Isle Of Man International (Fide Grand Swiss)

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Not sure if it has been properly highlighted, but Vidit won this event with the famed 'Swiss Gambit' (losing in the first round). He then scored a stunning 8.5/10 to take sole first place.

Erigasi, Nakamura, Giri, Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa all avoided defeat.

I don't think anyone got more than the 9 draws from Ponomariov.

[Graham Borrowdale]

I am not sure the Swiss gambit works over 11 rounds, in the same way it sometimes does over 6 rounds, Vidit still came up against many of the top contenders.
Curious is that most of the top finishers - the top two, the 5 players on 7.5 points, and 4 out of the 6 players on 7 points - had 6 whites. Is that statistically normal, or is it, to some extent, why they finished in the top places?

[Graham Borrowdale]

A draw today so hopefully he has a chance tomorrow and gets white.

A win against a 2558+ will do it.

It looks as though Shreyas Royal missed the GM norm by half a point then, which is extremely unlucky, as he looked to be on top for a lot of that last game.

[Mick Norris]

Really? When was that changed?

Isn't that what the Chessbase article said?

It's been a long weekend, mainly thanks to Northern Trains

Oh dear! It's still two as far as I know. "Each tournament grants two spots in the next edition of the Candidates." according to Chessbase. I think there are three spots in the women's grand prix though so that may be what you were thinking of.

Thanks Chris, I'm off to battle Northern Trains again this afternoon, although they tend to be better this side of the Pennines

I see from this that I was wrong, Tan gets the 2nd spot from the Grand Swiss, but

According to the regulations,[6] the top three finishers in the World Cup qualify to the Candidates. If one of them has already qualified, then the top-rated woman who is not otherwise qualified qualifies, as long as she has played 30 rated games in the preceding year. The highest-rated woman Hou Yifan has a large rating lead over her compatriots, making her the probable rating qualifier if she plays the required 30 games; however Hou has been semi-retired from competitive chess since 2018[7] and will probably not participate even if she meets the required number of games. In this case, the next replacement is the 4th-place finisher at the World Cup, Tan Zhongyi.

If Tan Zhongyi qualifies via the World Cup, then the fourth-place finisher at the Grand Swiss, Batkhuyagiin Möngöntuul, becomes the second Grand Swiss qualifier (since two of the three players who finished above her are already qualified for the Candidates).

chess.com has

For the Mongolian Munguntuul, the stars may have aligned at the perfect time, and Candidates qualification is still on the cards for the surprise packet who scored 7/11 in the Women's section.

As per regulation, the last spot goes to the highest-rated women's player, provided that she has played 30 games; however, the semi-retired GM Hou Yifan is unlikely to be this active before the tournament.

The next player to qualify would be the third-placed player from the Grand Swiss who would have been GM Tan Zhongyi had she not already qualified via the 2023 FIDE World Cup. This leaves the Grand Swiss spot open for Munguntuul as long as Hou does not play.

[LawrenceCooper]

A draw today so hopefully he has a chance tomorrow and gets white.

A win against a 2558+ will do it.

It looks as though Shreyas Royal missed the GM norm by half a point then, which is extremely unlucky, as he looked to be on top for a lot of that last game.

He posted a positive message on Facebook after the tournament:

"For the past two weeks, I have been fighting it out in the Isle Of Man at the FIDE Grand Prix Swiss. I end with a commendable 4.5\11 and a TPR of 2573, missing my 2nd GM norm by half a point. The tournament was fantastically organised and it was an honour facing such strong opposition!"

From around move 31-37 of the last round game the engine does indeed give him a big advantage albeit there was no one moment where I felt it was decisive, to the human eye it looks messy albeit white had the safer king and the attacking chances.