English Chess Forum

The Super Rapidplay has an astonishing 472 players are on the starting list. Some great names such as Luke McShane, David Howell, John Nunn, Jonathan Rowson etc. http://chess-results.com/tnr251649.aspx ... ilen=99999

Kicks off at 12 noon, 10 rounds over two days, 25 minutes + 10 seconds a move and has an impressive prize fund:

Prize Fund (Guaranteed): 1st £5,000, 2nd £2,500, 3rd £1,500, 4th £1,000, 5th - 6th £750, 7th - 10th £500.

Rating Prizes
2200 – 2299 £250, £150, £75
2100 – 2199 £250, £150, £75
2000 – 2099 £250, £150, £75
1900 – 1999 £250, £150, £75
1800 – 1899 £250, £150, £75
1700 – 1799 £250, £150, £75
1600 – 1699 £250, £150, £75
< 1600 £250, £150, £75
Junior Prizes £500, £250, £100
Women’s Prizes £500, £250, £100

This tournament will be held in memory of Michael Uriely.

http://www.londonchessclassic.com/speci ... ichael.htm

Tremendous start by Alex Golding in Round 1 - draw with Black v Melkumyan (elo 2736) and held his own comfortably.

R2 saw leading lady Kanwal Bhatia outrated by a mere 601 points.

Bd. 1 McShane,L (2709) 1- 0 Bhatia,K (2108)

There were some big upsets, though, if the pairing are perused.

Not for old favourite GM Joe Gallagher -

Among R3 pairings were-

Bd....
20. 95 Mayhew Andrew 2209 2 2 GM Gallagher Joseph G 2522 24
21. 25 GM Speelman Jon S 2522 2 2 Stephan Axel 2233 86
22. 101 FM Storey Charles H 2199 2 2 GM Turner Matthew J 2514 26 23...

I see Jon Speelman lost the one above!

Note the face-to-face meeting of forumites Storey & Turner on 22nd board.

Edit - Must go clean the kitchen sink and the bath tout suite...

It was all going so well for the first four rounds
Amazing tournament, looking forward to tomorrow

John McKenna wrote:

This tournament will be held in memory of Michael Uriely.

http://www.londonchessclassic.com/speci ... ichael.htm

Malcolm Pein opened proceedings this morning with a heartfelt tribute to Michael Uriely. Michael's parents and twin sisters were at Olympia to hear it. Malcolm said that as Michael was also into football it would be fitting if we all got up and applauded for 30 seconds and I estimate that in that room 600 people did just that, it was very moving.

Malcolm was also pleased to announce that the entry for the rapidplay was the largest in UK history.

I as well as being the youngest IM in history Mr Praggnanandhaa must also be the lowest rated!

http://chess-results.com/tnr251649.aspx ... 21&snr=357

Must be the favourite for the U1600 rating prize!

Chris Rice wrote: Malcolm was also pleased to announce that the entry for the rapidplay was the largest in UK history.

Possibly for a single rapidplay tournament. Stewart's 1300 plus for the 1972 Islington would take a lot of beating. That was divided over several sections but the "novices", under 120 or ungraded had multiple winners with 6/6.

Some other pairings & results of interest - at least they are to me - from Sat...

R3 -

Bd.
16. 102 IM Basman Michael J 2198 3 0 - 1 3 GM Shabalov Alexander 2542 21
17. 22 GM Svane Rasmus 2532 3 1 - 0 3 GM Schroeder Jan-Christian 2342 59
18. 24 GM Gallagher Joseph G 2522 3 0 - 1 3 Powierski Emil 2317 69
19. 26 GM Turner Matthew J 2514 3 1 - 0 3 FM Richardson John R 2173 109
20. 108 Bossard Arnaud 2175 3 1 - 0 3 GM Hebden Mark L 2512 27

R4 -

Bd.
11. 2 GM Mcshane Luke J 2709 3½ 1 - 0 3½ IM Pert Richard G 2426 42
12. 53 GM Arkell Keith C 2386 3½ ½ - ½ 3½ GM Fressinet Laurent 2676 4
13. 15 GM Bok Benjamin 2589 3½ ½ - ½ 3½ IM Bates Richard A 2414 46
14. 33 GM Gunina Valentina 2491 3½ 1 - 0 3½ GM Nunn John 2573 18?

There are six leaders, all on 5/5 points -

GM Howell David Wl 2671
GM Iturrizaga Edoardo 2666
GM Istratescu Andrei 2657
GM Safarli Eltaj 2653
GM Cornette Matthieu 2597
GM Shabalov Alexander 2542
GM Blomqvist Erik 2509

(When I last looked the R6 pairings were not yet up.)

R6 pairings -

http://chess-results.com/tnr251649.aspx ... =30&wi=821

R6 pairs -

1. 9 GM Safarli Eltaj 2653 5 5 GM Howell David Wl 2671 5
2. 6 GM Iturrizaga Edoardo 2666 5 5 GM Cornette Matthieu 2597 13
3. 28 GM Blomqvist Erik 2509 5 5 GM Istratescu Andrei 2657 7
4. 21 GM Shabalov Alexander 2542 54½ GM Mcshane Luke J 2709 2
5. 1 GM Melkumyan Hrant 2736 4½ 4½ GM Williams Simon K 2504 29
6. 16 GM Hawkins Jonathan 2579 4½ 4½ GM Bacrot Etienne 2700 3
7. 17 GM Ehlvest Jaan 2576 4½ 4½ GM Zinchenko Yaroslav 2493 31
8. 8 GM Smirin Ilya 2657 4 4½ GM Gunina Valentina 2491 33
9. 4 GM Fressinet Laurent 2676 4 4 FM Kilpatrick Callum 2385 54
...

Valentina Gunina, who ventured to the West for the superrapid when all the top Russian men stayed away, has been the absolute star of the show. She beat Nunn, beat Smirin, had the legendary Bacrot on the verge of defeat, and is now a pawn up against David Howell in round 9-all the time playing at blitz speed and still having 20-25 minutes on her clock after many moves. She was 20 mins up against Bacrot, currently 20 minutes up against Howell who is down to seconds. Great performance.

Talking about great performances, Sharma Dushyant (FIDE 1425) with 6 1/2 points and a performance rating of 2281 after nine rounds isn't doing too badly......

Mike Truran wrote:Talking about great performances, Sharma Dushyant (FIDE 1425) with 6 1/2 points and a performance rating of 2281 after nine rounds isn't doing too badly

Born in 2003, so a plausible result. His long play rating is 2066, which shows just how much the International Elo system can lag.

FIDE's ridiculous Arena lock out prevents a general enquiry from seeing the history, but the previous rapidplay event was rated for July 2015.

Mike Truran wrote:Talking about great performances, Sharma Dushyant (FIDE 1425) with 6 1/2 points and a performance rating of 2281 after nine rounds isn't doing too badly......

Dushyant's normal Fide rating is 2066 so this, like the more extreme example of 11-year-old IM Pragga 2400+ standard rating and 1560 rapidplay, highlights that the Indians stage few rapidplay tournaments.

Gunina, now leading alone with 8/9 and a 2790 TPR, faces Luke McShane in the final round, with Hawkins, four impressive Frenchmen, and Safarli from Azerbaijan the others on 7.5.