PokerStars Isle of Man International 4-12 October 2014

[Chris Rice]

Not long now till this rather innovative event takes place combining chess and poker. Should suit the 4ncl crowd very well apart from the obvious obstacle that it is on the Isle of Man. Its not at the venue at Port Erin on the south of the island where I've played a couple of times but in the capital, Douglas.
http://cfvg.gov.im/how-to-find-us/
Here's the press blurb with some notable players already entered including a real blast from the past, James Tarjan!!!!!:

The PokerStars Isle of Man International Chess Tournament is set to take place from 4-12th October at the Villa Marina, Isle of Man.

The event will consist of three sections: Master (9-round Swiss), Major and Minor (7-round Swiss each).

Rate of play: 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the remaining moves, with 30 seconds added per move from the start.

In addition, there will be a combined Chess and Poker Event on Friday 3rd October.

The total prize fund is £21,000, with £18,000 reserved for Masters, £1,500 for Major and £1,500 for Minor.

Masters prizes: 1st £6,000, 2nd £3,000, 3rd £2,000, 4th £1,500, 5th £1,000, 6th £700
Ladies’ Awards: 1st £2,000, 2nd £1,000

The highest placed eligible player not already qualified shall qualify for the right to play in the 2015 British Championship, subject to ECF regulations.

Top rated players:

Vachier-Lagrave Maxime France 2768
Adams Michael England 2740
Fressinet Laurent France 2708
Sargissian Gabriel Armenia 2686
Jones Gawain England 2665
Tiviakov Sergey Netherlands 2664
Granda Zuniga Julio Peru 2663
Howell David England 2650
Short Nigel England 2646
Fridman Daniel Germany 2639
Gupta Abhijeet India 2638
Marin Mihail Romania 2583
Hebden Mark England 2554
Greenfeld Alon Israel 2551
Hillarp Persson Tiger Sweden 2549
Vaisser Anatoly France 2531
Tarjan James USA 2525

http://www.chessdom.com/isle-of-man-international/

[Roger de Coverly]

Its not at the venue at Port Erin on the south of the island where I've played a couple of times but in the capital, Douglas.

It's at the venue on the Douglas seafront used in 2005 for the British Championship Congress. It's basically a theatre/concert hall.

[Dewi Jones]

Has Nigel Short booked a hotel for the whole eight nights or just the one this time?

[Chris Rice]

From Alan Ormsby (Chairman, Isle of Man International Chess Committee) 1 October 2014

3 days to go!

There are just 3 days to go until the start of the 2014 PokerStars Isle of Man International Chess Tournament! We have a total of 113 entries from 21 countries across all three sections of the tournament. In the Masters, there are 76 entries, including 59 titled players, likely to make it the strongest open tournament in the British Isles in 2014. We are privileged to have 8 of the world’s top 100 players, headed by Mickey Adams and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, plus 4 of the world’s top 80 ladies headed by Harika Dronavalli.

I would like to thank PokerStars for their support as lead sponsor, enabling international chess to return to the island after a long gap. I would also like to thank the Scheinberg family who have provided additional financial assistance, allowing extra players to be invited.

Thanks also to IM Yochanan Afek who has dedicated an original endgame study to our tournament. A link will be added to our website in the coming days. Solutions are invited from those attending the Villa Marina. Photocopies of the position and a solution box will be provided at the venue.

Registration

I would like to remind all players of the need to register in person at the Villa Marina, ideally by 8pm on Friday 3 October for those playing in the Masters and by 8pm on Sunday 5 October for those playing in the Major and Minor. All players aged 18+ should bring photo ID with them to enable them to register for PokerStars’ PS Live Card, allowing access to all areas of the Villa Marina whilst PokerStars’ UK and Ireland Poker Tour IOM event is taking place. For those players (and spectators) under the age of 18, special arrangements will be made for them to access the chess playing areas.

Opening Ceremony

The Masters gets underway at 1.30pm on Saturday 4 October. I invite all players to take their seats by 1.15pm when there will be a short opening ceremony. Our guest will be Eddie Teare, the Isle of Man Government Treasury Minister, who will welcome the players before being invited to make the first move on top board.

Mobile Phones

In line with new FIDE laws and practice, players are encouraged to NOT bring their mobile phones (or other electronic equipment) to the playing venue. If, however, you do decide to bring your mobile phone then it must be switched-off and placed in an opaque bag on or under the table for the duration of your game, without being moved. David Welch (International Arbiter) will have more to say on this topic prior to the first round.

I wish all players and officials a safe journey to the island and look forward to meeting you all over the coming days.

[Peter D Williams]

I see Alan Merry http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=418811 is in this event he is a rather good chess junior with every chance of becoming an IM.

[John Upham]

See http://www.pokerstars.tv/channels/2014/ ... enge.shtml

[Angus French]

I hope Jonathan Hawkins gets his third-and-final GM norm (with sufficient games against non-ENG-registered opponents).

[Michael Farthing]

Welcome home, Angus!

[Chris Rice]

Live games, nothing unexpected so far http://www.iominternationalchess.com/live-games.html

[Nick Burrows]

A very good draw for Simon Ansell Vs Fressinet

[Nick Grey]

Was trying to qualify for this one. On Poker Stars that is.

Anyway that half will give Simon a chance to play a bit more poker.

[Chris Rice]

I'm guessing this is one of those events that you've got to actually be there to understand what is going on. Jennifer Shahade won 5-1 in a simul poker & chess thingy that looks to have preceded the event. Here's video link http://www.pokernews.com/video/ukipt-io ... e-9189.htm

In the main chess tournament here are the round 2 pairings in the Masters:

1 Raznikov, Danny......... 2492 (1) ..... Adams, Michael.......... 2758 (1) 22 1
2 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime. 2757 (1) ..... Tarjan, James E......... 2525 (1) 2 19
3 Sargissian, Gabriel..... 2690 (1) ..... Popilski, Gil........... 2493 (1) 4 21
4 Gormally, Daniel W...... 2488 (1) ..... Granda Zuniga, Julio E.. 2674 (1) 23 5
5 Tiviakov, Sergei........ 2668 (1) ..... Smith, Bryan G.......... 2482 (1) 6 24

6 Paehtz, Elisabeth....... 2477 (1) ..... Jones, Gawain C B....... 2664 (1) 25 7
7 Howell, David W L....... 2657 (1) ..... Williams, Simon K....... 2457 (1) 8 27
8 Van Foreest, Jorden..... 2455 (1) ..... Short, Nigel D.......... 2646 (1) 28 9
9 Gupta, Abhijeet......... 2640 (1) ..... Jedynak, Radoslaw....... 2453 (1) 10 29
10 Arkell, Keith C......... 2450 (1) ..... Fridman, Daniel......... 2635 (1) 30 11
11 Marin, Mihail........... 2583 (1) ..... Steinberg, Nitzan....... 2435 (1) 12 31
12 Reshef, Omer............ 2397 (1) ..... Hillarp Persson, Tiger.. 2555 (1) 36 13
13 Greenfeld, Alon......... 2542 (1) ..... Skripchenko, Almira..... 2429 (1) 14 33
14 Nakar, Eylon............ 2424 (1) ..... Hebden, Mark L.......... 2540 (1) 34 15
15 Hawkins, Jonathan....... 2533 (1) ..... Kobo, Ori............... 2380 (1) 16 38
16 Haimovich, Tal.......... 2365 (1) ..... Vaisser, Anatoly........ 2531 (1) 41 17
17 Harika, Dronavalli...... 2528 (1) ..... Bakalchuk, Johnatan..... 2317 (1) 18 49
18 Givon, Asaf............. 2431 (½) ..... Fressinet, Laurent...... 2713 (½) 32 3
19 Ansell, Simon T......... 2370 (½) ..... Merry, Alan B........... 2269 (½) 39 57
20 House, Glenn L.......... 2209 (0) ..... Cox, John J............. 2368 (½) 60 40
21 Boruchovsky, Avital..... 2501 (0) ..... Allen, Keith............ 2197 (0) 20 61
22 Ferguson, Mark.......... 2414 (0) ..... Dahl, Baard............. 2154* (0) 35 63
23 Groffen, Hans........... 2161 (0) ..... L'Ami, Alina............ 2386 (0) 62 37
24 Walton, Alan J.......... 2123 (0) ..... Peek, Marcel............ 2359 (0) 64 42
25 Van Den Bersselaar, Jero 2119 (0) ..... Bartell, Thomas......... 2358 (0) 65 43
26 Welling, Gerard......... 2350 (0) ..... Sant Anna, Eddie Luiz G. 2119 (0) 44 76
27 Hansen, Victor.......... 2113 (0) ..... Mannion, Stephen R...... 2347 (0) 67 45
28 Wallis, Christopher..... 2347 (0) ..... Tolhuizen, Ludo......... 2117 (0) 46 66
29 Boelhouwer, Collin...... 2106 (0) ..... Tate, Alan.............. 2320 (0) 68 47
30 Sipos, Silvester........ 2050* (0) ..... Kolbus, Dietmar......... 2316 (0) 71 50
31 Efroimski, Marsel....... 2316 (0) ..... Hill, Alistair.......... 2102 (0) 51 69
32 Shvayger, Yuliya........ 2306 (0) ..... Smith, Graham........... 2073 (0) 53 70
33 Klein, Gernot, Dr....... 2000 (0) ..... Veinberg, Nimrod........ 2289 (0) 72 54
34 Llewellyn, Alan M....... 1555 (0) ..... Afek, Yochanan.......... 2287 (0) 75 55
35 Klein, Felix............ 2286 (0) ..... Gutkind, Kedem.......... 1993 (0) 56 73
36 Mindlin, Alon........... 2259 (0) ..... Fabri, Henrik........... 1948 (0) 58 74
37 Duncan, Chris R......... 2319 (0) ½ - 0 ........................ 48

[Chris Rice]

Here is the Fressinet-Ansell game from Round 1 where Simon got a draw (if you remember Ben Purton drew with Fressinet at the Euro Club Cup in Bilbao recently)

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bg4 5. Qb3 Qb6 6. Ne5 Qb3 7. ab3 e6 8. d4 Nbd7 9. Ng4 Ng4 10. Be2 Ngf6 11. O-O a6 12. f3 Be7 13. Bd2 O-O 14. Be1 c5 15. g4 Nb6 16. g5 Nfd7 17. f4 Rad8 18. cd5 ed5 19. Nd1 Bd6 20. Ba5 Rde8 21. Bd3 f6 22. g6 f5 23. gh7 Kh7 24. Rc1 cd4 25. ed4 g6 26. Nc3 Rf6 27. Rf3 Rfe6 28. Kf2 Bf8 29. Bb6 Nb6 30. h4 Bg7 31. Ne2 Kg8 32. Rc7 Nc8 33. Rb7 Nd6 34. Rc7 Ne4 35. Ke1 Bf6 36. Rh3 Bd8 37. Rb7 Nf6 38. b4 Nh5 39. Kd2 Bf6 40. Rh2 R8e7 41. Rb8 Kf7 42. b5 ab5 43. Rb5 Re3 44. Rb3 Ng3 45. Ng3 Rg3 46. h5 gh5 47. Rh5 Rg2 48. Kd1 Rg1 49. Kc2 Bd4 50. Rf5 Ke6 51. Rg5 Rc7 52. Kd2 Rg7 53. f5 Ke5 54. Rg6 Rg2 55. Kc1 Rg1 56. Kc2 Rg2 57. Kb1 Rg1 58. Rg1 Rg1 59. Ka2 Rg2 60. Rb8 Rf2 61. Bb1 Bc5 62. Kb3 Kd4 63. Rg8 Bd6 64. Rg1 Be5 65. Rd1 Kc5 66. Bc2 Rf3 67. Ka2 Rf2 68. Kb1 Kc4 69. Rh1 Kc5 70. Re1 Bd4 71. Re8 Rf1 72. Ka2 Rf2 73. Ka3 Kd6 74. Re6 Kc7 75. Kb3 Rf3

[Barry Sandercock]

Some interesting live games in the Isle of Man. Particularly David Howell v. Simon Williams.

[John Moore]

Check out Gormally-GrandaZuniga. I thought Black was overdoing it in the opening but this is how you beat a 2674 GM in 16 moves.