Chess

Published on Tuesday 30 June 2009 20:05

THERE'S an obvious affinity that chess players show towards poker. And with its booming popularity these days, amateurs and many chess pros have taken up the game – some even making a career change from chess to poker.

Face-to-face or online, its the lure of the lucre at poker that's proving compelling for chess players, who are more used to meagre winnings. Taking advantage of this, full-page ads have been taken out by online poker sites in some of the top chess magazines to actively recruit the top pros, whom they claim will have "a huge advantage over their opponents".

This symbiosis has also led to English Grandmaster Simon Williams teaming up with the Big Slick Poker Club in Purley, London, to run a series of chess events hosted there from 27th June to 5th July. The headline event is an international all-play-all tournament with the line-up (in rating order) being: GM Keith Arkell (England), GM Danny Gormally (England), GM Luis Galego (Portugal), GM Alexander Cherniaev (Russia), IM Simon Ansell (England), Gudmundur Kjartansson (Iceland), IM Jack Rudd (England), Robert Eames (England), Alexei Slavin (Russia) and Peter Poobalasingam (England).

A Fide-rated Open also featured three-time British champion GM Jonathan Rowson, who shared first place with Mark Rich of England on 4.5/5, with the Scottish No 1 winning the blitz play-off for the title.

J Rudd – G Kjartansson

1st Big Slick GM, (1)

English Opening

1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e5 3 Nf3 Nc6 4 e4 Bb4 5 Bd3 d6 6 a3 Bxc3 7 dxc3 h6 8 h3 Be6 9 Be3 Qe7 10 Qc2 O-O 11 O-O-O Na5 12 Qe2 a6 13 g4 Nh7 14 Rdg1 g5 15 h4 f6 16 hxg5 hxg5 17 Nd2 b5 18 cxb5 axb5 19 Bxb5 Rfb8 20 Rh6 Kh8 21 Rgh1 Bg8 22 b4 c6 23 Bd3 Qf7 24 Qf3 Kg7 25 Qf5 Nf8 26. bxa5 Rxa5 27 Nc4 Rab5 28 Bc2 Qe7 29 a4 Rb3 30. Bxb3 Rxb3 31 Kc2 Rb8 32 Nb6 d5 33 Bc5! Qf7 34 Bxf8+ Rxf8 35 Rh7+ 1-0