Wednesday 21 January 2009

Canberran's on fire in Queenstown

Having talked up David Smerdon's GM chances a couple of days ago, I'm pleased to report I haven't offended the woofing gods. Today at the Queenstown Classic he defeated Lithuanian GM Eduardis Rozentalis and is now in equal first on 6/7. The win also continues his harvest of rating points, and according to my back of the envelope calculations is only 20 points away from the magical 2500 rating barrier.
Also doing brilliantly is Canberra junior Andrew Brown. Proving that his round 1 win over GM Darryl Johansen was an indicator of things to come, he defeated New Zealand IM Paul Garbett today and is currently on 5/7. This gives him a performance rating of 2528, well in excess of the 2450 needed for an IM norm. Of course he needs to play another 2 (or 3) rounds but he is well placed for his first norm. His round 8 opponent is FM Geoff Saw (2257) which keeps the average rating of his opponents at a healthy 2350. Assuming my maths is correct these are the relevant scores and the required last round opponent he needs. If he scores 2/2 in the next 2 rounds his round 9 opponent needs only to show up (due to the 2100 uplift for IM norms). If he score 1.5/2 the same conditions apply. If he scores 1/2 then he needs a round 9 opponent with a rating above 2135. If scores 0.5/2 then he needs a 2540 opponent. So basically a win tomorrow would almost guarantee a norm, either through getting a highly rated opponent, or by only having to draw with a lower rated one in round 9.

Brown,A - Garbett,P [E16]
Queenstown Classic, 2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 b6 5.g3 Bb7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 d5 8.Qc2 Nbd7 9.b3 c5 10.e3 cxd4 11.exd4 Rc8 12.Bb2 Rc7 13.Rac1 Qa8 14.Ne5 dxc4 15.Bxb7 Qxb7 16.Nxd7 Nxd7 17.bxc4 Rfc8 18.Rfd1 Qa6 19.d5 exd5 20.Qf5 Bxd2 21.Rxd2 Nf8 22.Qe5 Ne6 23.Rxd5 Qa4 24.Rcd1 Qe8 25.Rd6 Re7 26.f4 f6 27.Qd5 Rc5 28.Qd3 Qg6 29.Qe2 Qf5 30.Re1 h5 31.Rxe6 Rxe6 32.Qxe6+ Qxe6 33.Rxe6 Rxc4 34.Re2 h4 35.Kg2 hxg3 36.hxg3 Kf7 37.Kf3 b5 38.g4 a5 39.a3 g6 40.g5 fxg5 41.fxg5 b4 42.axb4 axb4 43.Bf6 Rc7 44.Re3 Rb7 45.Rb3 Ke6 46.Ke4 Rh7 47.Kd4 Rh4+ 48.Kc5 Rh1 49.Rxb4 Rd1 50.Re4+ Kf5 51.Re5+ Kf4 52.Rd5 Rc1+ 53.Kd6 1-0

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, great work Andrew Brown.

When you say round 9 do you mean round 10 ?

Cheers
Garrett.

Shaun Press said...

I'm only calculating up till round 9, as this is the minimum number of games required for an IM norm. Of course he could make the norm in 10 games, if he needed to, depending on the outcome of his round 8 and 9 games.

Anonymous said...

ok thanks !

I hope he gets it !

Cheers
Garrett

Alana Chibnall said...

Well done Andrew! Keep it up! Hope you get the IM norm - as does everyone :D