Isle of Man Rd 4 - Shirov takes sole lead with 4.0/4

by Johannes Fischer
10/5/2016 – Alexei Shirov is famous for his wild tactical play and his intuitive sacrifices. However, in the top encounter of round four in the Isle of Man tournament he defeated the young and tremendously talented Indian Grandmaster Santosh Gujrathi Vidit with dry but strong technical chess to take the sole lead with 4.0/4. Half a point behind follow five players with 3.5/4 each. One of them is Wesley So who won with Black against Julio Granda Zuniga, showing very energetic play.
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Isle of Man Round four

Photos by Lennart Ootes

The playing hall

Mr. 100 percent - after four rounds Alexei Shirov leads with 4.0/4.

Vidit Santosh Gujrathi from India

In his game against the young Indian Shirov showed that he is not only a great tactician but also a strong positional player. In a position that seemed to be almost equal Shirov found ways to put his opponent under pressure and though Vidit made no obvious mistake he was not able to hold the game.

 

Wesley So

Wesley So impressed with fine energetic play which brought him a convincing victory against Julio Granda Zuniga.

 

Top pairings and results of Round 4 (October 4, 2016)

Bo. No.   Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts.   Name Rtg No.
1 11 GM Shirov Alexei 2679 3 1 - 0 3 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2686 9
2 16 GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2650 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Caruana Fabiano 2813 1
3 18 GM Granda Zuniga Julio E 2648 2½ 0 - 1 2½ GM So Wesley 2794 2
4 22 GM Grandelius Nils 2642 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 3
5 4 GM Adams Michael 2745 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Hou Yifan 2649 17
6 49 IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2459 2½ 0 - 1 2½ GM Eljanov Pavel 2741 5
7 8 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2687 2½ 1 - 0 2½ GM Howell David W L 2644 21
8 10 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2684 2½ 1 - 0 2½ GM Gupta Abhijeet 2626 23
9 12 GM Movsesian Sergei 2677 2½ 1 - 0 2½ GM Lenderman Aleksandr 2593 27
10 24 GM Van Foreest Jorden 2615 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Fressinet Laurent 2676 13
11 14 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2670 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM L'ami Erwin 2605 25
12 6 GM Leko Peter 2709 2 1 - 0 2 IM Trent Lawrence 2463 47
13 54 IM Praggnanandhaa R 2442 2 ½ - ½ 2 GM Meier Georg 2648 19
14 20 GM Bachmann Axel 2645 2 1 - 0 2 GM Romanishin Oleg M 2456 51
15 26 GM Bok Benjamin 2594 2 1 - 0 2 IM Lou Yiping 2458 50
16 28 GM Lalith Babu M R 2586 2 1 - 0 2 GM Tarjan James E 2420 61
17 29 GM Donchenko Alexander 2581 2 ½ - ½ 2 IM Tania Sachdev 2414 62
18 64 IM Das Arghyadip 2400 2 ½ - ½ 2 GM Marin Mihail 2569 30
19 31 GM Brunello Sabino 2566 2 ½ - ½ 2 WIM Shvayger Yuliya 2405 63
20 67 IM Houska Jovanka 2386 2 ½ - ½ 2 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2564 32

Full results of all 68 games

Top standings after four rounds

Rk. SNo     Name sex FED Rtg  TB1  n w rtg+/-
1 11
 
 GM Shirov Alexei   LAT 2679 4,0 4 4 11,9
2 2
 
 GM So Wesley   USA 2794 3,5 4 3,5 1,4
  5
 
 GM Eljanov Pavel   UKR 2741 3,5 4 3,5 1,3
  8
 
 GM Rodshtein Maxim   ISR 2687 3,5 4 3,5 7,8
  10
 
 GM Naiditsch Arkadij   AZE 2684 3,5 3 3 7,8
  12
 
 GM Movsesian Sergei   ARM 2677 3,5 4 3,5 6,9
7 1
 
 GM Caruana Fabiano   USA 2813 3,0 4 3 -2,0
  3
 
 GM Nakamura Hikaru   USA 2787 3,0 4 3 -1,6
  4
 
 GM Adams Michael   ENG 2745 3,0 4 3 -1,0
  6
 
 GM Leko Peter   HUN 2709 3,0 4 3 -3,7
  9
 
 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi   IND 2686 3,0 4 3 2,1
  13
 
 GM Fressinet Laurent   FRA 2676 3,0 4 3 0,1
  14
 
 GM Sargissian Gabriel   ARM 2670 3,0 4 3 1,5
  16
 
 GM Salem A.R. Saleh   UAE 2650 3,0 4 3 2,1
  17
 
 GM Hou Yifan w CHN 2649 3,0 4 3 5,3
  20
 
 GM Bachmann Axel   PAR 2645 3,0 4 3 -1,3
  22
 
 GM Grandelius Nils   SWE 2642 3,0 4 3 7,5
  24
 
 GM Van Foreest Jorden   NED 2615 3,0 4 3 6,7
  25
 
 GM L'ami Erwin   NED 2605 3,0 4 3 1,8
  26
 
 GM Bok Benjamin   NED 2594 3,0 4 3 3,3
  28
 
 GM Lalith Babu M R   IND 2586 3,0 4 3 -0,9
  35
 
 GM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan   IND 2536 3,0 4 3 5,0
  44
 
 IM Batsiashvili Nino w GEO 2480 3,0 4 3 4,1
  46
 
 GM Illingworth Max   AUS 2465 3,0 4 3 3,6
  71
 
   Hemant Sharma (del)   IND 2371 3,0 4 3 17,0
26 15
 
 GM Melkumyan Hrant   ARM 2653 2,5 4 2,5 -8,0
  18
 
 GM Granda Zuniga Julio E   PER 2648 2,5 4 2,5 -1,9
  19
 
 GM Meier Georg   GER 2648 2,5 4 2,5 -6,8
  21
 
 GM Howell David W L   ENG 2644 2,5 4 2,5 -0,7
  23
 
 GM Gupta Abhijeet   IND 2626 2,5 4 2,5 -3,3
  27
 
 GM Lenderman Aleksandr   USA 2593 2,5 4 2,5 0,9
  29
 
 GM Donchenko Alexander   GER 2581 2,5 4 2,5 -5,8
  30
 
 GM Marin Mihail   ROU 2569 2,5 4 2,5 -6,9

Click for complete standings

Hikaru Nakamura drew with Black against Nils Grandelius.

Elisabeth Pähtz from Germany lost with White against...

...Pavel Eljanov

Women's World Champion Hou Yifan had a good start into the tournament:
with 3.0/4 she is one point behind the leader and has gained 5 Elo-points.
In round four she drew against Michael Adams.

Michael Adams

Games of rounds 1 to 4

 

 

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Topics: Alexei Shirov, Isle of Man
Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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