Isle of Man 2023

[Hans Jung]

Rd 10 Shawn RL vs Warmerdam We are rooting for a win Shawn, you can do it!

[Hans Jung]

https://en.chessbase.com/post/grand-swiss-2023-r9 Round 9 report.

[Hans Jung]

Vaishali should also get a GM norm for her stellar play. I'm not sure of her norm status but she is playing awesome chess.

[Hans Jung]

With all the celebration and excitement in round 9 I forgot to report Ivanchuk's first win in the tournament. His patience and technique (a lovely king walk, bishop over knight, passed pawn play) gave him a satisfying endgame win. I especially liked his 59.e6.

[Hans Jung]

Who is going to win this tournament? The reports say its impossible to predict. I researched chess results to see who was hottest and Deac won three in a row and then drew Caruana. Maghsoodloo is the only one to win his last three but is he strong enough to beat top 2700's?
My picks are Deac and Vaishali.

[Hans Jung]

Another good question: Who is going to win their last two games? That one I think is truly impossible to predict. There are too many factors.

[Hans Jung]

Nakamura has taken a big step himself. He found a great novelty against Caruana and chose a tricky opening - the Four Knights. Its all about controlling the dark squares and in my opinion after Bf4 he has a great advantage. We'll see if he can push it through to a win.

[Hans Jung]

1e4 from Shawn and an open Sicilian! Thank you for playing this Shawn (from this fan) Should be exciting!

[Hans Jung]

Vaishali chose an open Sicilian. For a while I was worried because she was allowing queens to be exchanged. Now she made the right move Qf2. The queens should stay on. Interesting strategic factors and play on both sides.

[Hans Jung]

Esipenko vs Maghsoodloo Another black square weakness game. It sure looks dire for Black. But Maghsoodloo is a great defender. Can he defend it? Will be interesting to watch.

[Hans Jung]

Shawn's game is interesting. Black has sacked the queen. Is there adequate compensation? Eyes glued.

[Hans Jung]

Mishra vs Ivanchuk Another reason I love watching Chucky is that he plays principled strategic moves. Against Mishra he plays d5 in the Sicilian and Mishra answers by sacking on d5 and has very dynamic major pieces. Can Chucky defend? Very interesting.

The defence proved to difficult. Mishra wins with a nice finish.

[Marc Andre Beaudry]

Shawn won a nice game today. He is +2, -2, =6 against a 2656 average opposition. Amazing performance. He has his last GM norm and his rating will go above 2500. We have a new young GM. .

[Marc Andre Beaudry]

In my opinion, Hikaru is going to be WC. Since becoming a streamer, he has not regressed but improved. He is clearly world number 2 at the moment and he plays very impressive chess.

[Hans Jung]

I agree with both your observations Marc Andre! (or maybe those are my sentiments) I really wanted Shawn to win today and he did it! This will go down in the records as a very special. memorable tournament of Shawns and it is an absolute WoW! moment.