Gibraltar 2017

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Gibraltar 2017

January 27, 2017

Round Four

There are YouTube videos of three interviews after Round Four conducted by Tania Sachdev.

The first is with Tuvshintugs Batchimeg, the Mongolian lady, who drew with Kevin Spraggett today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gmB4fvqhI0

She played Kevin today and Fabiano yesterday. She just got her visa on the 20th and arrived in Gibraltar on the 21st. Back in her country it is -30C, so it is quite a change.

Nigel Short is interviewed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNPLcTmf1qA

He was delighted with his win over Grigoriants today. He sacrificed a piece, no idea about the opening or theory but still won.
He said he had way too much to drink last night and was just trying to sober up. Last night, at his table, he was not sitting with anyone and left alone and one glass of wine is not enough and a bottle is too much. Wine is meant to be shared. He played the blitz after and in the first round was just crushing Fabiano when things took a turn for the worst.

He is finding his rhythm in the tournament now and is happy with his standing.

Although now, one of the most active players on social media, he only discovered twitter a few years ago and have become a big fan. He is just naturally accumulating followers. He has 22,400 of them but hopes to eventually have enough to fill Lord’s Cricket Ground. The ground can currently hold up to 28,000 spectators.

Hikaru Nakamura beat Benjamin Gledura today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrIu8MsZtw8

His opponent was not familiar with the variation.

When an opponent is young and talented, one prepares by trying to find a variation or opening that doesn’t suit his style. He beat Vishy Anand last year so Hikaru was aware of his strength.

The games:

Gibraltar Masters 2017
Round 4, Jan. 27, 2017
Sutovsky, Emil – Vitiugov, Nikita
C95 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Breyer, Borisenko vacation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Bc2 Re8 13.Nf1 Bf8 14.Bg5 h6 15.Bh4 g6 16.N3d2 c6 17.Qf3 Bg7 18.Ne3 Qb6 19.Bxf6 Nxf6 20.dxe5 dxe5 21.b4 c5 22.Nb3 cxb4 23.cxb4 Rad8 24.Nc5 Rd4 25.a3 Red8 26.Ng4 Nxg4 27.hxg4 Bc8 28.Bb3 Qf6 29.Bd5 Qf4 30.Nb3 R4xd5 31.exd5 Bxg4 32.Qxf4 exf4 33.Rac1 Bb2 34.Rc5 Bxa3 35.Re4 g5 36.Na5 Bb2 37.Nc6 Rd6 38.Ne7+ Kf8 39.Rc6 Rd7 40.Rxa6 Rc7 41.Nc6 Rd7 42.Re8+ Kg7 43.Rd8 Rxd8 44.Nxd8 Bf5 45.d6 Bc3 46.Nc6 Kf6 47.Ra7 1-0

Round 4, Jan. 27, 2017
Ju Wenjun – Shankland, Samuel
A62 Benoni, Fianchetto variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Nf3 Bg7 8.Bg2 O-O 9.O-O Re8 10.Re1 Nbd7 11.Bf4 Ng4 12.Rc1 Nde5 13.Ne4 Bf5 14.Nfd2 h6 15.h3 Nf6 16.Nc3 Rb8 17.g4 Bc8 18.Bg3 b5 19.b3 a6 20.f4 Nexg4 21.hxg4 Nxg4 22.Nf3 Ne3 23.Qd2 Bb7 24.Bf2 Nxg2 25.Kxg2 b4 26.Nd1 Qd7 27.Rc4 a5 28.Ne3 Ba6 29.Rcc1 Re4 30.Nc4 Bc3 31.Rxc3 bxc3 32.Qxc3 Bxc4 33.bxc4 Rxf4 34.Bg3 Rg4 35.Kf2 Qe7 36.e4 Rxe4 37.Bxd6 Qxd6 38.Rxe4 g5 39.Qe5 Qf8 40.Re2 Rd8 41.Nxg5 hxg5 42.Qxg5+ Kh7 43.Re4 1-0

Round 4, Jan. 27, 2017
Vocaturo, Daniele – Caruana, Fabiano
B12 Caro-Kann, Advance variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.Qxd3 e6 7.Bg5 Qb6 8.Nd2 Qa6 9.c4 Bb4 10.b3 c5 11.Nf3 Nc6 12.dxc5 Nge7 13.O-O Nf5 14.Qc2 Ncd4 15.Nxd4 Nxd4 16.Qd1 Bxc5 17.Nf3 Qb6 18.cxd5 exd5 19.Rc1 O-O 20.Nxd4 Bxd4 21.Qxh5 Rae8 22.Bf4 Qg6 23.Qxg6 fxg6 24.g3 Bxe5 25.Bxe5 Rxe5 26.Rfe1 Rxe1+ 27.Rxe1 Rc8 28.Re7 Rc2 29.a4 b6 30.Rxa7 Rb2 31.Rb7 Rxb3 32.a5 b5 33.a6 Ra3 34.Rxb5 Rxa6 35.Rxd5 Ra2 36.Kg2 Rb2 37.Rd8+ Kf7 38.Rd7+ Kg8 39.Kf3 Ra2 40.Ke3 Ra4 41.Re7 Ra5 42.f3 Kh7 43.Kf4 Rf5+ 44.Ke4 Ra5 45.Kf4 Rf5+ 46.Kg4 Ra5 47.Re8 Ra4+ 48.Kh3 Ra3 49.Rf8 Ra5 50.g4 Rb5 51.Rf4 Kg8 52.Rd4 Ra5 53.Kg3 Rb5 54.Kf4 Ra5 55.Rd7 Kh7 56.Ke4 Ra1 57.Ke5 Rh1 58.Kf4 1/2-1/2

Round 4, Jan. 27, 2017
Gledura, Benjamin – Nakamura, Hikaru
A07 Reti, King’s Indian Attack

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.c4 dxc4 4.Na3 Bg7 5.Nxc4 Nc6 6.d3 e5 7.Bd2 Nge7 8.Rc1 Be6 9.Bg2 a5 10.O-O O-O 11.b3 f6 12.Qc2 Qd7 13.Rfd1 Rfd8 14.Bc3 Nd5 15.Bb2 Bh6 16.e3 a4 17.a3 axb3 18.Qb1 Bf8 19.d4 exd4 20.Bxd4 Qf7 21.Qxb3 Nb6 22.Nfd2 Nxc4 23.Nxc4 Na5 0-1

Round 4, Jan. 27, 2017
Short, Nigel – Grigoriants, Sergey
D45, QGD, Semi-Slav

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 e6 5.d4 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 O-O 8.O-O dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Be2 a6 11.e4 e5 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bh4 exd4 14.Nxd4 Qc7 15.Kh1 Re8 16.a3 Be5 17.Rad1 c5 18.Nf5 Nb6 19.Nxg7 Kxg7 20.f4 Bd4 21.Nxb5 axb5 22.Rxd4 Ra7 23.e5 Nfd5 24.Rd3 Kh8 25.Qd2 f5 26.Rxd5 Nxd5 27.Qxd5 Be6 28.Qf3 Kh7 29.Bxb5 Rg8 30.Rd1 Qa5 31.Qc6 Bb3 32.Rd6 1-0

Round 4, Jan. 27, 2017
Ivanchuk, Vassily – Cheng, Bobby
B08 Pirc, Classical System

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Be2 Nf6 5.Nc3 O-O 6.O-O a6 7.Bf4 Nc6 8.h3 b5 9.a3 Bb7 10.Re1 Re8 11.d5 Nb8 12.Nd4 c5 13.Nb3 b4 14.axb4 cxb4 15.Na2 Nxe4 16.Bf3 Nc5 17.Nxb4 Nxb3 18.cxb3 Bxb2 19.Nc6 Bxc6 20.dxc6 Bxa1 21.Qxa1 Qc7 22.b4 e5 23.b5 Re7 24.Be3 e4 25.Bh6 Re5 26.Rxe4 Ra7 27.Rxe5 dxe5 28.b6 1-0

Round 4, Jan. 27, 2017
Svidler, Peter – Zhukova, Natalia
A04 Reti

1.Nf3 e6 2.g3 b5 3.e4 Bb7 4.Qe2 c5 5.Bg2 a6 6.O-O Nf6 7.e5 Nd5 8.Nc3 d6 9.exd6 Bxd6 10.a4 b4 11.Ne4 Be7 12.d4 cxd4 13.Nxd4 O-O 14.Rd1 Nd7 15.c4 bxc3 16.bxc3 Qc8 17.Rb1 Ra7 18.c4 N5f6 19.Rxb7 Rxb7 20.Nc6 Bc5 21.Nxc5 Nxc5 22.Ba3 Nxa4 23.Qc2 Nb2 24.Bxb2 Rd7 25.Ba3 Re8 26.Bd6 Kh8 27.Ne5 Ra7 28.c5 Nd5 29.c6 f6 30.Qc5 1-0

Round 4, Jan. 27, 2017
Batchimeg, Tuvshintugs – Spraggett, Kevin
E53 Nimzo-Indian

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Nf3 c5 6.Bd3 d5 7.cxd5 cxd4 8.exd4 Nxd5 9.O-O Nc6 10.Bc2 Be7 11.Qd3 g6 12.a3 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Bf6 14.Re1 b6 15.Bh6 Bg7 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Ba4 Bb7 18.Bxc6 Bxc6 19.Ne5 Bb7 20.Qe3 h6 21.Qh3 Qg5 22.Re3 Qf5 23.Qh4 Qg5 24.Qh3 Qf5 25.Qh4 Qg5 26.Qh3 Qf5 1/2-1/2

Standing after Round Four

1. Ju Wenjun 4.0
2. Sutovsky 4.0
3. Adams 3.5
4. Zvjaginsev 3.5
5. Lagarde 3.5
6. Iturrizaga 3.5
7. MVL 3.5
8. Anton 3.5
9. Gelfand 3.5
10. Fressinet 3.5
11. Hou Yifan 3.5
12. Akobian 3.5
13. Nakamura 3.5
14. Howell 3.5
15. Sethuraman 3.5
16. Short 3.5
26. Caruana 3.0
33. Topalov 3.0
36. Svidler 3.0
38. Ivanchuk 3.0
67. Batchimeg 2.5
68. Spraggett 2.5
130. Thavandiran 2.0
158. Plotkin 1.5
178. Piasetski 1.5
191. Agbabishvili 1.5
232. Day 1.0

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Gibraltar 2017

January 27, 2017

Round Five Pairings

Bo. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name

1 Ju Wenjun 2583 4 4 Sutovsky Emil
2 Howell David W L 2655 3½ 3½ Vachier-Lagrave M
3 Nakamura Hikaru 2785 3½ 3½ Iturrizaga Eduardo
4 Adams Michael 2751 3½ 3½ Hou Yifan
5 Anton Guijarro David 2650 3½ 3½ Gelfand Boris
6 Zvjaginsev Vadim 2679 3½ 3½ Sethuraman S.P.
7 Akobian Varuzhan 2633 3½ 3½ Short Nigel D
8 Lagarde Maxime 2594 3½ 3½ Fressinet L
9 Caruana Fabiano 2827 3 3 Antipov Mikhail
10 Lalith Babu M R 2587 3 3 Ivanchuk Vassily
11 Blomqvist Erik 2574 3 3 Svidler Peter
12 Topalov Veselin 2739 3 3 Deac Bogdan-Daniel
13 Vazquez Igarza Renier 2572 3 3 Yu Yangyi
14 Vitiugov Nikita 2724 3 3 Huzman A
15 Schroeder Jan-C 2550 3 3 Naiditsch Arkadij
16 Cuenca Jose Fernando 2492 3 3 Matlakov Maxim
17 Cheparinov Ivan 2689 3 3 Libiszewski F
18 Dragnev Valentin 2492 3 3 Kovalenko Igor
19 Shankland Samuel L 2674 3 3 Debashis Das
20 Ganguly Shekhar 2657 3 3 Stefanova A
21 Piorun Kacper 2651 3 3 Paehtz Elisabeth
22 Gupta Abhijeet 2645 3 3 Ider Borya
23 Kobo Ori 2482 3 3 Edouard Romain
24 Maze Sebastien 2613 3 3 Mannion Stephen R
25 Arakhamia-Grant K 2370 3 3 Vocaturo Daniele
26 Gopal G.N. 2579 2½ 3 Carlstedt
27 Khademalsharieh S 2452 2½ 2½ Fridman Daniel
28 Womacka Mathias 2435 2½ 2½ Gledura Benjamin
29 Kaidanov Gregory S 2572 2½ 2½ Wemmers Xander
30 Grigoriants Sergey 2564 2½ 2½ Shvayger Yuliya
31 Guerra Rivera Salvador 2389 2½ 2½ Donchenko Alexa
32 Muzychuk Anna 2558 2½ 2½ Pustovoitova D
33 Mastrovasilis A 2551 2½ 2½ Docx Stefan
34 Muzychuk Mariya 2546 2½ 2½ Batchimeg Tuvs
35 Spraggett Kevin 2542 2½ 2½ Milliet Sophie
74 Gonzalez Alfonso 2162 2 2 Thavandiran S 2367
85 Piasetski Leon 2327 1½ 1½ Herzwurm Robert 2143
89 Bergstrom Rolf 2268 1½ 1½ Agbabishvili Lali 2095
91 Plotkin Victor 2253 1½ 1½ Hewson Brian 2055
115 Day Christopher 1760 1 1 Carlsten Peter 2047

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Gibraltar 2017

January 28, 2017

Round Five

Post-game interviews with Tania Sachdev

Antoaneta Stefanov with the black pieces beat Surya Shekhar Ganguly. It was a complicated position after the opening but she was strong after Nc3 and he had to sacrifice the exchange and she had attacking chances. She is the captain of the ladies in the Battle of the Sexes tonight.

Veselin Topalov had a victory against Deac Bogdan-Daniel. The latter is the 15-year old Romanian grandmaster, who is reputed to be very solid although this game was rather wild. Veselin said that he is too old for this type of game. You can’t imagine you would get that type of game after 12 moves in the Catalan.

David Howell got a draw against MVL. David had some prep up his sleeve but evidently MVL had looked at the analysis before and the surprise had no effect. He thought for thirty to forty minutes on a couple of moves, which is against his New Year’s resolution.

Emil Sutovsky had a quick draw against Ju Wenjun. He hadn’t expected it. He was not very happy about that but he had black, and she is a decent player and if he avoided the draw, he would have got a worse game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQlw...bMNFbjWPg5Ayfb

The games:

Gibraltar Masters 2017
Round 5, Jan. 28, 2017
Ju Wenjun – Sutovsky, Emil
D85 Grunfeld, Modern Exchange variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Be3 Qa5 9.Nd2 Bd7 10.Nb3 Qxc3+ 11.Bd2 Qb2 12.Bc1 Qc3+ 13.Bd2 Qb2 14.Bc1 Qc3+ 15.Bd2 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Jan. 28, 2017
Howell, David – Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
A33 English, symmetrical variation

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Bf4 d5 7.e3 Bb4 8.Be2 dxc4 9.Nxc6 Qxd1+ 10.Rxd1 bxc6 11.Bxc4 Nd5 12.Bg3 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Bxc3+ 14.Ke2 a5 15.Rd3 Bf6 16.Rb1 e5 17.e4 O-O 18.Rd6 Be7 19.Rd3 Re8 20.Bxe5 Bf6 21.Bxf6 Rxe4+ 22.Re3 Bg4+ 23.Kd3 Rxe3+ 24.Kxe3 gxf6 25.Rb6 Re8+ 26.Kd2 Bd7 27.g3 Re5 28.Ra6 Rc5 29.Kd3 Be6 30.Bxe6 fxe6 31.Ra7 h5 32.h4 f5 33.a4 e5 34.Ke3 Rd5 35.Ra6 Rc5 36.Ra7 Rd5 37.Ra6 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Jan. 28, 2017
Nakamura, Hikaru – Iturrizaga Bonelli, Eduardo
E18 Queen’s Indian, old main line

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.O-O O-O 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Bd2 Bf6 9.Rc1 d6 10.d5 Nxd2 11.Nxd2 e5 12.b4 a5 13.a3 axb4 14.axb4 Na6 15.Qb3 Bg5 16.e3 f5 17.f4 Bf6 18.fxe5 Bxe5 19.Nf3 Kh8 20.Nxe5 dxe5 21.Nb5 Qd7 22.Qc3 Rae8 23.Rcd1 Rf6 24.e4 fxe4 25.Bxe4 c6 26.dxc6 Rxf1+ 27.Rxf1 Bxc6 28.Qf3 1-0

Round 5, Jan. 28, 2017
Anton Guijarro, David – Gelfand, Boris
A34 English, symmetrical, Three Knights System

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e3 Nxc3 6.bxc3 g6 7.Bb5+ Bd7 8.Rb1 Bg7 9.O-O O-O 10.d4 Qc7 11.Bxd7 Nxd7 12.e4 Rfd8 13.Qe2 Rac8 14.Bg5 Nb6 15.Rfc1 h6 16.Be3 Qd7 17.d5 f5 18.exf5 Qxf5 19.c4 e6 20.dxe6 Qxe6 21.Kf1 Rf8 22.Rb5 Rf5 23.h3 Qc6 24.Qd3 Nd7 25.Rd1 Nf8 26.Rb3 b6 27.Ra3 Rc7 28.Qc2 Rcf7 29.Rad3 Kh7 30.Rd6 Qb7 31.Nh4 R5f6 32.R6d5 Rd7 33.Nf3 Rxd5 34.Rxd5 Rf7 35.Ne5 Bxe5 36.Rxe5 Qd7 37.Ke2 Ne6 38.Qe4 Nd4+ 39.Bxd4 cxd4 40.Qd5 d3+ 41.Kxd3 Qc7 42.Ke2 Rf4 43.Re8 Qxc4+ 44.Qxc4 Rxc4 45.Re7+ Kg8 46.Rxa7 Rc2+ 47.Ke3 b5 48.a3 Rb2 49.g3 b4 50.a4 b3 51.Kd3 Rxf2 52.Kc3 Rf3+ 53.Kb2 Rxg3 54.Rb7 Rg2+ 55.Kxb3 Rg1 56.Kb2 Rg2+ 57.Ka3 Rg1 58.Rb2 Kf7 59.a5 Re1 60.a6 Re6 61.Rb7+ Kf6 62.a7 Ra6+ 63.Kb4 Ra1 64.Rc7 h5 65.Kb5 Rb1+ 66.Kc6 Ra1 67.Kb7 Rb1+ 68.Kc8 Ra1 69.Kb8 Kg5 70.Rc4 Rb1+ 71.Kc7 Ra1 72.Kb6 1-0

Round 5, Jan. 28, 2017
Caruana, Fabiano – Antipov, Mikhail
B36 Sicilian, Accelerated Fianchetto, Marcy bind

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 d6 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.Be2 Nxd4 8.Qxd4 Bg7 9.Be3 O-O 10.Qd2 a5 11.f3 a4 12.Kf2 Qa5 13.Rac1 Be6 14.Nd5 Bxd5 15.Qxa5 Rxa5 16.cxd5 Nd7 17.Rc7 Nc5 18.Rb1 Bf6 19.g4 g5 20.e5 Bxe5 21.Bxg5 e6 22.Rd1 Bxh2 23.Bh6 Rb8 24.Bc4 e5 25.Be3 Bf4 26.Bxc5 Rxc5 27.Rxc5 dxc5 28.Bb5 Rd8 29.d6 e4 30.d7 Be5 31.fxe4 Bd4+ 32.Ke2 Kf8 33.Bxa4 Ke7 34.b3 Rg8 35.Rf1 Rg7 36.Kd3 Kd8 37.Kc4 Kc7 38.b4 Rxg4 39.bxc5 Be3 40.Kd5 Rg5+ 41.Kc4 Re5 42.Kd3 Bxc5 43.Rxf7 h5 44.Bb5 h4 45.Rh7 Be7 46.a4 Bd8 47.Rh8 Re6 48.Rh5 Rd6+ 49.Ke2 Re6 50.Kf3 Rf6+ 51.Kg2 Rg6+ 52.Kh2 Rg5 53.Rh8 Rc5 54.Kh3 Re5 55.Re8 Rg5 56.e5 Rg3+ 57.Kh2 Re3 58.e6 Re4 59.Kg2 Re5 60.Kf3 b6 61.Kg4 Re4+ 62.Kf5 Re3 63.Kf4 Re1 64.Kf3 Re5 65.Be2 h3 66.Bb5 h2 67.Kg2 Rh5 68.Kh1 Rh7 69.Ba6 Rh4 70.e7 Bxe7 71.Rxe7 Rxa4 72.Bb5 1-0

In the World Junior Championship at Khanty-Mansyisk in 2015, the Polish player Jan-Krzystof Duda was the leader going into the last round by half a point. Antipov had to beat Rambaldi and Duda had to draw or lose against Bok for Antipov to get the title by the narrowest tiebreak margin. Mikhail beat the Italian, Duda and Bok drew and so Antipov became the new world junior champion. He was born in Russia in 1997.

Round 5, Jan. 28, 2017
Lalith, Babu - Ivanchuk, Vassily
D02 Queen’s Pawn game, Krause, variation

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.c4 dxc4 4.d5 e6 5.e4 exd5 6.exd5 Nf6 7.Bxc4 Bd6 8.O-O O-O 9.h3 a6 10.a4 Bf5 11.Nc3 Nbd7 12.Nh4 Bg6 13.Nxg6 hxg6 14.Bg5 Qa5 15.Qc2 Rae8 16.Rad1 Re7 17.Bd2 Qc7 18.Rfe1 Ne5 19.b3 Rfe8 20.Bf1 c4 21.Ne4 Nxe4 22.Rxe4 b5 23.axb5 axb5 24.Bc3 Rc8 25.Ba1 Qb7 26.Bxe5 Rxe5 27.Rxe5 Bxe5 28.bxc4 bxc4 29.Bxc4 Bd6 30.Qe2 Rb8 31.g3 Qb2 32.Qf3 Qf6 33.Qxf6 gxf6 34.Rd2 f5 35.Kg2 Kf8 36.Re2 1/2-1/2

Round 5, Jan. 28, 2017
Topalov, Veselin – Deac, Bogdan-Daniel
E04 Catalan, open

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 Bd7 6.Ne5 Bc6 7.Nxc6 Nxc6 8.e3 Qd7 9.O-O Rd8 10.Qe2 e5 11.Nc3 Be7 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Bxb7 Bb4 14.Rd1 Nd3 15.e4 Bxc3 16.bxc3 Qb5 17.e5 Nd5 18.Rb1 Nxc3 19.Qf3 Qxe5 20.Qc6+ Kf8 21.Bb2 Ne2+ 22.Kg2 c3 23.Ba3+ Kg8 24.Qe4 c2 25.Rxd3 1-0

Round 5, Jan. 28, 2017
Ganguly, Surya Shekhar – Stefanov, Antoaneta
C95 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Breyer, Borisenko variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Be7 7.Re1 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Bb7 12.Bc2 Re8 13.Nf1 Bf8 14.Ng3 g6 15.b3 a5 16.a4 b4 17.cxb4 axb4 18.Bb2 Bh6 19.Bd3 exd4 20.Nxd4 Ne5 21.Bb5 c6 22.Bf1 Qb6 23.Qc2 Bf4 24.Rad1 Rad8 25.Bc1 Bxg3 26.fxg3 Ned7 27.Bg5 Re5 28.Bf4 Rde8 29.Kh2 Rxe4 30.Rxe4 Nxe4 31.a5 Qxa5 32.Nxc6 Qb6 33.Nd4 Nc3 34.Nf5 Nxd1 35.Nh6+ Kg7 36.Qxd1 Ne5 37.Qd2 Qc6 38.Bc4 Qxg2+ 39.Qxg2 Bxg2 0-1

Standing after Round Five

1. Sutovsky 4.5
2. Ju Wenjun 4.5
3. Adams 4.5
4. Lagard 4.5
5. Anton 4.5
6. Nakamura 4.5
7. MVL 4.0
8. Zvjaginsev 4.0
9. Cheparinov 4.0
10. Yu Yangyi 4.0
11. Caruana 4.0
14. Short 4.0
16. Howell 4.0
17. Topalov 4.0
33. Gelfand 3.5
34. Hou Yifan 3.5
35. Svidler 3.5
36. Ivanchuk 3.5
45. Spraggett 3.5
102. Thavandiran 3.0
123. Plotkin 2.5
151. Piasetski 2.5
202. Agbabishvili 1.5
241. Day 1.0

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Gibraltar 2017

January 29, 2017

Round Six Pairings

Bo. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg

1 Nakamura Hikaru 2785 4½ 4½ Lagarde Max 2594
2 Adams Michael 2751 4½ 4½ Ju Wenjun 2583
3 Sutovsky Emil 2628 4½ 4½ Anton David 2650
4 Short Nigel D 2675 4 4 Caruana Fabiano 2827
5 Vachier-Lagrave 2796 4 4 Gupta Abhijeet 2645
6 Topalov Veselin 2739 4 4 Howell David W L 2655
7 Yu Yangyi 2738 4 4 Piorun Kacper 2651
8 Matlakov Maxim 2701 4 4 Akobian V 2633
9 Sethuraman S.P. 2637 4 4 Cheparinov Ivan 2689
10 Stefanova Ant 2512 4 4 Zvjaginsev Vadim 2679
11 Ivanchuk Vassily 2752 3½ 4 Dragnev Valentin 2492
12 Svidler Peter 2748 3½ 3½ Spraggett Kevin 2542
13 Lagno Kateryna 2530 3½ 3½ Vitiugov Nikita 2724
14 Gelfand Boris 2721 3½ 3½ Steinberg Nitzan 2486
15 Naiditsch Aj 2702 3½ 3½ Salomon Johan 2470
16 Kollars Dmitrij 2500 3½ 3½ Shankland Samuel 2674
17 Fressinet L 2660 3½ 3½ Javakhishvili Lela 2455
18 Batsiashvili Nino 2492 3½ 3½ Iturrizaga Eduardo 2652
19 Hou Yifan 2651 3½ 3½ Cramling Pia 2454
20 Vocaturo Dan 2606 3½ 3½ Womacka Mathias 2435
21 Fridman Daniel 2594 3½ 3½ Godart Francois 2381
22 Krysa Leandro 2491 3½ 3½ Lalith Babu M R 2587
23 Debashis Das 2472 3½ 3½ Blomqvist Erik 2574
24 Carlstedt Jon 2413 3½ 3½ Grigoriants Sergey 2564
25 Donchenko Alex 2559 3½ 3½ Arakhamia-Grant 2370
26 Batchimeg Tuvs 2390 3½ 3½ Muzychuk Anna 2558
27 Huzman Alexander 2557 3½ 3½ Papp Petra 2352
28 Shachar Ehud 2374 3½ 3½ Schroeder Jan-C 2550
29 Kovalenko Igor 2684 3 3 Zhukova Natalia 2447
30 Cheng Bobby 2452 3 3 Ganguly Shekhar 2657
44 Thavandiran S 2367 3 3 Aryan Chopra 2503
60 Shvayger Yuliya 2413 2½ 2½ Plotkin Victor 2253
72 Skutta Bernd 1957 2½ 2½ Piasetski Leon 2327
100 Agbabishvili Lali 2095 1½ 1½ Newbry Ben 1879
113 Obiamiwe Paul 1926 1 1 Day Christopher 1760

[Hans Jung]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Good Luck to Shiyam whos playing for a GM norm

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Gibraltar 2017

January 29, 2017

Round Six

Tania Sachdev interviews:

Bobby Cheng is a 19-year-old from Australia, a former U12 World Champion. He got to play Ivanchuk and enjoyed the experience even though he lost. Today he beat Ganguly (2657). He is hoping to get his grandmaster title while he is still young.

Peter Svidler – He thought he played a reasonable game today. Kevin Spraggett gave up at some point. His handshake at move 39 came as a complete surprise; He expected it to go on for 20 or 30 more moves.
He thinks there are too many strong players playing too well at Gibraltar.

During the broadcast of Tata, Jan and Lawrence thought for a moment that Kevin had lost on time.

MVL – He had a win over Gupta. He had prepared deeply against the Berlin. If Black plays all the best moves it is a draw but if not, a loss.

Now people are getting away from the Berlin and playing the Najdorf and the Caro-Kann.
________

From the NYT, Jan. 2008 - A game between Nigel Short of England and Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria in the B section of the Corus tournament in the Netherlands ended in a forfeit win for Short after Cheparinov refused to shake Short’s hand at the start of the game. Short immediately complained to the tournament’s referee who consulted the World Chess Federation’s rules and decided that Cheparinov’s conduct merited that he forfeit the game. It was an unprecedented decision, which was appealed and later reversed, although Cheparinov was required to apologize and shake Short’s hand before playing the game on Monday, which Short won.

Why did Cheparinov refuse to shake Short’s hand? He is the long-time second of Veselin Topalov and both are managed by Silvio Danilov (who filed the appeal). In the wake of the contretemps between Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia during their 2006 world championship match, in which Topalov accused Kramnik of cheating, Short criticized Topalov and even said he might have cheated in the past. Cheparinov’s refusal to shake Short’s hand was retaliation for his criticism, according to Danailov.

Nigel Short – played Fabiano Caruana today and beat him. The opening was a Caro-Kann and Nigel suspected that Fabiano had seen some of his blitz games where he plays rubbishy lines against the Caro Kann. Fabiano misplayed the opening and gave up a pawn and Nigel beat his first 2800 player in 20 years.

During the Battle of the Sexes entertainment last night, Nigel and Cheparinov finally shook hands and now the incident is over.

During this interview this tweet was put up on the screen from Gary Kasparov that caused much laughter:

A shame for Caruana, but I have to be happy for my fellow senior citizen, nigelshortchess!

The games:

Gibraltar Masters 2017
Round 6, Jan. 29, 2017
Nakamura, Hikaru – Lagarde, Maxime
A34 English, symmetrical, Three Knights System

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 Nxc3 7.bxc3 e5 8.d3 Be7 9.O-O Be6 10.Rb1 Rb8 11.c4 e4 12.Ne1 exd3 13.Nxd3 Qd7 14.Be3 b6 15.Nxc5 Bxc5 16.Bxc5 Qxd1 17.Rfxd1 bxc5 18.Bxc6+ Ke7 19.Rb3 Bxc4 20.Rd7+ Kf6 21.Rf3+ Kg6 22.Rd6+ Be6 23.Be4+ Kh5 24.Ra6 Rb2 25.Rc3 Rc8 26.Bf3+ Kg5 27.h4+ Kf5 28.a4 Rc7 29.Ra5 Bd7 30.Rcxc5+ Rxc5 31.Rxc5+ Ke6 32.Ra5 Rb4 33.Ra6+ Ke7 34.a5 1-0

Round 6, Jan. 29, 2017
Sutovsky, Emil – Anton Guijarro, David
C96 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Keres

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7 12.Nbd2 exd4 13.cxd4 Nc6 14.d5 Nce5 15.a4 Bb7 16.Nxe5 Nxe5 17.f4 Ng6 18.Nf3 Bf6 19.g3 Qd7 20.Kg2 Rfe8 21.Ra3 Bd8 22.h4 Nf8 23.h5 h6 24.f5 Bf6 25.Nh2 Nh7 26.Ng4 Bd4 27.axb5 axb5 28.Rxa8 Rxa8 29.b4 Ra2 30.bxc5 dxc5 31.Be3 Bxe3 32.Nxe3 Nf6 33.Kh3 Qd6 34.e5 Qxe5 35.d6 Rxc2 36.d7 Nxd7 37.Nxc2 Qxf5+ 38.g4 Qd5 39.Qxd5 Bxd5 40.Re8+ Kh7 41.Rc8 b4 42.Ne3 Be6 43.Rc7 g5 44.hxg6+ Kxg6 45.Kg3 Kf6 46.Kf4 Ke7 47.Rc6 b3 48.Nd1 Bxg4 49.Nc3 Be6 50.Rc8 c4 51.Ke3 Kf6 52.Ne4+ Kg7 53.Rc7 Nf6 54.Nc3 Nd5+ 55.Nxd5 Bxd5 56.Kd2 Be6 0-1

Round 6, Jan. 29, 2017
Short, Nigel – Caruana, Fabiano
B10 Caro-Kann, Two Knights variation

1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e5 Ne4 5.Ne2 Qb6 6.d4 e6 7.Ng3 c5 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.Nxe4 dxe4 10.Bxe4 cxd4 11.O-O Bd7 12.a3 h6 13.Re1 Rd8 14.h3 g6 15.b4 Bg7 16.Bf4 Ne7 17.Qxd4 Qxd4 18.Nxd4 Ba4 19.Nf3 Nd5 20.Bd2 Bb5 21.Bxd5 Rxd5 22.a4 Bd7 23.c4 Rd3 24.b5 O-O 25.Re3 Rxe3 26.Bxe3 Ra8 27.Rd1 Be8 28.Bc5 f5 29.exf6 Bxf6 30.Bd4 Be7 31.Re1 Bf7 32.Ne5 a6 33.c5 axb5 34.axb5 Be8 35.b6 Rd8 36.c6 bxc6 37.b7 Rb8 38.Rb1 c5 39.Nd7 Bxd7 40.Be5 Re8 41.b8=Q Rxb8 42.Rxb8+ Kf7 43.Rh8 h5 44.Rh7+ Kf8 45.Bd6 Bxd6 46.Rxd7 Be5 47.g3 c4 48.Kf1 c3 49.Ke2 Ke8 50.Rd1 Ke7 51.Kd3 Bf6 52.Ra1 Kf7 53.Ra7+ Ke8 54.Ke4 Kd8 55.Ra4 Ke7 56.Rc4 Kd7 57.Kd3 Ke7 58.Rc7+ Ke8 59.g4 hxg4 60.hxg4 Be5 61.Rc5 Bf6 62.g5 Bg7 63.Rc8+ Kd7 64.Rg8 Bd4 65.f3 Be5 66.Rxg6 Kd6 67.Rg8 Ke7 68.Rc8 Bf4 69.Rc5 Bd2 70.Rc7+ Kd6 71.g6 1-0

Evidently Caruana with this loss and with Wesley So’s wins, has dropped to No. 3 on the Live Rating List.

Round 6, Jan. 29, 2017
MVL – Gupta, Abhijeet
C67 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence, open variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 Ke8 10.Nc3 h6 11.Rd1 Bd7 12.Bf4 Rd8 13.a4 h5 14.a5 Be7 15.a6 b6 16.Ng5 Bc8 17.Rxd8+ Bxd8 18.Rd1 Be7 19.Nce4 h4 20.Re1 Kf8 21.c3 f6 22.Nf3 Kf7 23.exf6 gxf6 24.Bxc7 Bxa6 25.Ra1 Bd3 26.Neg5+ fxg5 27.Ne5+ Ke6 28.Nxd3 Nd6 29.Bxd6 Bxd6 30.Rxa7 c5 31.Kf1 c4 32.Ne1 Bc5 33.Nf3 Rg8 34.Ra1 g4 35.Re1+ Kd6 36.hxg4 Rxg4 37.Re8 b5 38.Rh8 b4 39.Rxh4 Rxh4 40.Nxh4 Kc6 41.Ke2 Be7 42.Nf5 Bf6 43.Ne3 1-0

Round 6, Jan. 29, 2017
Ivanchuk, Vassily – Dragnev, Valentin
C45 Scotch, Mieses, variation, main line

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.Nd2 g6 9.c4 Nf4 10.Qe3 Ne6 11.b3 Bg7 12.Bb2 O-O 13.Ne4 d5 14.Nf6+ Bxf6 15.exf6 Qb4+ 16.Bc3 Qa3 17.Qd2 Rb8 18.Bb2 Qd6 19.O-O-O Rd8 20.g3 d4 21.Qh6 Qe5 22.Qh4 c5 23.Bd3 Qg5+ 24.Qxg5 Nxg5 25.f4 Ne6 26.Kc2 Nf8 27.Rde1 Nd7 28.Re7 Rb6 29.Rhe1 Kf8 30.f5 gxf5 31.Bc1 Nxf6 32.Rxc7 Ra6 33.Bh6+ Kg8 34.Ree7 Ne8 35.Bg5 Nxc7 36.Rxc7 f6 37.Bh4 Rxa2+ 38.Kd1 Re8 39.Bxf6 Re3 40.Bb1 Ra1 41.Kc2 Re2+ 42.Kd3 Re3+ 43.Kc2 Re1 44.Rxc8+ Kf7 45.Bg5 Rexb1 46.Rxc5 Rf1 47.Kb2 Rfb1+ 48.Kc2 Rf1 49.Kb2 Ra6 50.Bf4 Rf2+ 51.Kb1 Re6 52.Rxf5+ Kg6 53.Re5 Rxe5 54.Bxe5 d3 55.Kc1 Rxh2 56.Kd1 Rc2 57.Bf4 Kf5 0-1

Valentin Dragnev is an Austrian IM born in 1999.

Round 6, Jan. 29, 2017
Svidler, Peter – Spraggett, Kevin
B41 Sicilian, Kan, Maroczy bind

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Qf3 d6 8.Nc2 Ba5 9.b4 Bc7 10.Bf4 Nc6 11.Be2 Ne5 12.Qe3 Qe7 13.Bg3 O-O 14.O-O a5 15.a3 axb4 16.axb4 Bd7 17.h3 Rfc8 18.Na3 Bb8 19.Bxe5 dxe5 20.c5 Rd8 21.Bb5 Bc6 22.Bxc6 bxc6 23.Nc2 Bc7 24.Qe2 Qe8 25.Rxa8 Rxa8 26.Qc4 g6 27.Ra1 Rxa1+ 28.Nxa1 Qd7 29.Nb3 Ne8 30.Kf1 Kf8 31.Ke2 Bd8 32.Qd3 Ke7 33.Qxd7+ Kxd7 34.Kd3 f5 35.Kc4 Nf6 36.b5 cxb5+ 37.Kxb5 Ne8 38.Nc1 Nc7+ 39.Kc4 1-0

Round 6, Jan. 29, 2017
Gelfand, Boris – Steinberg, Nitzan
D11 QGD Slav

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 e6 6.Ne5 b5 7.a4 Nd5 8.O-O Bb7 9.b3 cxb3 10.axb5 cxb5 11.Qxb3 a6 12.e4 Nf6 13.d5 Bc5 14.Nc4 Bc8 15.Na5 O-O 16.Bb2 Qb6 17.Nd2 Ra7 18.Qc2 exd5 19.exd5 Rc7 20.Ndb3 Bb4 21.Qd3 Qd6 22.Rac1 Rxc1 23.Rxc1 Re8 24.h3 h6 25.Nc6 Nxc6 26.Rxc6 Qd8 27.Bxf6 gxf6 28.d6 Bb7 29.Rc1 Qa8 30.Bxb7 Qxb7 31.Qd4 a5 32.d7 Rd8 33.Rc8 1-0

Round 6, Jan. 29, 2017
Cheng, Bobby – Ganguly, Sury Shekhar
A37 English, symmetrical variation

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 e5 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.d3 Nge7 7.O-O O-O 8.a3 d6 9.Rb1 a5 10.Bd2 h6 11.Ne1 Be6 12.Nc2 d5 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.Ne3 Nde7 15.Na4 b6 16.b4 cxb4 17.axb4 b5 18.Nc5 Ba2 19.Rc1 axb4 20.Qe1 b3 21.Bc3 Rc8 22.Bh3 Rc7 23.Qd2 Kh7 24.Bg2 Qc8 25.Bb2 Rd8 26.h4 Nd4 27.Ba3 Nef5 28.Nb7 Rdd7 29.Nc5 Rd8 30.Nb7 Rdd7 31.Nc5 Bf8 32.Nxd7 Bxa3 33.Nf6+ Kh8 34.Rxc7 Qxc7 35.Nxf5 Nxf5 36.g4 Qd8 37.gxf5 Qxf6 38.Qxh6+ Kg8 39.Bd5 Qxf5 40.Qg5 Qxg5+ 41.hxg5 Be7 42.f4 exf4 43.Rxf4 Bxg5 44.Rf1 Be3+ 45.Kg2 g5 46.Bxf7+ Kg7 47.Bd5 b4 48.Kf3 Bd2 49.Kg4 Bf4 50.Bc4 Kg6 51.Rf3 Bd2 52.Rf5 Be3 53.Rb5 Bd2 54.Rb6+ Kg7 55.Kf5 1-0

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Gibraltar 2017

January 29, 2017

Standing after Round Six

1. Adams 5.5
2. Nakamura 5.5
3. Anton 5.5
4. Short 5.0
5. MVL 5.0
6. Topalov 5.0
7. Cheparinov 5.0
8. Yu Yangyi 5.0
9. Dragnev 5.0
14. Gelfand 4.5
26. Svidler 4.5
33. Caruana 4.0
55. Cheng 4.0
60. Ivanchuk 3.5
67. Spraggett 3.5
106. Thavandiran 3.5
108. Piasetski 3.5
156. Plotkin 2.5
182. Agbabishvili 2.5
247. Day 1.0

Round Seven Pairings

Bo. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name

1 Anton Guijarro David 2650 5½ 5½ Nakamura Hikaru
2 Vachier-Lagrave M 2796 5 5½ Adams Michael
3 Cheparinov Ivan 2689 5 5 Topalov Veselin
4 Dragnev Valentin 2492 5 5 Yu Yangyi
5 Svidler Peter 2748 4½ 5 Short Nigel
6 Gelfand Boris 2721 4½ 4½ Maze Sebastien
7 Vocaturo Daniele 2606 4½ 4½ Naiditsch Arkadij
8 Lagarde Maxime 2594 4½ 4½ Matlakov Maxim
9 Zvjaginsev Vadim 2679 4½ 4½ Fridman Daniel
10 Ju Wenjun 2583 4½ 4½ Fressinet Laurent
11 Iturrizaga Eduardo 2652 4½ 4½ Stefanova A
12 Akobian Varuzhan 2633 4½ 4½ Debashis Das
13 Lalith Babu M R 2587 4½ 4½ Sutovsky Emil
14 Edouard Romain 2613 4½ 4½ Shachar Ehud
15 Caruana Fabiano 2827 4 4 Lagno Kateryna
16 Vitiugov Nikita 2724 4 4 Gunina Valentina
17 Mikhalevski Victor 2504 4 4 Kovalenko Igor
18 Shankland Samuel 2674 4 4 Paehtz Elisabeth
19 Howell David 2655 4 4 Kollars Dmitrij
20 Ider Borya 2463 4 4 Hou Yifan
21 Piorun Kacper 2651 4 4 Cheng Bobby
22 Gupta Abhijeet 2645 4 4 Carlstedt Jonathan
23 Docx Stefan 2405 4 4 Sethuraman S.P.
24 Garriga Pere 2386 4 4 Gopal G.N.
25 Arakhamia-Grant K 2370 4 4 Deac Bogdan-Dan
26 Grigoriants Sergey 2564 4 4 Siva Mahadevan
27 Papp Petra 2352 4 4 Donchenko Alex
28 Mannion Stephen 2326 4 4 Huzman Alex
29 Javakhishvili Lela 2455 3½ 3½ Ivanchuk Vassily
30 Zatonskih Anna 2443 3½ 3½ Oparin Grigoriy
38 Spraggett Kevin 2542 3½ 3½ Henderson Lance 2380
45 Steinberg N 2486 3½ 3½ Thavandiran S 2367
52 Piasetski Leon 2327 3½ 3 Ganguly Shekhar 2657
90 Plotkin Victor 2253 2½ 2½ Agbabishvili Lali 2095
119 Day Chris 1760 1 1 Bauer Dieter 1772

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Gibraltar 2017

January 28, 2017

Canadian Games from Round Four

Gibraltar 2017
Round 4, Jan. 27, 2017
Batchimeg, Tuvshintugs – Spraggett, Kevin
C53 Nimzo-Indian

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Nf3 c5 6.Bd3 d5 7.cxd5 cxd4 8.exd4 Nxd5 9.O-O Nc6 10.Bc2 Be7 11.Qd3 g6 12.a3 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Bf6 14.Re1 b6 15.Bh6 Bg7 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Ba4 Bb7 18.Bxc6 Bxc6 19.Ne5 Bb7 20.Qe3 h6 21.Qh3 Qg5 22.Re3 Qf5 23.Qh4 Qg5 24.Qh3 Qf5 25.Qh4 Qg5 26.Qh3 Qf5 1/2-1/2

Round 4, Jan. 27, 2017
Thavandiran, Shiyam – Cuenca Jiminez, Fernando
C07 French, Tarrasch, open variation

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.N2f3 Bb4+ 8.Bd2 O-O 9.Be2 Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 b6 11.c4 Nf6 12.O-O Bb7 13.Rfd1 a6 14.a4 a5 15.b4 Qe7 16.bxa5 bxa5 17.Ne5 Ne4 18.Qe3 Nc5 19.Bf3 Bxf3 20.Qxf3 Nba6 21.Nec6 Qg5 22.Nxa5 Nb4 23.Ndb3 h6 24.Qc3 Nba6 25.Nc6 Rfc8 26.Ncd4 Ne4 27.Qf3 Qg6 28.Rdc1 Nac5 29.Nxc5 Nxc5 30.a5 Ra6 31.Nb3 Qg5 32.Nxc5 Rxc5 33.Qc3 Rcxa5 34.Rxa5 Qxa5 35.Qxa5 Rxa5 36.c5 Kf8 37.f4 Ke7 38.Kf2 Kd7 39.c6+ Kc7 40.Rd1 Kxc6 41.Rd8 g5 42.g3 Ra2+ 43.Kf3 gxf4 44.gxf4 Rxh2 45.f5 Rh5 46.fxe6 fxe6 47.Ke4 Rd5 48.Rh8 h5 49.Rh6 Kd6 50.Rh7 Rf5 51.Rh8 Ke7 52.Rh7+ Kf6 53.Rh6+ Kf7 54.Rh7+ Kg6 55.Re7 Rf6 56.Ke5 h4 57.Re8 Kg5 58.Rh8 Rh6 59.Rg8+ Rg6 60.Ra8 h3 61.Ra1 h2 0-1

Round 4, Jan. 27, 2017
Seyfried, Claus – Piasetski, Leon
B97 Pirc-Robatsch

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Be3 a6 5.h4 h5 6.Bc4 Nc6 7.Qd2 e5 8.Nge2 exd4 9.Nxd4 Ne5 10.Be2 Ng4 11.Bg5 Bh6 12.Nf3 f6 13.Bxh6 N8xh6 14.Bc4 Kf8 15.O-O-O Kg7 16.Rhe1 Re8 17.Bb3 Bd7 18.Nd5 b5 19.Nf4 a5 20.Nd4 Qc8 21.c3 a4 22.Bc2 Ne5 23.Nd5 Qb7 24.Nxf6 c5 25.Nxe8+ Rxe8 26.Nf3 Nc4 27.Qe2 Nf7 28.Bd3 Be6 29.Kb1 a3 30.b3 Nb2 31.Rc1 Bc4 32.Bxc4 1/2-1/2

Round 4, Jan. 27, 2017
Agbabishvili, Lali – Kantane, Anna
A49 King’s Indian, Fianchetto

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.O-O O-O 5.d4 d6 6.Nbd2 c5 7.c3 Nc6 8.e4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nd7 10.N2b3 Nce5 11.Qe2 Nb6 12.h3 Bd7 13.f4 Nec4 14.f5 Qc7 15.Rb1 Ne5 16.Bg5 Rfe8 17.Nd2 a6 18.Rf2 Bb5 19.Nxb5 axb5 20.a3 Nbc4 21.g4 Qb6 22.Nb3 Rad8 23.Rf1 Nxb2 24.Qxb2 Nd3 25.Qc2 Nxf2 26.Rxf2 Rc8 27.f6 Bxf6 28.Bxf6 exf6 29.Qd2 Qc7 30.Nd4 Re5 31.Bf1 Qxc3 32.Qxc3 Rxc3 33.Nxb5 Rb3 34.Nxd6 Kg7 35.Nxf7 Rxe4 36.Nd6 Re1 37.Kh2 b6 38.a4 Rbb1 39.Bg2 Rbc1 40.Rb2 Ra1 41.Rxb6 Ra2 42.Rb7+ Kf8 43.Rb8+ Kg7 44.Rb3 Ree2 45.Rg3 Rxa4 46.Kg1 Ra1+ 47.Bf1 Kf8 48.Rf3 Ke7 49.Nb5 Ree1 50.Nd4 Rac1 51.Rf2 Red1 52.Nf3 Kf7 53.Ng5+ Kg7 54.Ne4 Re1 55.Ng3 Ra1 56.Kh2 Ra3 57.Bg2 Rae3 58.Rc2 Re7 59.Bf3 R1e3 60.Kg2 Ra3 1/2-1/2

Round 4, Jan. 27, 2017
Korning, Peter – Plotkin, Victor
C42 Petrov, Classical Attack, Mason variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 Be7 6.Bd3 d5 7.O-O O-O 8.c4 Nf6 9.Nc3 Nc6 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Nxd5 Qxd5 12.Bf4 Bg4 13.Be2 Bd6 14.Bxd6 Qxd6 15.d5 Ne7 16.Qd4 Bxf3 17.Bxf3 Rfd8 18.Rfd1 c6 19.Rd3 Nxd5 20.Bxd5 Qxd5 21.Rad1 Qxd4 22.Rxd4 Rxd4 23.Rxd4 g6 24.Rd7 Rb8 25.g4 g5 26.Kg2 Kg7 27.Kg3 Kf6 28.f4 Ke6 29.Rc7 gxf4+ 30.Kxf4 h6 31.h3 a5 32.Ke4 a4 33.a3 Kf6 34.Kf4 Ke6 35.Ke4 Kf6 36.Kf4 1/2-1/2

Round 4, Jan. 27, 2017
Bellon Lopez, Juan Manuel – Day, Christopher
D00 Queen’s Pawn, Mason variation

1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.b3 Bf5 7.Be2 h6 8.O-O e6 9.Nbd2 Be7 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Nd4 Nxd4 12.exd4 Be7 13.b4 Ne4 14.Nxe4 Bxe4 15.Qa4+ Kf8 16.Rac1 Bg5 17.Be3 Ke7 18.b5 Rhc8 19.Qb4+ Qd6 20.Qb2 Bf4 21.Bxf4 Qxf4 22.g3 Qd6 23.f3 Bf5 24.a4 Kf8 25.Rfe1 Rc7 26.Bf1 Rac8 27.Re3 Kg8 28.Ra1 Re7 29.Qa3 Qxa3 30.Rxa3 Bc2 31.a5 Kf8 32.Kf2 Ke8 33.b6 a6 34.Ke1 Kd7 35.Kd2 Bf5 36.g4 Bg6 37.Ra4 Kd6 38.f4 Ree8 39.Bg2 Re7 40.f5 Bh7 41.Re5 f6 42.Rxe6+ Rxe6 43.fxe6 Bg8 44.c4 Bxe6 45.c5+ Kc6 46.Ra1 Bf7 47.Bf3 Kd7 48.Re1 Rc6 49.h4 Re6 50.Rxe6 Bxe6 51.h5 Kc6 52.Be2 f5 53.gxf5 Bxf5 54.Ke3 g5 55.hxg6 Bxg6 56.Kf4 Bf7 57.Ke5 h5 58.Kf6 Be8 59.Kg5 Bf7 60.Kf6 Be8 61.Ke7 Bg6 62.Bf3 Bf5 63.Bxh5 Kb5 64.c6 1-0

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Gibraltar 2017

January 29, 2017

Canadian Games from Round Five

Gibraltar 2017
Round 5, Jan. 28, 2017
Spraggett, Kevin – Milliet, Sophie
D38 QGD, Ragozin

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Qa4+ Nc6 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bxf6 Qxf6 9.e3 O-O 10.Be2 a6 11.O-O Be6 12.Rfc1 Bd6 13.Qd1 Ne7 14.a3 g5 15.Ne1 h5 16.Nd3 g4 17.b4 Nf5 18.g3 Qg5 19.Bf1 h4 20.Ne2 hxg3 21.hxg3 Kg7 22.Nef4 Rh8 23.Bg2 Rh6 24.Qd2 Rah8 25.e4 Nxd4 26.Qe3 Qf6 27.e5 Bxe5 28.Nxe5 Nf5 29.Nxe6+ Qxe6 30.Qg5+ Kh7 31.Rxc7 Rf8 32.Qf4 Nd6 33.Nxg4 Rg6 34.Ne3 d4 35.Qxd4 Nb5 36.Qh4+ Kg7 37.Rc5 1-0

Round 5, Jan. 28, 2017
Piasetski, Leon – Herzwurm, Robert
A10 English, Anglo-Dutch Defence

1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 d5 5.O-O Bd6 6.Nc3 c6 7.d3 O-O 8.e4 dxe4 9.dxe4 e5 10.Qc2 Nxe4 11.Nxe4 fxe4 12.Ng5 Bf5 13.Bxe4 Qf6 14.c5 h6 15.Bxf5 Qxf5 16.Qb3+ Kh8 17.Ne6 Re8 18.Nxg7 Kxg7 19.cxd6 b6 20.Qa4 Nd7 21.Qxc6 e4 22.Qc3+ Kh7 23.Bf4 Rg8 24.Kh1 Nc5 25.Qe3 Nd3 26.f3 Nxf4 27.fxe4 Nd5 28.Qd4 Qg4 29.Rf7+ Rg7 30.Qxd5 Qe2 31.Raf1 1-0

Round 5, Jan. 28, 2017
Bergstrom, Rolf – Agbabishvili, Lali
B51 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky Attack

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.O-O a6 5.Bd3 Ngf6 6.c3 e5 7.Bc2 Be7 8.d4 b5 9.Re1 O-O 10.Nbd2 Re8 11.Nf1 Bb7 12.d5 c4 13.Ng3 Nc5 14.h3 g6 15.Be3 Qc7 16.Qd2 Bf8 17.Nh2 Bg7 18.f3 Bc8 19.Ng4 h5 20.Nf2 Nh7 21.b4 Nd7 22.a4 Bb7 23.Ne2 Qd8 24.g4 hxg4 25.hxg4 Bf6 26.Nh3 Bh4 27.Rf1 g5 28.axb5 axb5 29.Rxa8 Bxa8 30.Ra1 f6 31.Ra5 Qb8 32.Kg2 Kf7 33.Ba7 Qb7 34.Qc1 Nhf8 35.Qa1 Ke7 36.Bg1 Rb8 37.Ra6 Qc8 38.Ba7 Rb7 39.Nf2 Ng6 40.Nd1 Qc7 41.Bg1 Rb8 42.Rxa8 Rxa8 43.Qxa8 Nf4+ 44.Kf1 Nh3 45.Ne3 Nxg1 46.Nf5+ Kf7 47.Qh8 1-0

Round 5, Jan. 28, 2017
Gonzales Gonzales, Alfonso – Thavandiran, Shiyam
C02 French, Advance, Euwe variation

1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.a3 Nge7 7.Bd3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Bxf5 exf5 10.O-O Be6 11.b4 Be7 12.Nc3 a5 13.b5 Na7 14.Qd3 Nc8 15.Na4 Nb6 16.Nc5 Qc7 17.Be3 Nc4 18.Nd2 Nxe3 19.Qxe3 a4 20.b6 Qc6 21.Rfc1 O-O 22.Rab1 Rfc8 23.Nf3 h6 24.h4 Bd8 25.Ne1 Bxh4 26.Ned3 Bg5 27.f4 Be7 28.Nb4 Qe8 29.Nxb7 Rab8 30.Nc5 Rxb6 31.Nba6 Bxc5 32.Nxc5 Rcb8 33.Qe1 Qe7 34.g3 Kh7 35.Rxb6 Rxb6 36.Rb1 Rxb1 37.Qxb1 g5 38.Qb7 Qe8 39.Kf2 Kg6 40.Qa7 Qb5 41.Qxa4 Qb2+ 42.Ke1 Qc1+ 43.Ke2 gxf4 44.gxf4 Qxf4 45.Nd3 Qe4+ 46.Kd2 f4 47.Kc3 Bf5 48.Qd1 h5 49.a4 h4 50.e6 fxe6 51.Ne5+ Kf6 52.a5 h3 53.Nf3 Bg4 54.a6 Bxf3 55.Qd2 h2 56.a7 h1=Q 57.a8=Q Qe3+ 58.Qxe3 fxe3 59.Qf8+ Kg6 60.Qg8+ Kf6 61.Qf8+ Kg5 62.Qg7+ Kh4 63.Qh6+ Kg3 64.Qxe3 Qa1+ 65.Kb4 Qb2+ 66.Kc5 Qe2 67.Qg1+ Kf4 68.Kd6 Bg4 69.Kc5 Qc4+ 70.Kd6 Bf5 71.Qh2+ Ke4 72.Qh4+ Kd3 73.Ke5 Qc7+ 0-1

Round 5, Jan. 28, 2017
Plotkin, Victor – Hewson, Brian
B17 Caro-Kann, Petrosian-Smyslov variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Ng3 e6 7.Bd3 c5 8.O-O Be7 9.c3 O-O 10.Qc2 b6 11.Rd1 Qc7 12.Be3 Bb7 13.Ng5 h6 14.Nh7 Nxh7 15.Bxh7+ Kh8 16.Be4 Bxe4 17.Qxe4 Nf6 18.Bf4 Nxe4 19.Bxc7 Nf6 20.dxc5 Bxc5 21.Bd6 Rfc8 22.Bxc5 Rxc5 23.f3 Kg8 24.Kf2 Kf8 25.Rd4 Ke7 26.Rad1 Rc7 27.Nf1 Rd7 28.Rxd7+ Nxd7 29.Ne3 Rc8 30.Ke2 Rc5 31.Rd4 Ne5 32.c4 Nc6 33.Rd2 a5 34.b3 Re5 35.Kf2 h5 36.Nc2 Rc5 37.Na3 Na7 38.Ke3 Re5+ 39.Kf2 Rc5 40.f4 f6 41.Ke3 g5 42.g3 gxf4+ 43.gxf4 Rc8 44.Rg2 Kf7 45.Nb1 b5 46.Na3 Rc5 47.Rc2 b4 48.Rd2 Ke7 49.Rg2 Kf7 50.Nc2 Nc6 51.Nd4 Ne7 52.Rg7+ Ke8 53.Nxe6 Nf5+ 54.Ke4 1-0

Round 5, Jan. 28, 2017
Day, Christopher – Carlsten, Peter
A04 Reti, Dutch

1.Nf3 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.O-O Bg7 5.d4 O-O 6.b3 Ne4 7.Bb2 Nc6 8.c4 d6 9.Nbd2 e5 10.d5 Nxd2 11.Qxd2 Ne7 12.b4 h6 13.Rfd1 g5 14.c5 Ng6 15.Qc2 Bd7 16.Rac1 Rc8 17.Nd2 Qe8 18.Qb3 Ba4 19.Qa3 Bxd1 20.Rxd1 Qb5 21.e4 a5 22.exf5 axb4 23.Qf3 Ne7 24.cxd6 cxd6 25.Ne4 Nxf5 26.Bh3 Nd4 27.Qe3 Qe2 28.Be6+ Kh8 29.Rxd4 Qxe3 30.fxe3 exd4 31.Bxc8 Rxc8 32.Nxd6 Rc2 33.Bxd4 Bxd4 34.exd4 Rxa2 35.Nc4 b5 36.Ne5 b3 0-1

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Gibraltar 2017

January 30, 2017

Round Seven

Jovanka Houska and Simon Williams are in the commentators chairs as usual.

The tournament is set out with each pair of tables side to side and it looks very crowded. This is accentuated by the spectators mllling about.

The first game to finish was between the two leaders Anton-Nakamura in 14 moves.

Chessbomb kibitzer comments:

- Anton just had 2 6-hour games; a rest and a draw with Nakamura is quite good

- Naka finished with more time on the clock than he started with!
Gibraltar Masters 2017

Round 7, Jan. 30, 2017
Anton Guijarro, David – Nakamura, Hikaru
E10 Queen’s Pawn game

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 a6 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Be6 7.e3 Nbd7 8.Bd3 h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3 Nh5 11.Be5 Ng7 12.Bg3 Nh5 13.Be5 Ng7 14.Bg3 Nh5 1/2-1/2

David is a 21-year-old Spanish grandmaster. If his name seems familiar, it is probably because he stood seventh at the end of the World Rapid Championship 2016 behind Ivanchuk, Grischuk, Carlsen, Mamedyarov, Yu Yangyi and Nepo.
_______

Vassily Ivanchuk is playing Lela Javakhishvili. He blunders with 15…Bf5 instead of taking the bishop of b2. This gives Lela the chance to play the spectactular 17. Bd5+, which she doesn’t see and a draw results

Round 7, Jan. 30, 2017
Javakhishvili, Lela – Ivanchuk, Vassily
A88 Dutch, Leningrad, main variation

1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 f5 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 Nf6 6.O-O O-O 7.Nc3 c6 8.Rb1 a5 9.d5 e5 10.dxe6 Bxe6 11.b3 Na6 12.Ng5 Bc8 13.h4 Nh5 14.Bb2 f4 15.Nce4 Bf5 16.Nxd6 Bxb2 17.Rxb2 Qf6 18.Rd2 Nc5 19.Nxf5 Qxf5 20.Bh3 Qe5 21.Nf3 Qe7 22.g4 Nf6 23.Qc2 Rad8 24.Rfd1 Rxd2 25.Rxd2 Nfd7 26.Qb2 Ne4 27.Rd1 Re8 28.Qd4 Ndc5 29.g5 h6 30.gxh6 Kh7 31.e3 Rf8 32.exf4 Rxf4 33.Bg2 Qf6 34.Ng5+ Nxg5 35.Qxf6 Rxf6 36.hxg5 Rf5 37.f4 Rxf4 38.Re1 Rf5 39.Re7+ Kh8 40.Re8+ Kh7 41.Re7+ Kh8 42.Re8+ Kh7 43.Re7+ 1/2-1/2

Vassily is not doing well so far in the tournament. He now has 4 out of 7. You’ll recall that he lost to Kobo on time in Round 2 in a won position and to the youngster Dragnev in the Sixth.
______

Kacper Piorun is a Polish grandmaster, born in 1991. He is also a four-time world champion in chess problem solving. He came in to talk to Simon about his victory over Bobby Cheng. You’ll recall that he is the young Australian that beat Ganguly yesterday.

The format at those championships is always the same: It consists of six solving sessions spread over two days. Each session is devoted to a different type of problem, and the event always kicks off with three mates in two. In solving, it is important to give complete solutions, mentioning all relevant variations, otherwise you lose marks.

See:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/poles-d...g-championship

Simon asked Kacper what qualities you have to have to be a solver. Kacper said that the first is the ability to adjust your thinking to problems. For example, the most popular type of problem is the self-mate, where you try to mate your own king in a requisite number of moves.

Asked about his style of play in classical chess, he said that his prime ability was in calculation, which seems obvious after what he said earlier about solving.

Of the top twenty players in the world, he said that only one has ever competed in solving, and that probably by chance, was MVL. Asked about any other players, he answered that Ivanchuk once gave him a problem to solve that took one to two days!

Two other players that should be mentioned in connection with solving are John Nunn and Jonathan Mestel.

See also:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/ostroda...championship-2

Round 7, Jan. 30, 2017
Piorun, Kacper – Cheng, Bobby
C03 French, Tarrasch

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 h6 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nfd7 6.c4 dxc4 7.Bxc4 Nb6 8.Bb3 Na6 9.O-O c5 10.Ne4 c4 11.Bc2 Nb4 12.Bb1 Nd3 13.b3 Nxc1 14.bxc4 Ba3 15.c5 Bb2 16.Nd6+ Ke7 17.cxb6 Qxb6 18.Be4 f5 19.exf6+ Kxd6 20.fxg7 Rg8 21.Rxc1 Bxc1 22.Qxc1 Ke7 23.Qxh6 e5 24.Qh7 Be6 25.Rb1 Rac8 26.h3 1-0

Cheparinov, whom we mentioned as finally shaking hands with Nigel Short the other day, and who was a second to Veselin Topalov, actually met him over the board today.

Round 7, Jan. 30, 2017
Cheparinov, Ivan – Topalov, Veselin
E60 King’s Indian Defence

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.e4 a6 7.a4 e6 8.Nge2 exd5 9.cxd5 Nbd7 10.Bg5 h6 11.Be3 h5 12.Nf4 Ne5 13.Be2 O-O 14.O-O Rb8 15.Qc2 Bd7 16.a5 Ne8 17.Na4 Qxa5 18.b4 Bxa4 19.Rxa4 Qd8 20.bxc5 dxc5 21.Qxc5 Nd6 22.Qb4 Re8 23.Rc1 Qf6 24.Ne6 fxe6 25.Qxd6 Nf7 26.Qc5 b6 27.Qc7 exd5 28.Rxa6 dxe4 29.Rc6 Rbc8 30.Qxc8 Rxc8 31.Rxf6 Bxf6 32.fxe4 Nd6 33.Rxb6 Be5 34.Rb3 Nxe4 35.Bd3 Nc5 36.Bc4+ Kg7 37.Rb5 Bd6 38.Rb6 Be5 39.Rb5 Bd6 40.Bd4+ Kf8 41.Rb1 Nd7 42.Be6 Rc7 43.Rf1+ 1/2-1/2

And stuck away on one of those two-table pairs, was Peter Svidler and Nigel Short. After an inaccuracy by Nigel Peter had a great move and missed it and then later one realized what he had not seen then, and put his face in his hands and shortly after, a draw was agreed.

Round 7, Jan. 30, 2017
Svidler, Peter – Short, Nigel
C11 French, Steinitz, Boleslavsky variation

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Qd2 O-O 9.a3 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Nb8 12.Bd3 Nc6 13.Bf2 a6 14.O-O f6 15.exf6 Bxf6 16.Na4 b5 17.Nb6 Rb8 18.Nxc8 Qxc8 19.c3 g6 20.Qe2 Qd7 21.Rae1 e5 22.Bc5 Rf7 23.fxe5 Bxe5 24.Rxf7 Qxf7 25.a4 bxa4 26.Bxa6 Qc7 27.Kh1 Bxh2 28.Bb5 Ne5 29.Bd4 Bg3 30.Bxe5 1/2-1/2

Nigel played 27….Bxh2. Peter should have replied 28. Qe6+ but instead played Bb5.
______

At the top, MVL beat Michael Adams. Simon had mixed emotions because he wants to see everyone who plays the Berlin to lose but Micky Adams is a close friend of his.

Round 7, Jan. 30, 2017
MVL – Adams, Michael
C67 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence, open variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 Be7 10.Nc3 Nh4 11.Nxh4 Bxh4 12.Be3 h5 13.Rad1+ Ke8 14.Ne2 b6 15.a4 c5 16.Nc3 Bf5 17.Nb5 Bd8 18.Rd2 a6 19.Nc3 h4 20.a5 Rh5 21.Rfd1 Bh7 22.Nd5 Be4 23.c4 Rb8 24.f4 Rf5 25.Nc3 Bb7 26.axb6 cxb6 27.Rd6 Bc7 28.Rd7 Bd8 29.Ne2 Rh5 30.e6 Be7 31.Rc7 Bc8 32.exf7+ Kf8 33.f5 Bxf5 34.g4 hxg3 35.Nxg3 Bc2 36.Rdd7 Re5 37.Bf4 Bf6 38.Nh5 Re1+ 39.Kf2 Bh4+ 40.Ng3 Re6 41.Bd6+ Rxd6 42.Rxd6 Bf6 43.Rxf6 gxf6 44.Nh5 Rd8 45.Nxf6 Bf5 46.Kg3 Rd6 47.Ng4 Rd4 48.b3 b5 49.Ne5 Re4 50.Rxc5 bxc4 51.Rd5 Rxe5 52.Rxe5 Bd3 53.b4 c3 54.Rc5 c2 55.Rc7 1-0

Fabiano Caruana beat Kateryna Lagno. Maybe he will get a few of the ELO points he has lost here back

Round 7, Jan. 30, 2017
Caruana, Fabiano – Lagno, Kateryna
C78 Ruy Lopez, Archangel variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.a5 Ba7 11.h3 h6 12.Be3 Ra8 13.dxe5 Nxe5 14.Nxe5 dxe5 15.Qxd8+ Kxd8 16.Bxa7 Rxa7 17.Bxf7 Nxe4 18.Bg6 Nd6 19.Nd2 Ke7 20.f4 exf4 21.Rxf4 Bb7 22.Re1+ Kd8 23.Re5 Bc6 24.Nb3 Be8 25.Bd3 Bd7 26.Nc5 Re8 27.Rxe8+ Kxe8 28.b4 c6 29.Bg6+ Ke7 30.Rf3 Bc8 31.Kf2 Rc7 32.g4 Nc4 33.Kg3 Ne5 34.Re3 Kd6 35.Bf5 Bxf5 36.gxf5 Rf7 37.Kf4 Ng6+ 38.Ke4 Ne7 39.Rf3 Nd5 40.Nxa6 Re7+ 41.Kd4 Re1 42.Nc5 Rd1+ 43.Rd3 Rf1 44.Ne4+ Kc7 45.Rg3 Rxf5 46.Rxg7+ Kb8 47.Nd6 Rf4+ 48.Kc5 Nxc3 49.Kxc6 Rxb4 50.Rg8+ Ka7 51.Nc8+ Ka6 52.Nb6 1-0
______

The Gibraltar Festival is having a Master Class this evening but Simon is not sure who is giving it yet. What happens is that he oversells it:

Simon: The Master Class could be given by Magnus Carlsen, who just finished up at Tata Steel..
Audience: Oooh!
Simon: Or, maybe it will be Garry Kasparov!
Audience: Oooh!
Simon: Or maybe Lawrence Trent!
Audience: (complete silence, you can hear the crickets chirping).

(to be continued)

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Gibraltar 2017

January 30, 2017

Standing after Round Seven

Rk. Name Pts.

1 Vachier-Lagrave 6
2 Anton Guijarro 6
3 Nakamura H 6
4 Yu Yangyi 6
5 Adams Michael 5.5
6 Short Nigel D 5.5
7 Cheparinov Ivan 5.5
8 Sutovsky Emil 5.5
9 Topalov Veselin 5.5
10 Matlakov Maxim 5.5
11 Gelfand Boris 5.5
12 Stefanova A 5.5
13 Akobian V 5.5
14 Fridman Daniel 5.5
15 Edouard Romain 5.5
16 Howell David 5
17 Ju Wenjun 5
18 Naiditsch Ark 5
19 Piorun Kacper 5
20 Vitiugov Nikita 5
21 Caruana Fabi 5
22 Carlstedt Jon 5
23 Svidler Peter 5
24 Hou Yifan 5
25 Sethuraman 5
26 Vocaturo Da 5
27 Fressinet L 5
28 Muzychuk Anna 5
29 Dragnev V 5
30 Huzman Alex 5
31 Gopal G.N. 5
32 Shankland Sam 5
69 Ivanchuk Vassily 4
79 Spraggett Kevin 4
130 Thavandiran S 3.5
138 Piasetski Leon 3.5
158 Plotkin, Victor 3.0
174 Agbabishvili L 3.0
229 Day Chris 2.0

Round Eight Pairings

o. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg

1 Anton David 2650 6 6 Vachier-Lagrave M 2796
2 Yu Yangyi 2738 6 6 Nakamura Hikaru 2785
3 Short Nigel D 2675 5½ 5½ Adams Michael 2751
4 Sutovsky Emil 2628 5½ 5½ Topalov Veselin 2739
5 Fridman Daniel 2594 5½ 5½ Gelfand Boris 2721
6 Matlakov Maxim 2701 5½ 5½ Edouard Romain 2613
7 Stefanova A 2512 5½ 5½ Cheparinov 2689
8 Naiditsch A 2702 5 5½ Akobian V 2633
9 Gopal G.N. 2579 5 5 Caruana Fabi 2827
10 Deac Bogdan-D 2572 5 5 Svidler Peter 2748
11 Muzychuk Anna 2558 5 5 Vitiugov Nikita 2724
12 Donchenko Alex 2559 5 5 Shankland Sam 2674
13 Fressinet Laurent 2660 5 5 Vocaturo Dan 2606
14 Huzman Alex 2557 5 5 Howell David 2655
15 Hou Yifan 2651 5 5 Ju Wenjun 2583
16 Carlstedt J 2413 5 5 Piorun Kacper 2651
17 Sethuraman S.P. 2637 5 5 Dragnev V 2492
18 Kovalenko Igor 2684 4½ 5 Grigoriants S 2564
19 Steinberg N 2486 4½ 4½ Zvjaginsev V 2679
20 Santos Miguel 2484 4½ 4½ Iturrizaga E 2652
21 Maze Sebastien 2613 4½ 4½ Kobo Ori 2482
22 Debashis Das 2472 4½ 4½ Lagarde Maxime 2594
23 Cramling Pia 2454 4½ 4½ Istratescu A 2593
24 Gledura Ben 2589 4½ 4½ Salomon Johan 2470
25 Wemmers X 2424 4½ 4½ Lalith Babu M R 2587
26 Antipov M 2580 4½ 4½ Esserman Marc 2468
27 Sundararajan K 2420 4½ 4½ Schroeder Jan 2550
28 Libiszewski F 2545 4½ 4½ Kantans Toms 2456
29 Bellin Robert 2353 4½ 4½ Del Rio De 2527
30 Shachar Ehud 2374 4½ 4½ Lemos Damian 2516
31 Kozak Adam 2376 4½ 4½ Mikhalevski V 2504
32 Krysa Leandro 2491 4½ 4½ Omar Noaman 2369
33 Ivanchuk Vassily 2752 4 4 Docx Stefan 2405
34 Ganguly Shekhar 2657 4 4 Batchimeg T 2390
35 Henderson De 2380 4 4 Gupta Abhijeet 2645
39 Szabo Bence 2378 4 4 Spraggett Kevin 2542
58 Riff Jean-Noel 2468 3½ 3½ Piasetski Leon 2327
69 Weisbuch Udi 2240 3½ 3½ Thavandiran S 2367
88 Agbabishvili Lali 2095 3 3 Plotkin Victor 2253
114 Press Shaun 1970 2 2 Day Chris 1760

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Gibraltar 2017

January 31, 2017

Canadian Games from Round Six

Gibraltar Masters 2017
Round 6, Jan. 29, 2017
Svidler, Peter – Spraggett, Kevin
B41 Sicilian, Kan, Maroczy bind

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Qf3 d6 8.Nc2 Ba5 9.b4 Bc7 10.Bf4 Nc6 11.Be2 Ne5 12.Qe3 Qe7 13.Bg3 O-O 14.O-O a5 15.a3 axb4 16.axb4 Bd7 17.h3 Rfc8 18.Na3 Bb8 19.Bxe5 dxe5 20.c5 Rd8 21.Bb5 Bc6 22.Bxc6 bxc6 23.Nc2 Bc7 24.Qe2 Qe8 25.Rxa8 Rxa8 26.Qc4 g6 27.Ra1 Rxa1+ 28.Nxa1 Qd7 29.Nb3 Ne8 30.Kf1 Kf8 31.Ke2 Bd8 32.Qd3 Ke7 33.Qxd7+ Kxd7 34.Kd3 f5 35.Kc4 Nf6 36.b5 cxb5+ 37.Kxb5 Ne8 38.Nc1 Nc7+ 39.Kc4 1-0

Round 6, Jan. 29, 2017
Thavandiran, Shiyam – Aryan, Chopra
C59 Two Knights Defence, Steinitz variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2 h6 9.Nh3 Bd6 10.d3 O-O 11.O-O Bf5 12.Kh1 Bc7 13.Nc3 Qd7 14.Ng1 g5 15.Bf3 Rad8 16.Nge2 Bg6 17.Ng3 Nd5 18.Bd2 f5 19.h3 Nf4 20.Be3 Qf7 21.b4 e4 22.bxa5 exf3 23.Qxf3 Ne6 24.Bd2 f4 25.Nge2 Bh5 26.g4 fxg3 27.Qxf7+ Rxf7 28.fxg3 Bf3+ 29.Kh2 Bxa5 30.Rae1 Bc7 31.Be3 Ba5 32.Bd2 Bc7 33.Be3 Ba5 34.Bd2 1/2-1/2

Round 6, Jan. 29, 2017
Shvayger, Yuliya – Plotkin, Victor
C43 Petrov, Modern Attack

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.e5 Ne4 5.Qxd4 d5 6.exd6 Nxd6 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.Qf4 g6 9.Be3 Bg7 10.O-O-O O-O 11.h4 h5 12.Bb5 Bd7 13.Bc5 Bxc3 14.bxc3 Nxb5 15.Qh6 Nxc3 16.Ng5 Qxg5+ 17.Qxg5 Ne4 18.Qe3 Nxc5 19.Qxc5 Be6 20.a3 a5 21.Rhe1 a4 22.Rxe6 fxe6 23.Qg5 Kg7 24.Rd7+ Rf7 25.Rxf7+ Kxf7 26.Qf4+ Kg8 27.Qf6 Kh7 28.Qf7+ Kh6 29.Qf4+ 1-0

Round 6, Jan. 29, 2017
Skutta, Bernd – Piasetski, Leon
A45 Queen’s Pawn game

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 e6 3.e3 b6 4.Nf3 Bb7 5.Be2 Bd6 6.Bxd6 cxd6 7.O-O d5 8.Nbd2 O-O 9.Rc1 d6 10.c4 Nbd7 11.Qa4 a6 12.cxd5 exd5 13.Qb4 Qe7 14.Rc7 Rfb8 15.Ne5 Qd8 16.Qxd6 Ne8 17.Qxd7 Qxc7 18.Qxc7 Nxc7 19.Nd7 Rd8 20.Nxb6 Rab8 21.Rc1 Rd6 22.Na4 Bc6 23.b3 Bxa4 24.Rxc7 Rc6 25.Rxc6 Bxc6 26.a4 a5 27.Bf3 Kf8 28.Kf1 Ke7 29.Ke2 Kd6 30.Kd1 Bb7 31.Kc2 Ba6 32.Nb1 Bb7 33.Nc3 Bc6 34.Bd1 f5 35.f4 h6 36.g3 g5 37.Be2 gxf4 38.exf4 Rb4 39.Bd3 Rxd4 40.Bxf5 Rb4 41.Bd3 Rb8 42.Ne2 Kc5 43.f5 d4 44.Nf4 Kd6 45.g4 Re8 46.Ne6 Ke5 47.Kd2 Rg8 48.h3 Bd5 49.Bc4 Bxc4 50.bxc4 Rb8 51.c5 Rb2+ 52.Kd1 Rb4 53.Nd8 Rxa4 54.Nc6+ Ke4 55.f6 Ra1+ 56.Kd2 Ra2+ 0-1

Round 6, Jan. 29, 2017
Agbabishvili, Lali – Newbry, Benjamin
B00 Owen Defence

1.d4 b6 2.e4 Bb7 3.Nc3 e6 4.a3 Nf6 5.f3 d5 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.Nxd5 Qxd5 8.Bd3 Qd8 9.Ne2 Qh4+ 10.Kf1 Bd6 11.Be3 O-O 12.Qe1 Qe7 13.Bf4 Nd7 14.Bxd6 cxd6 15.h4 f5 16.Nf4 e5 17.Bc4+ Kh8 18.Bd5 Ba6+ 19.Kf2 Rac8 20.c3 Bc4 21.Bxc4 Rxc4 22.Nd3 Qf6 23.dxe5 dxe5 24.g3 e4 25.fxe4 fxe4+ 26.Nf4 Ne5 27.Kg2 Nd3 28.Nxd3 Qf3+ 29.Kh2 exd3 30.Rf1 Qa8 31.Rxf8+ Qxf8 32.Rd1 Qb8 33.Kg2 Qb7+ 34.Kg1 Re4 35.Qf1 Qe7 36.Qxd3 Re1+ 37.Rxe1 Qxe1+ 38.Kg2 h6 39.c4 Qe5 40.b4 a5 41.Qd8+ Kh7 42.Qxb6 Qe2+ 43.Qf2 Qxc4 44.Qf5+ Kg8 45.bxa5 Qa2+ 46.Kh3 Qxa3 47.Qc8+ Kf7 48.a6 Qd3 49.Qb7+ Kg6 50.Qc6+ Kh7 51.a7 Qf5+ 52.Kg2 1-0

Round 6, Jan. 29, 2017
Obiamiwe, Paul – Day, Christopher
D09 Catalan, Closed, main line

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Qc2 e6 5.g3 Be7 6.Bg2 O-O 7.O-O Nbd7 8.Nbd2 Re8 9.e4 dxe4 10.Nxe4 Nxe4 11.Qxe4 Nf6 12.Qc2 c5 13.Rd1 Qb6 14.h3 Bd7 15.dxc5 Qxc5 16.Be3 Qc7 17.Bf4 Qb6 18.Ne5 Rad8 19.Nxd7 Nxd7 20.Qb3 Bf6 21.Bxb7 Bxb2 22.Rab1 Bf6 23.Qc2 Qa5 24.Rb5 Qc3 25.Qxc3 Bxc3 26.Bc7 Bf6 27.Bxd8 Rxd8 28.Bc6 Nf8 29.Rxd8 Bxd8 30.c5 1-0

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Gibraltar 2017

January 31, 2017

Round Eight

Before going on to today’s game, two games from yesterday have got some buzz and they weren’t given in the report.

A positional queen sacrifice by Hou Yifan:

Gibraltar Masters 2017
Round 7, Jan. 30
Ider, Borya – Hou, Yifan
A47 Queen’s Indian Defence

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 b6 3.Bf4 Bb7 4.e3 g6 5.h3 Bg7 6.Be2 d6 7.c4 Nbd7 8.Nc3 O-O 9.O-O e6 10.Qc2 Nh5 11.Bh2 f5 12.d5 e5 13.g4 fxg4 14.hxg4 Nhf6 15.Ng5 Nxd5 16.Ne6 Nxc3 17.Nxd8 Nxe2+ 18.Qxe2 Bf3 19.Qd3 Nc5 20.Qa3 Rfxd8 21.e4 Rf8 22.Rae1 Bh6 23.b4 Ne6 24.c5 Nd4 25.Qd3 b5 26.Bg3 Bg5 27.a4 a6 28.Qa3 Bxg4 29.Rd1 Nf3+ 30.Kg2 dxc5 31.bxc5 h5 32.Qa2+ Kh7 33.Qd5 Rae8 34.Qc6 Re7 35.Rd3 h4 36.Bh2 bxa4 37.Qxa4 Kh6 38.Qa3 Ref7 39.Qb2 Re7 40.c6 a5 41.Rb3 Kg7 42.Rb5 h3+ 43.Kh1 Nxh2 44.Rxe5 Bf3+ 45.Kg1 Nxf1 46.Rxe7+ Kh6 47.Qg7+ Kh5 48.Qh7+ Kg4 49.Re8 Rxe8 50.Qd7+ Kh4 51.Kxf1 Rd8 52.Qh7+ Kg4 0-1

- Brilliant play by Hou Yifan. If Kxf1 Rb8!, White can't prevent mate. Rarely have a Rook and Queen on the 7th been so out of play.
- amazing
- clap, clap
- applause

Round 7, Jan. 30, 2017
Gelfand, Boris – Maze, Sebastien
E04 Catalan, open

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 c5 6.O-O Nc6 7.Qa4 Bd7 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc3 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Rc8 12.Bf4 Bc5 13.Qd3 Qb6 14.Nd2 O-O 15.Ne4 Rfd8 16.Nxc5 Bc6 17.Qb3 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Rxc5 19.Rac1 Rxc1 20.Rxc1 Nd5 21.Bg5 f6 22.Bd2 f5 23.Qc2 Rd7 24.Qc8+ Rd8 25.Qc5 Qb7 26.Qc6 Qxc6 27.Rxc6 Ne7 28.Rc2 Kf7 29.Bb4 Nd5 30.Ba5 Rd7 31.Kf3 Ne7 32.e4 a6 33.Ke3 fxe4 34.Kxe4 h5 35.Bc7 Rd1 36.Bf4 Nd5 37.Bg5 Nf6+ 38.Kf3 Rd5 39.Bd2 g5 40.Ke2 h4 41.Rc7+ Kg6 42.gxh4 gxh4 43.Rc6 Ng4 44.Rxe6+ Kf5 45.Rxa6 Nxf2 46.Rh6 Kg4 47.Be1 Nd3 48.h3+ Kxh3 49.Rxh4+ Kg2 50.Rg4+ Kh2 51.b3 Nc1+ 52.Kf1 Rf5+ 53.Bf2 Rh5 54.Rg2+ Kh1 55.Rg4 Nxa2 56.Bg3 Nc3 57.Bf4 1-0

- If you're looking for another beautiful game, check out Gelfand-Maze in Round 7, where Boris managed to weave a mating net with very limited material left on the board
________
One of the best games of today was between the top two Chinese ladies. The end came with both in time pressure. It was a real crowd-pleaser.

Round 8, Jan. 31, 2017
Hou Yifan – Ju Wenjun
C11 French, Steinitz, Boleslavsky variation

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Qd2 O-O 9.dxc5 Nxc5 10.O-O-O a6 11.Qf2 b6 12.Nd4 Qc7 13.g3 Bb7 14.Bg2 Na5 15.f5 Qxe5 16.Bf4 Qf6 17.h4 e5 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 19.Bg5 Qd6 20.Bxe7 Qxe7 21.Bxd5 exd4 22.Bxa8 Rxa8 23.Rhe1 Qc7 24.b4 Nc6 25.bxc5 bxc5 26.Qf4 Qb6 27.Qd6 h5 28.Re5 c4 29.Rde1 c3 30.Re8+ Rxe8 31.Rxe8+ Kh7 32.Qd5 d3 33.Qxd3 Nb4 34.Qe4 Qg1+ 35.Qe1 Qg2 36.Qe4 Qd2+ 0-1

So, No. 2 beat No. 1 on her 26th birthday and her live rating went above 2600 (to 2601.2, in fact).

We have the two Chinese ladies playing, the two top English playing and two who were on opposite sides in the World Champion Semi-Final in 2009.

Round 8, Jan. 31, 2017
Short, Nigel – Adams, Michael
D58 QGD, Tartakower System

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 O-O 7.e3 b6 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.O-O Nbd7 10.Qe2 c5 11.Rfd1 Ne4 12.Bg3 cxd4 13.exd4 Ndf6 14.Rac1 Rc8 15.Bxe4 Nxe4 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.Ne5 Qe8 18.f4 exf3 19.Nxf3 Bf6 20.Bd6 Be7 21.Bg3 Bf6 22.Bd6 Be7 23.Bg3 1/2-1/2

Sutovsky was Kamsky's second in his match with Topalov. Afterwards Topalov has a laughing fit talking about "premature attacks" in this game!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNjV...ature=youtu.be

Round 8, Jan. 31, 2017
Sutovsky, Emil – Topalov, Veselin
B12 Caro-Kann, Advance variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.Qxd3 e6 7.Bg5 Be7 8.Nf3 Nh6 9.Bxh6 Rxh6 10.Nbd2 Nd7 11.c3 c5 12.a3 Rc8 13.b4 cxd4 14.cxd4 Nb6 15.O-O Bxh4 16.Nxh4 Qxh4 17.Rac1 Qd8 18.Qb5+ Qd7 19.Rxc8+ Nxc8 20.Qa5 b6 21.Qa6 Ne7 22.Rc1 Kd8 23.b5 Nf5 24.Nb3 Rh8 25.a4 Ke7 26.a5 Rb8 27.axb6 axb6 28.Rc6 Qb7 29.Qa3+ Kd7 30.g3 Ke8 31.Qc1 Qe7 32.Rc7 Qd8 33.Qc6+ Kf8 34.Rd7 Qc8 35.Na5 bxa5 36.Rc7 Qd8 37.b6 Ne7 38.Qc5 a4 39.b7 a3 40.Qd6 a2 41.Rc1 Qxd6 42.exd6 Rxb7 0-1

Fabiano wins his game against Gopal:

Round 8, Jan. 31,2017
Gopal, G.N. – Caruana, Fabiano
C76 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.O-O Bg7 5.c3 a6 6.Ba4 d6 7.d4 Bd7 8.d5 Nce7 9.Bxd7+ Qxd7 10.c4 h6 11.Nc3 f5 12.Ne1 Nf6 13.f3 O-O 14.Nd3 g5 15.exf5 Qxf5 16.Nf2 b5 17.Qe2 c6 18.Nfe4 Nxe4 19.Nxe4 bxc4 20.Nxd6 Qg6 21.Nxc4 cxd5 22.Nxe5 Qe6 23.Re1 Nf5 24.Nd3 Qb6+ 25.Kh1 Rae8 26.Qf1 Rxe1 27.Nxe1 Qg6 28.Qd3 Bd4 29.g4 Re8 30.Be3 Rxe3 31.Qxf5 Qxf5 32.gxf5 Bxb2 33.Rd1 Bc3 34.Nc2 Re2 35.Nd4 Rxa2 36.Rd3 Bxd4 37.Rxd4 Ra5 38.Kg2 Kf7 39.Kg3 Kf6 40.Kg4 Rc5 41.f4 gxf4 42.Rd3 Ke5 43.Rd1 Rc4 44.Ra1 h5+ 45.Kg5 f3 46.Rf1 Rg4+ 47.Kxh5 Rf4 48.Kg5 Rxf5+ 49.Kg4 f2 50.h4 Ke4 51.h5 Rf7 52.h6 Ke3 53.Kg5 Ke2 0-1

Deac is the real thing. He looks cool under pressure.

Round 8, Jan. 31, 2017
Deac, Bogdan-Daniel – Svidler, Peter
A30 English, symmetrical

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 g6 3.e4 Bg7 4.d4 d6 5.d5 e6 6.Nc3 Ne7 7.h4 h6 8.Be3 a6 9.a4 exd5 10.cxd5 Bg4 11.Be2 f5 12.Ng1 Qb6 13.Qc2 O-O 14.Bxg4 fxg4 15.Nge2 Nd7 16.a5 Qd8 17.Nf4 b5 18.axb6 Qxb6 19.Ne6 Rfb8 20.Nxg7 Kxg7 21.Qd2 Ng8 22.Bf4 Ne5 23.Ra2 Nc4 24.Qe2 Rf8 25.Bg3 Qb3 26.O-O Nf6 27.Rc1 Rfe8 28.Raa1 a5 29.f4 gxf3 30.gxf3 Nh5 31.Bh2 Rf8 32.Qc2 Qxc2 33.Rxc2 Rxf3 34.Nb5 Ne3 35.Re2 Raf8 36.Bxd6 R8f7 37.Rae1 Ng4 38.Rg2 Ne3 39.Rge2 Ng4 40.Rg2 Ne3 1/2-1/2

Stefan Docx is a Belgian IM, born in 1974 and only five years younger than Ivanchuk.

Round 8, Jan. 31, 2017
Ivanchuk, Vassily – Docx, Stefan
C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Bb7 7.d3 Be7 8.Re1 O-O 9.Nbd2 d6 10.a3 Bc8 11.c3 Be6 12.Bc2 d5 13.exd5 Bxd5 14.Nxe5 Nxe5 15.Rxe5 c5 16.Re1 Qc7 17.Ne4 Rad8 18.Qf3 Rfe8 19.Bf4 Qc6 20.Rad1 b4 21.c4 Bxe4 22.dxe4 Rd4 23.Qe2 b3 24.Rxd4 cxd4 25.Bxb3 Bd6 26.e5 Nd7 27.Qd1 Nc5 28.exd6 Nxb3 29.Rxe8+ Qxe8 30.d7 1-0
________

The “mystery” lecturer yesterday at the Master Class, was not Carlsen, Kasparov or Trent but Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, Iranian IM and WGM. Today there are two classes with Nigel Short and with Kacper Piorun and can be watched live or on video afterwards at:

http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.co...asters.htm#top

Kacper prepared some problems for solving. The audience laughed nervously. A lecture isn’t entertaining if the lecturer gives you hard mental work!

Announcing that Short would be given the second lecture this evening, Jovanka (36 years old) called him "Uncle Nigel" (51 years old).

(to be continued)

[Dan Scoones]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Just noticed that Canadian ex-pat Stephen Boyd (now resident in France) is one of the arbiters.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Gibraltar 2017

Gibraltar 2017

January 31, 2017

Canadian Games from Round Seven

Gibraltar Masters 2017
Round 7 Jan. 30, 2017
Spraggett, Kevin – Henderson De La Fuente, Lance
E18 Queen’s Indian, old main line

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.O-O O-O 7.Re1 d5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Nc3 Na6 10.Bf4 c5 11.Rc1 Ne4 12.dxc5 Naxc5 13.Be5 Ne6 14.a3 Bf6 15.e3 Re8 16.h4 Bxe5 17.Nxe5 Qf6 18.Ng4 Qf5 19.Bh3 Kh8 20.Nxe4 dxe4 21.Qd7 Ba6 22.Rc7 Rf8 23.Rxa7 Bb5 24.Qe7 Rxa7 25.Qxa7 h5 26.Qxb6 hxg4 27.Bg2 Bd3 28.Rc1 Qe5 29.Qb7 Qb8 30.Bxe4 Bxe4 31.Qxe4 Qxb2 32.Rb1 Qxa3 33.Qxg4 Rc8 34.Qf5 Rc1+ 35.Rxc1 Qxc1+ 36.Kg2 Qc6+ 37.Kg1 Kg8 38.Kh2 Qc5 39.Qe4 g6 40.Kg1 Ng7 41.Qa8+ Kh7 42.Qb7 Qf5 43.Kg2 Ne6 44.Qf3 Qxf3+ 45.Kxf3 Kg7 46.e4 Kf6 47.Ke3 Nf8 48.f4 Ne6 1/2-1/2

Round 7, Jan. 30, 2017
Steinberg, Nitzan – Thavandiran, Shiyam
C17 French, Winawer, Advance, Bogolyubov variation

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.Bd2 Ne7 6.Nb5 Bxd2+ 7.Qxd2 O-O 8.f4 a6 9.Nd6 cxd4 10.Nf3 Nbc6 11.Bd3 f6 12.O-O fxe5 13.fxe5 Rxf3 14.Rxf3 Nxe5 15.Rh3 N7g6 16.Bxg6 Nxg6 17.Nxc8 Rxc8 18.Rf1 e5 19.Rb3 Qd7 20.Qg5 b5 21.Rbf3 Qe6 22.Rg3 Qe7 23.h4 Qxg5 24.Rxg5 Rxc2 25.h5 Nf4 26.Rxe5 Rxg2+ 27.Kh1 Rg4 28.Rf5 g5 29.hxg6 Nxg6 30.Rxd5 Nf4 31.Rf5 Ne2 32.Kh2 Kg7 33.R1f3 Nc1 34.Rf7+ Kg8 35.Rc7 Nxa2 36.Rff7 d3 37.Rfd7 Rc4 38.Rd8# 1-0

Round 7, Jan. 30, 2017
Piasetski, Leon – Ganguly, Surya Shekhar
A06 Reti Opening

1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.b3 e6 4.Bb2 Bd6 5.d4 O-O 6.Nbd2 b6 7.c4 Bb7 8.Qc2 c5 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Bd3 Nc6 11.a3 Re8 12.dxc5 bxc5 13.O-O h6 14.Bf5 Qe7 15.Rfe1 Bc8 16.Rac1 Be6 17.Bxe6 Qxe6 18.b4 c4 19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.e4 Bf4 21.exd5 Nd4 22.Nxd4 Qxd4 23.Nf3 Bxc1 24.Rxc1 Qxd5 25.Qxc4 Qxc4 26.Rxc4 Rac8 27.Rxc8 Rxc8 28.Kf1 Rc3 0-1

Round 7, Jan. 30, 2017
Plotkin, Victor – Gluckan, Paul
B22 Sicilian, Alapin’s variation

1.e4 c5 2.c3 e6 3.d4 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Be3 cxd4 7.cxd4 Be7 8.Nc3 Qd8 9.Bd3 O-O 10.O-O b6 11.Qe2 Bb7 12.Rac1 Nbd7 13.Rfd1 Nd5 14.Nxd5 Bxd5 15.Bf4 Nf6 16.Ne5 Rc8 17.a3 Rxc1 18.Rxc1 Qa8 19.f3 Rc8 20.Qd1 Bb7 21.Rxc8+ Qxc8 22.Qa4 a6 23.Qc2 Qxc2 24.Bxc2 b5 25.Bd2 Nd5 26.Kf2 h6 27.Nd3 Bd6 28.g3 Bc8 29.Ne5 Kf8 30.Bb3 Nc7 31.Nd3 Ke7 32.Ba5 Ne8 33.Bb6 Nf6 34.Bc5 Nd7 35.Bc2 Bb7 36.b4 Nf6 37.Ne5 Ne8 38.Ke3 f6 39.Nd3 Nc7 40.Bb3 Kd7 41.Nf4 Bxf4+ 42.Kxf4 Ke8 43.Ke3 Nd5+ 44.Kd2 Nc7 45.Bc2 Kf7 46.f4 f5 47.Bd1 Nd5 48.Bf3 Bc6 49.Be2 Nf6 50.a4 Ne4+ 51.Kc2 Nf6 52.Bd6 Nd5 53.a5 Nf6 54.Bc5 Nd5 55.Kd3 Nf6 56.Kd2 Nd5 57.Ke1 Bd7 58.Bf3 Bc6 59.Kf2 Bb7 60.Bd6 Bc6 61.g4 g6 62.Kg3 fxg4 63.Bxg4 Ne3 64.Bh3 Nf5+ 65.Bxf5 gxf5 66.Kf2 Bd5 67.Ke3 Kg6 68.Bf8 Kh7 1/2-1/2

Round 7, Jan. 30, 2017
Verneuil, Pascal – Agbabishvili, Lali
B20 Sicilian Defence

1.e4 c5 2.b3 Nc6 3.Bb2 d6 4.Bb5 Bd7 5.f4 a6 6.Bxc6 Bxc6 7.d3 e6 8.Nf3 b5 9.Nbd2 Ne7 10.Qe2 Bd7 11.c4 Nc6 12.O-O Qb6 13.Kh1 h6 14.Rfb1 Rg8 15.e5 b4 16.Ne4 dxe5 17.fxe5 Rd8 18.Rc1 Bc8 19.Rf1 Bb7 20.Rac1 Nd4 21.Nxd4 cxd4 22.c5 Qb5 23.Nd6+ Bxd6 24.cxd6 Rc8 25.Qf2 Rf8 26.Rxc8+ Bxc8 27.Qxd4 Bd7 28.Qa7 f5 29.Qd4 Kf7 30.Rc1 Rc8 31.Rxc8 Bxc8 32.Qc4 Bd7 33.Kg1 Ke8 34.Kf2 g5 35.Qxb5 Bxb5 36.Ke3 Kd7 37.h3 Bc6 38.g3 Bd5 39.Bc1 Bg2 40.h4 gxh4 41.gxh4 h5 42.Kd4 Kc6 43.Bf4 Bd5 44.Ke3 Kd7 45.Kd2 Bc6 46.Be3 Bd5 47.Bb6 f4 48.Ba5 Bc6 49.Bxb4 Kd8 50.d4 Be4 51.a3 Bd5 52.Ke2 Bxb3 53.Kf3 Bd1+ 54.Kxf4 Bg4 55.Kg5 Kd7 56.Ba5 Bf3 57.Bc7 Bg4 58.Kf4 Bd1 59.Ke3 Bg4 60.Kd3 Bf5+ 61.Kc4 Be4 62.Kc5 Bf3 63.Ba5 Bc6 64.Bd2 Bd5 65.Bb4 Bb3 66.Kb6 Bc4 67.Kb7 Bd3 68.a4 Bc2 1/2-1/2

Round 7, Jan. 30, 2017
Day, Christopher – Bauer, Dieter
A04 Reti

1.Nf3 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.O-O Nc6 5.d3 e5 6.c4 d6 7.Nc3 Nge7 8.a3 h6 9.Rb1 O-O 10.b4 f5 11.Bd2 g5 12.e3 g4 13.Ne1 Ng6 14.b5 Nce7 15.f4 gxf3 16.Nxf3 f4 17.Ne4 fxg3 18.Nxg3 Bg4 19.h3 Be6 20.Qe2 Qd7 21.Kh2 Rae8 22.Rf2 Qc7 23.Qe1 Nf5 24.Nxf5 Bxf5 25.e4 Bc8 26.Qe2 Nf4 27.Bxf4 Rxf4 28.Rbf1 Ref8 29.Ne1 Rxf2 30.Rxf2 Rxf2 31.Qxf2 Qf7 32.Qxf7+ Kxf7 33.Bf3 Bd7 34.Bg4 Be8 35.Bh5+ Ke7 36.Bxe8 Kxe8 37.Kg3 Kf7 38.Ng2 Bf6 39.Ne3 h5 40.Nf5 Ke6 41.Kf3 a6 42.bxa6 bxa6 43.Ng3 h4 44.Nf5 Kd7 45.Kg4 Kc6 46.Nxh4 Kb6 47.Nf5 Ka5 48.Nxd6 Ka4 49.Kf5 Bh4 50.Kxe5 Kxa3 51.Kd5 a5 52.Nb5+ Kb4 53.e5 a4 54.e6 a3 55.Nxa3 Kxa3 56.Kxc5 Be7+ 57.Kc6 Bd6 58.Kxd6 1-0