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10th Monarch Assurance International Chess Tournament, 29 Sept - 7 Oct 2001
The Monarch Assurance 10th International Chess Tournament is being held at the Cherry Orchard Hotel, Port Erin, Isle of Man, from 29 September to Sunday 7 October 2001.
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Round 2 Results & Table
Round 2 Report
Monday morning, and a lot of BCM Online's avid readership (at least the UK ones) like to visit the site for a quick look at the chess news before getting down to their day's work. Yes, we know you're out there, we've checked the web site visit statistics, and there's always a peak on Mondays at around 9am. It's OK, I won't tell your boss (so long as you keep subscribing to the mag). You'll be well into your day's work by the time you read this, though. There's a lot of gruelling work to do before this report goes on line, I can tell you. Tough decisions have to be made; for example, whether to have the continental, or the full English, breakfast in The Cherry Orchard's plush restaurant. Then we have to decide on a walk round the bay, or - is to be the headland? Oh yes, it's a man's life in the regular webmastery...
But enough of this cruel gloating: round two
featured some nail-biting chess and a couple of upsets. I've forgotten who
first adapted Gary Lineker's famous football proverb to make it relevant to
chess - you know, the one that runs: "Chess is an easy game. Players take it in
turn to make moves and in the end the Russians win". Well, it wasn't quite like
that yesterday. Danny Gormally (see left) decided to play a super-sharp
line against Mikhail Ulibin, and added some ultraviolence of his own
concoction. The Russian looked decidedly nonplussed, flicking glances at his
opponent that seemed to say: "Hey! Come one, that's unfair, I'm Russian, you're
English, and you're not supposed to play me off the board!" Actually it's a
good 25 years since Tony Miles changed the script and started to play the
board, not the nationality. Danny is from the same mould and is not too
bothered about who is playing against. It was a cracking game (see
below). Simon Williams has a similarly refreshing approach to the game, and
yesterday played some excellent counterpunching chess to unseat the
newly-crowned British Champion, Joe Gallagher. This was a case of a knight that
came and sat on f3 and wouldn't go away. Joe struggled hard, but when Simon
found a way to plonk his queen on d5 to tee up murderous discovered check
threats, the game was up.
For a long time it looked as though Danny Gormally was going to be the
one and only player on 2/2, but towards the end of the session he was joined by
another: Martyn Goodger. The 37-year-old English player, rated 2136, had a
surprise victory over Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, after the Georgian woman
grandmaster had underestimated a rapid pawn advance on the kingside. Time
trouble intervened, and Ketevan missed some drawing chances. This was a great
result for Martyn, and we wish him good luck in his game today. He'll need it:
he's got black against Tiviakov. So there are two English players in the lead
with 2/2. But that's only the equivalent, in football terms, of 20 minutes'
played, and there is plenty of time for the Russians to 'do a Manchester
United', of course.
David Howell (see left),
who is not 11 until next month, played extremely well against Mark Hebden,
coming within an ace of a draw in a long game. But it came down to a very
tricky king and pawn ending, and the old campaigner was not to be denied. As he
said himself, the position had been "99% drawn". But it's that other 1% that
being a grandmaster is all about.
The last game of the day was Simons-Baburin. Martin Simons put up a great fight against the Russo-Irish grandmaster. It went right down to the last minute or so on both the clocks. Simons put a rook en prise, which Baburin captured. "Stalemate", announced Martin - but even as he said it, he noticed he still had an a-pawn, with a legal move... the last few moves of this game, as published in the download, is a reconstruction, but the final position is accurate.
Gormally,D (2481) - Ulibin,M (2583) [C05]
Monarch
Assurance International Port Erin (2.3), 30.09.2001
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 Bd3 c5 6 c3 Nc6 7 Ngf3 This is more enterprising than the sedate 7 Ne2 in that it nearly always results in the sacrifice of the d4 pawn. 7 ..Be7 8 0-0 a5 9 Re1 cxd4 10 cxd4 Qb6 [10 ..g5 11 g4 h5 12 h3 hxg4 13 hxg4 Qb6 14 Qa4 and Danny Gormally went on to win against Neil McDonald at the recent Ron Banwell MSO tournament in London.] 11 Nb1 Moves such as 11 Qa4, 11 Qe2 and 11 a3 have been played here previously, but the text is an idea of the Israeli GM, Ilya Smirin. The idea is simply to re-route the knight to c3, to try and exploit the weakness of the b5 square. 11 ..Nxd4 12 Nxd4 Qxd4 13 Nc3 Qb6 [I'm sure I don't have to explain why 13 ..Nxe5 is a bad move here!] 14 Qg4 g6 15 Bg5!? [Danny decides to go for it. But you can bet it was all prepared. Ulibin had been here before: 15 Nb5 0-0 16 Bh6 Nc5 17 Qd4 Rd8 (17 ..Bd7!? 18 Bxf8 Rxf8 19 a4 f6 was played a very recent game, Dembo-Arnold, at Budapest in August. It ended in a draw.) 18 Rac1 Ra6 19 Be3 Nxd3 20 Qxd3 d4 21 Bxd4 Bc5 22 Bxc5 Rxd3 23 Bxb6 Bd7 24 Bd8 Bxb5 25 Rc8 Kg7 26 Bf6+ Kh6 27 h4 Rd4 28 f3 g5 29 g4 and Black resigned - Smirin-Ulibin, Croatian Team Championship 2000.] 15 ..Bxg5 [15 ..Qxb2 probably just transposes: 16 Rac1 Bxg5 17 Qxg5 0-0 etc.] 16 Qxg5 0-0 17 Qh6 Qxb2 18 Rac1
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Ulibin was clearly a worried man, and already running desperately short of time. 18 ..Qa3 19 h4 Qe7 20 Nb5! Gormally's plan is not just about mate on the kingside; he's also lining up attacking options of the queenside. 20 ..Nc5 [Not 20 ..f6? because of 21 Nc7 Rb8 22 Nxe6! etc.]
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21 Rxc5! Qxc5 22 Nd6 This move, in conjunction with the exchange sacrifice, once again leaves the black queen struggling to get back to the defence of his beleaguered kingside. 22 ..Bd7 23 h5 Ba4 [A rather sorry looking move, but Black needs to clear the a7-h7 rank so that the queen can come back to c7 for defensive purposes. If 23 ..Qc3 24 Re3 Qd2 25 Kh2! - threatening hxg6 and Bxg6 etc - 25 ..Qxf2 26 Rg3 wins.] 24 Qg5 Qc3 25 Re3 Arbiter Richard Furness' gaze was now firmly fixed on Black's flag which was suspended perilously... 25 ..f6 26 Qh6 Qc1+ 27 Kh2 Qc7 28 hxg6 Qg7 The cavalry has finally arrived, but the damage to Black's clock time was disastrous. Gormally had about half an hour at his disposal and it was a question of finding a few unobvious but complex threats to consume Ulibin's few remaining seconds. 29 Qh4 f5 [There's no time to save the bishop on a4: 29 ..Bc6 30 Rg3 h5 31 Qxh5 f5 32 Nf7 Rfc8 33 Bxf5! and if 33 ..exf5 34 Nh6+ Kf8 35 Nxf5 wins.] 30 Nf7 Rather than the obvious 30 Qxa4, to eat away at those dwindling seconds. 30 ..hxg6 31 Nh6+ Kh8
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32 Qxa4? [Time trouble is infectious: 32 Rh3! g5 33 Qg3 is a killer.] 32 ..f4? [Time pressure takes its inevitable toll: 32 ..Qe7! 33 Rh3 Kg7 leaves White with some work to do.] 33 Rh3 Qc7 34 Qd1 Kg7 [Black has to try 34 ..f3 but it's no good after 35 Qd2! Qxe5+ 36 g3 with a mating attack looming.] 35 Qg4 Rf5 36 Bxf5 Ulibin actually managed to resign before his flag fell. 1-0
Gallagher,J (2516) - Williams,S (2369) [A96]
Monarch
Assurance International Port Erin (2.5), 30.09.2001
1 d4 f5 2 g3
Nf6 3 Bg2 e6 4 Nf3 Be7 5 0-0 0-0 6 c4 d6 7 Nc3 a5 8 Re1 Ne4 9 Qc2 Nxc3 10 Qxc3
Nc6 [10 ..c6 11 a3 draw agreed, Leighton Williams-Simon Williams (see
left), Hastings 1995. Rather surprising, in view of the fighting
reputations of the two (unrelated) Williamses.] 11 e4 e5!? [11 ..d5 12
exd5 Bb4 13 Qd3 exd5 (13 ..Bxe1?! 14 dxc6 Bb4 and now Black would have
to reckon with tactical tricks such as 15 Ne5!? b6 16 c5!?) 14 Bg5 Ne7
15 c5 Bxe1 16 Rxe1 Re8 17 Qe2 Kf8 18 Ne5 and White won - Shashin-Korzin, Moscow
1966.] 12 exf5 Bxf5 13 Be3 [13 dxe5 dxe5 and not 14 Nxe5? Bb4 etc.]
13 ..Be4 14 Nd2 Bxg2 15 Kxg2 d5! [15 ..exd4 16 Bxd4 Nxd4 17 Qxd4 Bf6 18
Qd5+ Kh8 19 Ne4 is about level. But Black is playing for the advantage.] 16
a3 [White gets chased around after 16 Qb3 Nxd4 17 Bxd4 exd4 18 cxd5 a4 19
Qc4 b5 20 Qxd4 Bf6 etc, but perhaps that would been better. Now he gets into
deep trouble.] 16 ..Bf6 17 Nf3 exd4 18 Nxd4 Qd7 19 Rad1 [19 f4 Rf7! 20
Rad1 Re8 and the threat to double rooks on the e-file makes things
uncomfortable for White.] 19 ..Ne5!
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Now the double threat is Nxc4 and Nf3. So the latter becomes inevitable. 20 c5 Nf3 21 Rf1 Qg4 22 Qd3 [22 Qb3 Bxd4 23 Qxd5+ Kh8 24 Bxd4 Rad8 is equally unpleasant.] 22 ..Bxd4 23 Bxd4 Nh4+ 24 Kh1 Nf3 25 Kg2 Otherwise 25...Qh3 would be fatal. 25 ..c6 26 h3 Qe6 The f3 knight paralyses White's position. 27 Be3 g5 28 Bd4?! [28 Bf4!? was perhaps better but leads to a different set of problems: 28 ..gxf4 29 Qxf3 fxg3 30 Qxg3+ Kh8 31 Rd4 Rg8 32 Rg4 Rxg4 33 hxg4 Qe2 and Black has the advantage. But at least White doesn't have the f3 knight to contend with.] 28 ..Rae8 29 b4 axb4 30 axb4 Qd7 31 Ba1 If White doesn't move the bishop, he has to reckon with ...Re4, followed by ...Qe6 and ...Re2. But now the problem is the threat of ...d4. 31 ..Qe6 32 Rc1 d4! 33 Rfd1 [33 Qc4 Qxc4 34 Rxc4 d3! (Black wouldn't play Nd2 and give up his super knight for a pathetic rook) 35 Rcc1 d2 36 Rcd1 Re2 37 Bc3 h5 and it's slow strangulation.] 33 ..Rf7 34 Qc4 [34 Bxd4 Qd5 35 Kf1 Ne1! wins.] 34 ..Qe4 35 Kf1 Nd2+ 0-1
Goodger,M (2136) - Arakhamia,K (2446) [B06]
Monarch
Assurance International Port Erin (2.14), 30.09.2001
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42 ..Rb8 A fateful decision. White now gets two passed kingside pawns. 43 Rxg6 Rxb3 44 h5 Kf7 45 Rg3 Rb4 46 h6 Rxe4 47 Kh3 White is going to get his plan of Rg7+ and g4 going, and there is little Black can do about it. 47 ..Rc4 48 Rg7+ Kf6 49 g4
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49 ..e4?! [49 ..Rxa4!? 50 g5+ Kf5 51 h7 Ra1 52 g6 Kg5 53 Rg8 Ra3+ 54 Kg2 Ra2+ 55 Kf3 Ra3+ 56 Ke2 Rh3 57 h8Q Rxh8 58 Rxh8 Kxg6 59 Ra8 d5 60 Rxa5 Kf5 and it is not clear that White can separate the black king from the three pawns to pick them off.] 50 g5+ Kf5 51 h7 Rc1 52 Kg2 Major time trouble for both players... 52 ..Rc2+ 53 Kg1 Rc1+ 54 Kg2 Rc2+ 55 Kf1 Rh2 56 g6 e3?! 57 Rg8 Ke4? [Now, staying with the pawns does no good: 57 ..Kf6 58 h8Q+ Rxh8 59 Rxh8 Kxg6 60 Ke2 and it is an easy win.] 58 h8Q Rf2+ 59 Kg1 Kd3 60 Rd8 1-0
Howell,D (2193) - Hebden,M (2559) [C68]
Monarch
Assurance International Port Erin (2.11), 30.09.2001
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42 Rc1 [Keeping the rooks on would probably lead to a draw: 42 Kd3 etc. But it is not yet the last chance.] 42 ..Rxc1 43 Kxc1 Kf7 44 Kc2 Ke6 45 Kc3 Kd6 46 Kd4? [46 Kb4! Kc6 47 e5 fxe5 48 fxe5 Kd5 (48 ..g6 49 e6 Kd6 50 Kxb5 Kxe6 51 Kc5 Ke5 52 Kc6! holds the draw) 49 Kxb5 Kxe5 50 Kc6 Ke4 51 Kd6 Kf3 52 Ke5 draws.] 46 ..Kc6 47 h3 [47 e5 fxe5+ 48 fxe5 g6 also wins comfortably.] 47 ..Kd6 48 g4 hxg4 49 hxg4 g6 50 Kd3 g5 51 e5+ Ke6 52 exf6 gxf4 53 Ke4 b4 0-1
 Martin Simons |
Round 2 (Sunday 30 September 2001) - click on links for javascript play-through
Bd WHITE Result BLACK 1 GLEIZEROV,Evgeny (1) 1/2 STOCEK,Jiri (1) 2 GALKIN,Alexander (1) 1/2 BRODSKY,Michail (1) 3 GORMALLY,Danny (1) 1-0 ULIBIN,Mikhail (1) 4 YAKOVICH,Yuri (1) 1/2 FLEAR,Glenn C (1) 5 GALLAGHER,Joe (1) 0-1 WILLIAMS,Simon (½) 6 KIRIAKOV,Petr (½) 1-0 WILLMOTH,Robert (1) 7 SMITH,Andrew P (1) 0-1 TIVIAKOV,Sergei (½) 8 LALIC,Bogdan (½) 1-0 JACKSON,Adrian (1) 9 SIMONS,Martin (1) 0-1 BABURIN,Alexander (½) 10 SHAW,John (½) 1/2 COLLINS,Sam (1) 11 HOWELL,David WL (1) 0-1 HEBDEN,Mark (½) 12 HILARP-PERSSON,Tiger (½) 1-0 SPENCE,David (1) 13 CHERNIAEV,Alexander (0) 1-0 VALENTI,Richard (1) 14 GOODGER,Martyn (1) 1-0 ARAKHAMIA-GRANT,Ketev (0) 15 AFEK,Jochanan (½) 1-0 COATHUP,Roger (1) 16 MAY,Frank (1) 0-1 MCNAB,Colin (0) 17 KIRSANOV,Oleg (0) 1-0 BOLT,Graham (1) 18 SOWRAY,Peter J (0) 1-0 MCNALLY,Bruce (1) 19 ISHERWOOD,Paul (0) 0-1 MARUSENKO,Petr (½) 20 HANLEY,Craig A (½) 1-0 CROUCH,Colin S (0) 21 ALLEN,Keith (0) 0-1 BOUSBOURAS,Spiros (½) 22 STUART,E Leslie (0) 0-1 RYAN,Joe (0) 23 KEMENADE,R van (0) 1-0 BISBY,Daniel L (0) 24 DOSSETT,Chris (0) 0-1 CLARK,Stephen P (0) 25 ELLISON,D George (0) 1-0 BENSON,PJ (0) 26 LUTTON,J Ezra (0) 1-0 NICHOLSON,John (0) 27 WAUGH,Jonathan (0) 0-1 YURENOK,Maria S (0) 28 SPANTON,Tim (0) 0-1 ORMSBY,Alan (0)
Monarch Assurance International, Port Erin, Isle Of Man (ENG), IX 2001 - X 2001
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
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1 Gormally, Daniel m ENG 2481 +49 +31 . . . . . . . 2.0
2 Goodger, Martyn ENG 2136 +53 +47 . . . . . . . 2.0
3 Afek, Yochanan m ISR 2381 = 7 +36 . . . . . . . 1.5 2537
4 Baburin, Alexander g IRL 2584 = 8 +28 . . . . . . . 1.5 2519
5 Brodsky, Michail g UKR 2528 +30 = 6 . . . . . . . 1.5 2651
6 Galkin, Alexander g RUS 2583 +27 = 5 . . . . . . . 1.5 2675
7 Hebden, Mark g ENG 2559 = 3 +38 . . . . . . . 1.5 2480
8 Hillarp Persson, Tiger g SWE 2438 = 4 +43 . . . . . . . 1.5 2577
9 Kiriakov, Petr g RUS 2548 =12 +33 . . . . . . . 1.5 2497
10 Lalic, Bogdan g ENG 2528 =18 +24 . . . . . . . 1.5 2489
11 Stocek, Jiri g CZE 2530 +25 =16 . . . . . . . 1.5 2669
12 Williams, Simon m ENG 2369 = 9 +23 . . . . . . . 1.5 2725
13 Tiviakov, Sergei g NED 2618 =21 +29 . . . . . . . 1.5 2549
14 Bousbouras, Spyridon GRE 2102 =17 +46 . . . . . . . 1.5 2476
15 Flear, Glenn C g ENG 2489 +46 =19 . . . . . . . 1.5 2626
16 Gleizerov, Evgeny g RUS 2587 +47 =11 . . . . . . . 1.5 2681
17 Hanley, Craig ENG 2278 =14 +50 . . . . . . . 1.5 2447
18 Marusenko, Petr m UKR 2362 =10 +52 . . . . . . . 1.5 2543
19 Yakovich, Yuri g RUS 2577 +50 =15 . . . . . . . 1.5 2641
20 Collins, Sam IRL 2194 +54 =21 . . . . . . . 1.5 2457
21 Shaw, John m SCO 2478 =13 =20 . . . . . . . 1.0 2406
22 Cherniaev, Alexander m RUS 2437 -31 +32 . . . . . . . 1.0 2363
23 Gallagher, Joseph G g SUI 2516 +42 -12 . . . . . . . 1.0 2337
24 Jackson, Adrian ENG 2230 +39 -10 . . . . . . . 1.0 2310
25 Kirsanov, Oleg RUS 2365 -11 +34 . . . . . . . 1.0 2327
26 May,Frank WLS ---- +41 -27 . . . . . . . 1.0
27 McNab, Colin A g SCO 2437 - 6 +26 . . . . . . . 1.0
28 Simons, Martin ENG 2215 +45 - 4 . . . . . . . 1.0 2336
29 Smith, Andrew Philip f IRL 2234 +35 -13 . . . . . . . 1.0 2365
30 Sowray, Peter J f ENG 2334 - 5 +40 . . . . . . . 1.0 2269
31 Ulibin, Mikhail g RUS 2583 +22 - 1 . . . . . . . 1.0 2459
32 Valenti, Richard FRA 2143 +44 -22 . . . . . . . 1.0
33 Willmoth, Robert ENG 2239 +37 - 9 . . . . . . . 1.0 2326
34 Bolt, Graham ENG 2124 +56 -25 . . . . . . . 1.0
35 Clark, Stephen P ENG 2112 -29 +51 . . . . . . . 1.0
36 Coathup, Roger ENG 2130 +51 - 3 . . . . . . . 1.0
37 Ellison, Derek George ENG 2104 -33 +48 . . . . . . . 1.0 2142
38 Howell, David WL ENG 2193 +48 - 7 . . . . . . . 1.0 2302
39 Lutton, J.Ezra ENG 2093 -24 +53 . . . . . . . 1.0 2125
40 McNally, Bruce SCO 2010 +52 -30 . . . . . . . 1.0 2253
41 Ormsby,Alan IOM ---- -26 +54 . . . . . . . 1.0
42 Ryan, Joseph IRL 2305 -23 +55 . . . . . . . 1.0 2277
43 Spence, David ENG 2185 +55 - 8 . . . . . . . 1.0 2238
44 Van Kemenade,Rudi ENG ---- -32 +49 . . . . . . . 1.0 2214
45 Yurenok, Maria S ENG 2088 -28 +56 . . . . . . . 1.0
46 Allen, Keith IRL 2289 -15 -14 . . . . . . . 0.0
47 Arakhamia, Ketevan m GEO 2446 -16 - 2 . . . . . . . 0.0
48 Benson, Paul J ENG 2046 -38 -37 . . . . . . . 0.0
49 Bisby, Daniel L ENG 2285 - 1 -44 . . . . . . . 0.0
50 Crouch, Colin S m ENG 2407 -19 -17 . . . . . . . 0.0
51 Dossett,Chris IOM ---- -36 -35 . . . . . . . 0.0
52 Isherwood, Paul ENG 2172 -40 -18 . . . . . . . 0.0
53 Nicholson, John IRL 2021 - 2 -39 . . . . . . . 0.0
54 Spanton, Timothy ENG 2051 -20 -41 . . . . . . . 0.0
55 Stuart, E. Leslie ENG 2039 -43 -42 . . . . . . . 0.0
56 Waugh,Jonathan IOM ---- -34 -45 . . . . . . . 0.0
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START OF PLAY : 1330 (1.30pm)
RATE OF PLAY : 40 moves
in 2 hours, 60 moves in 3 hours then 30 minutes to each player to complete the
game. 7 hour playing session.
Accelerated Swiss Pairing System being
employed
As well as Monarch Assurance plc, The Tournament is also sponsored by The Isle of Man Tourism, and The Cherry Orchard Hotel, plus the Erin Arts Centre, the Isle of Man Department of Tourism, Port Erin Commissioners and the Isle of Man Chess Association.