PokerStars Isle of Man International 4-12 October 2014

[JustinHadi]

If the K-side attack fizzles out then Black is winning. I'm backing Howell to win here having defended similar positions successfully with little time on the clock.

[Carl Hibbard]

David Howell looks to have a good position against Short. Maybe he's finally living up to his potential as a 2700+ player? Let's see if Short can swindle something out of the game though.

I think it's now up for grabs and fair play to them both for going for it!

[Roger de Coverly]

Justin, I think that David has quite an unpleasant position to defend. He may be OK but he has even more wood stuck on the Queenside than Nigel and he has to be careful not to allow some Ra5 cheapo.

Chessbomb's Stockfish has found four decent moves for Black, which in his usual manner, David is using all his time to evaluate.

Update (move 25). He didn't play any of them but found a fifth idea which the engine also thinks is OK. There seem more resources than superficially you might think. That is unless the engine is missing some massive blow at the end of its analysis.

[John Moore]

Whoops - isn't there now the predicted Ra5 cheapo.

[JustinHadi]

Yes, there's the swindle.

[Roger de Coverly]

he has to be careful not to allow some Ra5 cheapo.

Move 27 - well predicted.

(edit) The engine found the resource 31. .. Rxg2. All over now, unless Nigel does something horrific.(/edit)

[John Moore]

Well, you say swindle - I have suggested all the way through that this position is difficult to defend for Black.

[JustinHadi]

Sure, but in the context of 2700+ players which I was talking about, it's surely more of a swindle.

[benedgell]

Jonathan Hawkins drew, think Mickey is winning against Keith.

[Richard Bates]

I don't know, I reckon anyone can pontificate on the supposed qualities of 2700+ players (which neither Short nor Howell are) when backed up by a 2900+ computer program. Anyone who gets into persistent serious time trouble has got to expect to be "swindled" sometimes...

[Barry Sandercock]

Nigel winning nicely now (move 32 )

[JustinHadi]

Richard, of course, whether Howell has raised his level closer to a Grischuk is what a Black win would have shown.

[Roger de Coverly]

Anyone who gets into persistent serious time trouble has got to expect to be "swindled" sometimes...

A cunning idea by Nigel. He set up the trick with the "what was that for? move of Ne2-g1" That then made the Rxa5 idea work because the Queen can come to h5 after the Rook retreats from g5 to guard the Rook and Knight mate at h7.

[LawrenceCooper]

Richard, of course, whether Howell has raised his level closer to a Grischuk is what a Black win would have shown.

Given that Grischuk has just beaten Caruana with black that's quite a tough act to follow.

[John Moore]

Just check Black's white squared bishop for those who were reading earlier! Just joking this time.