Monday, August 27, 2007

Good Luck, Robin

You're the lowest rated player, by almost 100 Elo points. There are two GMs, and four other titled players in the tournament mix. It's a closed, all-play-all event. And most of your fellow competitors are chasing an IM Norm. How would you fancy your chances?

The directly-named top section IM NORM EVENT - run as part of the COULSDON "PREMIERSHIP" INTERNATIONAL - kicks off today, and bottom seed and Streatham & Brixton Chess Club first teamer Robin Haldane finds himself facing that exact set up. The first round begins at one o'clock this afternoon. After that, it's two rounds per day - one starting at 10.15am and one at 3.30pm - with the final rounds on Friday. Robin's first game is white against Bogdan Lalic, the 2509-rated Croatian Grandmaster. His following opponents are Chris Brisoce (Robin has white), FM Jack Rudd (b), FM Jovica Radovanovic (w), FM Matthew Broomfield (b), Nicholas Tavoularis (w), GM Colin McNab (b), Ian Snape (w), and finally FM Lars Stark (b). The tournament details and updates can be found here. I'll certainly be following the site for updates. But for today, there's only one thing left to say.

Good luck, Robin.

6 comments:

Tom Chivers said...

Little bit of an update. The first round results, which contain one minor surprise.

Robin Haldane 0-1 GM Bogdan Lalic, FM Matthew Broomfield ½-½ Nicholas Tavoularis, Chris Briscoe 0-1 FM Lars Stark, FM Jack Rudd 0-1 Ian Snape, FM Jovica Radovanovic 0-1 GM Colin McNab.

ejh said...

Not all that surprising, I'd back Ian over Jack Rudd any day.

Mind you he's been a team captain of mine....

Tom Chivers said...

I don't know either of them...

Btw, remember 10...Ra7 from the Jones-van Wely game? Kavalek explained it in his newspaper column just now:

"A strange-looking rook move, but black wants to meet 11.Ne2 with 11...Qa8!"

I updated the comments at the original post with it too.

Tom Chivers said...

Ah, hah. The games are up on the official site too.

[Event "Coulsdon Premiership International"] [Site "CCF"] [Date "2007.08.27"] [Round "1"] [White "HALDANE, Robin"] [Black "LALIC, Bogdan"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B32"] [WhiteElo "2138"] [BlackElo "2509"] [Annotator "Scott Freeman"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2007.08.26"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 Be7 8. Nd5 Nf6 9. Be3 Nxd5 10. exd5 Nb8 11. Nc4 Nd7 12. Qd2 O-O 13. O-O-O Qc7 14. f4 b5 15. Na5 exf4 16. Bxf4 Ne5 17. Nc6 Nxc6 18. dxc6 Qxc6 19. Be2 Bb7 20. Bf3 Qc8 21. Rhe1 Bxf3 22. gxf3 Bf6 23. Qxd6 Qc4 24. Be5 Bxe5 25. Qxe5 Rac8 26. c3 Qxa2 27. Rg1 g6 28. Rg4 Rfe8 29. Qd5 Qa1+ 30. Kc2 Re2+ 31. Rd2 Rxd2+ 32. Qxd2 Qf1 33. Qd7 Rf8 34. Qc6 Qe2+ 35. Kb3 a5 36. Qf6 Qd1+ 37. Ka2 Qd5+ 38. Ka1 Re8 39. Re4 Rxe4 40. fxe4 Qd1+ 0-1 [Event "Coulsdon Premiership International"] [Site "CCF"] [Date "2007.08.27"] [Round "1"] [White "BROOMFIELD, Matthew"] [Black "TAVOULARIS, Nicholas"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A80"] [WhiteElo "2362"] [BlackElo "2276"] [Annotator "Scott Freeman"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2007.08.26"] 1. d4 f5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 d5 4. f3 e6 5. e4 Be7 6. e5 Ng8 7. Be3 b6 8. f4 Ba6 9. Nce2 Nh6 10. Nf3 Qd7 11. Qd2 Nc6 $11 12. g3 Na5 13. b3 Rc8 14. h3 Nb7 15. Bg2 c5 16. c3 cxd4 $11 17. cxd4 Qb5 18. Kf2 Bb4 19. Qd1 O-O 20. Bf1 Qd3 21. Ng5 Rc6 22. Nc3 Qxd1 23. Nxd1 Bxf1 24. Rxf1 Nf7 25. Nxf7 1/2-1/2 [Event "Coulsdon Premiership International"] [Site "CCF"] [Date "2007.08.27"] [Round "1"] [White "BRISCOE, Chris"] [Black "STARK, Lars"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B53"] [WhiteElo "2224"] [BlackElo "2430"] [Annotator "Scott Freeman"] [PlyCount "66"] [EventDate "2007.08.26"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 Bd7 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Bg5 e6 9. O-O-O Be7 10. Rhe1 O-O 11. Kb1 Qc7 12. Qd2 Rfc8 13. Nd4 a6 14. f3 b5 15. g4 Qb7 16. Nce2 b4 17. Ng3 a5 18. Nh5 Ne8 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. g5 g6 21. Ng3 e5 22. Nxc6 Rxc6 23. f4 Rac8 24. Rc1 exf4 25. Qxf4 Rc5 26. h4 a4 27. Ne2 Rc4 28. Ng3 Qc7 29. Qd2 Qc5 30. b3 Rd4 31. Qe3 Qe5 32. Red1 Rxd1 33. Rxd1 a3 0-1 [Event "Coulsdon Premiership International"] [Site "CCF"] [Date "2007.08.27"] [Round "1"] [White "RUDD, Jack"] [Black "SNAPE, Ian"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B50"] [WhiteElo "2370"] [BlackElo "2255"] [Annotator "Scott Freeman"] [PlyCount "102"] [EventDate "2007.08.26"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 dxe5 5. Nxe5 a6 6. g3 Nbd7 7. Nc4 b5 8. Bg2 Rb8 9. Ne3 e6 10. b3 Qb6 11. Bb2 Bb7 12. f3 Be7 13. Qe2 O-O 14. O-O-O Rfc8 15. d3 Qa5 16. Kb1 c4 17. dxc4 Bb4 18. Ne4 Bxe4 19. fxe4 Bc3 20. Bc1 Ne5 21. c5 Rxc5 22. Bd2 Nc4 23. Nxc4 bxc4 24. Bxc3 Qxc3 25. Qd2 cxb3 26. axb3 Qxd2 27. Rxd2 Kf8 28. Rhd1 Ke7 29. Kb2 a5 30. Rd4 Rbc8 31. R1d2 R8c7 32. Bf1 Ng4 33. Ra4 Ne5 34. Be2 Nc6 35. Rc4 Rxc4 36. Bxc4 Ne5 37. Bb5 Nf3 38. Rf2 Nd4 39. Ba4 e5 40. c3 Ne6 41. Bb5 Ng5 42. Bc4 Nxe4 43. Rxf7+ Kd6 44. Rf8 a4 45. Rd8+ Ke7 46. Rd5 Kf6 47. Rd3 axb3 48. Bxb3 Nc5 49. Rf3+ Kg5 50. Bd5 e4 51. Rf4 Nd3+ 0-1 [Event "Coulsdon Premiership International"] [Site "CCF"] [Date "2007.08.27"] [Round "1"] [White "RADOVANOVIC, Jovica"] [Black "McNAB, Colin"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E94"] [WhiteElo "2355"] [BlackElo "2430"] [Annotator "Scott Freeman"] [PlyCount "82"] [EventDate "2007.08.26"] 1. d4 d6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Nd7 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4 e5 6. Be2 Ngf6 7. O-O O-O 8. Be3 b6 9. Qc2 exd4 10. Nxd4 Bb7 11. Rad1 Re8 12. f3 c6 13. Bg5 Qe7 14. Kh1 Nc5 15. Qd2 Rad8 16. Nc2 Ne6 17. Bh6 Bh8 18. Qc1 d5 19. e5 Nh5 20. f4 Qh4 21. Rd3 Ng3+ 22. Rxg3 Qxh6 23. Rh3 Qg7 24. cxd5 cxd5 25. Bb5 d4 26. Bxe8 dxc3 27. Bb5 Rd2 28. Ne3 Nxf4 29. Qxc3 Rxg2 30. Nxg2 Bxg2+ 31. Kg1 Bxf1 32. Bxf1 Nxh3+ 33. Bxh3 Qxe5 34. Qc8+ Kg7 35. Qd7 Qxb2 36. Qxa7 Qd4+ 37. Kf1 h5 38. Bg2 Qc4+ 39. Kf2 Kh6 40. Qa8 Bd4+ 41. Kf3 Qd3+ 0-1

So we can assume the Haldane Hack remains unrefuted!

Anonymous said...

I see Robin has finished with 3/9 which looks like a pretty good result considering he was lowest rated by almost 100 points.

(And the Hack remains intact.)

Angus.

Anonymous said...

It's a great result imo and his sole win is a real beauty.

[Event "Coulsdon Premiership International"] [Site "CCF"] [Date "2007.08.31"] [Round "8"] [White "HALDANE, Robin"] [Black "SNAPE, Ian"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B78"] [WhiteElo "2138"] [BlackElo "2255"] [Annotator "Scott Freeman"] [PlyCount "79"] [EventDate "2007.08.26"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rb8 11. h4 b5 12. Bb3 Na5 13. Bh6 Bxh6 14. Qxh6 e5 15. Nde2 b4 16. Nd5 Nxb3+ 17. axb3 Nxd5 18. Rxd5 Rb6 19. h5 g5 20. f4 Bg4 21. fxe5 Bxe2 22. exd6 Rb5 23. Re1 Rxd5 24. exd5 Re8 25. d7 Re5 26. Qc6 Bb5 27. Rxe5 Bxc6 28. dxc6 Kf8 29. Kd2 f5 30. Rxf5+ Kg7 31. Rd5 Kh6 32. c7 Qf6 33. d8=Q Qf4+ 34. Kd3 Qf1+ 35. Kd4 Qf2+ 36. Kc4 Qe2+ 37. Kxb4 Qe1+ 38. c3 a5+ 39. Kb5 Qf1+ 40. c4 1-0