Isle of Man 2023

[Hans Jung]

Lots of lovely fighting games! - both sides playing for checkmate - for example the Niemann game or Dardha - Bacrot

[Hans Jung]

Sevian sheer artistry with the knights!

[Hans Jung]

Erwin L'Ami is a very principled grandmaster but he was barely hanging on against Vidit. At move 33 Vidit as black had a dominating bishop on d3 and I thought it would soon be over. No! L'Ami kept fighting and I think Vidit relaxed and the tables turned. Lovely finish by L'Ami and big upset.

[Hans Jung]

One of the games I was looking forward to was the matchup Mishra - Sarana. What a battle! - but then came the endgame. Mishra should not have traded rooks. In the good knight vs bad bishop endgame he got a painful lesson.

[Hans Jung]

Shirov-Fawzy what a battle!

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Shawn's results - https://chess-results.com/tnr793016....db=CAN&flag=30

[Hans Jung]

https://www.chess.com/news/view/2023...-swiss-round-1 Commentary on rd 1

[Hans Jung]

Rd 1 addition - Alice Lee got a good lesson on development from Elisabeth Paetz.

[Hans Jung]

So about Eli Paetz. At my first international tournament in Hungary in 1986 my first game was almost 6 hours. My mind had not settled down after the game ( I had lots of energy in those days) so after the late dinner at the tournament hall there were the speed chess fanatics. I joined them. We played most of the night. The best of them was Tomas Paetz a young IM from East Germany and a wicked speed player, in fact, best of a lot of strong speed players. After losing some nice games to him we had a chat and he told me he would have brought his family with him but his daughter was still a baby. He was looking forward in a few years to teaching her chess. Isnt that what all adoring chess fathers say? Well in this case it became true and eventually Eli Paetz became stronger than her father and a celebrity player in Germany. A family of grandmasters.

[Hans Jung]

Rd 2 Board one Caruana vs Niemann All the way from the US Championship to battle at Isle of Man.

[Hans Jung]

Aronian Cheparinov first game to finish draw.

[David Ottosen]

Ah yes, on the IOM chess website is says the sponsorship package is well into 7 figures, which I can believe. This is the guy, I am pretty sure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Scheinberg.

Back in my organising days, I struggled to get $100 donations. I knew a couple of wealthy people, but they preferred to hang on to their money.

According to Wiki, Mark Scheinberg lived in Toronto as a teenager, but now lives in the Isle of Man.

Having worked at PokerStars for nearly 20 years, I know the Scheinberg family quite well. Mark is more into the hospitality business, but his father Isai is a huge chess fan, in large part because HIS father was an accomplished chess player: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matafia_%C5%A0einbergas and is the one who really drives their involvement.

In fact, mentioning that I was a serious chess player was a notable point of discussion in my original interview back in 2002. They're an incredible family, and their involvement in chess is an amazing boon to the chess world.

[Hans Jung]

Thanks for sharing David. Readers need to know. They are also sponsoring the candidates in Toronto in April 2024 (just six months away) Thats a big first for Canada.

[Hans Jung]

After the first round there are 32 winners (perfect for pairing purposes!)

[Hans Jung]

Exciting game by Shawn in round 2. His opponent won a pawn early and it was clear Shwan was defending. Then his opponent sacked a bishop and Shawn defended well and its now unclear but very interesting! Go Shawn Go!

Could Shawn play for a win with 52.Qxa5?