Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
The first of many fun night competitions in Gibraltar was the team blitz tournament. Anyone could participate as long as the team had four participants, the matches were played 4v4 more or less the same way the Olympiad works.
David Howell and Harika Dronavalli warming up
Tania Sachdev deep in concentration
Some people took the event more seriously than others. IM Lawrence Trent.
The Ivans: Salgado (right) and Cheparinov...
along with Stefanova and Felgaer they were the top seeded team
"Los Chalgueros". They won the event convincingly.
The teams had some interesting names... You can click on the links for the team compositions
| Rk. | Team | Games | + | = | - | TB1 |
| 1 | Los Chalgueros | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 11 |
| 2 | 2 Good Un's, ginger, alan | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 3 | UR-Anuus | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 4 | El Oso | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 5 | Puzzles | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| 6 | What's there in the name it's just a gam | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 7 | Bolb | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 8 | Borgerhout A | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 9 | NTG | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 10 | Eib | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
Before we delve into the action of round four, we have two Master Classes available for you! These are recordings done after the round in Gibraltar that are incredibly insightful, we recommend both of them! The first of these is with GM Richard Rapport and the second with GM Veselin Topalov.
The Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo taking a look at the tournament
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | ||
| 1 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2776 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | GM | Grandelius Nils | 2602 |
| 2 | GM | Roiz Michael | 2592 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Harikrishna P. | 2723 |
| 3 | GM | Vazquez Igarza Renier | 2592 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | GM | Rodshtein Maxim | 2680 |
| 4 | GM | Wei Yi | 2675 | 3 | 1 - 0 | 3 | GM | Ju Wenjun | 2547 |
| 5 | GM | Hou Yifan | 2673 | 3 | ½ - ½ | 3 | GM | Lalith Babu M.R. | 2537 |
| 6 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | 2515 | 3 | 0 - 1 | 3 | GM | Adhiban B. | 2630 |
| 7 | GM | Svidler Peter | 2739 | 2½ | 1 - 0 | 3 | IM | Kjartansson Gudmundur | 2468 |
| 8 | GM | Topalov Veselin | 2800 | 2½ | 1 - 0 | 2½ | GM | Stefansson Hannes | 2573 |
| 9 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | 2735 | 2½ | ½ - ½ | 2½ | GM | Bok Benjamin | 2572 |
| 10 | GM | Bogner Sebastian | 2565 | 2½ | ½ - ½ | 2½ | GM | Jakovenko Dmitry | 2733 |
| 11 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2724 | 2½ | 1 - 0 | 2½ | GM | Sengupta Deep | 2569 |
| 12 | GM | Jones Gawain C B | 2671 | 2½ | 0 - 1 | 2½ | GM | Oparin Grigoriy | 2551 |
| 13 | GM | Mikhalevski Victor | 2571 | 2½ | 0 - 1 | 2½ | GM | Howell David W L | 2670 |
| 14 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 2544 | 2½ | ½ - ½ | 2½ | GM | Salgado Lopez Ivan | 2628 |
| 15 | GM | Naroditsky Daniel | 2622 | 2½ | ½ - ½ | 2½ | GM | Spraggett Kevin | 2538 |
| 16 | GM | Popilski Gil | 2522 | 2½ | 0 - 1 | 2½ | GM | Anton Guijarro David | 2617 |
| 17 | GM | Lenderman Aleksandr | 2614 | 2½ | 1 - 0 | 2½ | GM | Boruchovsky Avital | 2517 |
| 18 | GM | Tarjan James E | 2518 | 2½ | 0 - 1 | 2½ | GM | Bologan Viktor | 2608 |
| 19 | GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | 2603 | 2½ | 1 - 0 | 2½ | GM | Blomqvist Erik | 2520 |
| 20 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2595 | 2½ | ½ - ½ | 2½ | GM | Vishnu Prasanna. V | 2463 |
Four players managed to remain perfect after a tough fourth round. Hikaru Nakamura keeps showing great class and was able to convert a good position against Nils Grandelius.
Hikaru Nakamura wants to win Gibraltar, and in doing so regain his spot as the top American
A crucial mistake in the queen endgame cost Maxim Rodshtein a full point against Renier Vazquez Igarza. Wei Yi seemed to use a crazy amount of time against Ju Wenjun, falling to minutes before his 18th move, but he pulled himself together and outplayed his opponent to join the leaders. Finally Baskaran Adhiban's greed against Antoaneta Stefanova paid off.
The World Women's Champion and the youngest player to break 2700 side-by-side
Ju Wenjun was Wei Yi's lates victim
The list of 3.5/4 is impressive: Topalov and Svidler head it in rating, but there are also big names such as Yu Yangyi, Harikrishna and Hou Yifan in the mix. Vitiugov and Jakovenko both sit on 3.0/4.
| Rk. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. |
| 1 | Nakamura Hikaru | USA | 2776 | 4.0 |
| 2 | Wei Yi | CHN | 2675 | 4.0 |
| 3 | Adhiban B. | IND | 2630 | 4.0 |
| 4 | Vazquez Igarza Renier | ESP | 2592 | 4.0 |
| 5 | Harikrishna P. | IND | 2723 | 3.5 |
| 6 | Yu Yangyi | CHN | 2724 | 3.5 |
| 7 | Oparin Grigoriy | RUS | 2551 | 3.5 |
| 8 | Topalov Veselin | BUL | 2800 | 3.5 |
| 9 | Lalith Babu M.R. | IND | 2537 | 3.5 |
| 10 | Hou Yifan | CHN | 2673 | 3.5 |
| 11 | Svidler Peter | RUS | 2739 | 3.5 |
| 12 | Howell David W L | ENG | 2670 | 3.5 |
| 13 | Roiz Michael | ISR | 2592 | 3.5 |
| 14 | Lenderman Aleksandr | USA | 2614 | 3.5 |
| 15 | Anton Guijarro David | ESP | 2617 | 3.5 |
| 16 | Salem A.R. Saleh | UAE | 2603 | 3.5 |
| 17 | Bologan Viktor | MDA | 2608 | 3.5 |
| 18 | Kjartansson Gudmundur | ISL | 2468 | 3.0 |
| 19 | Vitiugov Nikita | RUS | 2735 | 3.0 |
| 20 | Jakovenko Dmitry | RUS | 2733 | 3.0 |
The two top matches will determine if a leader emerges or if the crowd will catch up with them. Two draws would let too many people catch up with the current four leaders.
Select games from the dropdown menu above the board
All photos by Sophie Triay and John Saunders from the Official Website
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. |
|
