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The first two games to finish are the Ragger-Nakamura draw and the Rapport win. We're either going to have one sole leader after 6 rounds (should there be a winner in the Harikrishna-Gupta game) or a massive logjam at 5/6, one of whom will be the always entertaining Richard Rapport. Stockfish didn't like Rapport's opening moves but Stockfish didn't factor in the full one hour time advantage they generated. (:
After seeing Anand's finish Im in shock. When I left the game I assumed he would play 38.Qxf7+ and wrap things up. Having the computer in front of you makes assumptions deceptively easy.
Ragger gets a draw off Nakamura. This tournament is a real fight - so many tough games and opponents. Anand, Nakamura, and even MVL are not having things their way.
No fewer than ten players now share the lead on 5/6 after Sunday's sixth round. One of the four round five leaders on 4½/5, Etienne Bacrot (France), opted out of the round by taking a half-point bye, while Pentala Harikrishna and Abhijeet Gupta (both India) played a long but ultimately indecisive game. Markus Ragger (Austria), the other player on 4½, drew an interesting struggle with Hikaru Nakamura (USA).
Six players caught up with the leading pack: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) ground out a win against Gawain Jones (England) ; Yu Yangyi (China) outplayed Romain Edouard (France) ; Richard Rapport (Hungary) refuted Adrien Demuth of France's speculative exchange sacrifice; Lazaro Bruzón (Cuba) (left) won what was probably the game of the day against Alexander Donchenko (Germany) ; Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (India) steadily outplayed Moulthun Ly (Australia) ; and Harika Dronavalli's great run of success was brought to an end by David Anton Guijarro (Spain).
In the race for the women's prize, Harika Dronavalli is still on 4/6 and has now been caught by Valentina Gunina (Russia), Irina Krush (USA), Padmini Rout (India), Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia), Alina Kashlinskaya (Russia) and Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine).
The games:
Gibraltar Masters
Round 6, Jan. 31, 2016
Ragger, Markus – Nakamura, Hikaru
E99 King’s Indian, Orthodox, Aronin-Taimanov, Main Line
Markus Ragger is an Austrian grandmaster (b. 1988). His endgame against Hillarp Persson in the 2015 Politiken Cup had a curious result. If you have ten minutes go to:
No further word on how and why Etien Bacrot was allowed to take a 1/2 point bye in Round 6. Was it requested at the start of the tournament or was it a tactical decision on his part before the round? And in fact Chess24 live games has him with zero for that round while ChessResults and the official site both give him the half point. You would think there would be some controversy over this.
The official site >>>>>http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/
No further word on how and why Etien Bacrot was allowed to take a 1/2 point bye in Round 6. Was it requested at the start of the tournament or was it a tactical decision on his part before the round? And in fact Chess24 live games has him with zero for that round while ChessResults and the official site both give him the half point. You would think there would be some controversy over this.
The official site >>>>>http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/
An even higher seed, Dmitry Jakovenko, did the same thing the previous round, Vlad. And lots of GMs taking byes today. Imho, it's not a viable strategy to optimize your chances of winning a Swiss of this magnitude.
An even higher seed, Dmitry Jakovenko, did the same thing the previous round, Vlad. And lots of GMs taking byes today. Imho, it's not a viable strategy to optimize your chances of winning a Swiss of this magnitude.
That may depend on the circumstance at the time. There may be a situation where taking a tactical 1/2 point in the late round could gain advantage. In any event the allowable situations should be laid out in advance.
Last edited by Vlad Dobrich; Monday, 1st February, 2016, 11:24 AM.
Furthermore - Bacrot was due to play black in round 6 against one of the tournament leaders in which case he might have been satisfied with a draw - so why nor take a bye instead for an easy 1/2 point, a rest day and play the leaders in a later round possibly with white.
Moreover, why would tournament organizers and sponsors raise substantial prize money only to have the players carve up the pot by backroom deals and then go home with the cash without fighting for it?
- Anand resigns, and has now lost 20.5 rating points in Gibraltar!
(Susan Polgar) - Anand lost again & his rating dropped by 20+ pts in just 7 rds. This is why many top players do not play in open tournaments
(Sam Shankland) - I had this exact endgame once a few years ago and thought it was well known, surprised Anand went into it...
From chessgames.com
Benjamin Gledura, born July 4, 1999. FIDE Master (2009), IM (2014) He is coached by IM Andras Meszaros. Won his title when he won the European U10 Championship in 2009. Apart from being a powerful junior chess player, he is a junior regional and national swimming champion in Hungary with numerous awards.
- if she could edit her past, she would study opera singing while playing chess
- “I am satisfied with my appearance, but could be 5 cm taller. I am 1.60m (5ft 3in) and therefore below average by German standards.”
- “The most embarrassing moment at the chessboard was in 2002 during the Las Vegas Open. I had to leave the board crying tears of laughter as my neighbour acted very weird in time trouble. Embarrassing because I should have controlled myself. Obviously my neighbour could not do anything to control his nervousness.”
- “In my childhood I studied the book series by Yusupov and Dvoretsky and nowadays I use their books to teach others. I’ve met Yusupov and I admire him not only as a great coach but also because of his great personality.”
Some games:
Simon says that at a previous interview Markus Ragger remarked that he studied chess for 8 hours a day.
Tradewise Gibraltar
Round 7, Feb. 1, 2016
Ragger, Markus – Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
D85 Grunfeld, Modern Exchange Variation
Tim Harding is playing in the tournament. He is a Dublin-based writer, correspondence player and historian. I haven’t particularly collected him but a quick check showed that I have 26 of his books in my collection. These include The Games of the World Correspondence Championships I-X, Counter Gambits, The Fighting Fajarowicz, The Write Move, Startling Correspondence Chess Miniatures etc.
He was born in 1948 in London, published Chess Mail from 1996 to 2006 and recently got his PhD degree from the University of Dublin in history.
He discusses his new book Joseph Henry Blackburne (McFarland) with Simon. Blackburne was the best player produced in Great Britain before WWII. His last tournament was St. Petersburg 1914.
Tim wrote Eminent Victorian Chess Players and then spent three years writing the Blackburne book. It is massive, weighing 6 kg and containing about 950 complete games.
J.H.B. was born in 1841 in a suburb of Manchester and was inspired by Paul Morphy’s play. In November 1861 Louis Paulsen came to Manchester to give a simultaneous blindfold exhibition. Blackburne was one of his opponents, and lost. Blackburne was inspired by Paulsen to also give blindfold exhibitions. Blackburne was soon playing chess blindfolded with 3 players simultaneously.
In 1861-1862 Blackburne was the champion of the Manchester Chess Club. Runner-up was Horwitz. He then entered the London International Tournament (the world's first chess round robin or all-play-all tournament) in 1862 and defeated Steinitz in their individual game. Blackburne came in 9th place. Time was measured with sand glasses. It was actually Blackburne who suggested chess clocks.
In 1862 Blackburne was giving blindfold exhibitions. He challenged 10 members of the Manchester chess club, winning 5, drawing 3, and losing 2. He did the same during the London International Tournament.
Blackburne had been working in a warehouse, but upon his return to Manchester, his job was taken over by someone else. So he turned to chess to be his profession.
At the end of 1862 (December 1862-January 1863) he played Steinitz in a match in London and lost. He had lost 7 games, drew 2, and won one game.
In 1863 Blackburne began travelling all over Britain to give blindfold simultaneous exhibitions.
He defeated Nimzovich at St. Petersburg in 1914 when he was 72. That same year he tied for first place in the British championship with Yates. This was Blackburne's last international tournament.
He died at his residence at Lewisham on September 1, 1924 at the age of 82.
His funeral took place at Ladywell Cemetery on September 4, 1924. It is estimated he played over 100,000 chess games in his career, more than any other chess player. His Elo historical rating is at 2570. He participated in 53 national or international tournaments in 53 years of international play.
He composed chess problems and Simon tries successfully to solve “white to move and mate in three” which was published in La Strategie in 1884.
There are no openings named after Blackburne but there is a gambit called the Blackburne Shilling. He probably used it to beat amateurs in some of this simuls:
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