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14th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International
22 Sept - 2 Oct 2005
Last updated: Monday, August 21, 2017 6:38 PM
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Round 6 - 29 September 2005
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The morning of Round 6 was the traditional coach trip, this year to
the
Laxey Wheel - the oldest working waterwheel in the world.
As is traditional, competitors had the chance to see some more of the glorious Isle of Man on a free coach trip laid on by our organiser. Dennis Hemsley very wisely checked the weather forecast before deciding on the day. The Manx weather is very unpredictable and can change in a matter of minutes. To be honest, it has not been great this week, with high winds blowing across the bay and a fair bit of rain besides. But Dennis's judgement was spot on and Thursday turned out to be perfect.
We stopped off briefly at Douglas Head, giving us a chance to look back towards the sea front at the Isle of Man's capital of Douglas - and, incidentally, the Villa Marina, the elegant refurbished building where this year's Smith and Williamson British Chess Championship was held less than two months ago. Then we moved on to see the Laxey Wheel - the world's oldest working water wheel and a popular tourist spot. We didn't have time to clamber up it this year as there wasn't too much time to spare. One good thing about the coach trip was the fact that the leading professional players found time from their preparation to come along - amongst them tournament leader Alexander Shabalov, avidly snapping away with his rather nice looking Sony digital camera.
Bradda Head with the Calf of Man in the distance
The Isle of Man, and the immediate area of Port Erin, is a beautiful spot if you like the great outdoors. The day after the coach trip started brightly and was tempted to take another walk towards the Calf of Man (see last year's website for a nice photo). This year my plan was to check out the area from the birdwatching point of view. Back home I like to go birdwatching in Richmond Park, which is a nature reserve and offers quite a number of interesting species. But of course the Isle of Man has quite a different set of species from the environs of London.
You don't have to go more than a few metres from the hotel before you are seeing such species as jackdaws and pied wagtails. A bit further towards Bradda Head (see above and also here) and you start seeing a lot of stonechats and chaffinches. Going in the direction of Cregneash, as well as common species such as magpie I've seen hooded crows, kestrel, pheasant and grey partridge, as well as other smaller birds which I was unable to identify. All on a relatively short walk, and still more or less within view of the venue. This is additional to all the sea birds which you can see crossing the water and which are visible with binoculars from my room in the hotel. I have picked out various species of gull, as well as gannets and cormorants.
What I would really like to do is visit the bird sanctuary on the Calf of Man, but there never seems to be time to do it. But I can certainly recommend the area if you fancy combining chess playing with a bit of birdwatching or other country pursuits. I've only just scratched the surface here but there is a lot more about birds and animals on the Isle of Man at this excellent website.
One bird that humans have to be wary of here is the gull, which attacks humans for food. Don't worry, they don't eat people, they simply swoop down and snatch food from your plate if you are eating outdoors. At least one of our arbiters has lost his lunch to a swooping gull. The Cosy Nook Cafe in Port Erin Bay even has a sign saying that the management takes no responsible for food snatched by gulls at their outdoor tables. I'm not sure which species is the culprit - probably herring gull or great black-backed gull - but it would be more appropriate if it were the Sandwich tern.
That's enough sightseeing for now. The round six top board was 'Shaba' versus 'The Grinder'. The game ended in an early draw - and the the webmaster breathed a huge a sigh of relief when he realised that he wouldn't have too long a game to key in. There were quite a number of other draws but most of them features a genuine battle.
Once again it was the young Ukrainian Alexander Areshchenko who impressed the most.
Areshchenko,A (2625) - Postny,E (2559) [C66]
Monarch Assurance Port Erin IOM (6.2), 29.09.2005
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6 [Since the Kasparov-Kramnik match of 2000, this has been popular with players playing for a solid position with Black.] 4 d3 d6 5 0-0 g6 6 d4 [Now Black has committed to the kingside fainchetto, White wants to open the position up a little.] 6...Bd7 7 d5 [Previous games have continued 7 Re1 but Areshchenko has something different in mind.] 7...Nb8 8 Bxd7+ Nbxd7 9 Re1 Nc5 [9...Bg7 is more solid, but White would retain a small edge.] 10 b4! Ncxe4 [Perhaps Black should swallow his pride and play 10...Ncd7 ] 11 Qd3 [The e4 knight has no move or additional defence.] 11...Bg7 12 Rxe4 Nxe4 13 Qxe4 0-0 14 Bb2 a5 15 b5 b6 16 a4 f5 17 Qc4 g5 18 h3 h6 [Black is banking on the strength of his pawns to negate White's small material advantage.] 19 Nbd2 Qd7 20 Re1 Rae8 21 Nf1 Qf7 22 Ng3 Re7 23 Qb3 Ree8 24 c4 Qg6 25 Qd1 Bf6 26 Nd2 [Any pawn advance by Black would leave a weakness in the line. It is really a defensive structure rather than an attacking posture by Black.] 26...Bd8 27 Bc3 Rf7?!
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[Once again Black should probably retrace his steps with 27...Bf6 and carry on defending.] 28 c5! [Whichever black pawn captures on c5, White can regain the pawn with the prospect of a breakthrough.] 28...dxc5 29 Nc4 Bf6 30 d6! [White is more interested in achieving open lines and footholds for his rooks, rather than regaining the pawn.] 30...e4 31 Bxf6 Qxf6 32 dxc7 Rxc7 33 Qd5+ Rf7 [Probably best. The loss of the b6 and f5 pawns will spell the end for Black.] 34 Nd6 Re5 35 Qxf7+ Qxf7 36 Nxf7 Kxf7 37 Nf1 Rd5 38 Ne3 Rd4 39 Nxf5 Rxa4 40 Nd6+ Kg6 41 Rxe4 Rb4 42 Re6+ Kh7 43 Re7+ Kg8 44 Rb7 [The hallmark of a great player is when they make it look easy - as Areshchenko did in this game.] 1-0
I'm not quite sure how it happened, but all the eight women players in the open are currently in sync when it comes to colours. I'm not commenting on their fashion sense, merely pointing out that they all had Black in their round seven games (and have all drawn White in round eight). Three of them even sat on adjacent boards, facing three strong grandmasters. Joanna Dworakowska played Ehsan Ghaem Maghami. The current 'Manx Monarch' must have thought he was playing in a women's tournament, as this was his fourth game against a female player in six games, and his third in a row. He didn't succeed in beating either Anna Zatonskih and Tatiana Kononenko, but defeated Joanna Dworakowska in round six.
Tatiana
Kononenko (left) did well in round six, beating Daniel Fridman.
Fridman,D (2566) - Kononenko,T (2442)
Monarch Assurance Port Erin IOM (6.12), 29.09.2005
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42...Rxg4+! [Very nice.] 43 fxg4 Qb7 [There is nothing to be done about the pin of the rook.] 44 Kh3 Qxd5 45 Kxh4 Qe4 46 Qd2 Qh7+ 47 Kg3 Rc3+ 0-1
Anna Katonskih also won with Black against a strong grandmaster, but her win was more fortuitous.
Yakovich,Y (2560) - Zatonskih,A (2435)
Monarch Assurance Port Erin IOM (6.13), 29.09.2005
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[A fairly innocuous position but Yakovich makes a huge blunder...] 32 Na4?? [Simply 32 Ne4 is fine for White.] 32...Ra5 0-1 [The knight is lost.]
Overall the women drew their 'match' against the men 4-4, not a bad result considering the strength of the opposition.
Mannion,S (2331) - Sareen,V (2385)
Monarch Assurance Port Erin IOM (6.26), 29.09.2005
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Round 6 Bd WHITE Result BLACK PIN 1 SHABALOV,Alexand 2593 (4½) ½ - ½ KOBALIA,Mikhail 2614 (4) 9 3 2 ARESHCHENKO,Alex 2625 (4) 1 - 0 POSTNY,Evgeny 2559 (4) 2 16 3 KORNEEV,Oleg 2594 (4) ½ - ½ GORMALLY,Daniel 2557 (4) 8 17 4 IKONNIKOV,Vyache 2560 (4) ½ - ½ MIKHALEVSKI,Vict 2572 (3½) 14 12 5 BRODSKY,Michail 2554 (3½) ½ - ½ TIVIAKOV,Sergei 2678 (3½) 19 1 6 HOWELL,David W 2471 (3½) ½ - ½ EPISHIN,Vladimir 2600 (3½) 29 5 7 GALKIN,Alexander 2598 (3½) 1 - 0 BOBRAS,Piotr 2525 (3½) 6 25 8 SULSKIS,Sarunas 2535 (3½) 0 - 1 ERENBURG,Sergey 2595 (3½) 21 7 9 DAVID,Alberto 2579 (3½) ½ - ½ ADLY,Ahmed 2503 (3½) 11 26 10 NEELOTPAL,Das 2467 (3) 0 - 1 KRITZ,Leonid 2544 (3½) 31 20 11 GHAEM MAGHAMI,Eh 2603 (3) 1 - 0 DWORAKOWSKA,Joan 2401 (3) 4 40 12 FRIDMAN,Daniel 2566 (3) 0 - 1 KONONENKO,Tatian 2442 (3) 13 34 13 YAKOVICH,Yuri 2560 (3) 0 - 1 ZATONSKIH,Anna 2435 (3) 15 36 14 GLADYSZEV,Oleg 2436 (3) ½ - ½ MALAKHATKO,Vadim 2556 (3) 35 18 15 KUZUBOV,Yuri 2535 (3) 1 - 0 ROEDER,Mathias 2393 (3) 22 42 16 ULYBIN,Mikhail 2529 (3) 0 - 1 COX,John 2385 (3) 23 45 17 GREET,Andrew N 2425 (3) 0 - 1 WELLS,Peter 2529 (3) 37 24 18 LALIC,Bogdan 2491 (3) 1 - 0 GUPTA,Abhijeet 2380 (3) 27 46 19 ZUDE,Erik 2424 (3) ½ - ½ KIDAMBI,Sundarar 2484 (3) 38 28 20 NEUBAUER,Martin 2468 (3) ½ - ½ NEGI,Parimarjan 2376 (3) 30 47 21 KOLBUS,Dietmar 2416 (3) 1 - 0 KUNIN,Vitaly 2448 (3) 39 32 22 AAGAARD,Jacob 2442 (3) ½ - ½ GOLETIANI,Rusuda 2332 (3) 33 53 23 KIRSCHBAUM,Gunna 2204 (2½) 0 - 1 KOGAN,Artur 2580 (2½) 65 10 24 KLENBURG,Mikhail 2400 (2½) 1 - 0 ZOZULIA,Anna 2314 (2½) 41 55 25 PALLISER,Richard 2389 (2½) ½ - ½ ALLEN,Keith 2210 (2½) 43 62 26 MANNION,Steve R. 2331 (2½) 0 - 1 SAREEN,Vishal 2385 (2½) 54 44 27 ZIMMERMAN,Yuri 2375 (2½) 1 - 0 ADAMS,Phil 2138 (2½) 48 73 28 GROFFEN,Hans 2210 (2½) 0 - 1 MIRZOEVA,Elmira 2223 (2) 63 60 29 PEEK,Marcel 2373 (2) ½ - ½ GRANT,Alan 2152 (2) 49 71 30 HANLEY,Craig 2367 (2) 1 - 0 HICKMAN,John 2115 (2) 50 76 31 HUGHES,Howard R 2194 (2) ½ - ½ BOSBOOM-LANCHAVA 2363 (2) 67 51 32 RADOVANOVIC,Jovi 2357 (2) 1 - 0 SPANTON,Tim 2032 (2) 52 84 33 ASHTON,Adam 2294 (2) 0 - 1 HENRICHSEN,Jens 2075 (2) 56 80 34 GOODGER,Martyn 2162 (2) 0 - 1 PERIC,Slavisa 2280 (2) 70 57 35 WERNER,Gert 2047 (2) 0 - 1 DUHAYON,Yves 2230 (2) 83 59 36 SPENCE,David 2218 (2) 1 - 0 FAIRBAIRN,Steve 2065 (2) 61 82 37 BENNION,David A. 2074 (1½) 0 - 1 SMITH,Andrew P 2204 (2) 81 64 38 VITOUX,Colomban 2264 (1½) 1 - 0 NICHOLSON,John 2000 (1½) 58 86 39 DE LAGONTRIE,Jea 1988 (1½) ½ - ½ DUNN,Andrew 2197 (1½) 87 66 40 LOHOU,Stephane 2144 (1½) 1 - 0 MARTIN,Katie 1953 (1½) 72 89 41 FRASER-MITCHELL, 2098 (1½) 1 - 0 FOX,Pierre 1815 (1½) 78 91 42 WADEMARK,Helge 2182 (1) ½ - ½ HEYL,Thomas 2101 (1) 68 77 43 HUTCHINSON,Norma 2097 (1) 1 - 0 WALTHER,Cliff 2175 (1) 79 69 44 RUSTON,Mark 2116 (1) 1 - 0 YOUNG,Mel 1971 (1) 75 88 45 HENDERIKSE,Bert 2028 (1) 1 - 0 MARKS,Ian A 1889 (½) 85 90 46 FOX,Anthony 2118 (½) 1 - 0 MCKENZIE,Mark 1249 (0) 74 92