Hastings International Chess Congress 2010-11

[Alex McFarlane]

Apologies for the slightly inferior service last night. I posted the wrong file to the webmaster.

Norm Chances
(to be confirmed)

GM Norms
SHYAM, Sundar needs 1½ v 2192 in round 9
PRASANNA, Rao needs 1½ v 2325 or 2 v 1839 in round 9
BATES, Richard needs 2/2 v 2416 in round 9
IM Norms
EGGLESTON, David needs 1½ v 2276 or 2 v 1871 in round 9
ANWESH, Upadhyaya needs 1½ v 2359 or 2 v 1873 in round 9
ASHTON, Adam needs 1 v 2630, 1½ v 2225 or 2 v 1856 in round 9
DRUCKENTHANER, Andreas needs 1½ v 2330 or 2 v 1961 in round 9
GRIFFITHS, Ryan Rhys needs 1 v 2324, 1½ v 1955 or 2 v 1469 in round 9
WIM Norm
CHKARTINA, Gerhana needs ½ v 2417, 1 v 2030 or 1½ v 1697

Eggleston and Anwesh already have the required norms, indeed the latter is believed to be an IM elect.

John Sargent has withdrawn ill so there will be an alteration on the bottom 2 boards.

[Richard Bates]

Apologies for the slightly inferior service last night. I posted the wrong file to the webmaster.

Norm Chances
(to be confirmed)

GM Norms
SHYAM, Sundar needs 1½ v 2192 in round 9
PRASANNA, Rao needs 1½ v 2325 or 2 v 1839 in round 9
BATES, Richard needs 2/2 v 2416 in round 9
IM Norms
EGGLESTON, David needs 1½ v 2276 or 2 v 1871 in round 9
ANWESH, Upadhyaya needs 1½ v 2359 or 2 v 1873 in round 9
ASHTON, Adam needs 1 v 2630, 1½ v 2225 or 2 v 1856 in round 9
DRUCKENTHANER, Andreas needs 1½ v 2330 or 2 v 1961 in round 9
GRIFFITHS, Ryan Rhys needs 1 v 2324, 1½ v 1955 or 2 v 1469 in round 9
WIM Norm
CHKARTINA, Gerhana needs ½ v 2417, 1 v 2030 or 1½ v 1697

Eggleston and Anwesh already have the required norms, indeed the latter is believed to be an IM elect.

John Sargent has withdrawn ill so there will be an alteration on the bottom 2 boards.

Alex, don't overlook the requirements for numbers of the relevant titled players (I've only played 2GMs, for example).

[Alex McFarlane]

Not overlooked, just not recorded. There are three of you needing titled players of various sorts. I had that on a separate sheet of paper (used to confirm/check draw) but now combined.
The others being Ashton and Druckenthaner.

But it is always best to check these things.

[LozCooper]

Alex, don't overlook the requirements for numbers of the relevant titled players (I've only played 2GMs, for example).

There's no danger of Alex overloooking that, I'm sure more detail will be published when it comes to the last round and the list has thinned out a bit and the round 9 pairings are known. I'll have a look myself tonight.

GM Norms

SHYAM, Sundar needs 1½ v 2192 in round 9 (black v 2426)
PRASANNA, Rao needs 1½ v 2325 or 2 v 1839 in round 9 (white v 2400)
BATES, Richard needs 2/2 v 2416 in round 9 (black v 2476)

IM Norms

EGGLESTON, David needs 1½ v 2276 or 2 v 1871 in round 9 (black v 2179)
ANWESH, Upadhyaya needs 1½ v 2359 or 2 v 1873 in round 9 (white v 2439)
ASHTON, Adam needs 1 v 2630, 1½ v 2225 or 2 v 1856 in round 9 (black v 2591)
DRUCKENTHANER, Andreas needs 1½ v 2330 or 2 v 1961 in round 9 (white v 2522)
GRIFFITHS, Ryan Rhys needs 1 v 2324, 1½ v 1955 or 2 v 1469 in round 9 (white v 2558)

WIM Norm

CHKARTINA, Gerhana needs ½ v 2417, 1 v 2030 or 1½ v 1697 (white v 2247)

[Richard Bates]

Not overlooked, just not recorded. There are three of you needing titled players of various sorts. I had that on a separate sheet of paper (used to confirm/check draw) but now combined.
The others being Ashton and Druckenthaner.

But it is always best to check these things.

No problem - unfortunately there are no 2416 GMs in the field . Where's Keith when you need him... (sorry Keith - I know us 'weak' titled players should really stick together)

[Gareth Harley-Yeo]

No problem - unfortunately there are no 2416 GMs in the field . Where's Keith when you need him...

I'm sure he'll turn up if you throw him a tenner

[John R Moore]

Will board 1 at Hastings today last beyond 15 moves or will Edouard try and go for the whole point??

[Carl Hibbard]

Will board 1 at Hastings today last beyond 15 moves or will Edouard try and go for the whole point??

I would say with White he will go for the full point with one more round remaining

[Simon Ansell]

It will most likely be a fairly short draw, I think Istratescu used to coach Edouard or they work together or something similar. I hope I'm wrong.

[John R Moore]

Well they had a very short draw in lasts years competition, and they walked out of the complex afterwards, which seems to suggest they know each other very well

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Will board 1 at Hastings today last beyond 15 moves or will Edouard try and go for the whole point??

I would say with White he will go for the full point with one more round remaining

It's an interesting question, actually. I've been at this year's Hastings since it started, and observing the Master games in the afternoon while playing in most (probably all) the subsidiary tournaments (I may post more about that later, or not, depending on how burnt out I am by it). But someone told me that the Romain Edouard and Andrei Istratescu game may be complicated by a pupil-coach relationship (though the pupil is currently higher rated than the teacher).

I did go and check this out, and found the following:

http://www.chessmasterschool.com/andrei-istratescu.asp

"For a few years now Andrei has been in the coaching staff of the French national team"

Not sure how up-to-date that is, but it does put this round 8 game in a different light. What does happen when people very well-acquainted with each others game clash? Big battle or tame draw? I guess we will find out!

Having talked to both of them at the New Year's Eve dinner that Stewart Reuben hosted (the one where that photo was taken), I hope the best player wins!

[Simon Ansell]

Well they had a very short draw in lasts years competition, and they walked out of the complex afterwards, which seems to suggest they know each other very well

This, too. Then they took turns to beat me in the last two rounds

[LozCooper]

Boards 5-11 seem to have nodded off

Make that just board 9 which appears lifeless

[John Moore]

Well, Board 1 was agreed drawn in a position that has been seen before. The Be7 line is pretty dodgy - I should know since I've been known to play it myself. However, 15 Nb5 is not the way to test it, probably White has to bale out into this known drawing line. Either 15 Ne4 or a4 are better tries for advantage.

Incidentally, Black can also try 15.. ab5 (rather than 0-0-0) and if 16 Bb7 Nb4. All very entertaining stuff. But the line in the game looks a bit prearranged to me.

[Simon Ansell]

I think I prefer it when they play 12 moves of the Exchange Slav or something similar than prearranging a forced drawing line for the whole game like this.

It's up to the organisers to change the rules or not invite the players back if they want to eliminate short draws.