With the 1st round of the Big Slick FIDE section coming up this Friday I thought that it would be a good idea to give a quick profile of each player, with some odds on who is going to win the event. Now before I proceed, you have to remember that I am not a bookmaker. The odds are meant to be a bit of fun so please do not take offence! The tournament is wide open and anyone has a chance of winning. Anyway lets have a look!
I did the draw for the 1st round at the Big Slick club yesterday. David Sedgwick and Peter Ackley the two arbiters for the event were also present and one of the owners of the club, Nick Clarke, picked some names out of an empty pint glass to decide on the draw for the GM All-Play-All event.
For those of you who are interested this is how the numbers came out of the glass, a sign of their final positions? I expect that at least half the field hope not!
1 Gormally
2 Ansell
3 Galego
4 Poobalasingam
5 Rudd
6 Kjartansson
7 Arkell
8 Eames
9 Slavin
10 Cherniaev
And therefore the pairings for the 9 rounds are: (first number White)
R1: 1-10 2-9 3-8 4-7 5-6
R2: 10-6 7-5 8-4 9-3 1-2
R3: 2-10 3-1 4-9 5-8 6-7
R4: 10-7 8-6 9-5 1-4 2-3
R5: 3-10 4-2 5-1 6-9 7-8
R6: 10-8 9-7 1-6 2-5 3-4
R7: 4-10 5-3 6-2 7-1 8-9
R8: 10-9 1-8 2-7 3-6 4-5
R9: 5-10 6-4 7-3 8-2 9-1
To score a GM norm a player would need to get 7/9 tough but possible.
To score a IM norm a player would need to get 5.5/9 which is very possible!
Anyway that is the boring bit out of the way, lets take a look at the players:
1: Danny Gormally: Grandmaster, 2487, England.
I have already done a piece on Danny so I will leave him out for the moment. I actually meet Danny at Nick Pert’s stag do on Saturday. Lets just say we all lost rather too many brain cells and too much money on the horses!
Odds: 5/2
2: Simon Ansell: International Master, 2394, England.
Simon Ansell is a natural player who has recently swapped the chess pieces for a pack of cards. The poker is going well but like most chess players Simon still has love for the game of chess. Simon’s openings are usually rather quiet, this is probably due to the fact that he does not have a lot of time to spend studying the game.
His style is hard to describe as I once thought of him as a positional player but like all class players Simon is also at home in messy complications, I have found this out on a number of occasions! Simon is also the webmaster of this site, so good luck Si!! Get that GM norm!!
Odds: 5/1
3: Luis Galego: Grandmaster, 2454, Portugal.
‘Was that a flying pig?’
Luis is one of the nicest guys that I have meet in the chess world, hence why I wanted to get him over to the Big Slick. Luis is also one of the most relaxed guys that I have ever meet, which sometimes helps him in chess but other times it can hold him back. His rating has been high 2500+ before but he has a tendency for quick draws in order to go back to bed/party again.
One funny story I heard was when he was due to play an Icelandic IM in the last round of the Reykjavik open, one year. The Icelander needed to draw in order to qualify for a speed chess competition where he would play Kasparov and be guaranteed 5000 Euro’s. Luis needed to win to get in the prizes. After ten moves the Icelandic player offered Luis a draw. Luis responded by gentle slapping him on both cheeks then saying, ‘Go play Kasparov you mother******!’
Whether this story is true or not I don’t know. I should mention that Luis did know his opponent well and they have been friends for a long time!
Odds: 5/1
4: Peter Poobalasingam: 2240, England.
It is great to see a young English player taking part in the competition. Peter is the lowest rated player in the tournament but he is quickly improving and has shown great talent in a number of tournaments. It may be quite a hard tournament for Peter but the experience he will gain from the competition will help him greatly. The best way to improve is to play higher rated opponents!
I wish him the best of luck and who knows which player Peter might shock?
Odds: 20/1
5: Jack Rudd: International Master, 2357, England.
Jack must be one of the most talented players in the 1st Big Slick International. He has a raw ability to calculate at an amazing rate which makes him a formidable tactical player.
Jack is renown for moving at an astounding rate, in many of his games he will only spend 10 minutes to reach move 30! He has also beaten a wide range of Grandmaster in his past and I know Danny mentioned that Jack had a good record against him.
The only problem is that Jack is very unpredictable he can also lose very horribly and his positional play might not quite be up to scratch against a player of Arkell’s calibre. Anyway he is one of the most interesting and exciting players in the competition and I am looking forward to watching his games.
Odds: 7/1
6: Gudmundur Kjartansson, Fide Master, 2388, Iceland.
Gudmundur is a young Icelandic player who has shown a lot of promise in the last couple of years. I played him at the last Hastings congress and he was a very tough opponent, the game ended up being a draw. In that game he showed that he prepared very well and had a good tactical ability. It will be interested to see how he gets on here.
Icelandic players in general tend to have a very aggressive style and Iceland have a number of young IMs. It is very impressive that such a small place can have such a high number of strong players. If only the same could be true for the next generation of English players!
Odds: 6/1
7: Keith Arkell, Grandmaster, 2517, England.
Well what can I say about Keith?
He is a legend in the chess world! Whether you like his style or not you can not deny that it is rather unique and one has to admire it.
I personally have learnt a lot from Keith, he was demonstrating an ending to me a while back; An ending where one side had a passed pawn. I assumed this would give that side the advantage. How wrong I was! It showed a complete lack of understanding on my part.
Keith is another player who I can’t wait to have a beer with! One word of warning don’t let Keith get four pawns verses three on the same side of the board as you might as well resign. Don’t say I did not warn you!
Odds: 5/2
8: Robert (Bob) Eames, Fide Master, 2312, England.
I have known Bob for a while as we used to be team mates for Hackney. I have always enjoyed sharing a drink with Bob at the bar and it is great to see him entered into the 1st Big Slick International
Bob Eames is another player in the GM section that has a very exciting style. His games normally involve some standard opening and then all of a sudden Bob will throw all of his pieces towards his opponents king! Anything can happen when Bob plays but win lose or draw, it is bound to be fascinating!
It has to be mentioned that one thing that may put Bob off is how close the bar is to the chess board… Could be dangerous! But I will always welcome sharing a drink with Bob!
Odds: 10/1
9: Alexei Slavin, 2308, Russia.
And finally we come onto the the two Russian contenders, just to add that cold war feeling to the tournament!
Alexei Slavin is a bit of an unknown to me. I faced him quite recently at the 4ncl, you can view that game on an earlier post. After the game he pointed out how I could have won. It is clear that he is rapidly improving and I would not be surprised he if got his first IM norm soon.
Odds: 10/1
10: Alexander Cherniaev, Grandmaster, 2423, Russia.
I have also known Alex for while. He has been based around London for a good period of time now.
I can remember one of the first times I ever meet him. It was in a Kebab shop in Hastings. Alex very kindly offered me some of the vodka he was sharing with Peter Marusenko. It would have been rude not to accept and then he went on to give me one of the biggest glasses I have ever seen! From then on I have always had a soft spot for him!
Alex is a solid good player who has had a bit of a dip in rating recently. I am sure this wont last for long he rating is bound to rise over 2500 in no time.
It will be interesting to see how he performs.
Odds: 6/1
Anyway it should be a fascinating competition and I look forward to watching it unfold. Please leave your comments on who you think will win!! Later I will have a quick look at the FIDE open section!
Congratulations on an excellent event, Simon! Just a note; if you use photographs it is always good practice to credit the source
Adam