neelotpal Das 2448
62 IM Swayams Mishra 2444 0 - 0 Pranav Anand 2106
63 Oyama Akito 2198 0 - 0 WGM Shvayger Yuliya 2442
64 Birkisson Bardur Orn 2164 0 - 0 IM Trent Lawrence 2427
65 Bianco Valerio 2086 0 - 0 FM Rakesh Kumar Jena 2418
66 GM Arkell Keith C 2415 0 - 0 Kavinda Akila 2099
67 Byron Alan M 2074 0 - 0 IM Cornette Deimante 2404
68 Prueske Wolfgang 2046 0 - 0 IM Kavutskiy Konstantin 2390
69 IM Karavade Eesha 2384 0 - 0 Kruse Janik 2096
70 Pranav V 2372 0 - 0 Burrows Martin P 2085
71 GM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan 2369 0 - 0 WIM Maroroa Sue 2083
72 Mai Aron Thor 2038 0 - 0 IM Hemant Sharma (del) 2342
73 WFM Zahn Alina 2025 0 - 0 FM Ragnarsson Dagur 2340
74 FM Paul Johannes 2335 0 - 0 Jonsson Gauti Pall 2011
75 Birkisson Bjorn Holm 2023 0 - 0 WIM Vaishali R 2329
76 IM Rathnakaran K. 2326 0 - 0 Nahnsen Kenneth 2011
77 WFM Frank Tena Dr. 2002 0 - 0 IM Kolbus Dietmar 2320
78 Dahl Baard 1974 0 - 0 IM Mannion Stephen R 2320
79 IM Rudolf Anna 2286 0 - 0 Acosta Mariano 1988

Hou Yifan's pairing? Tsk tsk.

- Isaac Steincamp - Wow! Tomorrow my coach, Eugene Perelshteyn, takes on Magnus Carlsen .. Good Luck, !'ll be rooting for you!

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

Isle of Man International 2017

September 23, 2017

Round One

The game of the day:

Isle of Man Masters 2017
Douglas
Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
Caruana, Fabiano – Kramnik, Vladimir
D36 QGD, Exchange, positional line

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.Qc2 h6 7.Bh4 Be7 8.e3 O-O 9.Bd3 Re8 10.Nge2 Nh5 11.Bxe7 Qxe7 12.h3 a5 13.a3 Nd7 14.Na4 Qh4 15.g3 Qd8 16.g4 Nhf6 17.Ng3 Nf8 18.O-O-O b6 19.Kb1 Bd7 20.Nf5 c5 21.dxc5 Bxa4 22.Qxa4 bxc5 23.Bb5 Re6 24.Qc2 Rb6 25.a4 Ne6 26.h4 Nc7 27.Qxc5 Nxb5 28.axb5 Qb8 29.g5 Rxb5 30.Qc2 Ne4 31.Ne7+ Kh8 32.Rxd5 Rxd5 33.Nxd5 Qe5 34.Rd1 Rd8 35.Rd4 Rxd5 36.Rxe4 Rd1+ 37.Ka2 Qd5+ 38.Qc4 hxg5 39.hxg5 Kh7 40.Qxd5 Rxd5 41.f4 Kg6 42.Rd4 Rb5 43.Ka3 Kf5 44.b3 f6 45.Ka4 Rb7 46.Rc4 Ra7 47.Rc5+ Ke4 48.Rxa5 Re7 49.gxf6 gxf6 50.Ra6 Kf5 51.Rd6 Ra7+ 52.Kb5 Rb7+ 53.Kc4 Rc7+ 54.Kd4 Rb7 55.e4+ Kxf4 56.Rxf6+ Kg5 57.Rf5+ Kg4 58.Kc4 Re7 59.Rd5 Kf4 60.e5 Kf5 61.b4 Ke6 62.b5 Ra7 63.b6 Rb7 64.Rb5 Kd7 65.Kd5 Kc8 66.e6 Kd8 67.Kc6 1-0


Position after White’s move 46:



________

Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
Carlsen, Magnus (2827) – Birkisson, Bardur Orn (2164)
E52 Nimzo-Indian

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.d4 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Nf3 b6 6.Bd3 Bb7 7.O-O d5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Ne5 Nbd7 10.f4 Ne4 11.Nxe4 dxe4 12.Bc4 Qe7 13.a3 Bd6 14.b4 Nf6 15.Bb2 c6 16.Qc2 b5 17.Bb3 a5 18.h3 axb4 19.axb4 Bxb4 20.Rxa8 Bxa8 21.Ra1 Nd5 22.Rxa8 Rxa8 23.Qxc6 Nc7 24.Bxf7+ Kh8 25.Qxe4 Rf8 26.d5 Rxf7 27.Nxf7+ Qxf7 28.Qxb4 Nxd5 29.Qxb5 Nxe3 30.Qb8+ Qg8 31.Bxg7+ Kxg7 32.Qe5+ Kf7 33.Qxe3 Qg6 34.Kh2 h5 35.Qb3+ Kf8 36.Qb8+ Kg7 37.Qe5+ 1-0

Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
Anand, Vishy (2794) – Esserman, Marc (2453)
B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nf3 Qc7 8.Bg5 Nbd7 9.a4 h6 10.Be3 b6 11.Nd2 Bb7 12.O-O Rc8 13.Bd3 Be7 14.Qe2 Ra8 15.Bc4 O-O 16.Rfd1 Rfc8 17.Bb3 Bf8 18.Kh1 Bc6 19.f3 Nc5 20.Bxc5 dxc5 21.Bc4 Qb7 22.Nf1 Ne8 23.Ne3 Nd6 24.Bd5 b5 25.Bxc6 Qxc6 26.Ncd5 bxa4 27.Ra2 Rab8 28.Rda1 Qb5 29.Qe1 a3 30.Rxa3 Qxb2 31.Rxa6 c4 32.h4 h5 33.Qg3 g6 34.R6a2 Qd4 35.Rd1 Qc5 36.Qxe5 Bg7 37.Qg5 Kh8 38.e5 Nb5 39.Ra4 Na3 40.Qf4 Kg8 41.e6 fxe6 42.Nf6+ Bxf6 43.Qxf6 Qxe3 44.Qxg6+ Kf8 45.Qf6+ Kg8 46.Rxa3 1-0

Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
Neelotpal, Das (2448) – Nakamura, Hikaru (2781)
B32 Sicilian, Labourdonnais-Loewenthal variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.N1c3 a6 7.Na3 Be7 8.Nc4 b5 9.Ne3 Nf6 10.a3 O-O 11.g3 Be6 12.Bg2 Qd7 13.Ncd5 Bd8 14.O-O Bxd5 15.Nxd5 Nxd5 16.Qxd5 Bb6 17.c3 Rac8 18.Bd2 Ne7 19.Qb3 Kh8 20.a4 Rc4 21.axb5 axb5 22.Ra6 Rb8 23.Rfa1 Ng8 24.Qc2 Nf6 25.Qd3 h6 26.Qe2 Ra4 27.b4 Rxa1+ 28.Rxa1 Ne8 29.Bf1 Nc7 30.Be3 Qc6 31.Bxb6 Rxb6 32.Qe3 Kg8 33.Ra5 Rb8 34.Be2 Rd8 35.Qd3 g6 36.h4 h5 37.Bf3 Kg7 38.Qe3 Rb8 39.Be2 Ne8 40.Qd3 Nf6 41.Bf3 Rc8 42.Ra3 Qb6 43.Ra1 Rc4 44.Re1 Qa6 45.Re3 Qc6 46.Kh2 Kf8 47.Kg1 Ke7 48.Kg2 Kf8 49.Kg1 Kg8 50.Kh2 Kh7 51.Qd2 Qa6 52.Be2 Rc7 53.Kg2 Kg7 54.Bf3 Qc6 55.Qd3 Rc8 56.Kh2 Ra8 57.Qd2 Ra1 58.Kg2 Qc4 59.Qe2 Qb3 60.Rd3 d5 61.exd5 e4 62.Bxe4 Qb1 63.Kh3 Ra2 64.Rd4 Qg1 65.Qxa2 Nxe4 0-1

Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
Eljanov, Pavel (2734) – Arkell, Keith (2416)
D90 Grunfeld, Schlechter variation

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 g6 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Bf4 a6 7.e3 Bg7 8.Be2 O-O 9.O-O Nc6 10.h3 b5 11.a4 b4 12.Na2 Qb6 13.Nc1 Ne4 14.Nb3 a5 15.Rc1 Ba6 16.Bxa6 Qxa6 17.Nc5 Nxc5 18.Rxc5 e6 19.Qc2 Rfc8 20.Rc1 Ne7 21.Bc7 Ra7 22.Nd2 Qb7 23.Nb3 Ra6 24.Nxa5 Qa7 25.Bb6 Qxb6 26.Rxc8+ Bf8 27.Nb3 Nxc8 28.a5 Qb5 29.Qxc8 Kg7 30.g3 Bd6 31.Kg2 Qd3 32.Qc2 Qxc2 33.Rxc2 Kf6 34.g4 Ke7 35.Rc8 Kd7 36.Rh8 Kc6 37.Rxh7 Ra7 38.Kf3 Kb5 39.Ke2 Ka4 40.Nd2 b3 41.h4 Bb4 42.h5 gxh5 43.gxh5 Bxa5 44.h6 1-0

Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
Kostenkiuk, Alexandra (2552) – Hou Yifan (2670)
B81 Sicilian, Scheveningen, Keres Attack

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.g4 h6 7.h3 Nc6 8.Be3 Bd7 9.f4 Be7 10.Nf3 d5 11.exd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 exd5 13.Bg2 d4 14.Nxd4 Bh4+ 15.Bf2 Qe7+ 16.Kf1 Bxf2 17.Kxf2 O-O-O 18.Qf3 Qc5 19.Rhd1 h5 20.gxh5 Be6 21.Qc3 Qxc3 22.bxc3 Rxh5 23.Nxe6 fxe6 24.Rxd8+ Kxd8 25.Rg1 Ne7 26.Bxb7 Rxh3 27.Bf3 Rh2+ 28.Rg2 Rxg2+ 29.Bxg2 Kc7 30.Ke3 Kd6 31.Kd4 Nf5+ 32.Ke4 Ng3+ 33.Kf3 Nf5 34.Ke4 Ng3+ 35.Kd3 Nh5 36.Ke3 Nf6 37.c4 Nd7 38.Kd4 Nc5 39.Bf3 Nd7 40.Bh5 Nc5 41.Be8 Nb7 42.a4 Nc5 43.a5 Nb7 44.c5+ Nxc5 45.Kc4 Na6 46.Bh5 Nc7 47.Bf3 Na6 48.Bg2 Nc7 49.Bb7 Ne8 50.Kd4 Nf6 51.Bf3 Nd7 52.Bg2 e5+ 53.fxe5+ Nxe5 54.a6 Nd7 55.Bf1 Nc5 56.Bb5 Ne6+ 57.Ke4 Kc5 58.Ke5 Nc7 59.Bd3 Kb6 60.Kd6 g5 61.Be2 Nb5+ 62.Ke5 Kxa6 63.Kf5 Kb6 64.Kxg5 Kc5 65.Kf4 Nc3 66.Ke3 a5 67.Kd2 Kb4 68.Bh5 a4 69.Kc1 a3 70.Bf7 Kc5 71.Bb3 Kd4 72.Bf7 Ke3 73.Bb3 Kd4 1/2-1/2

Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
Acosta, Mariano (1988) – Xiong, Jeffery (2633)
B23 Sicilian, Closed

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 Nc6 4.Bb5 Bd7 5.Nf3 g6 6.O-O Bg7 7.Bxc6 Bxc6 8.Qe1 Nf6 9.d3 Nd7 10.Bd2 b5 11.a4 b4 12.Nd1 O-O 13.Ra2 e6 14.b3 f5 15.Ng5 Qf6 16.c4 h6 17.Nf3 fxe4 18.dxe4 e5 19.g3 Rae8 20.Nf2 exf4 21.gxf4 Qe6 22.Bc1 Nf6 23.Bb2 Nxe4 24.Nxe4 Qxe4 25.Bxg7 Qxf3 26.Rxf3 Rxe1+ 27.Kf2 Kxg7 0-1

Round 1, Sept. 23, 2017
Harari, Zaki (2027) – Rodshtein, Maxim (2695)
B21 Sicilian, Smith-Morra Gambit

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 d3 4.Bxd3 Nc6 5.c4 g6 6.Nf3 Bg7 7.O-O d6 8.h3 Nf6 9.Nc3 O-O 10.Be3 Nd7 11.Rc1 Nde5 12.Be2 b6 13.Qd2 Bb7 14.Rfd1 Rc8 15.b3 Nxf3+ 16.Bxf3 Ne5 17.Be2 Nd7 18.Bh6 Nf6 19.Bxg7 Kxg7 20.Bf3 Qc7 21.h4 Qb8 22.h5 Rc5 23.h6+ Kg8 24.Nd5 Bxd5 25.exd5 Rfc8 26.Re1 R8c7 27.a4 Qf8 28.Qf4 a5 29.Qe3 Kh8 30.g4 Ng8 31.g5 f6 32.gxf6 exf6 33.Qf4 Re7 34.Kf1 Re5 35.Rxe5 dxe5 36.Qd2 Qd6 37.Rd1 Rc7 38.Bg2 g5 39.Bh3 Nxh6 40.Be6 Ng8 41.Qe2 Ne7 42.Qf3 Kg7 43.Qh5 Ng6 44.Bf5 Re7 45.Rd3 Nf8 46.Rh3 Kg8 47.Be4 Rg7 48.Bf5 Re7 49.Be4 Qd7 50.Rf3 Rf7 51.Bf5 Qe7 52.Rd3 Qd6 53.Rh3 Rg7 54.Rf3 Qd8 55.Rh3 Ra7 56.Rd3 Qd6 57.Rh3 Rf7 58.Be4 Qa3 59.Bf5 Re7 60.Qd1 Qd6 61.Qd3 Rg7 62.Rh6 g4 63.Qg3 Rg5 64.Be4 Kg7 65.Qh4 Qe7 66.d6 Qf7 67.d7 Qe7 68.Rxh7+ Nxh7 69.Qxh7+ Kf8 70.Qh8+ Rg8 71.Qh6+ Rg7 72.Qh8+ Rg8 73.Qh6+ Rg7 74.Qh8+ 1/2-1/2

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

Isle of Man International 2017

September 23, 2017

Round One

The commentators are Simon Williams and Fiona Steil-Antoni. There are good pictures of the playing hall but little stoppages in the transmission.

There are 29 boards “live”.

The first round pairings were generated randomly, and, of course, the two big surprises were Hou Yifan getting paired with Alexandra Kosteniuk after her complaint about only getting female opposition at Gibraltar last year and Caruana-Kramnik.

For the Candidates in Berlin, two of Caruana, So and Kramnik get in by average rating in December.

There is a wiki site tracking the players and places available for the Candidates:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2018

A funny tweet from Nigel Short: I thank the Lord for not pairing me with Black against Magnus Carlsen in the first round.

John Saunder’s blog of the pairings:

There is still an element of culture shock when it comes to this new development in chess. Super-GMs may have a few initial difficulties in adjusting to the culture of open tournaments, and, in the same way, officials who are used to dealing with large numbers of players when running opens have to acclimatise to having celebrity players rocking up to their control desks. These things, of course, take time, and so it was that yesterday, at the tournament venue, the following verbal exchange was heard as a player (we'll call him Mr X) approached the arbiter's desk...

Arbiter (seeing Mr X): "Have you come to register?"

Mr X: "Yes."

Arbiter: "Where are you from?"

Mr X: "Norway."

I can now reveal Mr X's true identity (if you hadn't already guessed) as Magnus Carlsen.

We all had a laugh about this on Twitter at the arbiter's expense. But all in good fun, certainly on my part. The man in question, chief arbiter Peter Purland, is a bit of legend in the UK and deservedly so. He is a retired schoolteacher and so popular with his former pupils in Liverpool that they've created a Peter Purland Appreciation Society. I'd certainly be proud to join this society as he is a top bloke and a great organiser, as any Gibraltar player who has travelled back and forth on a coach to Malaga will know. One of the great and endearing things about Peter is that he treats just about everyone he meets as if they were one of his school pupils, but in a good humoured way. (I'm hoping he doesn't read any of this as I stand to get a good, old-fashioned schoolmasterly clip round the ear if he does. And that's only if he likes it. If he doesn't, you'll soon be reading my obituary.)

Peter Purland: "Seriously? That bespectacled Norwegian kid is world champion? But he's not got his own appreciation society, I bet." (No, he didn't really say that.)

Incidentally, now I come to think of it, Magnus and Peter might well have met before, or very nearly. A few years ago Magnus came down for the end of the Gibraltar tournament to see some of his Norwegian mates who were playing there. Not sure of the year: I think this was after Magnus had won at Wijk, when he was already world number one but not yet world champion. After the tournament Peter Purland was, as always, organising the coaches back to Malaga Airport, for which the travellers were charged ten pounds each. The story goes that a certain random Norwegian who wasn't on the official coach list (let's call him Mr X) was smuggled onto one of these coaches without paying his ten pound fee. Mr X successfully hoodwinked the organiser and made his getaway back to Norway without paying. The story also goes that Peter is aware of this fact. So I might not be the only person getting an old-fashioned clip over the ear from the chief arbiter in the next few days.

The Man Behind the Random Pairing Idea is Unmasked

Moving on from random Norwegians to random pairings: yesterday evening the top eight players lined up on stage at the tournament hall to draw the names of their opponents from a tombola machine. But before describing the fun of the draw, let's first consider what was behind the move to a random pairing for round one. I can reveal here, exclusively, that it started some months ago with a conversation between tournament director Alan Ormsby and... let's just call him Mr Y for now.

During this telephone discussion, Mr Y expressed his dissatisfaction with certain aspects of Swiss tournaments. He found round one of traditional Swiss tournaments particularly tedious, with a long litany of mismatches and only the very occasional newsworthy David success against Goliath. Why, he asked rhetorically, was it axiomatic that the top players should be kept apart until the latter stages of a tournament? He empathised with chess scribblers and promoters who had to try and make reports of early rounds of Swisses interesting with so little useful material to work from. Why were pairings so slanted in favour of higher rated players anyway? It was no longer necessary to add sweeteners to attract strong players these days since the prize list was sufficient inducement in itself. Why were pairing regulations so complicated? He expressed the view that the regulations should be sufficiently simple so that they could be explained to the man in the street in five minutes. Alternation of colours - yes, of course - pairing with someone on the same or similar score - yes - but why all the other palaver? If random pairings make it a bit harder for norm seekers - tough. The world has enough titled players anyway, and this would compensate for the rating inflation that has made the gaining of titles too easy.

On and on Mr Y pontificated in his usual long-winded way. Only he usually does this in writing... and some of you might be starting to wonder whether Mr Y reminds you of the current writer. Well, I suppose it is time to come clean. I shall now out myself as Mr Y. Yes, I was responsible for the initial idea. Alan Ormsby thought it sounded interesting and took it away to discuss and work through with arbiters and officials. I rather thought that would be the last I heard of it - in reality I was only sounding off, like the grumpy old man I am turning into - but a few weeks later Alan phoned me back to say that they had checked it over and decided it was a runner. The implementation has been shorn of some of my wilder ideas, which is probably just as well. But if anyone wants a scapegoat for the random pairing idea I guess that will have to be me. I shall ascend to the verbal guillotine of Twitter with as much dignity as I can muster. "It's a far, far better thing I do...," etc, etc.

Round 1 Draw

First man to the tombola machine was number one seed Magnus Carlsen. His first job was to decide the colour of the top board pairing and he duly drew a white queen from the bag. (Thereafter the boards alternated colour for the leading players so no further colour draw was required.) Then he drew out the name of an Icelandic player, Bardur orn Birkisson, rated 2167. Master of ceremonies Mike Klein referred to him as "a fellow Scandinavian" but the world champion swiftly corrected him: "Iceland is not Scandinavia." Nice pairing for Magnus - I think he now owes me a tenner for my random pairings suggestion, just as he does the arbiter for that illicit coach journey (oops! I think I just blurted out the second Mr X's identity).

Next up was Vladimir Kramnik, who already knew he was going to be Black in the first round.

Vlad's face registers surprise - "Caruana..."

"... Fabiano!" Vlad Kramnik's surprise turns to amusement as he finds he is playing the number three seed.

Vlad Kramnik read out the name as it was given (surname first) on the slip of paper: "Caruana Fabiano!" and suddenly his faced was wreathed in smiles. Fabiano Caruana also grinned at the news. At least one person in the auditorium - namely me - was greatly relieved at their good-humoured reaction at being paired with the highest rated player remaining in the draw. Generally the players seemed to have reacted quite well to the random pairing idea. We shall have to see how they feel after the game. I might need a safe house. Any offers?

Vishy is paired with an IM from the USA. Arbiter Matthew Carr writes the name down, while Mike Klein asks the questions.

Vishy Anand was the next to step up and found he was paired with Marc Esserman, an IM from the USA. Vishy smiled as he was reminded that Esserman had held him to a draw last year in Gibraltar.

http://iominternationalchess.com

(Games and results from Round One to follow)

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

Isle of Man International 2017

September 22, 2017

First Round Pairings

Bo. Name Rtg Name Rtg

1 GM Carlsen Magnus 2827 - Birkisson Bardur Orn 2164
2 GM Caruana Fabiano 2799 - GM Kramnik Vladimir 2803
3 GM Anand Viswanathan 2794 - IM Esserman Marc 2453
4 GM Neelotpal Das 2448 - GM Nakamura Hikaru 2781
5 GM Adams Michael 2738 - Bianco Valerio 2086
6 GM Adhiban B. 2670 - GM Gelfand Boris 2737
7 GM Eljanov Pavel 2734 - GM Arkell Keith C 2415
8 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2573 - GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2716
9 GM Almasi Zoltan 2707 - GM L'ami Erwin 2611
10 GM Brunello Sabino 2555 - GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2702
11 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2702 - GM Svane Rasmus 2595
12 IM Hemant Sharma (del) 2342 - GM Howell David W L 2701
13 GM Short Nigel D 2698 - WIM Osmanodja Filiz 2245
14 Harari Zaki 2027 - GM Rodshtein Maxim 2695
15 GM Sutovsky Emil 2683 - FM Yoo Christopher Woojin 2254
16 IM Cornette Deimante 2404 - GM Leko Peter 2679
17 GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2676 - IM Rudolf Anna 2286
18 GM Timman Jan H 2573 - GM Rapport Richard 2675
19 GM Movsesian Sergei 2671 - IM Harsha Bharathakoti 2394
20 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2552 - GM Hou Yifan 2670
21 GM Jones Gawain C B 2668 - IM Brown Michael William 2499
22 GM Wagner Dennis 2564 - GM Riazantsev Alexander 2666
23 GM Akobian Varuzhan 2662 - IM Nihal Sarin 2483
24 FM Lorscheid Gerhard 2192 - GM Fressinet Laurent 2657
25 GM Granda Zuniga Julio E 2653 - Hopson Kevin Mike 1929
26 Coathup Roger H 2125 - GM Grandelius Nils 2653
27 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2652 - GM Huschenbeth Niclas 2596
28 Acosta Mariano 1988 - GM Xiong Jeffery 2633
29 GM Shirov Alexei 2630 - Birkisson Bjorn Holm 2023
30 Kavinda Akila 2099 - GM Bok Benjamin 2620
31 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2617 - GM Donchenko Alexander 2559
32 IM L'ami Alina 2286 - GM Sokolov Ivan 2603
33 GM Bogner Sebastian 2599 - IM Wallace John Paul 2413
34 IM Kavutskiy Konstantin 2390 - GM Bindrich Falko 2598
35 GM Tregubov Pavel V. 2589 - IM Krishna C R G 2367
36 Mueller Philipp 2220 - GM Tari Aryan 2588
37 GM Ju Wenjun 2574 - Balint Vilmos 2281
38 FM Ragnarsson Dagur 2340 - GM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan 2568
39 GM Lenderman Aleksandr 2565 - IM Karavade Eesha 2384
40 IM Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 2457 - GM Pichot Alan 2565
41 GM Deac Bogdan-Daniel 2559 - Prueske Wolfgang 2046
42 IM Kjartansson Gudmundur 2456 - GM Vishnu Prasanna. V 2543
43 GM Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag 2534 - Arjun Kalyan 2406
44 WGM Shvayger Yuliya 2442 - GM Swapnil S. Dhopade 2532
45 GM Harika Dronavalli 2528 - Oyama Akito 2198
46 Jonsson Gauti Pall 2011 - GM Perelshteyn Eugene 2524
47 IM Lubbe Nikolas 2515 - Player Edmund C 2202
48 IM Trent Lawrence 2427 - IM Lampert Jonas 2514
49 GM Olafsson Helgi 2512 - Byron Alan M 2074
50 IM Kolbus Dietmar 2320 - IM Praggnanandhaa R 2500
51 GM Panchanathan Magesh Chandran 2481 - FM Paul Johannes 2335
52 WGM Rapport Jovana 2327 - GM Khmelniker Ilya 2480
53 IM Hambleton Aman 2479 - FM Fenil Shah 2362
54 GM Tarjan James 2412 - GM Salomon Johan 2476
55 IM Batsiashvili Nino 2472 - GM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan 2369
56 GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2426 - IM Zumsande Martin 2471
57 IM Basso Pier Luigi 2460 - IM Kiewra Keaton 2433
58 Pranav Anand 2106 - IM Visakh N R 2458
59 IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2453 - Raja Harshit 2423
60 WGM Enkhtuul Altan-Ulzii 2327 - IM Swayams Mishra 2444
61 IM Yankelevich Lev 2443 - WFM Zahn Alina 2025
62 Vignesh B 2260 - IM Gaponenko Inna 2437
63 FM Rakesh Kumar Jena 2418 - Woellermann Jan 2384
64 Nahnsen Kenneth 2011 - IM Degtiarev Evgeny 2412
65 IM Kojima Shinya 2403 - Dahl Baard 1974
66 IM Mannion Stephen R 2320 - IM Roberson Peter T 2403
67 IM Eggleston David J 2400 - Pranav V 2372
68 Seyfried Claus 2173 - IM Houska Jovanka 2393
69 Loos Roland 2393 - IM Rathnakaran K. 2326
70 WIM Maroroa Sue 2083 - IM Ledger Andrew J 2361
71 IM Bellin Robert 2344 - WFM Frank Tena Dr. 2002
72 Burrows Martin P 2085 - FM Jessel Stephen 2334
73 WIM Vaishali R 2329 - FM Babar Michael 2130
74 Kruse Janik 2096 - FM Zwahr Paul 2306
75 Ojas Kulkarni 2289 - Allen Keith 2231
76 Maloberti David 2132 - IM Piasetski Leon 2286
77 FM Loew Gerald 2262 - Heimisson Hilmir Freyr 2185
78 CM Thilakarathne G M H 2053 - IM Watson John 2247

http://chess-results.com/tnr303618.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=1&wi=821

[David Ottosen]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

Alternatively the pairing system could be called "How to destroy a swiss tournament"
It will take several rounds to correct the imbalance where Joe Patz defeats Jack Fish in round one. What 'genius' came up with this idea?

I dunno but I can't wait to hear what Hou Yifan's reaction was to randomly drawing a female opponent in rd 1 :D:D:D

Anyways, its a 9 round swiss. Maybe it takes a few rounds to correct. The alternative is 50 boards of 400 pt mismatches, and it's nice to see someone trying something to get rid of that.

Sorry to hear that Eric has decided not to play.

[Vlad Dobrich]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

Sad to miss this year as I've moved off the Isle. Especially given their innovative first round pairing system this year - first round pairings will be done at random, not by swiss style. Theoretically, you could see Naka vs Magnus in round 1.

Alternatively the pairing system could be called "How to destroy a swiss tournament"
It will take several rounds to correct the imbalance where Joe Patz defeats Jack Fish in round one. What 'genius' came up with this idea?

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

Isle of Man International 2017

September 22, 2017

Notes from John Saunders

September 21, 2017

There are less than 48 hours to go as I write this, and it still seems like a dream that we're going to see the likes of Magnus Carlsen, Vishy Anand, Vlad Kramnik, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and many more famous chess players square up against each other at the Villa Marina on Saturday afternoon.

I've not yet seen any of the above names as yet, but I did nearly bump into Peter Leko in the hotel lift earlier. You'll recall that Peter was a heartbeat away from being world champion back in 2004, tying his title match with Vladimir Kramnik on 7-7 after Vlad managed to win the 14th game. That was the last match played under the traditional rule that, in the event of a tie, allowed the champion to retain his title. These days champs are on equal footing with their challengers and have to go toe to toe in a play-off. And yet Peter only ranks 17th in order of ratings at this tournament. That's a measure of how strong it is.

The other strong player I came across this morning was Emil Sutovsky, taking the air along the promenade. Emil and I had a nostalgic chat about the old Monarch Assurance Isle of Man tournament, which ran in Port Erin, Isle of Man, from 1992 to 2007, and which Emil won twice, in 1998 and 1999. Happy memories for him, and also for me as I worked at the Monarch tournament from 2001 to 2007 and came to love it and all the people who created it.

September 22, 2017

On Thursday 21 September, as a warm-up event before the start of the Chess.com Isle of Man Masters, there was a simul given by top rated woman player Hou Yifan of China against 15 players in the Villa Marina in Douglas.

Amongst the opponents met by the former women's world champion was the English IM Jack Rudd and the game ensued as follows:

IoM Simultaneous Display
Douglas
Sept. 21, 2017
Hou Yifan - Rudd, Jack
C54 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.O-O Be6 7.Bb5 Bd7 8.Nbd2 a6 9.Ba4 Qe7 10.Re1 Ba7 11.Nf1 O-O-O 12.b4 d5 13.exd5 Nxd5 14.Qb3 Nf6 15.Bxc6 Bxc6 16.Nxe5 Ng4 17.d4 Nxe5 18.Rxe5 Qd7 19.Bf4 f6 20.Ree1 Rhe8 21.h3 Qf5 22.Bg3 Bd5 23.c4 Bxd4 24.Rxe8 Rxe8 25.Rd1 1-0

(If 25...Bxg2 26. Kxg2 Qe4+ 27. Qf3 Qxf3+ 28. Kxf3 Rd8 etc)

http://iominternationalchess.com/news-media/news/170-postcard-from-the-isle-of-man.html

[David Ottosen]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

Sad to miss this year as I've moved off the Isle. Especially given their innovative first round pairing system this year - first round pairings will be done at random, not by swiss style. Theoretically, you could see Naka vs Magnus in round 1.

[Hans Jung]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

Good Luck and Good Skill Aman and Eric! Grab the opportunities!

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

000Isle of Man International 2017

September 18, 2017

Mike Klein at chess.com has a whole list of numbers relevant to the coming tournament.

https://www.chess.com/news/view/chess-com-isle-of-man-international-by-the-numbers-2366

Among them:

50,000 -- First prize, in pounds, in 2017.

4 -- Number of American Olympiad gold medalists that played last year.

After the "obvious" Caruana, So, and Nakamura, who was the fourth American gold medalist in 2016? Retired librarian GM James Tarjan, board four of the gold-medalist 1976 team.

70 -- Number of grandmasters. That's about one for every three square miles on the island, or about five percent of the world's supply of living GMs.

14 -- Number of airports serving Isle of Man with at least one direct flight.

29 -- The all-time record high temperature in Celsius.

32 -- Number of miles the island is long.

The Isle of Man's history museum claims the British Isles are an extension of the Appalachian Mountains, before they broke off from modern-day Canada.

36 -- Number of federations represented.

38 -- Number of grandmasters above 2600, up from 25 last year.

100 -- Percent chance that commentator GM Simon Williams will switch the broadcast's featured game to the first player to advance h4
_________

After reading a book recently by Ivan Sokolov, I think I would pay to see him here in a game against Aman Hamilton! The two opposing World Cup commentators head-to-head, if you will.

The tourney starts September 23 at 1:30 PM local or 8:30 AM Montreal/Toronto time.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

Isle of Man International 2017

September 13, 2017

Countdown to the Isle of Man Masters

John Saunders reports: We're now just ten days away from the first round of the 2017 Chess.com Isle of Man Masters and the top end of the starting field is beginning to firm up.

As readers might already be aware, there is a slight overlap with the FIDE World Cup currently in progress in Tbilisi, Georgia, with many of the leading contenders in the FIDE world championship-qualifying event also scheduled to be playing here in Douglas, Isle of Man. However, given that the FIDE competition is a knock-out, it should only affect those players who make it through to the final match in Tbilisi.

So, if you look at the Masters line-up as listed on the website, you will see the words "subject to progress in World Cup" to the right of the relevant competitors' details. We're updating these details on a daily basis and you will note that it now only applies to four competitors, namely Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So, Maxim Rodshtein and Richard Rapport. Good luck to all four of those gentlemen in what has been an uncommonly bloodthirsty, though at the same time I hope they won't take it the wrong way if I express the hope to see them in ten days' time in Douglas.

This effectively confirms the participation in the Isle of Man Masters of the following big names: former world champions Vladimir Kramnik and Vishy Anand, plus Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Mickey Adams, Boris Gelfand... and I've not even exhausted the names of players who have played matches for the world title or have ratings currently in excess of 2700.

Late News Flash

Magnus Carlsen Coming

John Saunders reports: the summary of top-level entrants to the tournament, which I posted here this morning is already out of date! It has just been confirmed that reigning world champion and world number one Magnus Carlsen will play in the 2017 Chess.com Isle of Man Masters

http://iominternationalchess.com/players/masters.html?start=20

[Vlad Dobrich]

Re: Isle of Man International 2017

Wow 50,000 to the winner!
I played the 1985 British Championship of backgammon at the Isle of Man and won. The First Prize was 10,000 and a nice trophy. But then the prizes came solely from entry fees.The money was converted to $20,000 Cdn. Also cleaned out the casino at blackjack - at least they had to pay me with a large wad of 5 pound notes.
One regret I didn't know one of my favourite authors George MacDonald Fraser, was living there in Douglas. I would have visited him there had I known. He's died since then. He's famous for his Flashman series where the British army officer fights in every war between 1840 and 1880 Afghanistan, Crimea the Little Big Horn and survives somehow.