Isle of Man International 2018

[Hans Jung]

Nigel Short survived three monsters and now he gets Aronian as black. Sometimes the pairings go against you. What a workout.

[Hans Jung]

Jeffery Xiong draws against Nakamura! Congratulations.

[Wayne Komer]

Isle of Man International 2018

October 26, 2018

Round Seven

Extracts from John Saunders’ report on the round:


https://iominternationalchess.com

Another remarkable round at the Villa Marina saw the number of leaders increase by one – the same names as per the round six leader board, plus England’s perennial numero uno, Mickey Adams. There was some fantastic chess played, which it gives me great pleasure to report upon. Before we move on, let’s just record the seven leaders’ names for the record: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Poland), Wang Hao (China), Arkadij Naiditsch (Azerbaijan), Mickey Adams (England) and Jeffery Xiong (USA) all have 5½ out of 7.

The eagle-eyed amongst you might have spotted that those names are listed in descending ranking order. They are respectively the numbers 3, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15 and 29 in order of rating in this event. Of course, it is still by no means certain that one of them will turn out to be the ultimate winner of the tournament but with only two rounds to go it may be a tough ask for a player outside the top score group to overtake all seven of them. It is interesting that just three of the top ten rated players in the tournament should figure in the top score group and perhaps more so that Jeffery Xiong, ranked as low as 29th, should have risen to this height. His TPR so far is 2851, incidentally.

It might be worth looking back at the round seven scores in each of the past four years of the tournament, working back in time. Last year Magnus Carlsen had 6/7 at this stage and ran out the sole winner on 7½/9. In 2016 Pavel Eljanov had an extraordinary 6½/7 but shared the top final score of 7½/9 with Fabiano Caruana. In 2015 Pentala Harikrishna had 6/7 and was one of three players – the others were Gabriel Sargissian and Laurent Fressinet – who finished on 7. Finally, the inaugural Douglas tournament in 2014 saw four players tied on 5½/7, with Nigel Short winning his last two games to finish alone at the top on 7½. I think we have to hope that, this year, someone, or perhaps a couple of players, will make 7½, otherwise it will be a multiple car crash on 7.

__________

Gawain Jones... how does he do it? 102 moves his game against Richard Rapport lasted, and he spent about 70 of them looking like a dead man walking, written off by computer engines and pundits alike, but somehow he hung on for a 50-move rule draw, a piece for a pawn down, against one of the most creative and talented players in the world. I wasn’t present at the end, having sloped off to start work on my report, and was very pleasantly surprised to see ½-½ on the list of results when I fired up my computer again in my hotel room. I do hope there was a posse of loyal Brits there to see him do it, and form a guard of honour whistling the theme tune to ‘The Great Escape’ as he left the building. Jolly good show, old man.

MVL-Naditsch 0.5-0.5
Wang Hao-Wojtaszek 0.5-0.5
Artemiev-Kramnik 0.5-0.5
Sethuraman-Anand 0.5-0.5
So-Sevian 0.5-0.5

Round 7, Oct. 26
Nakamura, Hikaru – Xiong, Jeffery
A34 English, symmetrical, Three Knights System

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e3 Nc6 6.Bb5 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Bd7 8.Rb1 e6 9.d4 Be7 10.O-O O-O 11.Be2 Qc7 12.e4 Rfd8 13.Be3 Na5 14.Bd3 Rac8 15.h4 Be8 16.e5 cxd4 17.cxd4 Nc4 18.Ng5 h6 19.Ne4 Bc6 20.Qe2 b5 21.Rbc1 Bxe4 22.Bxe4 Bxh4 23.a4 a6 24.Bd3 Qb7 25.Bxc4 bxc4 26.Rxc4 Bg5 27.Rfc1 Rxc4 28.Rxc4 Bxe3 29.fxe3 Qb1+ 30.Kh2 Qb3 31.a5 Qb5 32.Qa2 Qd5 33.Ra4 Qe4 34.Qe2 Rc8 35.Rc4 Rb8 36.Qf2 Rb3 37.Rc7 Kh7 38.Rxf7 Rxe3 39.Rxg7+ Kxg7 40.Qf6+ Kh7 1/2-1/2

Round 7, Oct. 26
Rapport, Richard – Jones, Gawain
E60 King’s Indian

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.g3 c6 5.Bg2 d5 6.Qb3 O-O 7.O-O Qb6 8.Nc3 Rd8 9.Bd2 Be6 10.Na4 Qxb3 11.axb3 Nbd7 12.Rfc1 Ne4 13.Bb4 Nd6 14.e3 dxc4 15.bxc4 Nxc4 16.Bxe7 Re8 17.Bb4 Bd5 18.Nc3 Bxf3 19.Bxf3 a5 20.Ba3 Nxe3 21.fxe3 Rxe3 22.Kg2 Bxd4 23.Rd1 Ne5 24.Rxd4 Nxf3 25.Rd7 Ne1+ 26.Kf2 Rae8 27.Rad1 b6 28.Rd8 Nc2 29.R1d6 Nxa3 30.bxa3 b5 31.Rxe8+ Rxe8 32.Rxc6 b4 33.Nd5 Rd8 34.Rc5 bxa3 35.Rxa5 h5 36.Nc3 Rd2+ 37.Kg1 Rd4 38.Rxa3 h4 39.Ne2 Rd2 40.Kf2 hxg3+ 41.hxg3 Kg7 42.Kf3 Rd5 43.Nf4 Rb5 44.Ra7 Rb3+ 45.Kg4 Rb4 46.Kh3 Kg8 47.Nd5 Rb2 48.Nf6+ Kg7 49.Ne4 Re2 50.Nd6 Rf2 51.g4 Kf8 52.g5 Rf3+ 53.Kg4 Rf1 54.Kg3 Rg1+ 55.Kf4 Rf1+ 56.Ke5 Re1+ 57.Kd5 Rd1+ 58.Kc6 Rc1+ 59.Kd7 Rd1 60.Ra8+ Kg7 61.Kc6 Rc1+ 62.Kd5 Rd1+ 63.Ke5 Re1+ 64.Kf4 Rf1+ 65.Ke3 Rg1 66.Ne8+ Kf8 67.Nf6+ Ke7 68.Re8+ Kd6 69.Ne4+ Kd7 70.Re5 Re1+ 71.Kf2 Ra1 72.Nf6+ Kd6 73.Re3 Ra5 74.Kf3 Ra1 75.Kf4 Rf1+ 76.Rf3 Ra1 77.Ng8 Re1 78.Nh6 Ke7 79.Ng4 Kf8 80.Nf6 Kg7 81.Rh3 Rf1+ 82.Ke3 Rg1 83.Rh7+ Kf8 84.Rh8+ Ke7 85.Ne4 Ra1 86.Rc8 Re1+ 87.Kd4 Rd1+ 88.Ke5 Re1 89.Rc2 Kf8 90.Rc4 Kg7 91.Kd6 Rd1+ 92.Kc7 Rd5 93.Kc6 Rd1 94.Nd6 Rg1 95.Rc5 Re1 96.Kd7 Rd1 97.Re5 Ra1 98.Re7 Ra7+ 99.Kd8 Ra8+ 100.Kc7 Ra7+ 101.Nb7 Kf8 102.Rd7 1/2-1/2

Final position



Round 7, Oct. 26
Antipov, Mikhail – Giri, Anish
B51 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky Attack

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O a6 6.c4 e6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Be7 9.Bc2 O-O 10.Re1 Qc7 11.b3 b6 12.Bb2 Bb7 13.Nc3 Rfe8 14.Re3 Bf8 15.Qf1 g6 16.Rd1 Rad8 17.Kh1 Bg7 18.f4 e5 19.Nde2 b5 20.cxb5 axb5 21.a3 exf4 22.Qxf4 Ne5 23.Ng3 Nfg4 24.Re2 Bh6 25.Qf1 Ne3 26.Rxe3 Bxe3 27.Qe2 Bf4 28.Qf2 Bxg3 29.Qxg3 Bc6 30.h3 Qb7 31.Rd4 Qe7 32.Bc1 f6 33.b4 Kg7 34.a4 bxa4 35.b5 Bb7 36.Bxa4 Qc7 37.Ba3 Qb6 38.Rd1 Nc4 39.Bc1 Bxe4 40.Bb3 d5 41.Bf4 Nd6 42.Nxd5 Bxd5 43.Rxd5 Ne4 44.Qf3 Rxd5 45.Bxd5 Nd6 46.h4 Re1+ 47.Kh2 Nf5 48.g4 Nxh4 49.Qc3 Rd1 0-1

Round 7, Oct. 26
Aronian, Levon – short, Nigel
A21 English Opening

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 d6 3.Nf3 f5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 Nf6 6.d3 O-O 7.O-O Kh8 8.b4 Qe8 9.Bg5 Nbd7 10.Rc1 h6 11.Bd2 c6 12.e3 g5 13.Ne2 e4 14.Ne1 Ne5 15.Bc3 g4 16.dxe4 fxe4 17.Nf4 Nf3+ 18.Bxf3 gxf3 19.Qc2 Kg8 20.Rd1 a5 21.b5 a4 22.Bxf6 Bxf6 23.Rxd6 Be5 24.Rxh6 Bf5 25.g4 Bh7 26.Rxh7 Kxh7 27.Qxe4+ Kg7 28.Qxf3 Bxf4 29.exf4 Rd8 30.Ng2 Rd4 31.Qc3 Qd7 32.bxc6 bxc6 33.Qa5 Kg8 34.h3 Rxc4 35.Re1 Qd5 36.Qc7 Re4 37.Rc1 Rf7 38.Qb6 Rc4 39.Re1 Re4 40.Ne3 Qd6 41.f5 Rb4 42.Qa6 Re7 43.Rd1 Qc7 44.Qd3 Rbe4 45.f6 R7e5 46.Nf5 Re1+ 47.Rxe1 Rxe1+ 48.Kg2 Kf7 49.Nd6+ 1-0

Round 7, Oct. 26
Praggnanandhaa, R. – Ravi Teja
B12 Caro-Kann, Advance variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 e6 6.Nc3 Ne7 7.Nge2 dxc4 8.Ng3 Bg6 9.Bg5 Qb6 10.Bxc4 Qxb2 11.Nce4 Nf5 12.O-O Nxg3 13.Rb1 Qa3 14.fxg3 Bxe4 15.Rxf7 Qxg3 16.Rf2 b5 17.Qe1 Bf5 18.Bxe6 Qxf2+ 19.Qxf2 Bxe6 20.d5 cxd5 21.Qc2 Be7 22.Bxe7 Kxe7 23.Qc7+ Bd7 24.e6 Rc8 25.Qb7 Kxe6 26.Qxa8 Nc6 27.Qb7 b4 28.Qa6 Kd6 29.Rxb4 Rd8 30.Rb1 d4 31.Rc1 Kc7 32.Qxa7+ 1-0

Round 7, Oct. 26
Ladron De Guevara Pinto, Paolo – Tari, Aryan
C50 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.Nbd2 d6 7.a4 O-O 8.c3 Ba7 9.Re1 Ng4 10.Re2 Kh8 11.h3 f5 12.Nf1 Nf6 13.exf5 Bxf5 14.Ng3 Bg6 15.Ng5 Qd7 16.Be6 Qe8 17.Bb3 d5 18.d4 Rd8 19.f4 Ne4 20.N3xe4 dxe4 21.fxe5 Nxd4 0-1

Round 7, Oct. 26
Hemant, Sharma – Piasetski, Leon
C00 Reti, King’s Indian Attack

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.Nbd2 Nf6 6.Bg2 Be7 7.O-O Qc7 8.Re1 b6 9.a3 Bb7 10.e5 Nd7 11.Qe2 g5 12.c4 O-O-O 13.cxd5 exd5 14.Nb3 h6 15.e6 fxe6 16.Qxe6 Qd6 17.Bd2 Qxe6 18.Rxe6 Bf6 19.Bc3 Bxc3 20.bxc3 Rdf8 21.Rae1 Kc7 22.d4 Rh7 23.dxc5 bxc5 24.h4 c4 25.Nbd4 g4 26.Rxc6+ Bxc6 27.Ne6+ Kd6 28.Nxf8 Nxf8 29.Nd4 Bd7 30.Rd1 Ng6 31.Nc2 Be6 32.Ne3 Ne5 33.Bxd5 Bxd5 34.Rxd5+ Ke6 35.Kg2 Rb7 36.Rd4 h5 37.Re4 Kf6 38.Rf4+ Kg6 39.Nxc4 Nd3 40.Rd4 Ne1+ 41.Kf1 Nf3 42.Rd6+ Kg7 43.Ke2 Rb1 44.Rd7+ Kf6 45.Rxa7 Re1+ 46.Kd3 Rf1 47.Ke3 Rc1 48.Kd3 Rf1 49.Ra6+ Kg7 50.Ra5 Kh6 51.Rb5 Rxf2 52.a4 Ne1+ 53.Ke3 Rf3+ 54.Kd2 Nd3 55.a5 Nf2 56.a6 Ne4+ 57.Ke1 1-0

Standings after Round Seven

1-7 MVL, Nakamura, Wojtaszek, Wang Hao, Naiditsch, Adams, Xiong 5.5
8-19 Aronian, Giri, Kramnik, Anand, Grischuk, Karjakin, Rapport, Artemiev, Jones, Sethuraman, Shirov, Parligras 5.0
20-44 So, Vidit, Eljanov, Almasi, Leko, Howell, Adhiban etc 4.5
140 Piasetski 2.5

[Wayne Komer]

Isle of Man International 2018

October 26, 2018

Round Seven (continued)

Round Eight Pairings
Bo. Name Rtg Pts.Result Pts. Name Rtg

1 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2780 5½ - 5½ GM Wang Hao 2722
2 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2721 5½ - 5½ GM Nakamura Hikaru 2763
3 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2727 5½ - 5½ GM Adams Michael 2712
4 GM Kramnik Vladimir 2779 5 - 5½ GM Xiong Jeffery 2656
5 GM Jones Gawain C B 2677 5 - 5 GM Aronian Levon 2780
6 GM Giri Anish 2780 5 - 5 GM Rapport Richard 2725
7 GM Anand Viswanathan 2771 5 - 5 GM Artemiev Vladislav 2706
8 GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian 2623 5 - 5 GM Grischuk Alexander 2769
9 GM Karjakin Sergey 2760 5 - 5 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2673
10 GM So Wesley 2776 4½ - 5 GM Shirov Alexei 2636
11 GM Svane Rasmus 2595 4½ - 4½ GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2711
12 GM Eljanov Pavel 2703 4½ - 4½ GM Antipov Mikhail Al. 2593
13 GM Leko Peter 2690 4½ - 4½ GM Hess Robert 2574
14 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2588 4½ - 4½ GM Howell David W L 2689
15 GM Adhiban B. 2668 4½ - 4½ IM Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 2541
16 GM Tregubov Pavel V. 2588 4½ - 4½ GM Kovalev Vladislav 2664
17 GM Melkumyan Hrant 2660 4½ - 4½ IM Lomasov Semen 2540
18 GM Sevian Samuel 2634 4½ - 4½ GM Praggnanandhaa R 2519
19 GM Wagner Dennis 2572 4½ - 4½ GM Sutovsky Emil 2633
20 GM Williams Simon K 2457 4½ - 4½ GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2622
21 GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2445 4½ - 4½ GM Fridman Daniel 2600
22 GM Short Nigel D 2652 4 - 4½ IM Gukesh D 2456
23 GM Le Quang Liem 2715 4 - 4 IM Schneider Ilja 2507
24 IM Keymer Vincent 2491 4 - 4 GM Gelfand Boris 2701
25 IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2513 4 - 4 GM Nabaty Tamir 2692
26 IM Krishna C R G 2445 4 - 4 GM Meier Georg 2639
27 GM Tari Aryan 2618 4 - 4 GM Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag 2546
28 GM Donchenko Alexander 2610 4 - 4 GM Khmelniker Ilya 2492
29 GM Jumabayev Rinat 2605 4 - 4 IM Kashlinskaya Alina 2447
30 GM Deac Bogdan-Daniel 2594 4 - 4 IM Henderson De La Fuente Lance 2484
31 GM Huschenbeth Niclas 2589 4 - 4 FM Jackson James P 2371
32 WIM Vaishali R 2313 4 - 4 GM Nihal Sarin 2572
33 IM Strunski Andreas 2306 4 - 4 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2551
34 IM Raja Harshit 2420 3½ - 3½ GM Vaibhav Suri 2597
35 IM Erenberg Ariel 2407 3½ - 3½ GM Debashis Das 2548
36 GM Puranik Abhimanyu 2547 3½ - 3½ IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2422
37 GM Kaidanov Gregory 2544 3½ - 3½ IM Fenil Shah 2411
38 GM Olafsson Helgi 2510 3½ - 3½ IM Eggleston David J 2406
39 GM Tarjan James 2404 3½ - 3½ GM Shyam Sundar M. 2505
40 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V 2504 3½ - 3½ IM Tania Sachdev 2400
41 IM Bulmaga Irina 2402 3½ - 3½ GM Anurag Mhamal 2495
42 IM Houska Jovanka 2402 3½ - 3½ GM Swapnil S. Dhopade 2493
43 IM Harsha Bharathakoti 2492 3½ - 3½ IM Hemant Sharma (Del) 2393
44 IM Seul Georg 2402 3½ - 3½ GM Batsiashvili Nino 2482
45 IM Rahul Srivatshav P 2395 3½ - 3½ GM Gormally Daniel W 2482
46 GM Darini Pouria 2475 3½ - 3½ FM Hoefelsauer Thomas 2380
47 IM Guramishvili Sopiko 2378 3½ - 3½ GM Cramling Pia 2465
48 FM Serarols Mabras Bernat 2367 3½ - 3½ IM Cornette Deimante 2462
49 IM Karavade Eesha 2374 3½ - 3½ IM Prithu Gupta 2458
50 IM Lubbe Nikolas 2447 3½ - 3½ Kulkarni Rakesh 2297
51 IM Ravi Teja S. 2357 3½ - 3½ FM Sadhwani Raunak 2438
52 GM Dragnev Valentin 2508 3 - 3 GM Zhukova Natalia 2403
53 GM Kobo Ori 2505 3 - 3 IM Wallace John Paul 2377
54 IM Kolosowski Mateusz 2448 3 - 3 WGM Rapport Jovana 2350
55 IM Merry Alan B 2435 3 - 3 IM Mannion Stephen R 2289
56 IM Trent Lawrence 2391 3 - 3 IM Ladron De Guevara Pinto Paolo 2427
57 IM Gaponenko Inna 2409 3 - 3 FM Paterek Michal 2311
58 IM Bellin Robert 2326 3 - 3 IM Arjun Kalyan 2408
59 WGM Soumya Swaminathan 2423 2½ - 2½ WFM Janzelj Lara 2244
60 FM Pranav Anand 2269 2½ - 2½ WGM Lubbe Melanie 2359
61 FM Ragnarsson Dagur 2251 2½ - 2½ IM Mortazavi Ali 2353
62 GM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan 2345 2½ - 2½ IM Piasetski Leon

[Hans Jung]

Jeffery Xiong is having a dream tournament. He just played Nakamura. Today he gets tested by Kramnik. I have one question? Shouldnt Jeffery get white? He is in the higher point group and why would he get two blacks in a row?

[Hans Jung]

Two rounds to go. Crunch time. We will find out who the real fighters are.

[Hans Jung]

Wojtaszek is the first leader in rd 8 with 6.5. He beat Mickey Adams. Naiditsch and Nakamura are locked in a wild tactical battle. Jeffery Xiong seems to be holding against Kramnik but its tricky and will probably be a long endgame.

[Hans Jung]

Arkadij Naiditsch beats Nakamura! - and is tied with Wojtaszek for first with 6.5

[Hans Jung]

Jeffery Xiong held a draw against Kramnik and is now tied for third a half point back.

[Hans Jung]

Last round Jerry Xiong vs Gawain Jones and Naiditsch vs Wojtaszek on board 1. Should be exciting.

[Wayne Komer]

Isle of Man International 2018

October 27, 2018

Round Eight

Round 8, Oct. 27
MVL – Wang Hao
C42 Petrov, Classical Attack, Marshall variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.O-O O-O 8.c4 c6 9.Nc3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 Bf5 12.Ng5 h6 13.Qf3 Bg6 14.Ne4 Bxh2+ 15.Kxh2 Qh4+ 16.Qh3 Qxh3+ 17.gxh3 Bxe4 18.Rg1 Re8 19.Bxh6 g6 20.Rge1 Nd7 21.Bf1 c5 22.Bb5 Bc6 23.Rxe8+ Rxe8 24.Bxc6 bxc6 25.Be3 cxd4 26.Bxd4 a6 27.Rd1 Re2 28.Be3 Ne5 29.Rd8+ Kg7 30.a4 Ra2 31.Kg3 f6 32.f4 Nf7 33.Rc8 Rxa4 34.Rxc6 Nh6 35.Rc7+ Kg8 36.Kf3 Nf5 37.Bf2 g5 38.fxg5 fxg5 39.c4 Nd6 40.c5 Rf4+ 41.Kg2 Nf5 42.c6 Rc4 43.Bb6 g4 44.hxg4 Rxg4+ 45.Kf3 Rc4 46.Rc8+ Kf7 47.c7 Ne7 48.Ra8 Ke6 49.Rxa6 Rc6 50.Ra8 Rxb6 51.c8=Q+ Nxc8 52.Rxc8 Ke5 1/2-1/2

Round 8, Oct. 27
Naiditsch, Arkadij – Nakamura, Hikaru
C60 Ruy Lopez, Fianchetto Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.d4 exd4 5.c3 Nge7 6.cxd4 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.O-O Bg7 9.Bxc6+ bxc6 10.Bg5 Qd6 11.Re1+ Be6 12.Nbd2 O-O 13.Ne4 Qb4 14.Qc1 Rfe8 15.Bd2 Qb6 16.Nc5 Bf5 17.Ne5 Rad8 18.h3 Nf6 19.Nb3 Rd5 20.Nxc6 Rxe1+ 21.Bxe1 Bf8 22.Ne5 Be6 23.Nc4 Qb7 24.Ne3 Rh5 25.Nc5 Bxc5 26.dxc5 Bxh3 27.c6 Qc8 28.f3 Bxg2 29.Nxg2 Qh3 30.Bc3 Nd5 31.Bd4 f6 32.Qe1 Kf7 33.Rd1 Rg5 34.Qe2 Kg7 35.Bc5 Re5 36.Qf2 Rg5 37.Rd4 Qe6 38.Re4 Qxc6 39.Qd4 a5 40.a3 h5 41.Kh2 Kh7 42.Qc4 Qb7 43.Re7+ Kh8 44.Bd4 Rf5 45.Rd7 Qb8 46.Qc6 1-0

Position after Black’s 26….Bxh3

• Wow, Arkadj in tie for first with one game to go. Naka is out of it now.

Round 8, Oct. 27
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw – Adams, Michael
E04 Catalan, open

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 dxc4 5.Nf3 c5 6.O-O Nc6 7.Ne5 Bd7 8.Nxc4 cxd4 9.Bf4 Be7 10.Nd6+ Kf8 11.Nxb7 Qb6 12.Nd6 Qc5 13.b4 Qxb4 14.a3 Qc5 15.Qb3 Na5 16.Qb4 Qxb4 17.axb4 e5 18.Bxa8 exf4 19.Rxa5 Bxd6 20.Rxa7 Bxb4 21.Rd1 fxg3 22.hxg3 Bc5 23.Ra5 Bb4 24.Ra6 Ke7 25.Bc6 Rc8 26.Rxd4 Bc5 27.Bxd7 Nxd7 28.Re4+ Kf8 29.Nd2 g6 30.Kg2 Rd8 31.Rc4 Be7 32.Ne4 h5 33.Rc7 Ne5 34.Raa7 Re8 35.f4 Ng4 36.Nc3 Nh6 37.e4 Bd6 38.Rc6 Rd8 39.Nd5 Kg7 40.Kf3 Ng4 41.Rb7 Kf8 42.Ra6 Bc5 43.Rc7 Bd4 44.Ra4 Bg1 45.Rb4 1-0

Position after 15…Na5?




Round 8, Oct. 27
Kramnik, Vladiir – Xiong, Jeffery
B50 Sicilian

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Nc6 5.O-O Bg4 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 g6 8.Nc3 Bg7 9.Qd1 O-O 10.a3 a6 11.Ba2 b5 12.Bg5 e6 13.Qd2 Qa5 14.f4 b4 15.axb4 cxb4 16.Ne2 b3 17.Qxa5 Nxa5 18.cxb3 h6 19.Bh4 Rab8 20.b4 Nc6 21.Be1 Nxb4 22.Bb1 Nd7 23.Bc3 Rb6 24.f5 exf5 25.exf5 g5 26.f6 Bh8 27.Bd4 Rc6 28.Ng3 Nd5 29.Ra5 Nf4 30.Nf5 Re8 31.Kh1 Bxf6 32.Nxh6+ Kg7 33.Nf5+ Kf8 34.b4 d5 35.Bf2 Rb8 36.g3 Nxh3 37.Be3 d4 38.Nxd4 Bxd4 39.Bxd4 Rxb4 40.Rd5 Ke7 41.Ba2 Rc2 42.Bc4 f6 43.Re1+ Kd8 44.Bxf6+ Kc8 45.Bd4 Nf2+ 46.Bxf2 Rxf2 47.Bxa6+ Kc7 48.Rc1+ Kb6 49.Rd6+ Ka7 50.Ra1 Ne5 51.Rh6 Kb8 52.Rh8+ Kc7 53.Rc1+ Kd6 54.Rh6+ Kd5 55.Rh2 Rbb2 56.Rxf2 Rxf2 57.Kg1 Rb2 58.Rf1 Kd4 59.Rf2 Rxf2 60.Kxf2 Ng4+ 61.Ke2 Ne5 62.Kf2 Ng4+ 63.Kf3 Ne5+ 64.Ke2 Ng4 65.Bb7 Ne5 66.Be4 Ng4 67.Bf5 1/2-1/2

Round 8, Oct. 27
Jones, Gawain – Aronian, Levon
C53 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 d5 7.Bb5 Ne4 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.Nc3 O-O 10.Be3 Bg4 11.h3 Bh5 12.Qc2 Bg6 13.Qb3 Ne7 14.O-O c6 15.Bd3 Kh8 16.Nh4 c5 17.Nxg6+ fxg6 18.Bxe4 cxd4 19.Nxd5 Nxd5 20.Bd2 Nf4 21.Bb4 Qg5 22.Bxf8 Rxf8 23.e6 Bc7 24.Kh1 Qe5 25.Bxb7 Nxe6 26.g3 Nc5 27.Qd5 Rd8 28.Qxe5 Bxe5 29.Rae1 Bf6 30.Bc6 d3 31.Re8+ Rxe8 32.Bxe8 Bxb2 33.Rd1 Bc3 34.Bf7 g5 35.Bc4 d2 36.Rb1 g6 37.Rb8+ Kg7 38.Rd8 Kf6 39.Be2 Ke5 40.Bf3 Ne6 41.Rd7 Bd4 42.Kg2 h5 43.Kf1 Kf6 44.Bd1 Ke5 45.Ke2 g4 46.hxg4 hxg4 47.Bb3 Nc5 48.Rd5+ Ke4 49.Rg5 Bxf2 50.Bc2+ Kd4 51.Rxc5 1-0

Giri-Rapport 0.5-0.5
Anand-Artemiev 0.5-0.5
Parigras-Grischuk 0.5-0.5
Karjakin-Sethuraman 0.5-0.5
So-Shirov 0.5-0.5

Round 8, Oct. 27
Sevian, Samuel – Praggnanandhaa, R.
E00 Catalan Opening

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.d4 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bd6 6.Bg2 c6 7.Nc3 O-O 8.O-O dxc4 9.Ne5 Bc7 10.Bg5 Bxe5 11.dxe5 Qxd1 12.Nxd1 Nd5 13.e4 h6 14.exd5 hxg5 15.dxc6 Nxc6 16.Bxc6 bxc6 17.Rc1 Rb8 18.Re1 Ba6 19.Rc2 c5 20.Nc3 Bb7 21.Ne4 g4 22.Nxc5 Bc6 23.Ne4 Rfd8 24.Nd6 Bd5 25.Rd1 f5 26.Rd4 Rb4 27.Kf1 a5 28.Ke1 Rdb8 29.Nxf5 Rxb2 30.Rxb2 Rxb2 31.Ne7+ Kf7 32.Nxd5 exd5 33.Rxd5 c3 34.Rc5 c2 35.a4 Ra2 36.Kd2 Rxa4 37.Rxc2 Ke6 38.Rc6+ Kf5 39.e6 Rd4+ 40.Kc3 Re4 41.Rc7 g6 42.e7 Kf6 43.Rc6+ Kf7 44.Kd3 Re5 45.Rd6 a4 46.Ra6 a3 47.Rxa3 Kxe7 48.Ra4 Rg5 49.Rf4 Ke6 50.Ke3 Ke7 51.Kd4 Ke6 52.Kc4 Rh5 53.Rxg4 Rxh2 54.Rf4 Rh5 55.Kd4 Ra5 56.Ke4 Ra3 57.Rf8 Ke7 58.Rf3 Ra6 59.Ke3 Ra3+ 60.Kf4 Ra5 61.Kg4 Rb5 62.Kh3 Rh5+ 63.Kg2 Ra5 64.g4 Rb5 65.Kg3 Ra5 66.Kh4 Rb5 67.Ra3 Kf6 68.Ra6+ Kg7 69.Ra7+ Kh6 70.Ra6 Kg7 71.f4 Rb7 72.Kg5 Rb5+ 73.f5 gxf5 74.gxf5 Rb1 75.Ra7+ Kg8 76.Kg6 Rg1+ 77.Kf6 Rf1 78.Ra8+ Kh7 79.Ra2 Kg8 80.Ra5 Rf3 81.Ra8+ Kh7 82.Rf8 Rf1 83.Ke7 Re1+ 84.Kf7 Rf1 85.f6 Ra1 86.Re8 Ra7+ 87.Re7 Ra8 88.Rd7 Kh6 89.Rb7 Kh7 90.Re7 Kh6 91.Re6 Kh7 92.Re2 Ra7+ 93.Ke6 Kg8 94.Rd2 Ra6+ 95.Rd6 Rxd6+ 96.Kxd6 Kf7 97.Ke5 Kf8 98.Ke6 Ke8 99.f7+ Kf8 100.Kf6 1/2-1/2

Round 8, Oct. 27
Keymer, Vincent – Gelfand, Boris
D45 QGD, Semi-Slav

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 O-O 8.O-O Re8 9.e4 dxc4 10.Bxc4 e5 11.Rd1 exd4 12.Nxd4 Qc7 13.g3 Ne5 14.Be2 Bh3 15.Bg5 Neg4 16.Bf1 Bxf1 17.Rxf1 Be5 18.Nf5 g6 19.Nh6+ Nxh6 20.Bxh6 Ng4 21.Bd2 Rad8 22.Kg2 Qe7 23.h3 Nf6 24.Rfe1 Qc5 25.Rad1 Qc4 26.Bg5 Rxd1 27.Rxd1 b5 28.f3 b4 29.Qe2 Qe6 30.Na4 Qxa2 31.Qc2 c5 32.Nxc5 Rc8 33.Rd2 Qa5 34.Be3 Qc7 35.Qd3 Qc6 36.Kf2 Bc7 37.Na6 Rd8 38.Nxb4 Qe6 39.Qxd8+ Bxd8 40.Rxd8+ Kg7 41.Bd4 Kh6 42.g4 Nd7 43.Nd5 f5 44.Rh8 fxe4 45.f4 Nf8 46.g5+ Kh5 47.Nf6+ Kh4 48.Nxh7 e3+ 49.Bxe3 1-0

Round 8, Oct. 27
Vaishali, R. – Nihal, Sarin
C07 French, Tarrasch, open variation

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Ngf3 cxd4 6.Bc4 Qd7 7.O-O Nc6 8.Nb3 a6 9.Nbxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Qc7 11.Bb3 Bd6 12.h3 Ne7 13.Re1 O-O 14.Bg5 h6 15.Bxe7 Bxe7 16.Qf3 Bf6 17.c3 Bd7 18.Ne2 Bc6 19.Qg4 Qa5 20.Ng3 g6 21.Rxe6 fxe6 22.Qxg6+ Bg7 23.Bxe6+ Kh8 24.Bf5 Rxf5 25.Nxf5 Qe5 26.Nxh6 Qf6 27.Qxf6 Bxf6 28.Rd1 Re8 29.Ng4 Bg5 30.Kh2 Bf4+ 31.g3 Bg5 32.b4 Re2 33.a4 Bd2 34.b5 axb5 35.axb5 Bxb5 36.Kg2 Bxc3 37.Rd8+ Kg7 38.Kf3 Re6 39.Kf4 Bc6 40.h4 Re4+ 41.Kg5 Rd4 42.Rb8 Bb4 43.Kf5 Bd7+ 44.Ke5 Rxg4 45.Rxb7 Bc3+ 46.Kd6 Rd4+ 47.Kc5 Kf6 48.Rb3 Ba1 49.Rb1 Ra4 50.f4 Bd4+ 51.Kd6 Bf5 52.Rb8 Ra7 53.h5 Rd7+ 54.Kc6 Ke6 55.Re8+ Re7 0-1

Round 8, Oct. 27
Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan – Piasetski, Leon
B06 Robatsch Defence

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Nf3 d5 5.h3 Nh6 6.Bd3 dxe4 7.Nxe4 Nf5 8.c3 O-O 9.Bf4 Be6 10.h4 Nd7 11.h5 Bd5 12.Qe2 Nd6 13.hxg6 fxg6 14.Bh6 Bxh6 15.Rxh6 Bxe4 16.Bxe4 Nf7 17.Rh4 e5 18.O-O-O Qf6 19.Rdh1 exd4 20.Rxh7 Rae8 21.Qc2 Qf4+ 22.Nd2 Qxf2 23.cxd4 Nf6 24.Bf3 Re1+ 25.Bd1 Qf5 26.Qxf5 gxf5 27.Rxe1 Kxh7 28.Re7 Kg6 29.Rxb7 Rd8 30.Nf3 Rd7 31.Rxd7 Nxd7 32.Ba4 Nb8 33.Kd2 Kf6 34.Kd3 Nd8 35.Kc4 Ke6 36.b4 Nd7 37.Bxc6 1-0

Standings after Round Eight

1-2 Wojtaszek, Naiditsch 6.5
3-6 MVL, Wang Hao, Jones, Xiong 6.0
7-24 Giri, Kramnik, Anand, Grischuk, Nakamura, Karjakin, Rapport, Adams, Vidit, Artemiev, Eljanov, Leko, Sethuraman, Adhiban, Melkumyan, Shirov, Parligras, Fridman 5.5
25-45 Aronian, So, Le, Almasi, Nabaty, Howell, Kovalev, Sevian, Sutovsky etc 5.0

[Wayne Komer]

Isle of Man International 2018

October 27, 2018

Round Eight

Final Round Pairings

Bo. Name Rtg Pts.Result Pts. Name Rtg

1 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2721 6½ - 6½ GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2727
2 GM Xiong Jeffery 2656 6 - 6 GM Jones Gawain C B 2677
3 GM Grischuk Alexander 2769 5½ - 6 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2780
4 GM Wang Hao 2722 6 - 5½ GM Anand Viswanathan 2771
5 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2673 5½ - 5½ GM Giri Anish 2780
6 GM Shirov Alexei 2636 5½ - 5½ GM Kramnik Vladimir 2779
7 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2763 5½ - 5½ GM Eljanov Pavel 2703
8 GM Fridman Daniel 2600 5½ - 5½ GM Karjakin Sergey 2760
9 GM Rapport Richard 2725 5½ - 5½ GM Leko Peter 2690
10 GM Adams Michael 2712 5½ - 5½ GM Adhiban B. 2668
11 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2711 5½ - 5½ GM Melkumyan Hrant 2660
12 GM Artemiev Vladislav 2706 5½ - 5½ GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian 2623
13 GM Aronian Levon 2780 5 - 5 GM Deac Bogdan-Daniel 2594
14 GM Nihal Sarin 2572 5 - 5 GM So Wesley 2776
15 GM Praggnanandhaa R 2519 5 - 5 GM Le Quang Liem 2715
16 IM Gukesh D 2456 5 - 5 GM Almasi Zoltan 2702
17 GM Nabaty Tamir 2692 5 - 5 GM Huschenbeth Niclas 2589
18 GM Howell David W L 2689 5 - 5 GM Tregubov Pavel V. 2588
19 GM Kovalev Vladislav 2664 5 - 5 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2588
20 IM Kashlinskaya Alina 2447 5 - 5 GM Sevian Samuel 2634
21 GM Sutovsky Emil 2633 5 - 5 IM Keymer Vincent 2491
22 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2622 5 - 5 GM Wagner Dennis 2572
23 GM L'ami Erwin 2639 4½ - 5 GM Williams Simon K 2457
24 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V 2504 4½ - 4½ GM Short Nigel D 2652
25 GM Meier Georg 2639 4½ - 4½ GM Darini Pouria 2475
26 GM Shyam Sundar M. 2505 4½ - 4½ GM Donchenko Alexander 2610
27 GM Swapnil S. Dhopade 2493 4½ - 4½ GM Svane Rasmus 2595
28 GM Antipov Mikhail Al. 2593 4½ - 4½ IM Bellaiche Anthony 2453
29 GM Hess Robert 2574 4½ - 4½ IM Lubbe Nikolas 2447
30 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2551 4½ - 4½ GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2445
31 GM Khmelniker Ilya 2492 4½ - 4½ GM Puranik Abhimanyu 2547
32 GM Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag 2546 4½ - 4½ IM Ravi Teja S. 2357
33 GM Gormally Daniel W 2482 4½ - 4½ GM Kaidanov Gregory 2544
34 IM Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 2541 4½ - 4½ IM Krishna C R G 2445
35 IM Lomasov Semen 2540 4½ - 4½ IM Strunski Andreas 2306
36 IM Prithu Gupta 2458 4½ - 4½ GM Olafsson Helgi 2510
37 GM Gelfand Boris 2701 4 - 4½ IM Seul Georg 2402
38 IM Cornette Deimante 2462 4 - 4 GM Jumabayev Rinat 2605
39 GM Vaibhav Suri 2597 4 - 4 IM Merry Alan B 2435
40 GM Debashis Das 2548 4 - 4 IM Gaponenko Inna 2409
41 IM Raja Harshit 2420 4 - 4 IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2513
42 IM Arjun Kalyan 2408 4 - 4 GM Dragnev Valentin 2508
43 IM Hemant Sharma (Del) 2393 4 - 4 GM Kobo Ori 2505
44 GM Anurag Mhamal 2495 4 - 4 IM Guramishvili Sopiko 2378
45 IM Bulmaga Irina 2402 4 - 4 IM Harsha Bharathakoti 2492
46 FM Jackson James P 2371 4 - 4 IM Zumsande Martin 2492
47 IM Henderson De La Fuente Lance 2484 4 - 4 IM Erenberg Ariel 2407
48 GM Cramling Pia 2465 4 - 4 WIM Vaishali R 2313
49 GM Batsiashvili Nino 2482 3½ - 4 FM Serarols Mabras Bernat 2367
50 FM Hoefelsauer Thomas 2380 3½ - 3½ IM Kolosowski Mateusz 2448
51 FM Sadhwani Raunak 2438 3½ - 3½ IM Karavade Eesha 2374
52 IM Ladron De Guevara Pinto Paolo 2427 3½ - 3½ GM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan 2345
53 FM Gavilan Diaz Mario 2334 3½ - 3½ WGM Soumya Swaminathan 2423
54 IM Munguntuul Batkhuyag 2422 3½ - 3½ FM Dubinski Mateusz 2327
55 IM Fenil Shah 2411 3½ - 3½ WIM Agrest Inna 2283
56 IM Eggleston David J 2406 3½ - 3½ FM Pranav Anand 2269
57 Kulkarni Rakesh 2297 3½ - 3½ GM Tarjan James 2404
58 IM Houska Jovanka 2402 3½ - 3½ WIM Unuk Laura 2272
59 IM Tania Sachdev 2400 3½ - 3½ Moksh Amit Doshi 2224
60 FM Ragnarsson Dagur 2251 3½ - 3½ IM Rahul Srivatshav P 2395

84 IM Piasetski Leon 2252 2½ 0 not paired

___________

From John Saunders:

Vincent Keymer had already hit the headlines with his outright victory at the Grenke Open earlier this year so it wasn’t exactly a surprise to see him down a 2700+ rated player as it was clear he had the capability. However, his results here hadn’t been eye-catching until this round, when he confronted Boris Gelfand. the former world championship runner-up made most of the running in the initial stages but his attempts to bamboozle the young player had all been successfully defused.

The position remained broadly level until Gelfand apparently underestimated a queen for rook and minor piece sacrifice. But Keymer played it after a minute’s thought and backed it up with some excellent prophylactic play that left Gelfand struggling to find moves for his pieces. It didn’t take long before his king was snared in mating net.

The result means Keymer will need a half-point in the final round – he’s been paired with Emil Sutovsky – to secure his GM title but, to be honest, this title is a mere formality for such a supremely gifted young man. Who cares how old he’ll be when he gets it? The ‘youngest to become a GM’ record is a bit of an anachronism in the modern era and is an unreliable indicator of precisely who will climb to the very top of the heap. Keymer will have his sights set on something more significant than a title possessed by many players who are not as strong as he already is.

https://iominternationalchess.com

[Hans Jung]

Jeffery Xiong drew Gawain Jones in the last round. Before that he had a win and 4 draws against 2700's. Hes obviously 2700 strength although it will take him at least one more good tournament to get the points.

[Hans Jung]

Alina Kashlinskaya got a GM norm and she was the only IM in the top 40 finishing places (all the others were GM's) Impressive.

[Hans Jung]

Naiditsch and Wojtaszek tie for first and it doesnt look as if anyone will join them.