The Daily Update: Biel, British Championship, Pamplona
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 9:18PM (1) It was another good round in Biel, and there's more chess to come. The leaders coming into the "last" round, Vachier-Lagrave and Caruana, both drew their games (against Negi and Howell, respectively), which allowed Nguyen to catch them by beating Giri. (The other two games were drawn.) Tomorrow (Thursday), therefore, there will be a playoff at 11 a.m. local time. Nguyen gets a first-round bye while the other two face off in a pair of blitz games (followed by an Armageddon game, if necessary). He'll take on the winner in a pair of 10' + 10" games, followed by 5' + 2" if necessary, followed (if necessary) by an Armageddon game.
(2) In the British Championship, an intriguing story is afoot. Michael Adams won again in round 3, over Richard Pert, and now stands alone at 3-0...or rather, almost alone. Joining him there, and thus ready to face him tomorrow, is the 2236-rated IM Jack Rudd. (Yes, the Jack Rudd.) In round 1, as already noted, he beat GM Keith Arkell. In round 2 he demolished IM Andrew Greet (with Black), and in round 3 he had no problem crushing GM Simon Williams. Very impressive!
(3) In Pamplona, the 4th AD San Juan International has a new leader. Morozevich was upended by Polish GM and sometime Anand second Radoslaw Wojtaszek in round 5, and now Wojtaszek and French GM Laurent Fressinet co-lead with 3.5/5, half a point ahead of Morozevich, Sergey Fedorchuk, Vadim Zvjaginsev and Julio Granda Zuniga.
Reader Comments (2)
For those not from the uk the worst thing about playing Jack Rudd is the clock. He rarely spends more than 30-40 minutes on the whole game and I remember playing him and being in time trouble just as all the other boards in a match were just getting in to the middle game. I think at one stage the clock times were me 1.50 Jack 11.00. Much amusement for all the specatators. Even grandmasters find this disconcerting and Jack is very dangerous when he has the initiative. Are there any similar players in the US?
A real blast from the past for me- I can actually remember Rudd winning the British Under-8 Championship in Southhampton in 1986! According to his website profile:
"when he is playing over the board he makes his moves with the grace of a gazelle, circumnavigates the playing hall with the speed of a cheetah and will assist the Arbiter with the pairing of the next round of the lower section whilst en-route. He might even write your move down on your score sheet if you invited him to do so! Speed is his hallmark."