Vienna open 15 to 23 August 2015

[Barry Sandercock]

Not so sure he can win now. See the clock times.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Have faith! Keith has now won.

Big haul of rating points there.

I'm looking at the ENG results here:

http://chess-results.com/tnr148537.aspx ... YES&wi=984

Ravia Haria, Keith Arkell and Joshua Higgs appear to be the outstanding performances.

[LawrenceCooper]

Have faith! Keith has now won.

Big haul of rating points there.

I'm looking at the ENG results here:

http://chess-results.com/tnr148537.aspx ... YES&wi=984

Ravia Haria, Keith Arkell and Joshua Higgs appear to be the outstanding performances.

In terms of performance relative to own rating Cosima Keen seems way ahead of the rest

[Mick Norris]

Have faith! Keith has now won.

Big haul of rating points there.

In Keith we trust - second on tiebreak, so he may be solvent now

[NickFaulks]

In terms of performance relative to own rating Cosima Keen seems way ahead of the rest

She must have been thrilled with her round four pairing against the top seed Safarli, but it wasn't a great advertisement for the official Swiss pairing system.

[Michael Flatt]

In terms of performance relative to own rating Cosima Keen seems way ahead of the rest

She must have been thrilled with her round four pairing against the top seed Safarli, but it wasn't a great advertisement for the official Swiss pairing system.

If you examine Safarli's pairing record you can see that he didn't play the first two rounds and then proceeded to win his remaining 7 games.
Their meeting in round 4 can't be blamed on the pairing system. What was the alternative?

[Keith Arkell]

In the end I tied for 1st, and came second outright on tiebreak.

Just a massive relief to know that my throwing away the British Championship with babyish blunders against Emms ( obviously 33...e4 draws trivially) and Hawkins ( just play ...Rfd8 on move 23 rather than on move 24) wasn't a definitive sign that my brain has gone AWOL.

Thanks guys for the support. I Think that at the ripe old age of 54 this was one of my best ever performances.

A near 2700 performance. Probably better than last years achievements of European Senior Champion and 1st = in the World Senior ( and 2620+ perfs at Hastings and the Isle of Man). Still a long way to go, of course, but retaining the hope I can make some kind of impression before old age kicks in.

[Mick Norris]

Well done Keith

What did you think of Rambaldi?

Stefan Löffler ‏@StefanLoeffler 1d1 day ago
Italy´s next top talent (but based in Grenoble, France) Francesco Rambaldi, 16, scores final GM norm at Vienna Open

[Keith Arkell]

Thanks, Mick!

Rambaldi is phenomenally talented and, at least equally importantly, seems to have a very stable character.

He seemed completely unfazed by his progress through the tournament, and is already rated 2517 despite being only 16 years of age. He also gained another 17 ELO points here in Vienna. The Italian presence as a whole was very impressive. Could this really be simply a result of Caruana's status, despite that he has spent most of his life in America, and is now, once again, officially affiliated to that nation?

I found it extremely difficult to extract half a point from him. I was on the ropes all game, and the engine seems to think that nearly all of my moves, after the opening, were 'only moves'. Incidentally, I also drew with the other guy on the podium - 26-year-old GM Banusz (2586) from Hungary. So I am 12 years older than their combined age. Pity the guy who came 4th wasn't some 12 year old prodigy

[Alan Walton]

Well played old man

Got to admit this age thing is an urban myth, I myself have had my best tournaments of my chess playing career at Gibraltar and the Politiken this year and I have just turned 40, hopefully I keep it going, and so do you

[Barry Sandercock]

Alan Walton wrote:

Well played old man.

I agree. You have no worries. I am 84 and still win the occasional prize.

[Tim Harding]

Well done, Keith. Will we have the pleasure of your company at this year's World Individual Seniors?

I am going to start a thread in the Seniors section of this Board shortly where this discussion might continue.

[Keith Arkell]

Cheers, Tim!

Indeed you will, if my company can be described in such a way.

I'm really looking forward to the event already, with, as last year, the perfect preparation coming beforehand in the shape of the fantastically strong Isle of Man, Poker Stars event.