Chess.com Isle Of Man Tournament 23 Sep to 1 Oct 2017

[Chris Rice]

Nigel Short tweets "Not the best, but nevertheless proud to be the oldest 2700+ in chess history"

[Geoff Chandler]

Simon and Fiona working well together again.

He's slipping in gags in between plugging his books and DVD's and blogs.

Fiona says she had dinner a few weeks back with some stiff and the topic of conversation was 'Pawn Islands'.

OK I'll give a try next time I'm trying to chat up Dolly Hackett at Bells. 'Pawn Islands.'

But I do enjoy watching the two of them. Very refreshing and instructive.

Nigel will most likely still be up there when he's 60. He's stayed forever young.

Three of England's top 4 are over 40. That's because of you adults keep telling youngsters
there is no future in chess and to get a proper job and so they do and become like the rest
of you with a dull job, a mortgage, a dreary wife with dreary kids and broken dreams.

Me? No mortgage, a brilliant part time job, which I've no need to do because financially I'm secure,
an anything but dreary wife, (no dull moments there, our favourite position is a '73' it's the same
as a '69' but we invite 4 people round to watch.). Kids either getting married or divorced or arrested
at football matches for fighting. (Son escorted from ground at recent Edinburgh City v Peterhead game)
And I'm living the dream.

[IM Jack Rudd]

An 8-point swing in the evaluation on one move:

[Event "Chess.com Isle of Man Open - Masters"]<br> [Site "Douglas (Isle of Man)"]<br> [Date "2017.09.25"]<br> [Round "3.48"]<br> [White "Yankelevich, Lev"]<br> [Black "Rathnakaran, K."]<br> [Result "0-1"]<br> [ECO "A00"]<br> [WhiteElo "2443"]<br> [BlackElo "2326"]<br> [PlyCount "42"]<br> [EventDate "2017.09.23"]<br> <br> 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5 Na6 8. g4 Nc5<br> 9. f3 a5 10. h4 h5 11. g5 Nh7 12. Qd2 f6 13. gxf6 Bxf6 14. Bf2 a4 15. O-O-O Bd7<br> 16. Qh6 Be8 17. Qd2 Kh8 18. Kb1 Ra6 19. Ka1 Nb3+ 20. axb3 axb3+ 21. Kb1 Qa8 0-1

[LawrenceCooper]

An 8-point swing in the evaluation on one move:

[Event "Chess.com Isle of Man Open - Masters"]<br> [Site "Douglas (Isle of Man)"]<br> [Date "2017.09.25"]<br> [Round "3.48"]<br> [White "Yankelevich, Lev"]<br> [Black "Rathnakaran, K."]<br> [Result "0-1"]<br> [ECO "A00"]<br> [WhiteElo "2443"]<br> [BlackElo "2326"]<br> [PlyCount "42"]<br> [EventDate "2017.09.23"]<br> <br> 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5 Na6 8. g4 Nc5<br> 9. f3 a5 10. h4 h5 11. g5 Nh7 12. Qd2 f6 13. gxf6 Bxf6 14. Bf2 a4 15. O-O-O Bd7<br> 16. Qh6 Be8 17. Qd2 Kh8 18. Kb1 Ra6 19. Ka1 Nb3+ 20. axb3 axb3+ 21. Kb1 Qa8 0-1

Possibly missing that he couldn't defend with 22 Kc1 Ra1+ 23 Nb1 because of Rxb1+ followed by Qa2+ and mate.

[LawrenceCooper]

Magnus the first to reach 3/3 and a king hunt from Anand takes him to 2.5.

[Tim Harding]

US veteran GM Jim Tarjan (whom I played at Teesside in 1972!) looks like he's driving a nail into the coffin of Kramnik's Candidates hopes. Kramnik was a bit better with Black until he made a huge miscalculation at moves 30-31.

LATER: Hou Yifan just lost - increasing her chances of a male opponent tomorrow?

[Jonathan Rogers]

I gather that Jovanka won; an excellent event for her so far. Presumably the best British performance, anyway.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Hadn't even noticed that Shirov was playing Naka!

Pity the poor ** who plays Kramnik with Black on 1/3...

[Tim Harding]

Kramnik just resigned. Tarjan is about to be interviewed.

Apparently Jovanka won on time in a roughly equal position.
So she is on 2.5/3 level with Adams, Anand, Nakamura, Bok, Shirov, Short, Tari etc.

So far only Carlsen has 3.

[Chris Rice]

Tarjan appeared completely overwhelmed in the interview, simply couldn't believe what he'd done. Good on him. Kramnik lost 9.1 rating points in that single game - a huge blow to his Candidates qualification chances.

[Roger de Coverly]

LATER: Hou Yifan just lost - increasing her chances of a male opponent tomorrow?

Probably reduces it. As highest rated female player, whenever she is in the top half of a score group, there's the chance of a female opponent that isn't present when she's in the lower half and as Gibraltar showed they seem to be particularly numerous between 100 and 200 points below her.

[NickFaulks]

felt there was some kind of FIDE witch hunt going on

Really? I never heard that, it would make more sense to blame the CIA.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Tarjan appeared completely overwhelmed in the interview, simply couldn't believe what he'd done. Good on him

I think I remember it being said in the 1980s - before his lengthy break from chess - that he was one of the nicest guys on the circuit.

[Chris Rice]

Lenderman wins a R&B v R ending against Vallejo Pons.

Race to FIDE candidates after Kramnik lost 9 rating points today:
Caruana 2808.41, So 2806.41, Kramnik 2803.08 Updated Spreadsheet

[Jonathan Bryant]

Hadn't even noticed that Shirov was playing Naka!

Pity the poor ** who plays Kramnik with Black on 1/3...

On the upside he'"ll have an unlucky pairing story to tell for the rest of his life.


What a result for Tarjan