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11th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man Chess International 28 Sept - 6 Oct 2002
Round 9 (Final) - 6 October
John Saunders reports: Last Round Results
Epishin is the 2002 'Monarch' (and wins £2,000) with 7/9
Daniel Fridman, Rustem Dautov and Sarunas Sulskis are 2-4th on 6½/9
Bd WHITE Result BLACK 1 DAUTOV,Rustem 2617 (6) 1/2 EPISHIN,Vladimir 2643 (6½) 2 NEVEROV,Valeriy 2587 (5½) 1/2 FRIDMAN,Daniel 2577 (6) 3 WELLING,Gerard 2393 (5½) 0-1 SULSKIS,Sarunas 2577 (5½) 4 GOLOSHCHAPOV,Ale 2544 (5½) 1/2 SHULMAN,Yuri 2573 (5½) 5 FELGAER,Ruben 2528 (5) 1/2 HEBDEN,Mark 2534 (5½) 6 WARD,Chris 2498 (5) 1/2 STOCEK,Jiri 2555 (5) 7 ZAPATA,Alonso 2549 (5) 1/2 GRUNBERG,Mihai 2445 (5) 8 KOGAN,Artur 2530 (5) 1-0 LEDGER,Andrew 2408 (5) 9 ULIBIN,Mikhail 2589 (4½) 1/2 CIOARA,Andre N 2414 (4½) 10 LALIC,Bogdan 2540 (4½) 1-0 PALLISER,Richard 2441 (4½) 11 MIEZIS,Normunds 2510 (4½) 0-1 GLADYSZEV,Oleg 2388 (4½) 12 ANSELL,Simon 2399 (4½) 0-1 PERALTA,Fernando 2499 (4½) 13 TYOMKIN,Dimitri 2482 (4½) 1/2 PERT,Richard 2357 (4½) 14 KUNTE,Abhijit 2477 (4½) 1/2 ORR,Mark 2332 (4½) 15 ROTSTEIN,Arkadij 2557 (4) 0-1 COLLINS,Sam 2313 (4) 16 HINKS-EDWARDS,Th 2363 (4) 1/2 RAYNER,Francis 2219 (4) 17 BLACKBURN,Jonath 2158 (4) 1/2 COOPER,Lawrence 2349 (4) 18 KEMENADE,Rudy va 2141 (4) 0-1 DALY,Colm 2338 (4) 19 HANLEY,Craig 2331 (4) 1/2 GORDON,Stephen J 2159 (4) 20 PALUS,Ryszard 2232 (3½) 0-1 BRADY,Stephen 2353 (3½) 21 GRANT,Alan 2195 (3½) 1-0 DOUGHERTY,Michae 2320 (3½) 22 BENNION,David A 2060 (3½) 1/2 MARCHAND,Francoi 2237 (3½) 23 VUILLEUMIER,Alex 2169 (3) 1/2 LUTTON,J Ezra 2113 (3½) 24 CAFOLLA,Peter 2109 (3) 1/2 BURROWS,Martin 2196 (3) 25 HUTCHINSON,Norma 2175 (3) 1-0 WAUGH,Jonathon C (3) 26 SPANTON,Tim 2008 (3) 1/2 FOX,Anthony 2142 (3) 27 PURTON,Ben 2067 (3) 1/2 GOODGER,Martyn 2133 (3) 28 KELLY,David (3) 1/2 ELLISON,D George 2116 (3) 29 SHEPHERD,Michael 2071 (2½) 1/2 HARBORNE,Matthew 2075 (2½) 30 HANLEY,James L (2) 1-0 CROSS,Glenn (2) 31 ORMSBY,Alan (2) 1/2 CHESHIRE,Paul L (1) 32 HEAD,Graham (½) 0-1 LUTTON,E Josiah 2045 (2)
Handshakes All Round
"I've
never had my hand shaken by so many people before," was tournament
director Dennis Hemsley's comment on the morning after the conclusion
of the 11th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International. Dennis (pictured
left) was referring to all the players who came up to him to thank
him for organising such an excellent tournament at the prizegiving dinner
- at which the guest of honour was Mr Noel Cringle, the President of Tynwald,
no less. Dennis deserved all the thanks he received because, in just over
a decade, his tournament is one of the wonders of British chess. And,
with this year's line-up, it has cemented its reputation as the strongest
chess tournament in Britain. With the players' praise still ringing in
his ears, Dennis is abuzz this morning, already planning the 12th Monarch
Assurance tournament, which is pencilled in for the same time and place
next year. You can be sure that we will have the dates at bcmchess.co.uk
as soon as they are available.
The last round of the tournament also saw a few more handshakes than in previous rounds, but only a handful of the draws were quick ones. The top two boards featured players who were still interested in the £2,000 first prize and the three contenders did their level best to win. Daniel Fridman of Latvia could still tie for first if he beat Neverov, and if Epishin failed to win his game, but he had the toughest task in that he had Black. There was a brief tactical flurry in Neverov-Fridman but when the players emerged from the exchanges it was evident that Fridman could not hope for more than a draw and a share of second place. So it transpired. Neverov-Fridman.
Towards the end of Dautov (left) v Epishin. Note Epishin's habit
of
lining up the captured pieces in a long, neat row.
Dautov and Epishin had gone through unbeaten to this point and both looked massively assured. For one of them to beat the other it would require an extra-special effort. Dautov had the advantage of the white pieces and he set himself to a long attritional strategy, trying to work his pieces into the black position. He did manage to engineer a passed pawn, but Epishin kept it under careful bloackade and with the reduced forces it proved impossible to make progress, though there was a possibility near the end that might have been worth exploring. Dautov-Epishin. So 37-year-old Vladimir Epishin became the 2002 'Manx Monarch' at his first attempt. This was a splendid achievement: it is not always easy to justify a seeding as top-rated player but Epishin's strength and determination carried him through. A special word too for Dautov and Fridman who, also unbeaten, proved themselves to be high-calibre grandmasters.
Vladimir Epishin receives the trophy and prize cheque from
Mr Noel Cringle, President of Tynwald [the Isle of Man Parliament]
Sarunas Sulskis joined Dautov and Fridman in third spot and like them would take home a prize of £900+. He beat Gerard Welling and ended the Dutch IM's great run of form towards the end of the tournament. Welling had a queen for two rooks and his position was looking bad when he fell into a mating net. Welling-Sulskis.
Elsewhere
Andrew Ledger played a carefree game against Artur Kogan and was punished
(Kogan-Ledger),
whilst Bogdan Lalic bestirred himself to beat Richard Palliser (Lalic-Palliser).
There was more excellent chess played all the way down the board order.
A special mention for James Hanley (pictured left), the youngest
player in the congress, who was the only player to go through the tournament
without a single draw, and gets our nomination for 'Manx Fighter of the
Year' for 2002. One other player nearly equalled James' 'no prisoners'
performance but conceded a draw in the last round - yes, James' big brother
Craig! (pictured right) They make 'em tough up in Lancaster...
Finally, my personal thanks to Dennis Hemsley, Richard Furness, David Sedgwick, Tony Bridson, Eddie Lowey, all the players, and the staff of the Cherry Orchard, for making my stay in the Isle of Man a most enjoyable one. It's been a lot of fun. See you next year! John Saunders
Major: David Cutmore beat Martin Cutmore to take first prize with 5½/7... in the Minor, David Curtis drew with last game to make sure of first place with 4½/5... see the crosstable page.