
A few weeks ago a dear friend asked me: "So, what are you up to, Alina?" I am a fast speaker, and my tongue is usally stuck trying to keep up with my thoughts, especially when I am enthusiastic about something. Unsurprisingly, she “misunderstood” my answer "Isle of Man!", which came out a bit like 'I love men'
"OK," she said. "I love men, too, but where are you going next?"

The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown dependency
located in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland
I find this amusing confusion quite illustrative for the series of paradoxical contrasts I faced during my delightful ten days on this small island. Soon after landing, I wondered whether I had taken the right flight: I was prepared for northern landscapes, but the vegetation looked rather typical of the tropics! Had I managed to trick autumn again?

Douglas when it doesn't rain. For this shot I had to work quite a bit..almost did some trespassing
but the fences were too high...then I found a new spot, difficult to explain what that was but the
view was blocked by something similar to prison bars.
Not really, since the sunshine was anything but tropical and the weather was so fickle that around the middle of the tournament many players got sick because of its whims... On the other hand, perhaps the players' colds were contagious, spreading from one to another with the same speed as their good spirits did! And if the two things came as part of the same package, the share of coughing and sneezing was a small price to pay for the broad smiles accompanying them.

Merry Alan B (with his mother), the tournament sensation, happy to receive both IM and GM norms!
A sample game illustrating his original play:
1.e4 | 1,185,008 | 54% | 2421 | --- |
1.d4 | 959,510 | 55% | 2434 | --- |
1.Nf3 | 286,503 | 56% | 2441 | --- |
1.c4 | 184,834 | 56% | 2442 | --- |
1.g3 | 19,892 | 56% | 2427 | --- |
1.b3 | 14,600 | 54% | 2428 | --- |
1.f4 | 5,954 | 48% | 2377 | --- |
1.Nc3 | 3,911 | 50% | 2384 | --- |
1.b4 | 1,791 | 48% | 2379 | --- |
1.a3 | 1,250 | 54% | 2406 | --- |
1.e3 | 1,081 | 49% | 2409 | --- |
1.d3 | 969 | 50% | 2378 | --- |
1.g4 | 670 | 46% | 2361 | --- |
1.h4 | 466 | 54% | 2382 | --- |
1.c3 | 439 | 51% | 2425 | --- |
1.h3 | 289 | 56% | 2420 | --- |
1.a4 | 118 | 60% | 2461 | --- |
1.f3 | 100 | 47% | 2427 | --- |
1.Nh3 | 93 | 66% | 2506 | --- |
1.Na3 | 47 | 62% | 2476 | --- |
Please, wait...
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nc6 7.e4 d6 8.Ne2 b6 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bh4 Na5 11.Nc1 Ba6 12.Nb3 Bxc4 13.Nxa5 Bxf1 14.dxc5 Ba6 14...dxc5 15.Rxf1 bxa5 16.Qxd8+ Rxd8 17.Rb1 0-0 15.Nc6 Qd7 16.Qxd6 bxc5 17.Rd1 Rc8 18.Qg3 Nh5 19.Rxd7 Nxg3 20.Re7+ Kf8 21.Bxg3 Rxc6 22.Rxa7 Kg8 23.Kf2 f6 24.Rd1 Kh7 25.Rdd7 Rg8 26.e5 f5 27.Rd6 Bb5 28.a4 1–0
- Start an analysis engine:
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Merry,A | 2269 | Jedynak,R | 2453 | 1–0 | 2014 | E20 | PokerStars IoM Masters 2014 | 8.17 |
Please, wait...

The Israeli table in the closing ceremony; you can recognize the extremely dynamic player
Alon Greenfeld as well; he defeated me twice and in the same line, but we had great fun
in playing interesting games.

If I didn't know Elisabeth personally, I would say she is "cheating" by
wearing some coloured lenses to get such incredible eyes, but they are
as real and amazing as her personality.

Well-played by David Howell too and, although he lost the last round,
it was still a great tournament
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.d4 Bb4 4.e3 0-0! 5.Bd3 c5 6.d5 exd5 7.cxd5 d6 8.Nge2 Nbd7 9.0-0! a6 10.a4 Rb8 11.h3 Re8 12.Kh1 Ne5 13.Bc2 b5 14.axb5 axb5 15.e4 Bd7 16.f4 Ng6 17.Ng3 Ba5 18.f5 Ne5 19.Bg5 b4 20.Nce2 Bb5 21.Bxf6 gxf6 22.Nh5 b3! 23.Bb1 23.Bxb3 Bxe2 24.Qxe2 Rxb3 25.Qc2 c4 26.Qc1 Kf8 27.Qh6+ Ke7 28.Nxf6 Rxb2 29.Nxe8 Kxe8 30.f6 Kd7 31.Qxh7 Bb6 32.Rf5 23...Kh8 24.Rf4 Rg8 25.Rh4 Rg5 26.Ng1 c4 27.Rxa5! Qxa5 28.Nxf6 Kg7 29.Nxh7 Rh8 30.Qc1 f6 31.Nxf6! Kxf6 32.Rxh8 Nf7 33.Nf3 Rg3 34.e5+ dxe5 35.Rh6+ Ke7 36.Rg6 Rxf3 37.gxf3 Qa7 38.Qe1 Qc5 39.Qh4+ Kd7 40.Qf6 Nd8 41.Rg8 Qg1+ 1–0
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
- Create an account to access the games cloud.
Short,N | 2646 | Howell,D | 2657 | 1–0 | 2014 | E47 | PokerStars IoM Masters 2014 | 9.1 |
Please, wait...

Michael Adams was the top seed but had to content himself with sixth

Fiona Steil Antoni always working hard to promote the tournament
The air was so fresh and the sun's smile so unique, that I just couldn't resist and I had to enter my restless mode again, trying to immortalize the fascinating colours of the nature. Had I been a painter, Douglas would have been the perfect place to complete my artistic studies!

My camera didn't really like this, especially when I got over-ambitious in trying to immortalize
what it was in my head, a good photo opportunity... (Ed: A true photographer)
However, my continuous hunt for the sun's smile was quite often rewarded with a broad grin. In weather translation: cold showers would start out of the blue or huge waves would leap at you with a wet embrace, in case you dared to venture along the promenade. My shoes once got so wet during my artistic attempts in the photographic field that I found no remedy other than to dry them on the electric heater in my room. The problem was that I overdid it a bit and I'll have to buy some replacements soon...

The Isle of Man flag and the name of the island in the old language
Even though the sun and the vegetation proved a bit misleading, I found some other form of genuine warmth - that of the local people's soul. All my questions to passers-by were answered not only promptly and hyper-informatively, but also with an enthusiasm I didn't expect to meet at such high latitudes.

In the electric train where I met...

...the man who told me all kinds of interesting things about Isle of Man
and as a coincidence, he was staying in the same guest house I was
I had traveled to the Isle of Man prepared for dedicating myself to what we call in Romania "tearing the cat by its tail", meaning to spend the days in laziness. I planned to switch off my mobile phone, all the social media channels and surround myself by the supposed peace of the place in order to focus exclusively on the tournament. I found out that there was an organic defect of this plan, as the island is famous for its six-horned sheep and, more importantly... tail-less Manx cats! True, I never saw a single one though I carefully checked the dozens of cats crossing my way, but they all had quite impressive tails.

I told you that the Manx people are a happy bunch

The pub culture is of course vibrant, just as in England and Ireland,
where I have been so far. As you can see, my fascination with doors
and windows is very much alive.

Tradition with a modern twist - what are the spring onion and cucumber doing there?!
Even if we leave the area of symbols and step into the real territory, there is more excitement on the island than one might expect. The Isle of Man hosts the most dangerous motorcycle race in the world, starting from the Snaefell mountain and forcing the participants to risk their lives at breathtaking speed on the tight curves downhill. Since the first edition of the circuit, back in 1907, the race has claimed more than 200 victims... yet in spite of this the craziness on two wheels continues extremely popular.

The steam locomotive
Chess is less lethal (at least in a direct way), but being sponsored by the PokerStars, the 2014 tournament featured as much excitement as a poker contest. Speaking of the Casino, many players visited it regularly in the evenings and during the chess rounds, you could almost read on the faces of those who were painfully defrauded in their attempts to hit the big pot.
To be continued in part two...
Final standings
Click for complete standings
Pictures by Alina L'Ami