Sethuraman played a line against the Caro-Kan made famous by Deep Blue against Kasparov, and while Rasmussen avoided Kasparov's poor choices, he still was hit with some tactics on f7 in the middlegame. A soild pawn ahead, Sethuraman then nursed the advantage all the way to the completion of the game.
Sengupta and Karthikeyan completed the Indian hat trick on the top boards, with wins over Fier (BRA) and Gledura (HUN). In round 8 Karthikeyan is up against Sengupta, while Rasmussen faces Sengupta.
IM Bobby Cheng was looking for a win to keep his GM norm chances on track but could only draw with veteran IM Petr Marusenko (UKR). IM Justin Tan had a similar result, drawing with IM Vladimir Prosviriakov (USA).
Last night also saw the 2017 Hastings International Blitz. 25 players took part, but it was exceptionally strong with 3 GM's. 2 IM's and at least 1 FM starting in the bottom half of the draw (and no, it wasn't me). GM Keith Arkell won the tournament with 7.5/9, with IM Bobby Cheng, and GM Danny Gormally tied for 2nd on 7.
Sethuraman,S.P (2647) - Rasmussen,Allan Stig (2502)
Hastings Masters 2016/17 Horntye Park Sports Complex, B (7.1), 03.01.2017
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 e6 7. N1f3 Bd6 8. Qe2 h6 9. Ne4 Nxe4 10. Qxe4 Qc7 11. O-O b6 12. Qg4 Kf8 13. b3 Bb7 14. Re1 Nf6 15. Qh3 Bb4 16. Re2 Bc3 17. Rb1 c5 18. dxc5 bxc5 19. Bc4 Nd5 20. Ng5 Bd4 21. Bxd5 Bxd5 22. c3 Be5 23. Nxf7 Kxf7 24. Qh5+ g6 25. Qxe5 Qxe5 26. Rxe5 c4 27. b4 a6 28. Be3 Rab8 29. f3 Rb7 30. a4 Ke7 31. Rd1 Rd7 32. Bc5+ Kf7 33. Rd4 Kg7 34. Rf4 Re8 35. Bd4 Kh7 36. h4 h5 37. Rf6 Rg8 38. Kf2 Rgg7 39. Rg5 Rg8 40. g4 hxg4 41. h5 Bxf3 42. Rgxg6 Rgg7 43. Rxe6 Bd5 44. Rxa6 Bb7 45. Rh6+ Kg8 46. Rag6 Rxg6 47. hxg6 Rxd4 48. cxd4 c3 49. Rh7 1-0
If you wish to see the results, or follow the live games, then visit the tournament website at http://www.hastingschess.com/
2 comments:
How do you think the Baku system is working as a form of accelerated pairings? A few of us discussed it 'at length', but with no practical testing, hard to form any conclusions. So I am wondering, what are your impressions as you are seeing it being used in an actual tournament?
Would you be willing to try it at a 'monster swiss' weekender here in Australia with no modifications? Or do you think it needs some modifications?
The Baku System seemed to work fine here, although Hastings has used acceleration for years, so maybe the players did not notice that a new system was being used. Certainly there were no complaints, especially in round 3 (when the bonus point was dropped to half) or round 4 (when it was dropped altogether).
Also in its favour was the field had a fairly even distribution throughout, without a long tail (which happens in Australia). But I would be happy to run a large event using it without modification ( using 1,1,0.5 bonus points) at this stage. It is just a question of which event.
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