Negros Open, Bacolod City, Philippines.

[Nigel Short]

An aged Englishman has moved to 2/2 at the Negros Open. Here is my second game https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tourn ... 2017/2/1/1

[Phil Neatherway]

That must have been fun!

[Nigel Short]

3.5/4 after an error-strewn draw yesterday. Joey Antonio is on maximum. https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tourn ... 2017/4/1/2

[Nigel Short]

The miserable spoilsport resigned before I could execute an unusual double underpromotion... https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tourn ... 2017/7/1/1

[Kevin Thurlow]

Shame - but at least he can say he was threatening mate!

[Nigel Short]

Finished first with 8/9.

[John McKenna]

Very impressive - for an ageing Englishman abroad - from what I saw of the way it was done you met fire with fire, as usual.

The homegrown players are usually not slouches when it comes to aggressive tactical fights and we know how good the Indian and Vietnamese players have become. Yet, the pairings seem to have avoided giving you - despite your excellent score - the pleasure of playing your main rivals!?

The prologue -

http://en.chessbase.com/post/join-the-n ... in-bacolod

Perhaps Chessbase will do an epilogue, too?

(I accept that a pro player may have to set aside any qualms.)

[Nigel Short]

Thanks for the kind words, John. Philippinos tend to be underrated, in my view. Yes, I was fortunate with the pairings, but at least I cannot be accused of playing the Swiss Gambit. And believe me, it is actually pretty difficult winning 7 games

I don't know what ChessBase will do, but I hope there will be a final report.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Nigel did end up playing one of his main rivals (and beating him) in the final round. His highest-rated opponent: GM Narayanan (2511).

I think Nigel lost 0.5 rating points (or stayed the same). That must be relatively uncommon, to win an event and not gain rating points!

Playing an unrated player in round 7 didn't help (the spoilsport who didn't allow the double underpromotion).

Still, as Nigel said, it is not easy to keep winning against under-rated players.

[Alex Holowczak]

That must be relatively uncommon, to win an event and not gain rating points!

Keith Arkell may not agree with your judgement.

[Nigel Short]

I believe that I did not lose any rating points, now that Joey Antonio's Elo rating has been corrected upwards by 54 points, by FIDE. Still, it was damned hard work to basically stand still

[NickFaulks]

now that Joey Antonio's Elo rating has been corrected upwards by 54 points, by FIDE.

Has that really happened? It looks to me as though the input was just wrong.

[Nigel Short]

Yes, it happened, Nick. Joey withdrew, with ill-health, after 3 rounds in the Philippine Championship. His remaining eight games were mistakenly rated. FIDE acknowledged the error and corrected his rating two days ago. Thanks for the congratulations, by the way.

[Chris Rice]

First of an interesting two part article from Business World entitled Short is Tall which not only discusses Nigel's win in this event but goes over his career and his chess connection with the Phillipines.

Incidentally, I must report a rather unfortunate incident on a recent train journey. A friend asked me what I was looking at and I happily showed them Nigel's first post on this thread regarding how well he was doing at the Negros Open. This friend attacked me verbally immediately, causing other passengers to look over as to what was going on, as to how such a disgusting tournament could be arranged in this day and age, why was I supporting it by reading about it and how the hell was Nigel Short eligible to play in it anyway? I limply replied that this was a rather unfortunately named Open tournament in the Phillipines and they had got the wrong end of the stick.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Incidentally, I must report a rather unfortunate incident on a recent train journey. A friend asked me what I was looking at and I happily showed them Nigel's first post on this thread regarding how well he was doing at the Negros Open. This friend attacked me verbally immediately, causing other passengers to look over as to what was going on, as to how such a disgusting tournament could be arranged in this day and age, why was I supporting it by reading about it and how the hell was Nigel Short eligible to play in it anyway? I limply replied that this was a rather unfortunately named Open tournament in the Phillipines and they had got the wrong end of the stick. "

Good grief - I don't blame you for being embarrassed...