Isle of Man International

Three Suffolk players (and one former Suffolk player) will be travelling to the Isle of Man in a week’s time for the annual International tournament, sponsored this year by Chess.com.   An incredibly strong line-up includes 47 Grandmasters, headed by three American players: Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So.

Alan Merry, Adam Taylor and Ed Player will be joined by David Whitehead, amongst the 137 entrants in the Masters section.

There is a £50,000 prize fund in the nine-round event, with a £12,000 first prize.   Two of last year’s winners (GMs Sargissian and Fressinet) have entered, although they are well down the seedings, at #14 and #17.   Top English entrants are Michael Adams (#5) and David Howell (#16).

Alan Merry is still 18 rating points shy of the 2400 needed for his IM title.   With so many strong players (Alan is seeded #69) this must be a great opportunity for him to gain these necessary points.

The tournament website will provide round-by-round results as well as a link to live games, which start daily at 13.30 from 1 October.