The PokerStars Open in the Isle of Man ended in a stunning multiple home success, the best overall English performance in such a high calibre event for many a year.
Nigel Short, at 49 the oldest active elite grandmaster, won the £6,000 first prize with 7.5/9, unbeaten and a full point ahead of the field. He tweeted “I am ecstatic. I know I can play well when not distracted.” Short had briefly dropped out of the world top 100 due to his work as England Fide delegate and unofficial cheerleader in Garry Kasparov’s ill-fated bid for Fide president. His best game in an impressive display was a strategic tour de force against Armenia’s Olympiad gold medallist Gabriel Sargissian.
There is an echo of 1992-93, when Short scored a historic match victory over Anatoly Karpov before the schism where he and Kasparov broke from Fide for their world title match. The rights and wrongs of that decision are still debated but Short’s form suffered from the controversy. If they had played in Manchester, as originally planned, and Short had carried over his momentum from Karpov, he could have run Kasparov close.
David Howell, 23, England’s youngest GM, tied second with 6.5/9. He beat the No1s of England and France in successive games, had his chances against Short in the final round and upped his Fide world rating to a new high of 2665 in his quest to join the 2700+ elite. England juniors have disappointed in recent years but Alan Merry, 17, had a wonderful result which belied his lowly 2269 rating. He scored 6/9, achieved his first GM norm against strong opposition of entirely GMs and IMs and played some fine games en route.
Jonathan Hawkins also scored 6/9 and qualified as a GM at 31 to end an epic quest which began when he was a lowly teenage club player in Consett, Durham. He has nurtured his own talent and formulated an individual approach which is documented in his book Amateur to IM, now meriting an updated edition.
Hawkins’s best win, against a three-time Romanian champion, showed why few top players like to defend an old-style Queen’s Gambit Declined, where defensive inaccuracies are costly. Black could have nipped the K-side attack in the bud by 17...N6d7! while as played White crashed home down the open g file. Hawkins could have won faster by 24 Nxd5, but Black entombed his own bishop by 26...Ba8? (Re7 27 Nc5 Bc8) and was then crushed, with no defence at the end to Qh7 mate.
Jonathan Hawkins v Mihai Marin
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Nf3 Nbd7 5 Bg5 h6 6 Bh4 Be7 7 e3 O-O 8 Rc1 b6 9 cxd5 exd5 10 Bd3 Bb7 11 O-O c5 12 Qc2 c4 13 Bf5 a6 14 Ne5 b5 15 f3 Re8 16 Kh1 Nf8 17 g4 Bd6? 18 f4 Qc7 19 Qg2! b4? 20 g5! hxg5 21 Bxg5 N6h7 22 Bh6 Ne6 23 Rg1 Bf8 24 Bxe6?! fxe6 25 Na4 Ra7 26 Nc5 Ba8? 27 Qg6 Qc8 28 Rg3 Ree7 29 Bg5 Re8 30 Rh3 Nxg5 31 fxg5 Bxc5 32 Rf1! 1-0
3380 1 Nf3 e5 2 Nxe5 Ne7 3 Nxd7 Nec6 4 Nxb8 Nxb8.
