International Round Up 18/8/09

[LozCooper]

International Round Up 18/8/09

Howard Staunton Memorial Tournament '09
http://howardstaunton.com/hsmt2009/Home.html
http://www.2seeitlive.com/viewer_registration.php

This year's Staunton tournament started on Saturday 8th August, just a day after the end of the British. The Scheveningen event featured two teams of five with England facing Netherlands in a double round format. England were represented by Adams, Short, McShane, Howell and Jones. I believe this to be the first time that our top four players have played together for an England team. I hope this will happen soon in an Olympiad or European Team. The all play all event featured five English and 5 foreign players including three from the Netherlands and the legendary Viktor Korchnoi.
Live coverage was offered for the first time and required payment of £5 for online registration. The coverage worked okay on the whole, with the welcome addition of the all-play-all games from round 2 onwards. The system did have a problem accepting credit cards though and I eventually had to pay by paypal.
Last week I reported on the first 3 rounds which saw England take a narrow 8-7 lead having played an extra round of whites. Nigel Short was on 3/3 with Micky, Luke and David on 1.5 and Gawain on 0.5. In the all-play-all Jan Timman lead with 3/3, half a point ahead of Simon Williams and Alexander Cherniaev.
The last seven rounds produced much more hard fought chess and it was only in rounds 7-9 where both teams started scoring heavily with white. In round 7, England took a two point lead with wins from David Howell & Luke McShane only to be pegged back to 20-20 as both David and Luke were defeated. However, in round 9 England took a commanding lead with wins from Nigel Short, David Howell and Gawain Jones. The final round was relatively peaceful although Nigel completed an outstanding performance by defeating Loek Van Wely with black to finish with 8/10. Luke McShane lost to Jan Smeets whilst the other three games were drawn. Watching from home, it seemed the event was a big success, lots of hard fought chess and finally some English success over the Dutch!
The all-play-all event was won by Jan Timman on 7/9, half a point clear of Alexander Cherniaev. Jan fought hard throughout and his only defeat came against Viktor Korchnoi who finished third on 6/9.

Results are as follows:

Scheveningen:

Round 4:
GM Sokolov (2) GM Adams (2) 0.5 - 0.5
GM L'Ami (2.5) GM Short (3.5) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Van Wely (2.5) GM Howell (1.5) 1 - 0
GM Werle (0.5) GM McShane (2.5) 0 - 1
GM Smeets (2.5) GM Jones (0.5) 1 - 0
Round 5:
GM Adams (2) GM L'Ami (2.5) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Short (3.5) GM Van Wely (2.5) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Howell (1.5) GM Werle (0.5) 1 - 0
GM McShane (2.5) GM Smeets (2.5) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Jones (0.5) GM Sokolov (2) 0 - 1
Round 6:
GM Van Wely (3) GM Adams (2.5) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Werle (0.5) GM Short (4) 0 - 1
GM Smeets (3) GM Howell (2.5) 1 - 0
GM Sokolov (3) GM McShane (3) 1 - 0
GM L'Ami (3) GM Jones (0.5) 0 - 1
Round 7:
GM Adams (3) GM Werle (0.5) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Short (5) GM Smeets (4) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Howell (2.5) GM Sokolov (4) 1 - 0
GM McShane (3) GM L'Ami (3) 1 - 0
GM Jones (1.5) GM Van Wely (3.5) 0.5 - 0.5
Round 8:
GM Smeets (5) GM Adams (4) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Sokolov (4.5) GM Short (6) 0.5 - 0.5
GM L'Ami (4) GM Howell (3.5) 1 - 0
GM Van Wely (5) GM McShane (4) 1 - 0
GM Werle (1.5) GM Jones (2.5) 0.5 - 0.5
Round 9:
GM Adams (4.5) GM Sokolov (5) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Short (7) GM L'Ami (4) 1 - 0
GM Howell (4.5) GM Van Wely (5) 1 - 0
GM McShane (4.5) GM Werle (2) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Jones (3.5) GM Smeets (5) 1 - 0
Round 10:
GM L'Ami (4.5) GM Adams (5) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Van Wely (5) GM Short (8) 0 - 1
GM Werle (2.5) GM Howell (5) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Smeets (6) GM McShane (4.5) 1 - 0
GM Sokolov (5.5) GM Jones (4) 0.5 - 0.5

England: Short 8, Adams & Howell 5, McShane 4.5, & Jones 4

Netherlands: Smeets 6, Sokolov 5.5, Van Wely 5, L'Ami 4.5 & Werle 2.5

All play all:

Round 4:
GM Cherniaev (2.5) GM Timman (3) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Williams (2.5) IM Wiersma (1) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Wells (2) Chapman (0) 1 - 0
GM Korchnoi (1.5) IM Hendricks (0.5) 0 - 1
IM Trent (1) GM Davies (1) 0 - 1
Round 5:
GM Davies (2) GM Cherniaev (3) 0.5 - 0.5
IM Hendricks (1.5) IM Trent (1) 1 - 0
Chapman (0) GM Korchnoi (1.5) 0 - 1
IM Wiersma (1.5) GM Wells (3) 1 - 0
GM Timman (3.5) GM Williams (3) 1 - 0
Round 6:
GM Cherniaev (3.5) GM Williams (3) 1 - 0
GM Wells (3) GM Timman (4.5) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Korchnoi (2.5) IM Wiersma (2.5) 0.5 - 0.5
IM Trent (1) Chapman (0) 0 - 1
GM Davies (2.5) IM Hendricks (2.5) 1 - 0
Round 7:
IM Hendricks (2.5) GM Cherniaev (4.5) 0.5 - 0.5
Chapman (1) GM Davies (3.5) 0 - 1
IM Wiersma (3) IM Trent (1) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Timman (5) GM Korchnoi (3) 0 - 1
GM Williams (3) GM Wells (3.5) 1 - 0
Round 8:
GM Cherniaev (5.5) GM Wells (4) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Korchnoi (5) GM Williams (4) 1 - 0
IM Trent (1.5) GM Timman (6) 0 - 1
GM Davies (5) IM Wiersma (4) 0.5 - 0.5
IM Hendricks (4) Chapman (1) 1 - 0
Round 9:
Chapman (1) GM Cherniaev (6.5) 0 - 1
IM Wiersma (4.5) IM Hendricks (4.5) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Timman (7) GM Davies (5) 1 - 0
GM Williams (4.5) IM Trent (2) 0.5 - 0.5
GM Wells (4) GM Korchnoi (6) 0 - 1
Timman 7 Cherniaev 6.5 Korchnoi 6 Davies 5 Hendricks, Williams & Wiersma 4.5, Wells 4, Trent 2 & Chapman 1.

European Union Youth Championships

http://chess-results.com/tnr23968.aspx? ... -1&wi=1000
http://www.lorinsworld.com/euyouthchmureck.htm
England had 11 juniors playing in the different age-groups which comprise U8s, U10s, U12s and U14s. For scores and Lorin's excellent coverage please use the links above. Congratulations to Brandon Clarke who finished equal second on 7/9 in the Under 14 event. Peter & Gill Turner oversaw the trip and the three coaches were Lorin D'Costa, Neil McDonald and Tom Eckersley-Waites.
Full English scores:
Under 14s: Brandon Clarke 7/9, Jo Quinn 5, Aidan McGiff 4, Jennifer Ehr 3.5, Robert Bowler 3.
Under 12s: Henry Broadley & Isaac Sanders 5, James Bowler & Amol Vani 3.5.
Under 10s: Adarsh Vani 3.5.
Open Under 10/08: Isobel Sanders 5.

Uxbridge Masters, Challengers & Get Me Rated 12-16 August

http://www.e2e4.org.uk/international/20 ... e/home.htm

Sean Hewitt hosted the latest of his FIDE rated tournaments which consisted of six all-play-alls. Tournaments A & B offered players the chance of IM norms whilst Tournament C was an unusual mix of 12 players consisting 2 GMs, an IM and 9 rated players whilst Tournaments D-F offered 4 or 5 unrated players the chance of a part rating by competing against 5 or 6 rated players.
The smooth running of the tournament was unusually disrupted by two injury problems in the build-up! Sabrina Chevannes sustained a serious knee injury before she'd even started a game of netball and as a result was unable to walk. This made her daily commute from Brixton-Uxbridge impossible and she reluctantly had to withdraw from Tournament B and was replaced by Charlie Storey. However, Charlie then withdrew after round 1 and due to the tournament requiring a fifth titled player to make the tournament eligible for norms Sabrina was rushed via a taxi and a lift from Mark Lyell to the tournament hall to play the norm seekers, despite being barely able to walk!
Keith Arkell was competing for the first time since being diagnosed with a hiatus hernia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiatus_hernia). Without wanting to turn my report into a medical journal this may explain his seriously below par result in Torquay. Despite being told he will have to lose weight, cut down on alcohol and curries the good news is he is free to continue his other passion; rook and pawn endings!
Congratulations to Peter Poobalasingam and Venkataram Tiruchirapalli who achieved IM norms. Both players have also taken their ratings over 2300 and so have the option of claiming their FM titles. In addition, an amazing fifteen unrated players qualified for full FIDE ratings. Congratulations to all of them. Full details can be found on the tournament website.

Winners as follows:

Group A: Igor Rausis 7.5/9
Group B: Arun Prasad 7.5/9
Group C: Danny Gormally 8/9
Group D: Akash Jain 7.5/9
Group E: David Turner 6/9
Group F: Philip Makepeace 7.5/9

First Saturday Tournament Budapest
http://www.firstsaturday.hu/

Mark Lyell finished on 5/9 in the IM Tournament A performing at 2362. Diana Mihajlova finished on 0.5/13.

16th Vienna International Open:
http://www.vienna-chess-open.at/
http://chess-results.com/tnr19376.aspx
David Shaw is amongst the leaders on 3/3. Kemal Ozeren is on 2.5, Ian Thompson is on 2, Dr Jeremy Fraser Mitchell, Sebastian Pozzo & Dr Kieran Smallbone are on 1.5, Daniel Cotterill, Chris Majer & Chris Duggan are all on 1. Meanwhile, in the B Tournament, Tim Thurstan is on 2/3, Dominic Pozzo and Ian Cross are on 1.

Acropolis 2009 Chalkida, Greece:
http://acropolis-en.skakistikiakadimia. ... pageID=401
Peter Sowray is on 4.5/8.

French Championships:
http://www.echecs.asso.fr/Default.aspx?Cat=15
Tony Kosten, who is now registered for France, is playing in the B Tournament and is currently on 4/7.

Abudhabi Chess Festival 2009 (Open Tournament):
http://www.chess-results.com/tnr24519.a ... -1&wi=1000
Paul Dargan is on 4/6 and Nicolas De Peyer is on 2.5.

In addition to the individual tournament websites the latest international chess news can be found at the following link: http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic771.html

Lawrence Cooper
Alternate Director of International Chess 18/8/09
[email protected]

[Alex Holowczak]

Acropolis 2009 Chalkida, Greece:
http://acropolis-en.skakistikiakadimia. ... pageID=401
Peter Sowray is on 4.5/8.

I don't know if you saw this, from the same tournament. How sad.

[LozCooper]

Acropolis 2009 Chalkida, Greece:
http://acropolis-en.skakistikiakadimia. ... pageID=401
Peter Sowray is on 4.5/8.

I don't know if you saw this, from the same tournament. How sad.

I hadn't but thanks for pointing it out. Tragic story.

[Carl Hibbard]

Lawrence you need to enclose all of these url's so people can link properly

As per:-

http://acropolis-en.skakistikiakadimia. ... pageID=401

Use the URL button and place the link in between - then just preview to double check they look ok...

[Carl Hibbard]

I have corrected some of the others to give you the idea...