International Round Up 11/5/11

[LozCooper]

International Round-up 11/5/11

European Women’s Individual Chess Championship 7-19th May Tbilisi, Georgia
http://www.tbilisi2011.ge/index.php

Jovanka Houska and Ingrid Lauterbach are both playing in this World Championship Qualifier. Jovanka is on 2/4 and Ingrid on 1.5.

10th European Senior Team Championship 3-11 May Thessaloniki, Greece
http://www.chess-results.com/tnr49128.a ... =1&wi=1000
http://gamesfestival.chessdom.com/european-senior-chess

England 1 finished with 4 match wins, 1 draw and 4 losses so scored 9 points with Paul Byway scoring 4/9, Geoffrey James 5, Ken Norman 4 and Michael Singleton 6.

England 2 finished with 3 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses so also scored 9 match points with Michael MacDonald-Ross scoring 3/9, Anthony Ashby 4, Stewart Reuben 4.5 and James Scholes 5.5.

England 3 finished with 2 wins, 2 draws (plus 1 bye) and 4 losses so scored seven match points with Philip Stimpson scoring 3/8, Julian Farrand 5, Ray Edwards 3 and Peter Wood 2.

14th Malaga Open 29 Apr - 2 May 2011
http://chess-results.com/tnr46624.aspx? ... =1&wi=1000
http://www.ajedrezmalaga.org/html/

Gary Quillan scored 5.5/7 to finish 3rd=, Chris Duncan scored 5 and Peter Garrett 2.5.

First Saturday IM A Tournament, Budapest, Hungary 7-18 May 2011
http://www.freeweb.hu/firstsaturday/1105/im.htm
http://www.chess-results.com/tnr49415.a ... 30&wi=1000

Mark Lyell is playing and is on 2/3.

46th Capablanca Memorial, Havana 10th - 21st May 2011
http://www.capablanca.co.cu/

David Gates will play in the Open B section.

In addition to the individual websites the latest international chess news can be found at
the following link: http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic861.html

I encourage players to send me details of events they or others are playing in abroad and I will do my best to include them in my round-up. There is a list of international tournaments at home and abroad listed here: http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=2372

Lawrence Cooper,
Director of International Chess 11/5/11

[Jonathan Rogers]

"10th European Senior Team Championship 3-11 May Thessaloniki, Greece
http://www.chess-results.com/tnr49128.a ... =1&wi=1000
http://gamesfestival.chessdom.com/european-senior-chess

England 1 finished with 4 match wins, 1 draw and 4 losses so scored 9 points with Paul Byway scoring 4/9, Geoffrey James 5, Ken Norman 4 and Michael Singleton 6.

England 2 finished with 3 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses so also scored 9 match points with Michael MacDonald-Ross scoring 3/9, Anthony Ashby 4, Stewart Reuben 4.5 and James Scholes 5.5.

England 3 finished with 2 wins, 2 draws (plus 1 bye) and 4 losses so scored seven match points with Philip Stimpson scoring 3/8, Julian Farrand 5, Ray Edwards 3 and Peter Wood 2."


I gather that our friends North of the border outperfomed us on this occasion! I have to draw attention to Craig Pritchett's performance rating of 2505 (over 2600 before he lost the last round to GM Ivanovic). Actually, can anyone name a better tournament performance by a British veteran?

[Craig Pritchett]

You'll make me blush, Jonathan! For the record, I won the prize for the best score on board 1 (7/9) and took the sole full point from a Russian (Vasiukov). Scotland was seeded higher than England 1 and finished 11th on the tie-break on 10 match points, having been competitive throughout the event.

I'd be astonished if no UK player over 60 has not had a higher international rating performance than my no more than a not too baddish 2505. Think Korchnoi or, say Smyslov, when he reached the candidates' finals in 1983/4 (playing a series of particularly sublime attacking games with White against a Ribli half his age, in the London semis). Fit and strong over-60s can certainly bowl anyone over if they get a chance!

In seniors chess, the only serious target for anyone with ambition is to be able to raise your game sufficiently to make a 2600-2650 result over 11 games - then you are in with a shout in the best of the senior events, the individual world seniors champs. That's what it takes nowadays to win that event. Now if I had won in the last round, I'd have been well within that range ... but I didn't!

[Craig Pritchett]

Correction: Russia lost two individual games!