from the Tournament Director:

The 1st Jersey International Chess Masters Tournament 2013 (Website)    Flier   Entry Form

Wednesday 6th March - Sunday 10th March 2013 - 9 round Swiss with potential for a GM/IM norm in only 5 days or alternative 7 round tournament for players rated under 1900

Sarah Kett ~ Development Director

The Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival is in progress.    Welsh Pairings   Players from Wales include Rudy van Kemenade, John Thornton, David Jameson and Richard Jones.

We sincerely thank Rudy for his excellent reports on each round. 

Report 10 by Rudy van Kemenade

Rd10 started at 11 am instead of the usual 3 pm, to allow time for any necessary playoffs amongst the Tournament winners. [In this case Nikita Vituigov triumphed in the final against Nigel Short to win overall.]

Richard (5) got drawn against Luis Javier Sanchez Botella (2196). A Slav Defence by Richard led to a very complex game, mainly centred on queen side play. Just as it seemed that white had won, a piece sacrifice switched play to the king side, and some careful analysis led to the white king being hunted down by queen and knight.

David (4.5) got to play IM Claude Adrian (2260) who responded with an Albin Counter Gambit. Slightly surprised David began to consume lots of time. Black continued adventurously, even playing Qxa3 because of a mate. In the end David's queen side, where his king was, proved impossible to defend.

John (3.5) played Dragan Dimitrijevic (1896), who despite a Serbian name has an Italian registration. An extremely complex French led towards a complex double rook and pawn ending, where ultimately the Welsh player triumphed in a long rook and pawn game ending.

Rudy (3.5) versus Manfred Herbold (2164) got a reasonable position in a slightly unusual Philidor's Defence, but went into too much of a defensive mode, allowing the white pieces space to deliver a mate.

Szilvia (3) against Ali Janooby (2178) had a good position with an early b3 & Bb2, however she didn't anticipate the dangers along the “g” and “h” files and had to concede a loss.

Vaness (2.5) played an unrated Enrigue Villa Armenta, getting an extremely good variation of a Queen's Gambit Declined. She seized a chance of picking up a pawn on the queen side, and brought matters to fruition on the queen side.

A difficult tournment, but enjoyed by those taking part.