IoM International 1-9 October 2016

[MJMcCready]

What's going on in Mickey's game? He's only played 15 moves and he's only got 10 mins left?

[NickFaulks]

The live game relay has crashed. All boards.

[LawrenceCooper]

The live game relay has crashed. All boards.

Time to switch to chess24.

[Tim Harding]

Howell v Adams today!

[Jonathan Rogers]

An early error from Marin and Jovanka is a pawn up for nothing, barely out of the opening.

[LawrenceCooper]

An early error from Marin and Jovanka is a pawn up for nothing, barely out of the opening.

0-1 in 31 moves

[Roger de Coverly]

An early error from Marin and Jovanka is a pawn up for nothing, barely out of the opening.

Routine play from Marin, a combination of Qe1 and b3 getting him into trouble. I suppose this shows the advantages of the move order 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 that in the "normal" position with the Knight on f6, the advance e4-e5 is a threat.

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O Nd7 5. d3 e6 6. h3 Bh5 7. Nbd2 Bd6 8. Qe1 Ne7 9. e4 O-O 10. b3 Bb4 11. Bb2 Bxf3 12. Bxf3 Qa5 13. Bc1 Bc3 14. b4 Qxb4 15. a3 Qb6 16. Ra2 dxe4 17. Qxe4 Nd5 18. Nc4 Qc7 19. Bg2 Nc5 20. Qg4 f5 21. Qe2 f4 22. g4 Bd4 23. Qf3 e5 24. Bb2 Ne6 25. h4 Bxb2 26. Rxb2 Nd4 27. Qe4 f3 28. Bh3 Nf4 29. Kh2 Qe7 30. g5 Nxh3 31. Kxh3 Rf4


The idea of combining 1. .. d5 and 2. .. Bg4 is advocated in a new book about meeting 1. Nf3 and 1. c4 .

[Jonathan Rogers]

to be clear, it was more than a pawn for nothing; white's rook on a2 was hopelessly placed and he couldn't generate any play at all.

[LawrenceCooper]

An early error from Marin and Jovanka is a pawn up for nothing, barely out of the opening.

Routine play from Marin, a combination of Qe1 and b3 getting him into trouble. I suppose this shows the advantages of the move order 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 that in the "normal" position with the Knight on f6, the advance e4-e5 is a threat.

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O Nd7 5. d3 e6 6. h3 Bh5 7. Nbd2 Bd6 8. Qe1 Ne7 9. e4 O-O 10. b3 Bb4 11. Bb2 Bxf3 12. Bxf3 Qa5 13. Bc1 Bc3 14. b4 Qxb4 15. a3 Qb6 16. Ra2 dxe4 17. Qxe4 Nd5 18. Nc4 Qc7 19. Bg2 Nc5 20. Qg4 f5 21. Qe2 f4 22. g4 Bd4 23. Qf3 e5 24. Bb2 Ne6 25. h4 Bxb2 26. Rxb2 Nd4 27. Qe4 f3 28. Bh3 Nf4 29. Kh2 Qe7 30. g5 Nxh3 31. Kxh3 Rf4


The idea of combining 1. .. d5 and 2. .. Bg4 is advocated in a new book about meeting 1. Nf3 and 1. c4 .

10 b3 appears to be the mistake as explained by Jovanka when she joined Simon on the commentary.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Harika Dronvalli dispatching Hou Yifan very convincingly. A very good event for her!

[Chris Rice]

Harika Dronvalli dispatching Hou Yifan very convincingly. A very good event for her!

Indeed. Great victory for Harika Dronvalli but I was surprised to see what Hou Yifan played which looks very passive. http://chessbase.in/news/isle-of-man-r-07/

[Roger de Coverly]

Great victory for Harika Dronvalli but I was surprised to see what Hou Yifan played which looks very passive.

1. c4 b6 2. Nc3 Bb7 3. e4 c5 4. Nge2 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. g3 g6 7. Bg2 Bg7 8. O-O Nc6 9. h3 O-O 10. Be3 Rc8 11. Qd2 Re8 12. b3 Nd7 13. Rac1 a6 14. f4 Nd4 15. g4 e6 16. Ng3 Rc7 17. g5 b5 18. Rce1 b4 19. Nce2 Nxe2+ 20. Rxe2 Nb8 21. d4 cxd4 22. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 23. Qxd4 e5 24. Qd2 exf4 25. Qxf4 Nc6 26. Rd2 Ne5 27. Rfd1 Rd7 28. h4 Qe7 29. Nh1 Kg7 30. Rf1 Red8 31. Qf6+ Qxf6 32. gxf6+ Kf8 33. Rfd1 Rc7 34. Nf2 Ke8 35. Kh2 Rc6 36. Kg3 Kd7 37. Nd3 Ke6 38. Nxe5 Kxe5 39. Rd5+ Kxf6 40. e5+ Ke6 41. c5 f5 42. exd6 Rd7 43. Re1+ Kf6 44. Rde5 Rc8 45. Re6+ 1-0

Fairly normal stuff for a Hedgehog and related ideas. There are elements of a Closed Sicilian there as well. With hindsight, you might suggest that not meeting the g4 threat with h5 and playing .. b4 might have been errors in the longer term. If you trade pawns down the h file, there can be scope for later counter attack with Kg7 and Rh8 if White is over enthusiastic about pawn advances. If you trade pawns on c4, White would have a weak pawn on c4 to counterbalance the pawn on d6, if play continued as in the game.

[Tim Harding]

Fourteen players are on 5/7 needing wins to chase down the three in podium positions:

Today at 1.30:
Eljanov (6.5/7) v Caruana (6)
Nakamura (5) v So (5.5)

Other top pairings:
Adams-Bok
Rodshtein-Grandelius
Howell-Vidit
Naiditsch-Sunilduth Ly [Indian GM< new name to me]
Shirov-Harika [She is in pole for the women's prize after that great victory yesterday]
Donchenko-Melkumyan
also
Leko (4.5) v J.P. Wallace (5)

[Tim Harding]

Big win for Adams today against Bok but Howell only drew.

Elyanov made virtually certain of first with a draw against Caruana who remains in sole second place with 6.5/8.
Adams and co are on 6, with one of them to get a downfloat which could be to Nakamura.

The last round begins at 12.30; the draw is not up yet.
Colours are not right for Adams to play Elyanov. He might have to play Caruana or So.
Naiditsch and Shirov have both and four Whites and a day off so they should get Black.

[LawrenceCooper]

Round 9 on 2016/10/09 at 12;30
Bo. No. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg No.
1 2 GM So Wesley 2794 6 7 GM Eljanov Pavel 2741 5
2 1 GM Caruana Fabiano 2813 6½ 6 GM Adams Michael 2745 4
3 8 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2687 6 6 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2684 10
4 14 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2670 5½ 6 GM Shirov Alexei 2679 11
5 32 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2564 5½ 5½ GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 3
6 9 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2686 5½ 5½ GM Granda Zuniga Julio E 2648 18
7 15 GM Melkumyan Hrant 2653 5½ 5½ GM Howell David W L 2644 21
8 74 IM Wallace John Paul 2355 5½ 5½ GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2650 16
9 13 GM Fressinet Laurent 2676 5 5½ GM Donchenko Alexander 2581 29