The hero of Douglas
1. Magnus Carlsen NOR 2827, 7.5/9 2-3. Viswanathan Anand IND 2794, Hikaru Nakamura USA 2781, 7.0/9
4-12. Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2803, Fabiano Caruana USA 2799, Michael Adams ENG 2738, Pavel Eljanov UKR 2734, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2702, Emil Sutovsky ISR 2683, Richard Rapport HUN 2675, Alexei Shirov LAT 2630, Swapnil Dhopade IND 2532, 6.5/9 Total of 160 players Time Control: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes play-to-finish. 30 seconds added to time after every move starting move 1.
The 2017 Isle of Man Open was a success for reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen and the one who he unseated, former World Champion Viswanathan Anand. But if you will go by the cheers of the audience during the closing ceremonies it would seem that the hero of the tournament was GM James Tarjan, a retired librarian.
James Edward Tarjan was born Feb. 22, 1952, in Sherman Oaks, California. He is the brother of Robert Tarjan, a well-known computer scientist. James Edward became an International Grandmaster in 1976 — he had an exciting style of play, fought hard in every game and became one of the strongest players in the United States. Hammie, Robert — Tarjan, James Edward [B89]
USA 1975 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qe2 Be7 9.0– 0– 0 Qc7 10. Bb3 0– 0 11. g4 Nxd4 12.Rxd4 b5 13.g5 Nd7 14. Rg1 g6 15. f4 Nc5 16. h4 Rb8 17. h5 b4 18. Nd1 d5 19. e5 a5 20. Rh1 a4 21. Qh2 Bd8 22. Bc4 b3 23.axb3 Bb7 24.Be2 axb3 25.c3 Ra8 26.Bg4 Ne4 27.Rxe4 dxe4 28.hxg6 fxg6 29. Bxe6+ Kh8 30. Bxb3 Ra1+ 31. Kc2 h5 32. gxh6 Qd7 33. Bd4 e3 34.e6+ Qxd4 35.cxd4 Be4+ 36.Kc3 Ba5+ 37.Kc4 Rc8+ 38.Kb5 Bd3+ 0–1
Tarjan, James Edward (2530) — Shamkovich, Leonid (2495) [D94]
Lone Pine op, 1981 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 g6 5.d4 Bg7 6.Bd3 0–0 7.0–0 Bf5 8.Bxf5 gxf5 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.Qb3 b6 11.Bd2 Nc6 12.Rfc1 Rc8 13.Rc2 Qd7 14.Rac1 e6 15.Qb5 a6 16.Qxb6 Rb8 17.Nxd5 Rxb6 18. Nxb6 Qd8 19. Rxc6 Re8 20.Ne5 Bf8 21.Ba5 Ng4 22.Nf3 Nf6 23.g3 Nd5 24.Rc8 Qe7 25.Nxd5 exd5 26.R8c7 Qe4 27.Ng5 Qd3 28.Nxf7 f4 29.exf4 Re2 30.Bc3 Rc2 31.Rf1 Bb4 32.Nh6+ Kh8 33.Rc8+ Kg7 34.Rg8+ Kxh6 35.Bxb4 1–0
Tarjan played in several US Championships during the 1970s and 1980s — his best finish was tying for second at Pasadena 1978. In addition to that he played for the American team at five straight chess Olympiads ( Nice 1974, Haifa 1976, Buenos Aires 1978, Malta 1980, and Lucerne 1982).
In his early 30s Tarjan retired from chess in 1984 for a more stable career as a librarian in the Santa Cruz Public Library. Now, Santa Cruz has a thriving chess community and the local players made some efforts to contact him and get him involved, but he was not interested. This situation was to change in 2012, when Tarjan retired from his job and started playing a bit. It took a few years to get back into competitive form but here in the Isle of Man he made quite a splash.
First, he beat Vladimir Kramnik in round 3. Tarjan, James (2412) — Kramnik,
Vladimir (2803) [A12] Isle of Man Open Douglas (3.28),
25.09.2017 1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 c6 3.Nf3 d5 4.b3 Bg4 5.Bg2 e6 6.0–0 Nbd7 7.Bb2 Bd6 8.d3 0–0 9.Nbd2 Re8 10.h3 Bh5 11.Re1 a5 12.a3 e5 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.Nh4 Nc5 15.Qc2 Ne6 16.Rac1 Nd4 17.Qd1 Nb5
White’s passive play has left Black in command.
18.Nb1 Qd7 19.Kh2 Ra6
GM Tarjan explained that the purpose of this move was to move the rook over to h6 and mate the white king.
20. Nf3 e4 21. dxe4 Nxe4 22. Rf1 Bb8 23. Nc3 Nbxc3 24. Bxc3 Rae6 25.Be1 Tarjan was proud of this retreat as it bolstered the defense of f2 as well as g3.
25... h6 26. Rc2 Ba7 27. Qc1 Bb6 28.e3 Qb5
[Threatening 29...Bxf3 30.Bxf3 Qxf1.]
29.Nd4 Bxd4 30.exd4 9.Nd4 Bxd4 30.exd4
POSITION AFTER 30.EXD4
Kramnik had been playing very well up to this point, but now makes a bad mistake. 30...Bf3 The idea here is 31.Bxf3 Qxf1, but it has a big hole ...
31.Bxf3!
A big shock to Kramnik. Now he realizes that 31...Qxf1 32.Be2 traps the queen.
31...Nxg3?
Another mistake. It was still relatively better to “fall for the trap” with 31...Qxf1 32.Be2 Black has the trick 32...Nxg3! 33.Bxf1 Nxf1+ 34.Kg2 Rxe1 Black has R+N+P f
One might say that Kramnik had the much better game and it was overconfidence which made the Russian no. 1 lose, but then Tarjan went on to play very well and score twin wins against one of the strongest husband-and-wife teams in the world, former European Champion GM Pavel Tregubov and spouse GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, the former Women’s World Champion. The game against Tregubov was a well-played endgame, while against Kosteniuk the old man showed that he still knows how to attack.
Tarjan, James (2412) — Kosteniuk, Alexandra (2552) [A22] Isle of Man Open 2017 Douglas
(9), 01.10.2017 1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nc3 Nb6 6.b3 Be7 7.Bb2 Nc6 8.Bxc6+ bxc6 9.Nf3 Qd6 10.0–0 Bf5 11.d3 Qe6 12.Ne4
White is attacking the pawn on e5 and also will soon be working on the c6–pawn after Qc2 and Rc1. 12...0–0–0?!
A bit too aggressive. 12...f6 is logical and strong. After 13.Qc2 a5 14.Rfc1 a4! 15.Qxc6+ Qxc6 16.Rxc6 axb3 17.axb3 (17. Rxc7 Nd5) 17...Rxa1+ 18.Bxa1 Kd7 Black’s two bishops give good compensation for the pawn. 13.Qc2
[13.Nxe5?? Bxe4]
13...f6 14.Rfc1 Kb7 15.b4!? Bxb4 16. Rab1 Be7 17. a4 Ka8 18. a5 Nd7 19.Qa4
White wants to capture on c6 with the rook. If 19.Qxc6+ Qxc6 20.Rxc6 Bxe4 21.dxe4 Bd6 Black is at least equal. 19...Rb8! Kosteniuk hits on a way to take the queens off the board to negate the potential white attack on her king.
20. Rxc6 Qb3 21. Qxb3 Rxb3 22.Nfd2
[22.Rxc7 Rhb8 23.Rc2 Ba3 Black is winning material]
22...Rb7 23.Rc2 Rhb8 24.Nc4 a6 25.Rbc1 Rb3 26.Bc3 Be6 27.f4 exf4
Black did not believe that White’s knight on c4 had much of a future so she does not consent to exchanging her powerful e6–bishop for it with 27... Bxc4 28.dxc4 exf4 29.gxf4 Nc5. In truth, though, that is what she should have done. 28.gxf4 R3b5 29.Bd4 Bb4 30.Bc3 Be7 31.Bd4 R8b7 32.Kg2
Black still has a weakness on c7, but there is no clear way for White to get at it. Kosteniuk now decides to bolster its defense...
32...Kb8? 33.Ncd6!
The c7– pawn cannot capture the knight because of Rc8 checkmate.
33... Bxd6 34. Nxd6 Rd5? 35. Nxb7 Rxd4 36. Nd8 Bd5+ 37. e4 Kc8 38. Nc6 Bxc6 39. Rxc6 Rxd3 40. Rxc7+ Kd8 41.Ra7
White has a decisive advantage.
41... Rd6 42. Kf3 g5 43. Rg1 h6 44.h4! Ke7 45.hxg5 hxg5 46.fxg5 fxg5 47.Rxg5 Kf6 48.Kf4 Ke6 49.Rg6+ Nf6 50.Rxf6+! 1–0
Black resigns because of 50. Rxf6+ Kxf6 51.e5+.
In nine games, GM James Edward Tarjan played 9 GMs and scored a 2671 rating performance. Not bad for an oldie. What will he do next?