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The traditional Gibraltar Chess Congress has begun! The 13th edition of this event is under way, but the main attraction - the Masters Section, will begin tomorrow. The Masters section entries are closed and the pairings are ready for the tournament to begin.
The Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival has traditionally been one of the strongest Opens in the World, and even though it recently has had great competition for that title (Qatar especially comes to mind) it is clear that Gibraltar still carries the torch.
Simply look at this monstrous top-30 list before the tournament starts:
| No. | Name | FED | Rtg | |
| 1 | GM | Topalov Veselin | BUL | 2800 |
| 2 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | USA | 2776 |
| 3 | GM | Svidler Peter | RUS | 2739 |
| 4 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | RUS | 2735 |
| 5 | GM | Jakovenko Dmitry | RUS | 2733 |
| 6 | GM | Yu Yangyi | CHN | 2724 |
| 7 | GM | Harikrishna P. | IND | 2723 |
| 8 | GM | Rapport Richard | HUN | 2716 |
| 9 | GM | Matlakov Maxim | RUS | 2695 |
| 10 | GM | Cheparinov Ivan | BUL | 2681 |
| 11 | GM | Rodshtein Maxim | ISR | 2680 |
| 12 | GM | Wei Yi | CHN | 2675 |
| 13 | GM | Hou Yifan | CHN | 2673 |
| 14 | GM | Jones Gawain C B | ENG | 2671 |
| 15 | GM | Howell David W L | ENG | 2670 |
| 16 | GM | Motylev Alexander | RUS | 2665 |
| 17 | GM | Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo | VEN | 2649 |
| 18 | GM | Edouard Romain | FRA | 2638 |
| 19 | GM | Sutovsky Emil | ISR | 2637 |
| 20 | GM | Bartel Mateusz | POL | 2631 |
| 21 | GM | Adhiban B. | IND | 2630 |
| 22 | GM | Bachmann Axel | PAR | 2629 |
| 23 | GM | Salgado Lopez Ivan | ESP | 2628 |
| 24 | GM | Agdestein Simen | NOR | 2626 |
| 25 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | IND | 2624 |
| 26 | GM | Naroditsky Daniel | USA | 2622 |
| 27 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | ESP | 2617 |
| 28 | GM | Lenderman Aleksandr | USA | 2614 |
| 29 | GM | Bologan Viktor | MDA | 2608 |
| 30 | GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | UAE | 2603 |
Veselin Topalov will be the top seeded player. With his excellent Olympic performance and overall good year he is currently sitting at exactly 2800... when was the last time you saw a 2800 player playing in an Open event? The answer: This is the first time in history that this happens. (Excluding, of course, rapid events).
Hikaru Nakamura is never a player that settles for second best. Him being the second seed in this event and no longer being the highest rated American player in the live rating list (Wesley So took that from him in Wijk aan Zee) he will surely be fueled up to destroy his competition and reclaim his position at the top of the American rankings.
The tournament doesn't get any easier after that: Peter Svidler, Nikita Vitiugov and Dmitry Jakovenko come up as players 3-5, all strong Russian 2730+ players.
Besides the sheer strength in rating, the tournament is full of talent from around the World. Yu Yangyi, Wei Yi and Hou Yifan will all be participating in the event, the first two carried their team towards Olympic Gold in Tromso while Hou Yifan will be looking to get her last few points that she needs to surpass Judit Polgar in rating.
Speaking of breaking rating barriers, Wei Yi (above) is only a few points away from becoming the youngest player to ever soar past 2700.
| Open to all | Category Prizes | |||
|
1st Prize |
£20,000 | Rating Range | 1st Prize | 2nd Prize |
|
2nd Prize |
£16,000 | 2550-2649 | £3,000 | £2,500 |
|
3rd Prize |
£12,000 | 2450-2549 | £2,500 | £1,500 |
|
4th Prize |
£10,000 | 2350-2449 | £2,000 | £1,000 |
|
5th Prize |
£8,000 | 2250-2349 | £2,000 | £1,000 |
|
6th Prize |
£6,000 | 2150-2249 | £2,000 | £1,000 |
|
7th Prize |
£4,000 | 2050-2149 | £2,000 | £1,000 |
|
8th Prize |
£3,000 | Under 2050 | £2,000 | £1,000 |
|
9th Prize |
£2,000 |
Note: a player not appearing for their last round game is ineligible for a rating prize.
A player may not win more than one complete prize from this table. |
||
|
10th Prize |
£1,000 | |||
|
11th Prize |
£1,000 | |||
|
12th Prize |
£1,000 | |||
The tournament attracts many of the World's top female players, and it is not hard to see why, the prize fund for them is massive:
| Open to all Women | |
|
1st Prize |
£15,000 |
|
2nd Prize |
£10,000 |
|
3rd Prize |
£5,000 |
|
4th Prize |
£3,500 |
|
5th Prize |
£2,500 |
|
6th Prize |
£2,000 |
|
7th Prize |
£1,500 |
|
8th Prize |
£1,000 |
|
9th Prize |
£600 |
|
10th Prize |
£400 |
Women can also "double dip" in the sense that if they win one of the "normal" prizes and one of the "women" prizes they will receive both.
Besides Hou Yifan, some of the top females include Ju Wenjun, the Muzychuk sisters, Pia Cramling, Antoaneta Stefanova, Irina Krush... only to name a few.
The festival is not only known for its Open section, however. There are plenty of Challenger and Amateur sections, blitz events, and overall a great fun atmosphere for the players. We will let this year's anchor, Tania Sachdev, explain in greater detail:
The tournament will have live commentary that can be followed on the official website. This year's team will be the dynamic duo of IM Elisabeth Paehtz and GM Simon Williams.
Some of the events have already begun, but the Open section will start tomorrow
The first event was a simultaneous exhibition by...
WGM Jovanka Houska and IM Salome Melia
Salome Melia and the man that makes everything happen in Gibraltar: GM Stuart Conquest
Meanwhile Tania Sachdev is busy interviewing half of Gibraltar
The opening ceremony will be tonight. We will be bringing you a report of that glamorous event alongside tomorrow's first round. For now, we leave you with the the pairings for tomorrow:
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | ||
| 1 | GM | Topalov Veselin | 2800 | 0 | 0 | FM | Sanchez Jerez Emilio Miguel | 2282 | |
| 2 | WGM | Vojinovic Jovana | 2301 | 0 | 0 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2776 | |
| 3 | GM | Svidler Peter | 2739 | 0 | 0 | WIM | Frisk Ellinor | 2266 | |
| 4 | WIM | Olsarova Tereza | 2288 | 0 | 0 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | 2735 | |
| 5 | GM | Jakovenko Dmitry | 2733 | 0 | 0 | Rydstrom Tom | 2292 | ||
| 6 | FM | Nuri Kambez | 2305 | 0 | 0 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2724 | |
| 7 | GM | Harikrishna P. | 2723 | 0 | 0 | FM | De Haan Eric | 2299 | |
| 8 | FM | Tate Alan | 2297 | 0 | 0 | GM | Rapport Richard | 2716 | |
| 9 | GM | Matlakov Maxim | 2695 | 0 | 0 | Lombaers Peter | 2291 | ||
| 10 | FM | Buchal Stephan | 2273 | 0 | 0 | GM | Cheparinov Ivan | 2681 |
LinksThe games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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