11th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man Chess International 28 Sept - 6 Oct
2002
Round 3 - 30 September
John Saunders reports: Round Three Results
Zapata, Alonso - Stocek, Jiri 1/2 27 B86 Sicilian
Kogan, Artur - Epishin, Vladimir 1/2 19 E12 Queen's indian
Dautov, Rustem - Hebden, Mark 1-0 54 E62 Kings Indian
Ulibin, Mikhail - Goloshchapov, Alexander 0-1 56 B47 Sicilian
Neverov, Valeriy - Miezis, Normunds 0-1 73 A40 Queen's pawn
Tyomkin, Dimitri - Fridman, Daniel 1/2 11 D46 Queen's gambit
Ward, Christopher - Shulman, Yuri 1-0 56 D45 Queen's gambit
Lalic, Bogdan - Marchand, Francois 1-0 50 A52 Benoni
Palus, Ryszard - Felgaer, Ruben 0-1 29 D10 Slav defence
Rotstein, Arkadij - Rayner, Francis 1-0 34 C00 French
Blackburn, Jonathan L - Sulskis, Sarunas 0-1 46 A44 Old Benoni
Burrows, Martin - Peralta, Fernando 1-0 34 B07 Pirc
Kunte, Abhijit - Dougherty, Michael 1-0 40 A07 Reti (1 Nf3)
Grant, Alan - Grunberg, Mihai 1/2 51 A10 English 1 c4
Palliser, Richard - Gordon, Stephen J 1-0 34 E11 Bogo-Indian
Vuilleumier, Alex - Ledger, Andrew 0-1 42 B12 Caro-Kann
Ansell, Simon - Fox, Anthony 1/2 61 A07 Reti (1 Nf3)
Van Kemenade, Rudy - Gladyszev, Oleg 0-1 62 B45 Sicilian
Hinks-Edwards, Thom - Harborne, Matthew 1-0 43 D41 Queen's gambit
Ellison, Derek George - Pert, Richard G 1/2 26 A25 English 1 c4 e5
Brady, Stephen - Hanley, James L 1-0 37 B22 Sicilian 2 c3
Cafolla, Peter - Cooper, Lawrence 0-1 56 A32 English 1 c4 c5
Lutton, J.Ezra - Daly, Colm 0-1 34 A00 Irregular
Lutton, E Josiah - Orr, Mark J L 1/2 53 C10 French
Hanley, Craig - Bennion, David 1-0 38 C17 French Winawer
Purton, Ben - Williams, Simon 0-1 27 B23 Sicilian Closed
Cioara, Andrei Nestor - Goodger, Martyn 1/2 39 C43 Petroff Defence
Kelly, David - Welling, Gerard 0-1 36 C30 King's Gambit
Spanton, Timothy - Hutchinson, Norman 0-1 45 A17 English 1 c4
Collins, Sam - Ormsby, Alan 1-0 51 B13 Caro-Kann
Shepherd, Michael - Waugh, Jonathon C 1/2 52 E73 Kings Indian
Cross, Glenn - Cheshire, Paul L 1/2 22 E61 Kings Indian
The leaders... Ward, Zapata, Dautov, Goloshchapov, Miezis...
Three Lions on a Shirk
Thus far we haven't heard much about the English grandmasters, have we?
That is probably fair enough as our 'three lions' (Ward, Lalic and Hebden)
spent round two as lions will: snoozing peacefully under a bush waiting
for easy prey to come along. Well, not literally, but you get the picture.
Round three was no easier for two of them, but all three were involved
in some decisive chess in a round which produced relatively few short
draws. After round three there are five joint leaders on 2½/3:
Chris Ward, Alonso Zapata, Rustem Dautov, Alexander Goloshchapov and Normunds
Miezis.
Foreground: Lalic v Marchand, (obscured) Ward v Shulman,
Tyomkin (looking towards camera) v Fridman
Bogdan Lalic had the easiest pairing of the three English lions, against
FM Francois Marchand of France, rated 2237. The Frenchman's decision to
surrender the two bishops looked doubtful and Bogdan soon had him in a
half-nelson, and despite lasting 50 moves there was never really any doubt
that Bogdan would win. Lalic-Marchand.
Hebden had Black against Rustem Dautov, now of Germany but a typical
product of the old Soviet school. Dautov refused Mark's draw offer on
move 24 though the position was fairly equal. Dautov indulged in masterly
inactivity until after the time control when he launched a long-planned
b4 assault. Mark should probably have played cxb4 but instead tried to
work up some play against Dautov's king. This proved to be insufficient
and Dautov managed to break through to Hebden's king first. Dautov-Hebden.
Ward had a surprisingly easy passage against Belarussian (but US resident)
GM Yuri Shulman. Ward's aggressive intentions were obvious as he castled
long and pointed his pieces at Black's king but Shulman could not seem
to find a viable defence against this 'route one' approach. Ward found
a tactic to exploit Black's weakened defences and won queen for rook and
piece. Though Black played on for a long time, there was never really
any doubt that White would win through. A good result for the former British
Champion, who will be gratified to wake up this morning to a new FIDE
rating of 2513. Ward-Shulman.
The
surprise of the round was Martin Burrows' excellent win against IM Fernando
Peralta. The Argentinian's choice of 10...e6 looked very suspect and Burrows
correctly opted for an immediate attack. He successfully defused Peralta's
tactical attempts to get back in the game and then exploited the manifold
weaknesses of Black's position. A great scalp for the 28-year-old English
amateur. Burrows-Peralta.
Last year's winner Mikhail Ulibin suffered defeat at the hands of Alexander
Goloshchapov. Ulibin turned down the Ukrainian GM's draw offer early in
the game but offered the draw a few moves later. But the Ukrainian wanted
to play on, and proved his point as he got his rook to the seventh rank
and marginalized Ulibin's knight. This was a very fine display of technical
chess by Goloshchapov; I'm not sure I can do it justice in the time available,
but have a good look at it in the play-through window. It would be a mistake
to discount Ulibin's chances, however, as last year he suffered an even
more painful defeat to Danny Gormally in round two and bounced back to
take first prize. Ulibin-Goloschapov.
The
last game to finish ended with a huge blunder. Valery Neverov of Ukraine
was trying to win an interminable double rook ending with an extra pawn,
but, when down to his last two minutes, got in a tangle and allowed Normunds
Miezis to win a whole rook. The two players were a contrast in appearance:
Miezis is expressionless and like a statue at the board whereas Neverov
is a bundle of nerves, rocking back and forth in his chair and twiddling
his fingers in the air. Some consolation for the Ukrainian this morning:
his October rating is 2601 taking him into the world's top 100. Neverov-Miezis.
There was an unofficial England-Ireland match this round: Ansell-Fox,
Brady-J.Hanley, Cafolla-Cooper, J.Lutton-Daly, E.Lutton-Orr. Ratings suggested
a 3-2 win for the Irish and so it was to prove. Another Irishman, Sam
Collins, took on Manxman Alan Ormsby and it took a hard fight for the
Irish champion to get his first point on the scoreboard. Collins-Ormsby.
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