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11th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man Chess International 28 Sept - 6 Oct 2002
Round 5 - 2 October
John Saunders reports: Round Five Results
Zapata, Alonso - Sulskis, Sarunas 0-1 47 C68 Ruy Lopez Exchange Ward, Christopher - Epishin, Vladimir 1/2 12 A46 Queen's pawn Dautov, Rustem - Gladyszev, Oleg 1/2 65 E69 Kings Indian Kogan, Artur - Fridman, Daniel 1/2 8 C42 Petroff Defence Stocek, Jiri - Burrows, Martin 1-0 27 B86 Sicilian Tyomkin, Dimitri - Miezis, Normunds 1/2 9 A46 Queen's pawn Ulibin, Mikhail - Ledger, Andrew 0-1 35 C01 French Exchange Neverov, Valeriy - Williams, Simon 1-0 40 A97 Dutch Defence Welling, Gerard - Shulman, Yuri 0-1 43 C01 French Exchange Pert, Richard G - Goloshchapov, Alexander 0-1 47 A48 Queen's pawn Lalic, Bogdan - Daly, Colm 1-0 46 D91 Grunfeld Orr, Mark J L - Hebden, Mark 1/2 48 E97 Kings Indian Main line Hutchinson, Norman - Felgaer, Ruben 0-1 26 B50 Sicilian Hanley, Craig - Grunberg, Mihai 0-1 31 B03 Alekhine's Defence Rotstein, Arkadij - Dougherty, Michael 1-0 33 D42 Caro-Kann Panov transp. Kunte, Abhijit - Collins, Sam 1/2 37 B45 Sicilian Palliser, Richard - Cafolla, Peter 1/2 77 D07 Chigorin Hinks-Edwards, Thom - Gordon, Stephen J 1/2 53 B43 Sicilian Brady, Stephen - Bennion, David 1-0 72 B07 Pirc Lutton, J.Ezra - Cooper, Lawrence 1-0 74 C28 1 e4 e5 Ansell, Simon - Ellison, Derek George 1-0 43 B50 Sicilian Fox, Anthony - Marchand, Francois 0-1 47 B10 Caro-Kann Palus, Ryszard - Shepherd, Michael 1-0 28 E18 Queen's indian Lutton, E Josiah - Rayner, Francis 0-1 25 B23 Sicilian Closed Grant, Alan - Waugh, Jonathon C 1-0 43 A16 English 1 c4 Blackburn, Jonathan L - Goodger, Martyn 1-0 62 A90 Dutch defence Kelly, David - Peralta, Fernando 0-1 30 B08 Pirc Classical Cioara, Andrei Nestor - Harborne, Matthew 1-0 33 E12 Queen's indian Vuilleumier, Alex - Spanton, Timothy 1-0 63 B37 Sicilian Van Kemenade, Rudy - Cross, Glenn 1/2 32 B52 Sicilian Hanley, James L - Ormsby, Alan 0-1 48 B12 Caro-Kann Purton, Ben - Cheshire, Paul L 1-0 47 C01 French Exchange
Round 5: Ledger Weighs In
All change at the top: Zapata (left) loses to the nattily-dressed Sulskis...
It
was all change at the top here in the Monarch Assurance on Wednesday as
Alonso Zapata was toppled by Sarunas Sulskis. Just past the halfway mark,
the Lithuanian now shares the lead on 4/5 with Jiri Stocek who finally
ended Martin Burrows' fairy-tale run. And there are no less than 15 players
half a point behind the leaders with 3½/5. As well as first prize,
the two co-leaders would be in the running for 'best dressed player' if
such an award existed. Sarunas Sulskis was wearing a very smart suit and
mauve shirt today, while Alfred Molina look-alike Jiri Stocek was equally
dapper in one of his favourite light-coloured lightweight suits. It's
pleasant to be able to comment favourably on what the best-dressed chess-player
is wearing this week as most players do not give their sartorial appearance
much priority. Let's hope that Stocek and Sulskis have consulted each
other about what they are both going to wear for their round 6 show-down
on the top board. It would be terrible if their colour schemes clashed,
wouldn't it?
Zapata played the White side of a Ruy Lopez against Sulskis, but he was the one suffering Spanish torture after a surprisingly short time. He tried to break out of a passive position by sacrificing the exchange but only really succeeded in slowing up the process. Sulskis gradually worked his rook into the game and finished off effectively. Zapata-Sulskis. Jiri Stocek attacked hard against Martin Burrows' Sicilian and the Leicester man snatched a very hot pawn. He had to pick his way through the tactics but may have missed a chance to stay in the game. As it was, he lost too much material and had to resign. Stocek-Burrows.
Kogan-Fridman
and Tyomkin-Miezis were very quick draws but Ulibin-Ledger developed into
a real battle despite an insipid opening. Last year's winner threw a spanner
in the works with a queen advance. But Andrew Ledger (left) found
his way through the complications rather better than his opponent and
won a pawn. Ledger's attack persisted and Ulibin had to resign when his
rook became entombed behind an advanced pawn. A great result for Ledger,
who enjoys playing in the Isle of Man: he made a GM norm here a few years
ago and now finds himself in the big group on 3½. As for Ulibin:
he will need an improbable run-in of 4/4 to match his 2001 winning score.
Ulibin-A.Ledger.
Other surprises were few and far between. Ezra Lutton gained a very creditable win against IM Lawrence Cooper (Ezra Lutton-Cooper), and Richard Pert was close to success against Alexander Goloshchapov, but missed a golden opportunity to finish off - Pert-Goloshchapov. The two Hanley brothers were also rather unlucky. Craig had a won position against Grunberg but allowed his opponent to take a grip on the position. Though he had won a queen for rook and piece, his position was so poor that he decided to resign rather than continue the agony. C.Hanley-Grunberg. James had a very good position against Alan Ormsby but allowed the Manxman to build up a counteroffensive which eventually broke through. J.Hanley-Ormsby.