International Round Up 03/11/09

[LozCooper]

International Round Up 03/11/09

Unive Tournament Hoogeveen:
http://www.univechess.nl/2009/indexdeelnemers.html

Congratulations to Stewart Haslinger on his excellent tournament win in Hoogeveen. Stewart won by a clear point with 7.5/9 and achieved a 2707 performance. He played 5 GMs and won against Friedel, Brodsky and Nijboer in rounds 6, 7 and 8 as he pulled clear of the field. An excellent result which will be duly noted by the England selectors.

World Junior Championship:
http://www.ajedrez.com.ar/
http://chess-results.info/tnr26636.aspx?lan=1&redir=J

David Howell represented England in this prestigious event from 21st October to 3rd November and was seconded by Nigel Short. Sadly, after a positive start of 6/8 David lost a key game in round 9 to the top seed with black and was unable to recover losing the next two games. However, he showed tremendous guts to recover and win his last two games to finish with a 2582 performance. Whilst he will have hoped for better, I admire his strength of character to win his last two games when he must have wanted to jump on the first plane home.Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won on tie-break from Sergei Zhigalko with 10.5/13.

European Team Championship:
http://www.eurons2009.com/eng.htm
http://chess-results.com/tnr24908.aspx? ... -1&wi=1000

Open Round 6:

Austria 1.5 England 2.5

1 GM Markus Ragger 2561 v Michael Adams 0.5-0.5
2 GM David Shengelia 2560 v Luke McShane 0-1
3 GM Nikolaus Stanec 2541 v Stuart Conquest 0.5-0.5
4 IM Martin Neubauer 2448 v Simon Williams 0.5-0.5

Women Round 6:

England 1.5 Croatia 2.5

1 Jovanka Houska v WGM Valentina Golubenko 2298 1-0
2 Ingrid Lauterbach v WGM Mirjana Medic 2322 0-1
3 Natasha Regan v WIM Mara Jelica 2242 0-1
4 Meri Grigoryan v WIM Kristina Solic 2193 0.5-0.5

The men’s team produced an efficient performance with two short draws with black and once Luke had won a piece Simon put the team first and offered a draw although he had a pleasant advantage and could have played on if needed. Luke’s game was a somewhat bizarre affair but he built up a time advantage and his opponent crumbled under the pressure. It was pleasing to get a win without any long games and hopefully the players will be fresh going into the next round.

The women came close to causing an upset against their higher rated opponents. Meri secured a solid draw on bottom board and Jovanka stood well early on. However, Ingrid drifted from a good position as she struggled to assess the match situation and remaining uncertain if she needed to play for a win she made an error and lost the game. Natasha also lost a complicated game which left England two down and although Jovanka converted in a queen and pawn ending after an uncertain period the team were left with the frustrated feeling of what might have been.

Open Round 7:

England 1.5 Switzerland 2.5

1 Michael Adams v GM Viktor Korchnoi 2566 0.5-0.5
2 Luke McShane v GM Yannick Pelletier 2589 0.5-0.5
3 Stuart Conquest v GM Florian Jenni 2500 0.5-0.5
4 Stephen Gordon v IM Roland Ekstroem 2488 0-1

Women Round 7:

Italy 2.5 England 1.5

1 IM Olga Zimina 2319 v Jovanka Houska 0.5-0.5
2 WFM Marina Brunello 2162 v Ingrid Lauterbach 0.5-0.5
3 WFM Eleonora Ambrosi 2159 v Natasha Regan 0.5-0.5
4 WFM Marianna Chierici 2053 v Sabrina Chevannes 1-0

Round 7 proved to be a desperately disappointing day for the men’s team. Stephen always seemed to be a bit worse and went downhill losing a queen and pawn ending a pawn down. I think it’s only fair to mention that his night’s sleep had been interrupted by two Serbian drunks who burst into his room at 3.30 in the morning and the whole experience left him somewhat shaken. I admired his determination to play but it clearly affected him although to his credit he didn’t use it as an excuse. Luke had a complex King’s Indian that finished as a draw. Mickey appeared to be outplaying Korchnoi on board 1 but let his advantage slip and Stuart’s opponent somehow survived despite leaving himself with 2 seconds for a move on several occasions and also being a lot worse. This was a most frustrating result from a match that we seemed to have the better of but a reminder of how narrow the margins are between success and failure.

The women’s match was equally frustrating. Jovanka had a fairly solid draw on top board whilst Ingrid was a pawn up but was unable to convert it. The bottom two boards were totally chaotic. Sabrina played 2 h3 and 3 g4 against the Dutch and an exchange sac on move six gave her a lot of play. However, she fell behind in development and subsequently lost material. I stopped watching, assuming her opponent was about to win but was shocked to later hear her opponent had gone astray and even messed up before Sabrina actually lost on time. Natasha was worse and seemingly close to losing before a bizarre finish where her opponent had just made a second queen after which Natasha gratefully took perpetual check. You can imagine her surprise when a win was pointed out to her. She could take the newly promoted queen and be material up or if her opponent recaptured Natasha actually had a mate in 3!

Open Round 8:

Norway 2 England 2

1 GM Jon Ludvig Hammer 2585 v Michael Adams 0.5-0.5
2 GM Leif Johannessen 2532 v Luke McShane 0.5-0.5
3 IM Frode Elsness 2458 v Stuart Conquest 1-0
4 FM Joachim Thomassen 2332 v Simon Williams 0-1

Women Round 8:

England 3 Montenegro 1

1 Jovanka Houska v Katerina Jonoska 2023 0.5-0.5
2 Ingrid Lauterbach v Bojana Bejatovic 1833 1-0
3 Meri Grigoryan v WIM Gabriela Koskoska 2182 1-0
4 Sabrina Chevannes v Monika Stojkovska 1902 0.5-0.5

The men had a very hard fought match that ended even. Mickey’s opponent sacrificed a pawn but always had plenty of compensation and the game fizzled out into a drawish ending. Luke had a complicated middle game where he appeared to miss a win, instead sacrificing an exchange for what looked like a winning attack but black had a defence and a repetition soon followed. Simon won a nice game where he also sacrificed an exchange but obtained a complete bind and his opponent was unable to find the right defence and allowed Simon to break through and win material. Stuart tried the same opening that had surprised Stephen in round five but white reacted well and Stuart’s visually worse opening became a difficult middle game and eventually an ending a pawn down which his opponent was able to convert.

The women appeared to have their match firmly in control but the match almost turned around in the time scrambles. Jovanka won a pawn and appeared to be heading for a win but allowed her opponent to escape into a drawn rook and pawn ending. Meri had a crushing position from the early middle game but her opponent did manage to fight back but Meri always appeared to retain control. Ingrid won a pawn early on and her opponent then sacrificed an exchange for what looked like insufficient compensation. However, the game became messy and I have it on good authority (from the women’s captain Andrew Greet) that her opponent may have even missed a win before Ingrid finally liquidated into a won ending. Sabrina showed great fighting spirit to save a difficult position and managed to escape to a queen and pawn ending that she was able to hold.

Open Round 9:

England 3.5 Macedonia 0.5

1 Michael Adams v GM Vladimir Georgiev 2537 1-0
2 Luke McShane v GM Nikola Mitkov 2525 1-0
3 Stuart Conquest v GM Trajko Netev 2511 0.5-0.5
4 Stephen Gordon v GM Zvonko Stanojoski 2492 1-0

Women Round 9:

Turkey v England

1 Jovanka Houska v WFM Asli Bayrak 2011 1-0
2 Ingrid Lauterbach v Burcu Sasmazel 1907 0-1
3 Natasha Regan v Cansu Soylemez 1912 1-0
4 Meri Grigoryan v Menzi Nezihe Ezgi 1803 1-0

The men had a resounding last round victory lifting the team up to 12th. Mickey recorded his first win in a Lopez where his opponent consistently refused to play the natural …c5 move and left himself with a position devoid of counterplay. Mickey’s technique did the rest. Luke ground down his opponent after a lot of manoeuvring led to a better endgame and his passed b pawn forced the win of a piece. Stuart had a decent opening but slipped into a worse position but managed to find a trick to keep the balance. Stephen bounced back from his round 7 loss with a controlled victory with black. He won a pawn and then successfully repulsed the white initiative before winning material. An excellent end to a mixed tournament. There was the high of beating the 4th seeds Bulgaria and the low of losing to Switzerland when a top ten finish was looking a possibility.

Final scores: Mickey 3.5/8, Luke 5/9, Stuart 5.5/9, Simon 2.5/5 and Stephen 3/5.

The women also finished with a victory and this left them placed 17th, five places above their seeding. Meri had a quick win with black despite opening with 1…a6 and 2… b5. Jovanka ground out an extra pawn in a rook and opposite coloured bishop ending but Ingrid chose an incorrect plan in the middle game and lost material. Natasha had an amazing game where she won a piece for a pawn in the opening. I naively expected that to be the last moment of interest but first the game became somewhat complicated when Natasha sacrificed an exchange back and next time I looked she had an extra pawn in a knight and pawn ending. There followed a moment of mutual chess blindness where Natasha’s knight somewhat unwisely forked her opponent’s knight and rook. Thankfully her opponent missed the tempting NxN winning a piece and after that normal service was resumed and Natasha was able to win and avoid the horrible feeling of letting a whole point slip through her fingers.

Final scores: Jovanka 5.5/9, Ingrid 4.5/9, Natasha 3.5/7, Meri 3/6 & Sabrina 2.5/5.

November rating list:

1 Short, Nigel D g ENG 2707 16 1965
2 Adams, Michael g ENG 2698 12 1971
3 McShane, Luke J g ENG 2615 0 1984
4 Howell, David W L g ENG 2597 9 1990
5 Conquest, Stuart C g ENG 2563 0 1967
6 Jones, Gawain C B g ENG 2556 18 1987
7 Williams, Simon K g ENG 2550 11 1979
8 Haslinger, Stewart G g ENG 2548 9 1981
9 Pert, Nicholas g ENG 2541 0 1981
10 Gordon, Stephen J g ENG 2527 9 1986
11 Speelman, Jon S g ENG 2525 0 1956
12 Parker, Jonathan F g ENG 2523 0 1976
13 Hebden, Mark L g ENG 2522 9 1958
14 Turner, Matthew J g ENG 2508 0 1975
15 Flear, Glenn C g ENG 2504 12 1959
Top Women:
1 Hunt, Harriet V m ENG 2452 0 1978
2 Houska, Jovanka m ENG 2391 10 1980
3 Ciuksyte, Dagne m ENG 2344 0 1977
4 Lalic, Susan K m ENG 2310 0 1965
5 Corke, Anya wg ENG 2284 0 1990
6 Regan, Natasha K wm ENG 2170 0 1971
7 Lauterbach, Ingrid wm ENG 2163 0 1960
8 Bellin, Jana wg ENG 2151 0 1947
9 Grigoryan, Meri wf ENG 2122 0 1977
10 Tidman, Sophie E wf ENG 2110 0 1984
11 Forbes, Cathy wm ENG 2106 0 1968
12 Hegarty, Sarah N ENG 2068 17 1988
13 Bhatia, Kanwal K ENG 2058 0 1981
14 Chevannes, Sabrina L wf ENG 2042 5 1986

M.Chigorin Memorial 2009:
http://www.totalchess.spb.ru/kalend/200 ... index.html

Maria Yurenok played in the open event in St Petersburg scoring 2.5/9.

In addition to the individual websites the latest international chess news can be found at the following link:
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic782.html

Lawrence Cooper
Director of International Chess 03/11/09