Isle of Man - Final round
Photos by Harry Gielen
The last round saw that the fate of the event in the hands of four Super-GMs. On board one, GM Wesley So from the US, faced leader GM Pavel Eljanov from Ukraine, where only a win could help So catch Eljanov who stood a full point ahead. Although it was So's birthday, Eljanov was not in a giving mood and his superb opening preparation gave him an easy draw.
Pavel Eljanov showed flawless preparation and easily neutralized any ambitions Wesley So might have harbored
This put Caruana in a must-win situation against Adams to join Eljanov in the first place. Adams who had half a point less than Caruana, is known for not being an easy nut to crack in super-GM tournaments, however, in a close encounter in the Berlin Defense, it was the experienced British champion who made the last mistake.
It was an all-out war between Michael Adams and Fabiano Caruana
Fabiano Caruana - Michael Adams (Annotations by GM Elshan Moradiabadi)
Adams and Caruana go over their game as IM Lawrence Trent, Caruana's manager, listens in
In spite of the heroic effort, Fabiano Caruana was still denied first place, though he expressed the regret there was no playoff for first. This reporter can only agree that when deciding first, a battle over the board is always preferable over a mathematical equation. The tiebreak system that decided it was accumulated score, which favored the Ukrainian as he got out of the gates faster. On the flip side, Fabiano’s efforts will send him to a very lofty 2823, which will secure a clear world no.2 spot, just 30 shy of Magnus Carlsen.
Third place was decided by Azeri player Arkadij Naiditsch, who really went out of his comfort zone to decide his fate.
Playing Black against another top player is always tough, since their preparation will certainly be of the very highest standard. Arkadij Naiditsch not only chose to play the Classical King's Indian with black, hardly his usual fare, but walked right into a pet line of his Israeli opponent, Maxim Rodshtein. To be fair, this was not by any choice, since one of the caveats of the King's Indian is that it is basically White who decides what line will be played. Naiditsch's decision was not done in half measures and he not only prepared the opening to death, but took all the appropriate risks to justify his decision. There would be no olive branch today.
Maxim Roshtein - Arkadij Naiditsch
[Event "Isle of Man International 2016"] [Site "Douglas/Isle of Man"] [Date "2016.10.09"] [Round "9"] [White "Rodshtein, Maxim"] [Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E90"] [WhiteElo "2687"] [BlackElo "2684"] [Annotator ""] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventCountry "GBR"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] [Source "ChessBase"] [TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"] 1. c4 {0} Nf6 {330} 2. Nc3 {4} g6 {123} 3. e4 {72} d6 {31} 4. d4 {16} Bg7 {6} 5. Nf3 {92} O-O {38} 6. h3 {11} e5 {65} 7. d5 {14} a5 {10} 8. g4 {96} Na6 { 35 It is absolutely remarkable that Naiditsch chose to enter this win-at-all-cost line, since it is highly risky, and could easily cost him heavily.} 9. Be3 {15 This is a pet line of Rodshtein, and one he played at the Olympiad just recently, defeating GM Saric.} Nc5 {27} (9... Nd7 10. a3 Nb6 11. Rg1 Bd7 12. h4 Nc5 13. b3 Kh8 14. g5 f6 15. Be2 fxg5 16. Nxg5 h6 17. Nf3 Kh7 18. h5 gxh5 19. Rxg7+ Kxg7 20. Nxe5 dxe5 21. Bxc5 Qh4 22. Kd2 a4 23. f3 axb3 24. Qxb3 Rf6 25. a4 Qh2 26. Bg1 Qh1 27. Qa3 Qg2 28. Qe7+ Rf7 29. Qxe5+ Kg8 30. Qxc7 Nxa4 31. Bd4 Qg5+ 32. Kc2 Rc8 33. Qd6 Nxc3 34. Kxc3 Bh3 35. Rg1 Bg2 36. Qe5 Kh7 37. Qxg5 hxg5 38. Rxg2 Kh6 39. e5 h4 40. Be3 Rf5 41. Kd4 Re8 42. e6 { 1-0 (42) Rodshtein,M (2687)-Saric,I (2668) Baku 2016}) 10. Nd2 {26} c6 {9} 11. Be2 {143} Bd7 {12 A major crossroads here. Black has played successfully, and almost with equal frequency, 11...a4, 11...Bd7 as in the game, as well as ... cxd5 and ...Nfd7, or ...Ne8.} 12. g5 {456} Ne8 {147} 13. Nb3 {1275 Had White forgotten his theory here? It isn't that 13.Nb3 is not played, but it is almost never chosen in grandmaster play. Rodshtein spent over 21 minutes before playing this. Normal is 13.h4. Perhaps he felt this was the time to step out of the main lines, fearing Naiditsch's preparation.} cxd5 {1241} 14. exd5 {765} Na4 {321} 15. Nd2 {45} Nxc3 {75} 16. bxc3 {4 [#]} f5 $1 {90 With White's king still in the center, and both his queenside and kingside badly weakened, it is tome to start the counterattack.} 17. gxf6 {54} Bxf6 {835} 18. Bg4 {1028} Bf5 {419} 19. Bxf5 {693} gxf5 {15} 20. Rb1 {31} Rf7 {149} 21. Rg1+ { 70} Kh8 {287} 22. Qh5 {623} Qd7 {73} 23. Bg5 {334} e4 {583} 24. Bxf6+ {231} Nxf6 {155} 25. Qh6 {4} Re8 {374 "My what a big rook you have grandma!" "All the better to skewer you my dear."} 26. Qf4 {49} Qa4 {495} 27. Rg5 {530} e3 $2 {190 A mistake in move order that could have cost the win, but Black's aggressive and enterprising play will be rewarded. Correct was ...Qc2 first and only then ...e3.} 28. fxe3 {6} Qc2 {12} 29. Qd4 {132} f4 {232} 30. Rxb7 $2 {48 White hallucinates and it is over. The move was Qxf4 plain and simple.} fxe3 {58} 31. Ne4 {30} e2 {111} 0-1
On the other hand, not all were as pleased. Shirov was certainly breathing a sigh of relief, since he had nearly lost after a catastrophic blunder on move 61. Armenian Gabriel Sargissian could not look him in the eye after after the game. The look of purest sympathy in Alexei Shirov's face shows he understands perfectly...
The final position on the board and at the board
Another tale of woe came with Vidit Gujrathi's game against Julio Granda Zuniga. Had he won, he would have been in the top eight players, and won he was except he was extremely short of time, and allowed his Peruvian opponent to repeat the position, letting him off scott free.
Naturally, it was hardly all tales of tragedy. Consider IM John Paul Wallace (above) from Australia, 40 years old and rated 2355 FIDE, who had the event of his life as he had locked the GM norm a round in advance! In fact, no doubt due to nerves, he ruined a winning game against GM Salem, and lost, but it changed nothing and his 2639 performance easily exceeded the requirements.
No more is needed to say of 11-year-old Praggnanandhaa's superb final result as he steamrolled his much higher rated GM opponent, Axel Bachmann. Here the very-soft spoken boy is being interviewed by Fiona Steil-Antoni.
Another lovely final game was played below between two IMs, one of whom was particularly inspired.
Lou Yiping - Das Arghyadip
Another surprise was Hou Yifan's defeat to Sabino Brunello in the last round. Hou Yifan had started very strongly with 4.0/5, but a 1.0/4 in the latter half really ended that good work.
The four top female players receive their prizes: IM Tania Sachdev, GM Anna Ushenina, IM Nino Batsiashvili, and GM Harika Dronavalli (best woman)
Pavel Eljanov raises his trophy, and will have earned 15 Elo in the process too
Top pairings and results of Round 9
Full results of all 68 games
Final standings
|
Rk.
|
SNo
|
Ti.
|
Name
|
FED
|
Rtg
|
Pts
|
Perf
|
rtg+/-
|
|
1
|
1
|
GM
|
Caruana Fabiano |
|
2813
|
7,5
|
2908
|
10,4
|
|
|
5
|
GM
|
Eljanov Pavel |
|
2741
|
7,5
|
2880
|
15,5
|
|
3
|
10
|
GM
|
Naiditsch Arkadij |
|
2684
|
7,0
|
2834
|
14,9
|
|
4
|
2
|
GM
|
So Wesley |
|
2794
|
6,5
|
2767
|
-0,4
|
|
|
11
|
GM
|
Shirov Alexei |
|
2679
|
6,5
|
2766
|
9,5
|
|
|
16
|
GM
|
Salem A.R. Saleh |
|
2650
|
6,5
|
2673
|
6,4
|
|
|
21
|
GM
|
Howell David W L |
|
2644
|
6,5
|
2723
|
11,0
|
|
8
|
3
|
GM
|
Nakamura Hikaru |
|
2787
|
6,0
|
2695
|
-8,3
|
|
|
4
|
GM
|
Adams Michael |
|
2745
|
6,0
|
2723
|
-1,5
|
|
|
8
|
GM
|
Rodshtein Maxim |
|
2687
|
6,0
|
2759
|
9,4
|
|
|
9
|
GM
|
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi |
|
2686
|
6,0
|
2700
|
2,6
|
|
|
13
|
GM
|
Fressinet Laurent |
|
2676
|
6,0
|
2635
|
-4,0
|
|
|
14
|
GM
|
Sargissian Gabriel |
|
2670
|
6,0
|
2639
|
-2,6
|
|
|
18
|
GM
|
Granda Zuniga Julio E |
|
2648
|
6,0
|
2619
|
-2,1
|
|
|
22
|
GM
|
Grandelius Nils |
|
2642
|
6,0
|
2730
|
11,6
|
|
|
25
|
GM
|
L'ami Erwin |
|
2605
|
6,0
|
2616
|
2,7
|
|
|
27
|
GM
|
Lenderman Aleksandr |
|
2593
|
6,0
|
2567
|
-1,6
|
|
|
31
|
GM
|
Brunello Sabino |
|
2566
|
6,0
|
2621
|
8,2
|
|
|
32
|
GM
|
Aravindh Chithambaram |
|
2564
|
6,0
|
2562
|
0,8
|
|
20
|
6
|
GM
|
Leko Peter |
|
2709
|
5,5
|
2545
|
-16,2
|
Click for complete standings
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Links
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