Hastings International Chess Congress 2010-11

[Keith Arkell]

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)

Peekaboo - here I am! ''Arkell's not a weak GM,he's just weak!''

All the best to Adam for the IM norm,and Ryan if a 2324+ opponent is found for him.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

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)

Peekaboo - here I am! ''Arkell's not a weak GM,he's just weak!''

All the best to Adam for the IM norm,and Ryan if a 2324+ opponent is found for him.

Ironically, Ryan's opponent in the round nine draw (just posted) is Richard Bates (2370).

Adam Ashton is playing Boris Furman (2253).

Are there any other norm chances?

[LozCooper]

Pairings round 9 (Wednesday, 05 January 2011)

Table White Score Fed. Rating Black Score Fed. Rating Result
1 GM SENGUPTA, Deep 6.0 IND 2558 GM EDOUARD, Romain 6.5 FRA 2636 1-0
2 GM ISTRATESCU, Andrei 6.0 ROU 2616 GM HOWELL, David W L 6.0 ENG 2611 0.5-0.5
3 IM SHYAM, Sundar M 6.0 IND 2439 IM DAS Arghyadip 6.0 IND 2476 0-1
4 GM GORMALLY, Daniel W 6.0 ENG 2470 IM PRASANNA, Rao 6.0 IND 2400 0.5-0.5
5 GM NEVEROV, Valeriy 5.5 UKR 2522 ANWESH, Upadhyaya 5.5 IND 2426
6 IM SWAPNIL, S Dhopade 5.5 IND 2409 GM HEBDEN, Mark L 5.0 ENG 2560 0-1
7 FM RADOVANOVIC, Jovica 5.0 SRB 2276 GM KOTRONIAS, Vasilios 5.0 GRE 2591 0-1
8 IM RAMNATH, Bhuvanesh R 5.0 IND 2427 FM ZHOU, Yang-Fan 5.0 ENG 2326 1-0
9 IM WOHL, Aleksandar H 5.0 AUS 2424 IM RUDD, Jack 5.0 ENG 2253 1-0
10 IM BATES, Richard A 5.0 ENG 2370 GRIFFITHS, Ryan Rhys 5.0 IRL 2267 1-0
11 IM KNOTT, Simon J B 5.0 ENG 2333 FM WHITE, Michael J R 5.0 ENG 2247 0.5-0.5
12 FM ASHTON, Adam G 5.0 ENG 2330 FM FURMAN, Boris 4.5 RUS 2253 0.5-0.5
13 IM RENDLE, Thomas E 4.5 ENG 2400 CM KWIATKOWSKI, Feliks J 4.5 ENG 2246 1-0
14 FM EGGLESTON, David J 4.5 ENG 2307 SERGIENKO, Vladislav 4.5 UKR 2133 0.5-0.5
15 HANSSEN, Gunnar Berg 4.5 NOR 2218 FM DRUCKENTHANER, Andreas 4.5 AUT 2306 0.5-0.5
16 IM SALOV, Sergej 4.5 GER 2294 IM MARUSENKO, Petr 4.5 UKR 2206 0.5-0.5
17 FM EAMES, Robert S 4.5 ENG 2275 ROLVAG, Mikael 4.5 NOR 2179 1-0
18 ATAKO, Chino 4.5 ENG 2039 KULKARNI, Chinmay 4.5 IND 2275 0.5-0.5
19 FM KAUFELD, Juergen 4.5 GER 2270 JACKSON, James P 4.5 ENG 2146 0.5-0.5
20 FM LEDGER, Dave J 4.5 ENG 2261 BREMNER, Adam 4.5 SCO 1912 * 0.5-0.5
21 IM PROSVIRIAKOV, Vladimir 4.0 USA 2280 FM CAFFERTY, Bernard 4.0 ENG 2133 1-0
22 SPENCE, David J 4.0 ENG 2237 LOCK, Gavin R 4.0 ENG 2182
23 HELBIG, Paul D 4.0 ENG 2115 FM BRITTON, Richard L 4.0 ENG 2229
24 SNAPE, Ian L 4.0 ENG 2228 COATES, David H 4.0 ENG 2067
25 SREEVES, Clement 4.0 SCO 2104 GRANT, Alan G 4.0 SCO 2219
26 WFM HEGARTY, Sarah N 4.0 ENG 2080 FRANKLIN, Samuel G A 4.0 ENG 2185
27 ROYSET, Paal 4.0 NOR 2171 CHKARTINA, Gerhana 4.0 INA 2014
28 KURKA, Dieter 3.5 GER 2040 WILLIAMS, Peter A 4.0 ENG 2179
29 SPANTON, Tim R 3.5 ENG 2030 FM RAMONDINO, Renzo 3.5 ITA 2257
30 SUGDEN, John N 3.5 ENG 2193 WFM NORINKEVICIUTE, Rasa 3.5 LTU 2028
31 LENIER, Jude 3.5 ENG 2006 MARZANO, Carlo 3.5 ITA 2160
32 ALMOND, Richard J 3.5 ENG 2145 ARMSTRONG, Malcolm J 3.5 ENG 1957
33 ZHU, Yao Yao 3.5 CHN 1994 * GREEN, Andrew D 3.5 SCO 2141
34 RAMSTAD, Havard 3.5 NOR 1793 * RAYNER, Francis 3.5 WLS 2141
35 BARTON, R Alan 3.5 ENG 2103 SIMON, Thomas 3.5 GER 1971
36 DE COVERLY, Roger D 3.5 ENG 2091 MESSAM-SPARKS, Lateefah 3.5 ENG 1917
37 FLYNN, David 3.5 ENG 2061 MALHOTRA, Tarun 3.5 ENG 1913
38 KELLY, Paul J 3.0 WLS 1946 * JAUNOOBY, Ali R 3.0 ENG 2207
39 HARIA, Ravi 3.0 ENG 1952 PICKERSGILL, Adrian O 3.0 ENG 2026
40 CLAYTON, Tristan 3.0 ENG 1791 GIBSON, Christopher A 3.0 ENG 1984
41 CALVERT, D Ian 3.0 ENG 1981 ROLVAAG, Birk Anders 3.0 NOR 1917
42 DALE, Hannah 3.0 ENG 1790 JELSEN, Yemi 3.0 INA 1967
43 CM RICH, Mark C 2.5 ENG 2145 YOUNG, Mel J 2.5 ENG 1938
44 HOARE, Amy 2.5 ENG 1921 STEWART, Ashley 2.5 ENG 1980
45 MACRAE, James S 2.0 SCO 1763 CAMPBELL, Eoin 2.5 SCO 1950
46 PLEININGER, Rudolf 2.0 SUI 1998 TORGERSEN, Markus 2.0 NOR 1741
47 POOLEY, Mark 1.5 ENG 1778 * DUNLOP, Neil J 2.0 ENG 1923

[Richard Bates]

I would think that the last round is set up to be uncharacteristically bloodthirsty. Probably only two players would be reasonably satisfied with a draw - Edouard and Prasanna - and both of these are black. 6.5 is unlikely to be relatively much of a prize so there is every incentive for everyone to go for it. Also I think the Indians do generally exhibit a tendency to want to play chess.

[LozCooper]

I would think that the last round is set up to be uncharacteristically bloodthirsty. Probably only two players would be reasonably satisfied with a draw - Edouard and Prasanna - and both of these are black. 6.5 is unlikely to be relatively much of a prize so there is every incentive for everyone to go for it. Also I think the Indians do generally exhibit a tendency to want to play chess.

Agreed. Unconfirmed norm requirements today:

GM norms:

IM SHYAM, Sundar M needs to win against IM DAS Arghyadip on board 3 NOT ACHIEVED

IM PRASANNA, Rao needs to draw against Danny Gormally on board 4 ACHIEVED

IM norms:

ANWESH, Upadhyaya needs to win against GM NEVEROV, Valeriy on board 5 NOT ACHIEVED

Ryan Rhys Griffiths needs to win against Richard Bates on board 10 NOT ACHIEVED

Adam Ashton needs to win against FM FURMAN, Boris on board 12 NOT ACHIEVED

They are unconfirmed in the sense that they are my calculations so hopefully they will be confirmed by those who know what they are talking about later

[Alex McFarlane]

Norm Chances
(to be confirmed)

GM Norms
SHYAM, Sundar needs to win
PRASANNA, Rao needs to draw
IM Norms
ANWESH, Upadhyaya needs to win
ASHTON, Adam needs to win
GRIFFITHS, Ryan Rhys needs to win
WIM Norm
CHKARTINA, Gerhana needs to win

So almost in agreement with Loz.

[Leonard Barden]

After being banned from the British Championship, the Indians (6 of the top 11 places, none of them their top GMs) are now taking over Hastings......

[Richard Bates]

After being banned from the British Championship, the Indians (6 of the top 11 places, none of them their top GMs) are now taking over Hastings......

Seems like a good compromise...

[Keith Arkell]

After being banned from the British Championship, the Indians (6 of the top 11 places, none of them their top GMs) are now taking over Hastings......

Considering that Chess probably originated in India, and they have been playing some form of chess there for 1500 years; and that the relative populations of India to Britain are 1.15 Billion : 61 million (ie about 19 : 1) I don't think we're doing so badly. C'mon David and the Gorm!

[Krishna Shiatis]

After being banned from the British Championship, the Indians (6 of the top 11 places, none of them their top GMs) are now taking over Hastings......

We should be glad that they are here. They are playing quality chess, paying to come to this country (bringing in revenues from abroad) and putting English chess on the map as far as Indians are concerned. The reputation of England as a hosting nation is strengthened whenever anybody visits, if they have a good time and do well. It is not just important from the perspective of chess, but all sports.

It should not matter where they are from. The important thing is that they are willing to come here in the first place. It is a long way to come and I hope that they feel welcome and come back again, as it has been a pleasure to watch their games.

[LozCooper]

Congratulations to GM Deep Sengupta and IM Arghyadip Das (both from India) who won the Hastings Masters 2010 with 7/9. Romain Edouard, Andrei Istratescu, David Howell, Valeriy Neverov, Danny Gormally and Rao Prasanna all scored 6.5. Prasanna also achieved a GM norm.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Congratulations to GM Deep Sengupta and IM Arghyadip Das (both from India) who won the Hastings Masters 2010 with 7/9. Romain Edouard, Andrei Istratescu, David Howell, Valeriy Neverov, Danny Gormally and Rao Prasanna all scored 6.5. Prasanna also achieved a GM norm.

Prize list is here (as well as the British Championship qualifiers and the norms achieved):

http://www.hastingschess.org.uk/2011/prizelist.htm

I can't actually work out who won what amounts. Can anyone make head or tail of it?

I presume the best game prize was for the round 9 win by Sengupta over Edouard, or was it an earlier game?

PS. The round-by-round reports here made good reading:

http://www.hastingschess.org.uk/2011/Co ... entary.htm

[Jonathan Rogers]

An Indian winter then?

I don't keep up with Sicilian theory but the board one game today reminded me of a Kasparov win with White, where Dokhoian said that his boss played an important new move. I wonder how much of today's game was known - not that I am complaining about the rare spectacle of a decisive result on board one in the last round.

Still, a relatively drab event, as last year, for the English spectator because again none of the Englsh players shone throughout (though Howell started well and Richard Bates and Tom Rendle had their moments). Can any one name a single good game/result by any of our leading juniors? Me neither.

[Carl Hibbard]

Excellent live coverage by Dave Clayton again this year...

[Richard Bates]

An Indian winter then?

I don't keep up with Sicilian theory but the board one game today reminded me of a Kasparov win with White, where Dokhoian said that his boss played an important new move. I wonder how much of today's game was known - not that I am complaining about the rare spectacle of a decisive result on board one in the last round.

The view seemed to be that Qh3 was new, I think. They did try and do some research such as was possible in the time before awarding it the prize.

Still, a relatively drab event, as last year, for the English spectator because again none of the Englsh players shone throughout (though Howell started well and Richard Bates and Tom Rendle had their moments). Can any one name a single good game/result by any of our leading juniors? Me neither.

Which "leading juniors" were you thinking of? Other than Yang Fan, the rest are not of a strength where IM/GM scalps are realistic expectations so you have to lower your sights for what constitutes a 'good game/result'. The 'strength' in English Junior Chess at the moment is in the very young age groups, and both Ravi Haria and, especially, Tarun Malhotra had excellent results.