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)

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.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 3...a6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 0-0 6.0-0 Re8 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 a6 9.Bc4 d6 10.Nbd2N 10.a4 g5 11.Bg3 Ba7 12.Nbd2 Bg4 13.h3 Bh5 14.Re1 Qd7 15.b4 Nd8 16.d4 exd4 17.Qc2 Bg6 18.cxd4 Nc6 19.Qc3 Nxe4 20.Nxe4 Rxe4 21.b5 Ne7 22.Rxe4 Bxe4 23.Re1 Bg6 24.Nh2 Nf5 25.Ng4 Kg7 26.Re4 Rf8 27.d5+ f6 28.Re6 Bd4 29.Qe1 Rf7 30.Bd3 Nxg3 31.Bxg6 Kxg6 32.Qb1+ Kg7 33.Qd3 h5 34.Qxd4 Qxe6 35.dxe6 Ne2+ 10...Ba7 11.a4 Be6 12.a5 Bxc4 13.Nxc4 Re6! 14.Ne3 Bxe3! 15.fxe3 d5 16.d4! exd4 16...dxe4 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.dxe5 Qxd1 19.Raxd1 Ng4 20.Rd7 Rf8! 21.Rxc7 Rxe5 22.Rxb7 Rxa5 17.Bxf6 17.Nxd4 Nxd4 18.exd5 Qxd5 19.Bxf6 Ne2+ 20.Qxe2 gxf6 21.Ra4! 17...Rxf6 18.e5 Re6 19.exd4 f6! 20.Re1 Qd7 21.Qb3 fxe5 22.dxe5 Rf8 23.Re3 23.Qxb7 Rxf3 24.gxf3 Rg6+ 25.Kf2 Qh3 23...Rg6 24.Kh1 Nd8 25.Rd1 c6 26.c4 d4 27.Qc2 Rg4 28.h3 Rgf4 29.b4 Rxf3?! 29...Ne6 30.Red3 Qf7 30.Rxf3 Rxf3 31.gxf3 Qxh3+ 32.Kg1 Qg3+?! 32...Ne6 33.Qe4 Ng5 34.Qf4 Nxf3+ 35.Kf2 Ng5 36.Qxd4 Qf3+ 37.Ke1 Ne6 33.Qg2 Qxe5 34.f4! Qxf4 35.Re1 Qf6 36.Qg4 36...Nf7?? 36...Kh7 37.Re8+ Kh7 38.Re6! Qg5 39.Qxg5 Nxg5 40.Re7 c5 41.b5 axb5 42.cxb5 c4 43.Kf2 c3 44.Ke2 Nh3 45.Rf7 1–0 - Start an analysis engine:
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Caruana,F | 2813 | Adams,M | 2745 | 1–0 | 2016 | | Isle of Man International | 9.2 |
Please, wait...

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
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.e4 d6 4.d4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3 e5 7.d5 a5 8.g4 Na6 9.Be3 Nc5 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 10.Nd2 c6 11.Be2 Bd7 12.g5 Ne8 13.Nb3 cxd5 14.exd5 Na4 15.Nd2 Nxc3 16.bxc3 16...f5! 17.gxf6 Bxf6 18.Bg4 Bf5 19.Bxf5 gxf5 20.Rb1 Rf7 21.Rg1+ Kh8 22.Qh5 Qd7 23.Bg5 e4 24.Bxf6+ Nxf6 25.Qh6 Re8 26.Qf4 Qa4 27.Rg5 e3? 28.fxe3 Qc2 29.Qd4 f4 30.Rxb7? fxe3 31.Ne4 e2 0–1 - Start an analysis engine:
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Rodshtein,M | 2687 | Naiditsch,A | 2684 | 0–1 | 2016 | E90 | Isle of Man International 2016 | 9 |
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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

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4 5.Bxc4 e6 6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.0-0 Bb4 8.Qb3 c5 9.Ne5 Nxe5 10.dxe5 Nd7 11.f3 Bh5 12.Rd1 a6 13.Ne4 Qc7 14.a3 Ba5 - Start an analysis engine:
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Lou,Y | 2456 | Das,A | 2400 | 1–0 | 2016 | D25 | Isle of Man International 2016 | 9 |
Please, wait...

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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