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14th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International
22 Sept - 2 Oct 2005
Last updated: Monday, August 21, 2017 6:35 PM
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The Day Before... - 23 September 2005 - "Webmaster Blunder"
John Saunders reports: As is traditional, we start coverage with a long, rambling anecdote by me. If you are in a hurry, I suggest you spend a few seconds enjoying the view of Port Erin below and then cut to the chess coverage below...
View of Port Erin from Bradda Head
Those of you who have tuned into web coverage of the Monarch Assurance tournament for the past few years will be quite familiar with unexpected events occurring around the beginning of the tournament. One year we had a hotel evacuation a couple of hours before the first round, when your webmaster gleefully published photos of unfortunate guests in various states of undress standing around in the car park. Then we had that boring business of the grandmaster who suddenly decided he didn't like the competition rules and flounced off home in high dudgeon.
Well, normally it is my job to tell you all about the misfortunes and failings of other attendees at the congress while I sit smugly in my luxury penthouse suite at the top of the Ocean Castle Hotel. But life is like chess - just when you think you are ahead of the game, fate takes a hand and knocks you down. This year the man who made the first double-question mark blunder of the tournament was me.
It all happened the day before Round One. There I was on Friday, riding on the train north to Clapham Junction, where I was going to change and catch the Gatwick train, with plenty of time allowed for check-in. I had quite a lot of luggage and, as I stepped off the train and went down the steps towards the adjoining platform, it suddenly occurred to me that my load seemed a lot lighter than when I got on the train. The horrible truth immediately flashed into my head - I had left my laptop on the train. I dashed back up the steps to see the train disappearing off in the direction of London.
Two mind-numbing thoughts crowded in on me: (a) without a laptop, games inputting and tournament coverage had been effectively left en prise; and (b) unattended luggage in London at the moment can be subject to drastic action (perhaps even a controlled explosion). So I wasn't going to win any popularity contests in Port Erin or central London.
Luckily there was a station official on hand to make a quick phone call to the next station up the line, so that they could look for it. He told me to catch the next train, get off there and maybe I would be reunited with my precious cargo. I did that, but on arrival at the next station was devastated to be told that they hadn't found it. "Never mind", said the cheery station official, "it'll probably turn up at Waterloo. Get the next train." So for the final lap of 'Chase The Laptop' and a two-minute ride to the London terminus which seemed like hours.
Our story is to have a happy ending. There was another station official waiting for me at Waterloo. He had no problems in picking me out of the vast throng of commuters as I was the person obviously having a nervous breakdown. He led me to the little room where my computer was awaiting my arrival. After teasing me for a couple of minutes (by threatening me with having to pay a '£200 lost property fee' - ho ho, very funny) and giving me the statutory ticking off about how I should be more careful in future, I was allowed to leave. Of course, that wasn't quite the end of it, and I was hopelessly late for my check-in at Gatwick. But, once again, after being given another stern lecture (this time on time-keeping), those wonderful people at BA let me ride on their aircraft. I've always said, Britain has the finest transport staff in the entire world...
Before we close the subject, I suppose I shall have to amend the chapter I wrote for the latest edition of The Chess Organiser's Handbook (available from the BCM Chess Shop) on 'How to be a Tournament Webmaster'. Bullet Point No.1 - when going to the tournament, don't forget to take your laptop with you.
Round 1 - Saturday 24 September 2005 - "Eddie's Pep-Talk"
What has happened to us Brits all of a sudden? After decades of underachievement in every sport you care to mention, Kelly Holmes won two Olympic gold medals, England's rugby team won the World Cup, Britain 'won' the 2012 Olympics (and it hasn't even started yet), England beat Australia at cricket, Wales beat the living daylights out of everyone in the rugby Five Nations Championship, and South Wales Dragons won the 4NCL three seasons in a row... no... wait a minute... that last one was just a dream I had last night.
Extremely feeble link to round one of the Monarch coming up... but it was a pretty good first round for the home nations. Perhaps it was nothing to do with the new upbeat spirit in British sport, but more to do with the impromptu pep-talk delivered by the man opening the tournament. Mr Eddie Lowey is a leading politician in the Isle of Man and a Member of the Legislative Council - roughly equivalent to Britain's House of Lords, or the 'Second Chamber' of many other western countries. But he is very down-to-earth and clearly loves having fun with a roomful of people. Not content with making the first move on the top board, Eddie teased Sergei Tiviakov about Dutch weather but was full of praise for their football.
"It's cold in Holland, isn't it?" Sergei Tiviakov clearly
enjoys being teased by Eddie Lowey
Most guests who are invited to open chess tournaments usually run for cover after making the first move, but not Eddie. He made a tour of the room, noticing unfamiliar flags and then striking up conversations with the players, including US women's champion Rusudan Goletiani, Michail Brodsky, Colomban Vitoux, Andrew Smith, David Bennion, Peter Wells and others. For a moment I thought I was watching the Johnny Carson Show, as he moved from table to table, drawing out his 'interviewees' and effortlessly working his audience. I have never seen so many smiling faces at a chess tournament. It certainly helped to dispel the tension that builds up before the game. It's an interesting thought - maybe tournaments should hire a warm-up act before the games get underway. Eddie would be a great choice.
"That's one of those new East European places, isn't it?"
Michail Brodsky doesn't seem to mind a bit of levity at the expense of
the Ukrainian flag.
Andrew Smith is waiting to hear what Eddie has to say about Ireland.
Star
of the day was English IM Craig Hanley (photo left). He was the
only player on the day to beat someone higher rated than himself and he
did so in some style, defeating Israeli GM Sergey Erenburg with Black.
Sergey mistimed his kingside pawn advance and was undone by a little tactic
that netted a pawn. It still needed careful handling but Craig finished
the game impressively. Craig is 21 and about to start the last year of
his business management course at Lancaster University (which is also
his home town). He has been enjoying a good run of form recently. In August
he played at the La Pobla de Lillet tournament in Spain and beat strong
GMs Hebden and Burmakin to lead the tournament on 6/7 before contracting
an illness and losing his last two games.
Erenburg,S (2595) - Hanley,C (2367) [C96]
Monarch Assurance Port Erin IOM (1.7), 24.09.2005
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 h3 Na5 10 Bc2 c5 11 d4 Nd7 12 Nbd2 exd4 13 cxd4 Nc6 14 d5 Nce5 15 Nh2 Ng6 16 a4 Rb8 17 g3!? [A new move. Fritz doesn't like it, probably because it weakens the kingside pawn structure, but it is perhaps not so bad. 17 Ndf1 Bg5 18 Ne3 Nf6 19 Nf3 Bf4 20 axb5 axb5 21 b4 was Bologan-Stefansson, Moscow 2004, and ended in a draw.; 17 Ndf3 Re8 18 Ra2 Bb7 19 b3 Bf6 20 Ng4 was Shchekachev-Gustafsson, Austria 2004, and Black won.] 17 ..Nf6 18 h4 Ne5 19 Ndf1 [19 f4!? Neg4 and now 20 e5 looks like a risky but interesting try for White here.] 19 ..c4! [Craig was pleased with this move, which provides him with some control over the d3 square.] 20 Ne3 Re8 21 axb5 axb5 22 f4 Nd3! [For the sacrificed pawn, Black will get rid of the potentially dangerous Lopez bishop on c2 and also undermine the support of the e4 pawn.] 23 Bxd3 cxd3 24 Qxd3 Bf8 25 Nd1
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34 ..Rxc3! [Black sacrifices the exchange for a pawn and, more importantly, another strong piece in the vicinity of White's exposed king.] 35 Bxc3 Nxf4 36 Kf2? [In a position where it is horribly difficult to find good defensive moves, White misses 36 Re1 though White is still unlikely to survive.] 36 ..Be2 37 Qh1 Qc2 38 Be1 Bc4+ 39 Kg3 Bxd5 40 Nf3 [40 Qf1 Nh5+ wins easily] 40 ..Nh5+ [It is mate in two after 41 Kg4 Be6+ 42 Kxh5 g6#] 0-1
There were some other creditable draws scored against elo favourites and the odd near miss. Manx no.1 Keith Allen seemed to be in some danger of beating the top English player at the tournament, Danny Gormally. The genial Englishman was a last-minute replacement for a withdrawal, so was perhaps not in his best form. But Irish-born Keith Allen pushed him very hard before losing the thread and eventually overstepping the time limit.
Alan Grant of Scotland also seemed to be doing very well for much of his game against Polish GM Piotr Bobras but then let his opponent off the hook. British players featured well on the list of creditable draws against strong opposition: Steve Mannion, Adam Ashton, Andrew Dunn, Jeremy Fraser-Mitchell and Dave Bennion were amongst the Brits who put in good performances against tough opponents. I would add the name of Phil Adams, but he didn't seem to have to work too hard for his draw with GM Lalic. Other players doing well to draw against the odds were Slavisa Peric, Stephane Lohou and Steve Fairbairn.
Finally, it is good to welcome back last year's Manx Monarch, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, who is one of three former winners of this tournament in the field (the others being Vladimir Epishin and Mikhail Ulibin). But he ran into a tough opponent right at the beginning. At 44, Russian IM Yuri Zimmerman is not in the first flush of youth, but he proved to be a very tough first round obstacle for the champ. The game nearly went down to the kings, but it was the Russian who was pressing for most of its course.
Results
Round 1 Bd WHITE Result BLACK 1 TIVIAKOV,Sergei 2678 (0) 1 - 0 COX,John 2385 (0) 2 GUPTA,Abhijeet 2380 (0) ½ - ½ ARESHCHENKO,Alex 2625 (0) 3 KOBALIA,Mikhail 2614 (0) 1 - 0 NEGI,Parimarjan 2376 (0) 4 ZIMMERMAN,Yuri 2375 (0) ½ - ½ GHAEM MAGHAMI,Eh 2603 (0) 5 EPISHIN,Vladimir 2600 (0) 1 - 0 PEEK,Marcel 2373 (0) 6 GALKIN,Alexander 2598 (0) 1 - 0 Bye 7 ERENBURG,Sergey 2595 (0) 0 - 1 HANLEY,Craig 2367 (0) 8 BOSBOOM-LANCHAVA 2363 (0) 0 - 1 KORNEEV,Oleg 2594 (0) 9 SHABALOV,Alexand 2593 (0) 1 - 0 RADOVANOVIC,Jovi 2357 (0) 10 GOLETIANI,Rusuda 2332 (0) 1 - 0 RUSTON,Mark 2116 (0) 11 KOGAN,Artur 2580 (0) ½ - ½ MANNION,Steve R. 2331 (0) 12 ZOZULIA,Anna 2314 (0) ½ - ½ DAVID,Alberto 2579 (0) 13 MIKHALEVSKI,Vict 2572 (0) ½ - ½ ASHTON,Adam 2294 (0) 14 PERIC,Slavisa 2280 (0) ½ - ½ FRIDMAN,Daniel 2566 (0) 15 IKONNIKOV,Vyache 2560 (0) 1 - 0 VITOUX,Colomban 2264 (0) 16 DUHAYON,Yves 2230 (0) ½ - ½ YAKOVICH,Yuri 2560 (0) 17 POSTNY,Evgeny 2559 (0) 1 - 0 SPENCE,David 2218 (0) 18 ALLEN,Keith 2210 (0) 0 - 1 GORMALLY,Daniel 2557 (0) 19 MALAKHATKO,Vadim 2556 (0) 1 - 0 GROFFEN,Hans 2210 (0) 20 SMITH,Andrew P 2204 (0) 0 - 1 BRODSKY,Michail 2554 (0) 21 KRITZ,Leonid 2544 (0) 1 - 0 KIRSCHBAUM,Gunna 2204 (0) 22 DUNN,Andrew 2197 (0) ½ - ½ SULSKIS,Sarunas 2535 (0) 23 KUZUBOV,Yuri 2535 (0) 1 - 0 WADEMARK,Helge 2182 (0) 24 WALTHER,Cliff 2175 (0) 0 - 1 ULIBIN,Mikhail 2529 (0) 25 WELLS,Peter 2529 (0) 1 - 0 GOODGER,Martyn 2162 (0) 26 GRANT,Alan 2152 (0) 0 - 1 BOBRAS,Piotr 2525 (0) 27 ADLY,Ahmed 2503 (0) ½ - ½ LOHOU,Stephane 2144 (0) 28 ADAMS,Phil 2138 (0) ½ - ½ LALIC,Bogdan 2491 (0) 29 KIDAMBI,Sundarar 2484 (0) 1 - 0 FOX,Anthony 2118 (0) 30 HICKMAN,John 2115 (0) 0 - 1 HOWELL,David W 2471 (0) 31 NEUBAUER,Martin 2468 (0) 1 - 0 HEYL,Thomas 2101 (0) 32 FRASER-MITCHELL, 2098 (0) ½ - ½ NEELOTPAL,Das 2467 (0) 33 KUNIN,Vitaly 2448 (0) 1 - 0 HUTCHINSON,Norma 2097 (0) 34 HENRICHSEN,Jens 2075 (0) 0 - 1 AAGAARD,Jacob 2442 (0) 35 KONONENKO,Tatian 2442 (0) ½ - ½ BENNION,David A. 2074 (0) 36 FAIRBAIRN,Steve 2065 (0) ½ - ½ GLADYSZEV,Oleg 2436 (0) 37 ZATONSKIH,Anna 2435 (0) 1 - 0 WERNER,Gert 2047 (0) 38 SPANTON,Tim 2032 (0) 0 - 1 GREET,Andrew N 2425 (0) 39 ZUDE,Erik 2424 (0) 1 - 0 HENDERIKSE,Bert 2028 (0) 40 NICHOLSON,John 2000 (0) 0 - 1 KOLBUS,Dietmar 2416 (0) 41 DWORAKOWSKA,Joan 2401 (0) 1 - 0 DE LAGONTRIE,Jea 1988 (0) 42 MARTIN,Katie 1953 (0) 0 - 1 KLENBURG,Mikhail 2400 (0) 43 ROEDER,Mathias 2393 (0) 1 - 0 MARKS,Ian A 1889 (0) 44 FOX,Pierre 1815 (0) 0 - 1 PALLISER,Richard 2389 (0) 45 SAREEN,Vishal 2385 (0) 1 - 0 MCKENZIE,Mark 1249 (0) 46 YOUNG,Mel 1971 (0) 0 - 1 HUGHES,Howard R 2194 (0) 47 MIRZOEVA,Elmira 2223 (0) ½ - ½ Bye