2017 Jersey Polar Capital Festival

[Chris Rice]

Jack has finally been beaten by Speelman. It was a great game to watch which is a little surprising as Speelman can be somewhat anaemic with the White bits. Not this time though, a splendid attacking display by him as White in a crazy line of the Makaganov variation of the KID brought him the win. Daniel Abbas continues to impress with a draw against GM Tiger Hillarp Persson.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Jack has finally been beaten by Speelman. It was a great game to watch which is a little surprising as Speelman can be somewhat anaemic with the White bits. Not this time though, a splendid attacking display by him as White in a crazy line of the Makaganov variation of the KID brought him the win. Daniel Abbas continues to impress with a draw against GM Tiger Hillarp Persson.

Goodness. In Jack's game his king got all the way to h3. Crazy game. Was 25...Qd8 really 0.00. Not surprised Jack didn't find that (unless he found it and rejected it). Speelman bringing his queen back to h3 and capturing the knight on d3 was a nice touch.

[Chris Rice]

Round 6 (Wednesday 2pm)
1 IM RUDD Jack (2177) (4) - IM MERRY Alan (2412) (4)
2 GM HILLARP PERSSON Tiger (2503) (3½) - GM SPEELMAN Jon (2511) (4)
3 FM WADDINGTON Mike (2061) (3) - FM ABBAS Daniel (2285) (3½)
4 GM HEBDEN Mark (2494) (3) - CM KIRBY Peter (1985) (3)
5 HICKMAN John (1897) (3) - (3) AGM KLINGHER Dominic (2116)

[David Robertson]

Speelman bringing his queen back to h3 and capturing the knight on d3 was a nice touch.

Rather less so, Speelman playing his Queen to f3, then failing to capture the other Knight after 28...Nh3+, so ending matters on the spot

[Chris Rice]

Round 6 results:

1 IM RUDD Jack (2177) (4) ½-½ IM MERRY Alan (2412) (4)
2 GM HILLARP PERSSON Tiger (2503) (3½) ½-½ GM SPEELMAN Jon (2511) (4)
3 FM WADDINGTON Mike (2061) (3) 0-1 FM ABBAS Daniel (2285) (3½)
4 GM HEBDEN Mark (2494) (3) 1-0 CM KIRBY Peter (1985) (3)
5 HICKMAN John (1897) (3) 0-1 (3) AGM KLINGHER Dominic (2116)

Round 7 pairings (Thursday 2pm):

ABBAS Daniel (2285) (4½) - (4½) GM SPEELMAN Jon (2511)
IM MERRY Alan (2412) (4½) - (4) GM HILLARP PERSSON Tiger (2503)
AGM KLINGHER Dominic (2116) (4) - (4½) IM RUDD Jack (2177)
THALWITZER David (2114) (3½) - (4) GM HEBDEN Mark (2494)

[Brian Towers]

...
AGM KLINGHER Dominic (2116) (4) - (4½) IM RUDD Jack (2177)

So, Jack gets to play another GM, albeit of the "Arena" variety.

[DFernandez]

With a few more rounds having been played I agree with Jack's sentiment both here and on Facebook. It seems well-nigh impossible to make norms at this tournament. According to my back-of-envelope calculations, Daniel Abbas (who has 50% vs GMs and IMs) must play Alan Merry next (with White, probably?) and thus will have played all 3 GMs, 2 IMs and an FM but will still need to finish with 2/2 for an IM norm, which to my mind reflects either total absence of any sort of good fortune, or simply that this is just a slightly top-heavy congress that is dragging out for a week...

[Chris Rice]

With a few more rounds having been played I agree with Jack's sentiment both here and on Facebook. It seems well-nigh impossible to make norms at this tournament. According to my back-of-envelope calculations, Daniel Abbas (who has 50% vs GMs and IMs) must play Alan Merry next (with White, probably?) and thus will have played all 3 GMs, 2 IMs and an FM but will still need to finish with 2/2 for an IM norm, which to my mind reflects either total absence of any sort of good fortune, or simply that this is just a slightly top-heavy congress that is dragging out for a week...

The difference between Jersey and Gibraltar is simply the money. It's great that Polar Capital are sponsoring the event but the extent to which they are doing so is highlighted in the prize fund http://www.jerseychessclub.com/the-pola ... /the-open/ which compared to the Gibraltar prize fund http://www.gibchess.com/prizes.htm is simply not going to attract the chess elite.

[LawrenceCooper]

I think the following rule is more of a stumbling block than just facing the right opponents:

1 Requirements for Titles designated in 0.31

1.43e Swiss System tournaments in which participants include in every round at least 20 FIDE Rated players not from the host federation, but from at least 3 federations and at least 10 of whom hold GM, IM, WGM,WIM titles. Otherwise 1.44 applies.

[IM Jack Rudd]

I think the following rule is more of a stumbling block than just facing the right opponents:

1 Requirements for Titles designated in 0.31

1.43e Swiss System tournaments in which participants include in every round at least 20 FIDE Rated players not from the host federation, but from at least 3 federations and at least 10 of whom hold GM, IM, WGM,WIM titles. Otherwise 1.44 applies.

That one's not that big a stumbling block - all it means is that for Abbas to get a norm, he has to face at least one more non-English player. (That's the rule that allows you to waive the foreigner requirements.)

[LawrenceCooper]

I think the following rule is more of a stumbling block than just facing the right opponents:

1 Requirements for Titles designated in 0.31

1.43e Swiss System tournaments in which participants include in every round at least 20 FIDE Rated players not from the host federation, but from at least 3 federations and at least 10 of whom hold GM, IM, WGM,WIM titles. Otherwise 1.44 applies.

That one's not that big a stumbling block - all it means is that for Abbas to get a norm, he has to face at least one more non-English player. (That's the rule that allows you to waive the foreigner requirements.)

Good point, hence the 1.44 applies

[Chris Rice]

Great results for Daniel, Alan and Jack yesterday and I guess for the German geezer who drew with Heb in Round 7:

1 FM ABBAS Daniel 2285 4½ ½ - ½ 4½ GM SPEELMAN Jon 2511
2 IM MERRY Alan 2412 4½ 1 - 0 4 GM HILLARP PERSSON Tiger 2503
3 AGM KLINGHER Dominic 2116 4 0 - 1 4½ IM RUDD Jack 2177
4 THALWITZER David 2114 3½ ½ - ½ 4 GM HEBDEN Mark 2494

So onto Round 8 and Daniel F's back-of-envelope calculations prove to be spot on as Daniel A takes on Alan Merry. Kick off 2pm:

1 IM MERRY Alan 2412 5½ 5 FM ABBAS Daniel 2285
2 IM RUDD Jack 2177 5½ 4½ GM HEBDEN Mark 2494
3 GM SPEELMAN Jon S 2511 5 4 FM HOUSE Glenn L 2211

[Adam Raoof]

On a related point, if I can get some sponsorship Jack Rudd and I would like to run a norm event (either an all-play-all or a small swiss event) in Hampstead after the Classic and before Hastings - this has proved successful before!

[Chris Rice]

Round 8 results:
IM Merry, Alan B (5½) 2414 ½ - ½ FM Abbas, Daniel (5) 2276
IM Rudd, Jack (5½) 2177 ½ - ½ GM Hebden, M. L. (4½) 2490
GM Speelman, J. (5) 2518 1 - 0 FM House, G. L. (3) 2211

Standings:
1-3 Merry, Rudd, Speelman 6
4 Abbas 5½

The round 9 pairings are not up yet but we will be looking at a very nervy last round I suspect.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Round 9 pairings.