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14th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International
22 Sept - 2 Oct 2005
Last updated: Monday, August 21, 2017 6:40 PM
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Round 9 - 2 October 2005 - "The New Monarch is... Alex Shabalov!"
Future Manx Monarchs? Star of India Parimarjan Negi plays top English
junior David Howell
John Saunders reports: Results and games complete. Alex Shabalov is the new 'Manx Monarch' He agreed a very quick draw with Danny Gormally, as did the brilliant young Ukrainian Alexander Areshchenko (against Vyacheslav Ikonnikov) shortly afterwards; so they tie for the money - but Alex Shabalov take the trophy and 'Manx Monarch' title on sum of progressive scores. The quickness of the draws was an anti-climax but it would have been unfair for either of these two players to have finished ahead of the other because they have both been outstanding at this tournament.
Alex Shabalov (left) is one of nature's nice guys. The Pittsburgh-based former US champion is quiet but friendly, and always to be seen with his ultra-small laptop in hand in the hotel, preparing for his game. Another theory is that he's playing online poker. I'm not sure that can be true because he doesn't seem to mind people interrupting him for a chat (maybe the stakes are relatively low?). Anyway, I managed to grab a few words with the new Monarch just after his game, once again with his trusty laptop in front of him. He hasn't played in a British tournament since the last Lloyds Bank Masters in 1994 where he didn't do very well, so this was a great confidence booster for him. He tells me he hasn't done too well on the US circuit of late either, managing to lose $11,000 with a bad result in the last round of the (I think) Philadelphia Open: hence the safety-first last round tactics here. He was very impressed by the play of his co-winner, Alexander Areschenko (right)and also, the remarkable 15-year-old Yuri Kuzubov, whom he reckons could be even better than Areshchenko. That goes for all of us who have seen these Ukrainian prodigies in action for the last few days.
Leading scores: 1-2 A Shabalov (USA, 1st on tie-break), A Areshchenko (Ukraine) 7, 3-5 A Galkin (RUS), M Kobalia (RUS), O Korneev (RUS) 6½, with 11 players on 6.
Here's is one measure of the strength of this tournament: we acquired our first 2700 rated contestant on 1 October when the new FIDE Rating List came out. Sergei Tiviakov is now 2700 - a fantastic achievement - but here in the last round of the Monarch, he is playing on board 14.
A good final flourish from the Manx squad in the open, as Keith Allen wins quickly and Monsieur Jean Depin, French by birth but playing proudly under the Manx flag, scored a tough draw with genial Irishman, John Nicholson. Jean is our host hotelier at the Ocean Castle and something of a chess fan. He boasts some star chessplayers amongst his personal friends (including Viktor Korchnoi and Jonathan Speelman). Like Alfred Hitchock in his movies, it is now traditional that Jean plays a small 'walk-on' part in the Monarch Assurance every year. This year's game will be the fourth of his cameo appearances to be recorded on Mega Database.
Round 9 Bd WHITE Result BLACK PIN 1 IKONNIKOV,Vyache 2560 (5½) ½ - ½ ARESHCHENKO,Alex 2625 (6½) 14 2 2 SHABALOV,Alexand 2593 (6½) ½ - ½ GORMALLY,Daniel 2557 (5½) 9 17 3 KOBALIA,Mikhail 2614 (5½) 1 - 0 KRITZ,Leonid 2544 (5½) 3 20 4 EPISHIN,Vladimir 2600 (5½) ½ - ½ KUZUBOV,Yuri 2535 (5½) 5 22 5 WELLS,Peter 2529 (5½) 0 - 1 GALKIN,Alexander 2598 (5½) 24 6 6 LALIC,Bogdan 2491 (5½) 0 - 1 KORNEEV,Oleg 2594 (5½) 27 8 7 NEUBAUER,Martin 2468 (5½) ½ - ½ DAVID,Alberto 2579 (5½) 30 11 8 MIKHALEVSKI,Vict 2572 (5½) ½ - ½ KLENBURG,Mikhail 2400 (5½) 12 41 9 MALAKHATKO,Vadim 2556 (5) ½ - ½ BRODSKY,Michail 2554 (5½) 18 19 10 ERENBURG,Sergey 2595 (5) 1 - 0 GREET,Andrew N 2425 (5) 7 37 11 KUNIN,Vitaly 2448 (5) ½ - ½ FRIDMAN,Daniel 2566 (5) 32 13 12 PALLISER,Richard 2389 (5) 0 - 1 YAKOVICH,Yuri 2560 (5) 43 15 13 GUPTA,Abhijeet 2380 (5) ½ - ½ ULYBIN,Mikhail 2529 (5) 46 23 14 TIVIAKOV,Sergei 2678 (4½) 1 - 0 GLADYSZEV,Oleg 2436 (4½) 1 35 15 ROEDER,Mathias 2393 (4½) 0 - 1 GHAEM MAGHAMI,Eh 2603 (4½) 42 4 16 KOGAN,Artur 2580 (4½) ½ - ½ SAREEN,Vishal 2385 (4½) 10 44 17 POSTNY,Evgeny 2559 (4½) 1 - 0 MANNION,Steve R. 2331 (4½) 16 54 18 ZATONSKIH,Anna 2435 (4½) ½ - ½ SULSKIS,Sarunas 2535 (4½) 36 21 19 ADLY,Ahmed 2503 (4½) ½ - ½ RADOVANOVIC,Jovi 2357 (4½) 26 52 20 NEGI,Parimarjan 2376 (4½) 0 - 1 HOWELL,David W 2471 (4½) 47 29 21 PEEK,Marcel 2373 (4½) ½ - ½ NEELOTPAL,Das 2467 (4½) 49 31 22 KONONENKO,Tatian 2442 (4½) ½ - ½ ZIMMERMAN,Yuri 2375 (4) 34 48 23 KIDAMBI,Sundarar 2484 (4) 0 - 1 HANLEY,Craig 2367 (4) 28 50 24 COX,John 2385 (4) ½ - ½ AAGAARD,Jacob 2442 (4) 45 33 25 ZUDE,Erik 2424 (4) ½ - ½ MIRZOEVA,Elmira 2223 (4) 38 60 26 KOLBUS,Dietmar 2416 (4) 1 - 0 SPENCE,David 2218 (4) 39 61 27 HUGHES,Howard R 2194 (3½) 1 - 0 BOBRAS,Piotr 2525 (3½) 67 25 28 DWORAKOWSKA,Joan 2401 (3½) 1 - 0 KIRSCHBAUM,Gunna 2204 (3½) 40 65 29 BOSBOOM-LANCHAVA 2363 (3½) 1 - 0 GOODGER,Martyn 2162 (3½) 51 70 30 GOLETIANI,Rusuda 2332 (3½) 1 - 0 LOHOU,Stephane 2144 (3½) 53 72 31 ZOZULIA,Anna 2314 (3½) 1 - 0 HENRICHSEN,Jens 2075 (3½) 55 80 32 PERIC,Slavisa 2280 (3½) ½ - ½ FRASER-MITCHELL, 2098 (3½) 57 78 33 FAIRBAIRN,Steve 2065 (3½) 0 - 1 VITOUX,Colomban 2264 (3½) 82 58 34 DUHAYON,Yves 2230 (3½) ½ - ½ BENNION,David A. 2074 (3½) 59 81 35 GRANT,Alan 2152 (3) 0 - 1 ASHTON,Adam 2294 (3) 71 56 36 ALLEN,Keith 2210 (3) 1 - 0 DE LAGONTRIE,Jea 1988 (3) 62 87 37 FOX,Anthony 2118 (3) ½ - ½ GROFFEN,Hans 2210 (3) 74 63 38 SMITH,Andrew P 2204 (3) ½ - ½ ADAMS,Phil 2138 (3) 64 73 39 DUNN,Andrew 2197 (3) ½ - ½ HENDERIKSE,Bert 2028 (3) 66 85 40 WADEMARK,Helge 2182 (2½) 0 - 1 WERNER,Gert 2047 (2½) 68 83 41 HICKMAN,John 2115 (2½) 0 - 1 HUTCHINSON,Norma 2097 (2½) 76 79 42 HEYL,Thomas 2101 (2½) 1 - 0 FOX,Pierre 1815 (2½) 77 91 43 WALTHER,Cliff 2175 (2) ½ - ½ SPANTON,Tim 2032 (2) 69 84 44 YOUNG,Mel 1971 (2) 1 - 0 MARKS,Ian A 1889 (2) 88 90 45 NICHOLSON,John 2000 (2) ½ - ½ DEPIN,Jean (0) 86 93 46 MCKENZIE,Mark (0) 0 - 1 MARTIN,Katie 1953 (1½) 92 89