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12th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International
27 Sept - 5 Oct 2003
Last updated: Monday, August 21, 2017 7:21 PM
Return to Tournament Home Page • Rd
1 • Rd 2 • Rd
3 • Rd 4 • Rd
5 • Rd 6 • Rd
7 • Rd 8 • Rd
9 • Crosstable
ISLE OF MAN ½, RUSSIA ½
Manxman Keith Allen was the star of the round, drawing
with last year's winner Vladimir Epishin. This was a fine achievement
for the Irishman who has long since settled here in the Isle of Man. He
played a very canny and steady game, and eventually unsettled the grandmaster
into compromising his position somewhat. Allen was better in the final
position but it was probably sensible to settle for a half point in the
hand rather than a point in the bush. From the point of view of Epishin,
this left him on 1½/3. Not a good score, but this is only half
a point less than he had last year (when he went on to take first place
with 7/9). There is still time for him to come back despite two unsatisfactory
results in his first three games.
Oleg Korneev is the leader in the clubhouse with 3/3
after beating Salvador Del Rio Angelis. The Spanish GM adopted a somewhat
unusual plan (Nc1-d3) in the opening and the Russian replied with a very
strong d5-d4 advance, setting up a temporary piece sacrifice. Del Rio's
continuation averted immediate disaster but left Korneev with a nagging
positional advantage. It came down to a level roon and pawns ending, but
White may have misjudged the strength of Black's rapid h-pawn advance
which decided the game.
Boards one and two were fairly steady draws, but there
was a frantic finish to Kotronias-Kogan. So much so that both scoresheets
were illegible from move 30 and we don't yet have a complete score. Hopefully
something will come forward today.
Another Spanish grandmaster suffered 'death in the afternoon'.
To add insult to injury, he was playing the white side of his national
opening, the Ruy Lopez. However all the Spanish torture was suffered by
White, after the rather suspect 20 Ne3. Four moves later a Black pawn
had reached c2 and it achieved promotion on move 27, netting Black the
exchange and (soon after) the game.
There was a heart-stopping, clock-thumping
finale to Halkias-Zatonskih, which was won on time (and on the board)
by the 25-year-old US (formerly Ukrainian) woman grandmaster. The question
here is whether Halkias left the exchange en prise when he played 14 0-0
or whether this was a sacrifice. I incline towards the latter though he
seemed to have better plans available to him. For a while Halkias seemed
to have reasonable compensation but Zatonskih sacrificed back the exchange
to gain what was ultimately a winning advantage.
IM Simon Williams won a see-saw struggle to join the
gang on 2½. He played a Dutch Defence against Israeli grandmaster
Victor Mikhalevski, in which an imbalanced pawn structure. White yielded
his enfeebled b-pawn but came up with an ingenious plan to trap Williams'
queen, the saving of which cost the English IM a piece. However Williams
gained a second pawn for the piece and Mikhalevski's king was very exposed.
Though White must have been winning, it was a difficult position to play
in time trouble. In his panic Mikhalevski hung a piece and then blundered
again before resigning.
GM Harmen Jonkman got into all sorts of trouble against
the Scandinavian Defence played by unrated English amateur Howard Hughes.
In the final position Hughes was winning at least a pawn but instead opted
for perpetual check against the GM.
Round 3 - 29 September 2003
Bd WHITE Result BLACK 1 EMMS,John 2520 (2) 1/2 IORDACHESCU,Vior 2606 (2) 2 WELLS,Peter K 2481 (2) 1/2 SULSKIS,Sarunas 2593 (2) 3 DEL RIO ANGELIS, 2479 (2) 0-1 KORNEEV,Oleg 2561 (2) 4 KOTRONIAS,Vasili 2602 (1½) 1-0 KOGAN,Artur 2534 (2) 5 MORENO CARNERO,J 2512 (1½) 0-1 KUZMIN,Alexey 2583 (1½) 6 AL-MODIAKHI,Moha 2574 (1½) 1/2 DAVIES,Nigel R 2482 (1½) 7 AGDESTEIN,Simen 2571 (1½) 1/2 SANDIPAN,Chandra 2469 (1½) 8 HALKIAS,Stelios 2560 (1½) 0-1 ZATONSKIH,Anna 2423 (1½) 9 VAN DER WEIDE,Ka 2412 (1½) 1/2 PSAKHIS,Lev 2550 (1½) 10 BARSOV,Alexei 2526 (1½) 1-0 DEVEREAUX,Maxim 2329 (1½) 11 PERT,Richard 2380 (1½) 1/2 MOTWANI,Paul 2525 (1½) 12 MIKHALEVSKI,Vict 2523 (1½) 0-1 WILLIAMS,Simon K 2381 (1½) 13 LPUTIAN,Smbat G 2623 (1) 1-0 TIMMERMANS,Ivo 2213 (1½) 14 FRIDMAN,Daniel 2592 (1) 1-0 ADAMS,Phil 2115 (1½) 15 HEBDEN,Mark 2544 (1) 1-0 STUBBERUD,Ornulf 1965 (1½) 16 ALLEN,Keith 2224 (1) 1/2 EPISHIN,Vladimir 2642 (1) 17 GABRIELSEN,Trond 2228 (1) 1/2 LUTHER,Thomas 2574 (1) 18 ARKELL,Keith C 2513 (1) 1-0 PORAT,David 2235 (1) 19 PERT,Nicholas 2483 (1) 1-0 ASHTON,Adam G 2234 (1) 20 HANDKE,Florian 2476 (1) 1-0 GORDON,Stephen J 2216 (1) 21 JONKMAN,Harmen 2424 (1) 1/2 HUGHES,Howard 2215 (1) 22 LANE,Gary W 2412 (1) 0-1 VALAKER,Ole J 2207 (1) 23 MAZE,Sebastien 2412 (1) 1-0 WALTON,Alan J 2158 (1) 24 SPENCE,David 2187 (1) 0-1 PRASAD,Devaki V 2407 (1) 25 SHAW,David A 2183 (1) 0-1 HUNT,Harriet 2402 (1) 26 BAE,Torstein 2366 (1) 1/2 PORAT,Ido 2147 (1) 27 MAY,Frank 2153 (1) 0-1 AAGAARD,Jacob 2360 (1) 28 COOPER,Lawrence 2335 (1) 1-0 VAN KEMENADE,Rud 2140 (1) 29 DANNEVIG,Oystein 2331 (1) 1-0 BRAUNLICH,Tom 2135 (1) 30 HORTON,E Justin 2120 (1) 0-1 MENACHER,Manfred 2327 (1) 31 MOLANDER,Riku 2324 (1) 1-0 COATHUP,Roger 2134 (1) 32 GOODGER,Martyn 2114 (1) 0-1 KISELEVA,Natalia 2322 (1) 33 FOSSUM,Oystein B 2090 (1) 0-1 RYAN,Joe 2291 (1) 34 THOMPSON,Ian D 2290 (1) 1/2 FAIRBAIRN,Stephe 2096 (1) 35 GRANT,Alan 2270 (1) 1-0 GRUETTNER,Ralf 2073 (1) 36 BJARNASON,Oskar 2261 (1) 1-0 TAGNON,Nicole 2071 (1) 37 SHEPHERD,Mike 2037 (1) 0-1 HUTCHINSON,Paul 2255 (1) 38 RADOVANOVIC,Jovi 2239 (1) 1-0 MCPHILLIPS,Karl 1918 (1) 39 GRUNBERG,Mihai 2406 (½) 1-0 BENTLEY,John L 2211 (½) 40 CIOARA,Andrei N 2394 (½) 1-0 LUTTON,E Josiah 2031 (½) 41 BREKKE,Jorunn 1527 (½) 0-1 MANNION,Steven R 2339 (½) 42 KOVACHEV,Daniel 2066 (½) 0-1 SPANTON,Tim 2021 (0) 43 MOES,Waldemar 2027 (0) 1/2 MURTAGH,Dermot 1798 (0) 44 YOUNG,Mel 2005 (0) 1-0 ORMSBY,Alan 1792 (0) 45 EGELAND,Marte 1990 (0) 1-0 DE LANGE,Hans JG 1721 (0) 46 Bye 0-1 LOUGHRAN,John 1830 (0) 47 DALY,Colm 2355 (½) 1/2 Half-point Bye