Varsity Match 2017

[Nick Burrows]

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tourn ... 2017/1/1/1

Starts at 12.30

Oxford white on odds

FM Martins, D. 2389 vs FM Griffiths, R. 2356
Gerlagh, J. 2271 vs IM Fernandez, D. 2464
CM Foo, Z. R. B. 2271 vs CM Van der Veld. 2170
Aguiar, H. R. 2186 vs Andreev, P. 1999
Monev, A. 2224 vs Leon Cazares 2059
Horton, J. A. 2180 vs Murphy, C. E. 2077
De Vogelaere 1962 vs Scibior, Adam 2229
Kozera, A. 1876 vs WFM Ho, En H. D. 1974

[John Saunders]

Note that there are currently* a couple of minor errors in the Chess24 rubric - Cambridge (not Oxford) lead the overall series, and Daniel Fernandez is the English IM (not the US one) who is rated 2481. I have notified chess24 and I imagine they will correct this in due course. [* edit: now fixed by the very efficient chess24 people]

I have a provisional page up at BritBase where the results and match report, and maybe a couple of photos, will eventually appear: http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/201 ... iewer.html

[Nick Burrows]

Gerlagh vs Fernandez

1.d4 a6! 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 according to Chess24

[Nick Burrows]

https://livestream.com/accounts/1504418/events/7118996

[Nick Burrows]

Speelman and McShane now commentating

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The report from John Saunders is excellent:

http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/201 ... iewer.html

The win by Fernandez is well worth playing through.

[Alan Walton]

The report from John Saunders is excellent:

http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/201 ... iewer.html

The win by Fernandez is well worth playing through.

Well he was actually getting beat quite easily until white self-imploded, looking at the game it was really not a great game

John mentioned the piece sacrifice, personally I think it was a desperate attempt but really a player of that quality (white), should do better

[Chris Rice]

The report from John Saunders is excellent:

http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/201 ... iewer.html

The win by Fernandez is well worth playing through.

Well he was actually getting beat quite easily until white self-imploded, looking at the game it was really not a great game

John mentioned the piece sacrifice, personally I think it was a desperate attempt but really a player of that quality (white), should do better

Macauley Peterson's Chess 24 report clearly agrees with Alan's view "IM Daniel Fernandez, playing board 2 for Cambridge, was awarded the Brilliancy Prize by GM Ray Keene in consultation with McShane and Speelman, for his "high-class swindle" after recovering from a bad blunder". The Best Game Prize going to Jamie Horton who had a nice win vs Murphy.

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/oxford ... sity-match

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The report from John Saunders is excellent:

http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/201 ... iewer.html

The win by Fernandez is well worth playing through.

Well he was actually getting beat quite easily until white self-imploded, looking at the game it was really not a great game

John mentioned the piece sacrifice, personally I think it was a desperate attempt but really a player of that quality (white), should do better

Macauley Peterson's Chess 24 report clearly agrees with Alan's view "IM Daniel Fernandez, playing board 2 for Cambridge, was awarded the Brilliancy Prize by GM Ray Keene in consultation with McShane and Speelman, for his "high-class swindle" after recovering from a bad blunder". The Best Game Prize going to Jamie Horton who had a nice win vs Murphy.

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/oxford ... sity-match

"well worth playing through" doesn't mean it wasn't a swindle! Though I wasn't able to work out at exactly what point White went wrong, I could see that h4 wasn't the best move.

That report says: "Fernandez has three grandmaster norms, and aims to secure the necessary rating to reach the GM title after he graduates this June."

Did I miss a GM norm somewhere?

[Alan Walton]

"well worth playing through" doesn't mean it wasn't a swindle! Though I wasn't able to work out at exactly what point White went wrong, I could see that h4 wasn't the best move.

I was actually watching it live on the tram at the time, and it was pretty obvious (as the articles say) that Nd8 instead of Nd6 meant white would have been an easy piece up (my opinion) after that it looked like white got overwhelmed with the options black had and quickly crumbled with consecutive bad moves

[Roger de Coverly]

Did I miss a GM norm somewhere?

The FIDE ratings site doesn't show any Norms at all. But it's evident the site isn't being updated, as James Adair who we believe becomes a GM if he pushes his rating to 2500, only shows 2 Norms.

[LawrenceCooper]

Did I miss a GM norm somewhere?

The FIDE ratings site doesn't show any Norms at all. But it's evident the site isn't being updated, as James Adair who we believe becomes a GM if he pushes his rating to 2500, only shows 2 Norms.

He is almost certain to get a GM norm at the final 4NCL weekend so they may be counting that.

[Jonathan Rogers]

I don't suppose there is any discussion as to why Daniel was on board 2?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Did I miss a GM norm somewhere?

The FIDE ratings site doesn't show any Norms at all. But it's evident the site isn't being updated, as James Adair who we believe becomes a GM if he pushes his rating to 2500, only shows 2 Norms.

He is almost certain to get a GM norm at the final 4NCL weekend so they may be counting that.

Ah, yes, mentioned here:

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=8794

(No idea why Daniel Fernandez was on board 2, I noticed that too - maybe the board one won some internal Cambridge qualification tournament?)

[John Swain]

(No idea why Daniel Fernandez was on board 2, I noticed that too - maybe the board one won some internal Cambridge qualification tournament?)

Many years ago (1979) there was a system at Cambridge that the winner of the club championship was entitled to a place in the Varsity team. I've no idea whether that principle still operates.

The Oxford board order looks fine, but the Cambridge one must have its rationale (with Daniel Fernandez on board 2, not board 1, and also with the third highest graded player on board 7).