Luke McShane Struggles In Remco Heite
Despite not being a full-time chess professional, Luke McShane is currently ranked the #1 English player ahead of experienced pros Nigel Short and Mickey Adams.
McShane will shortly be taking part in the London Chess Classic which has been a happy hunting ground for him in recent years, including a memorable win against Magnus Carlsen in 2010.
However, Luke's result in a warm-up performance last weekend in the 6-player invitational Remco Heite Tournament in the Netherlands was less than stellar.
Daniel Fridman took first place after a blitz tie-break playoff with Loek van Wely and Sipke Ernst, but top seed McShane lost 3 of his 5 games to finish in last place.
The final standings in Remco Heite 2012
| Name | Fed | Elo | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pts |
| Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2691 | * | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 3 |
| Fridman, Daniel | GER | 2668 | 0 | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 3 |
| Ernst, Sipke | NED | 2552 | 1 | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 3 |
| Sokolov, Ivan | NED | 2677 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 1 | 0 | 2½ |
| Sadler, Matthew D | ENG | 2637 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | 1 | 2 |
| McShane, Luke J | ENG | 2713 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | * | 1½ |
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The time control was the unusual 35 moves in 105 minutes, followed by 15 minutes to finish.
English chess fans will be hoping that McShane's poor performance was just due to a little ring-rust, and that he will be firing on all cylinders in London in the first week of December!
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McShane started with a win against Sokolov, but quickly went downhill after that...
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...ending in a defeat to the tournament winner, Daniel Fridman
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The full line-up (left to right): van Wely, Sadler, Sokolov, Fridman, Ernst, McShane
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Pictures from the official website. Games via TWIC.
