Wednesday 17 October 2007

Smerdon, Humphrey, Jule

IM David Smerdon, FM Jonathan Humphrey, and Alexandra Jule are all playing in the Essent Tournament in The Netherlands, and all are doing extremely well. After 5 rounds Jule is equal first in the First Amateur Tounament with an undefeated 4/5.
In the Essent Open Smerdon is equal second, again with 4/5, including draws with GM's Nijboer and Smeets. Jonathan Humphrey is also doing exceptionally well (3/5), with his only two losses being to GM's L'Ami and Smeets.
In round 4 Humphrey scored a big win, defeating Danish FM Allan Rasmussen (2485!) in 41 moves.

Humphrey,J (2284) - Rasmussen,A (2485) [B44]
Open Hoogeveen NED (4), 15.10.2007

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nb5 d6 6.c4 Nf6 7.N1c3 a6 8.Na3 Be7 9.Be2 0-0 10.0-0 b6 11.Be3 Bb7 12.Qb3 Nd7 13.Rfd1 Nc5 14.Qc2 Bf6 15.f3 Be5 16.Qd2 Qh4 17.g3 Qe7 18.Nc2 f5 19.exf5 Rxf5 20.b4 Qf6 (D)
21.Nd4 Nxd4 22.Bxd4 Nd7 23.f4 Bxf4 24.Bxf6 Bxd2 25.Rxd2 Nxf6 26.Rxd6 a5 27.b5 Bf3 28.Bd3 Re5 29.Na4 Ne4 30.Re1 Nxd6 31.Rxe5 Rd8 32.Re3 Bg4 33.Nxb6 Nf5 34.Bxf5 Rd1+ 35.Kf2 Rd2+ 36.Kf1 Bxf5 37.c5 Rc2 38.c6 Kf7 39.Nd7 a4 40.b6 Rc1+ 41.Kf2 1-0


Some related trivia. In the 2003 Australian Open, Smerdon (2407) and Humphrey (1782) were paired together in the first round. Smerdon won that game, but after the full 11 rounds both players were tied for equal second on 8.5/11, just behind tournament winner, IM John-Paul Wallace.

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