Gibraltar: Another January tradition

17th Gibraltar Masters

On Tuesday, this year's Gibraltar International Chess Festival starts in Gibraltar, as always with an excellent cast. Nearly 250 players take part in the Masters, fourteen of whom have an Elo rating over 2700, including absolute world-class players such as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, Wesley So, Yu Yangyi and Hikaru Nakamura. The tournament seems to grow stronger every year.

Another longstanding trend is the significant participation of women in the Open, as excellent special prizes for the best women in the field have been a regular feature since its inception. World Champion Ju Wenjun leads the ranks of the top female grandmasters. Anna and Mariya Muzychuk, Kateryna Lagno, Humpy Koneru and Aleksandra Goryachkina are all further candidates for the dedicated prize of GBP £15,000 (about EUR €17,000). The winner of the tournament gets £25,000 (around EUR €28,350).

In addition to the Masters, there are two groups of Challengers and two Amateurs tournaments are offered.

Improve your Tactics

The aim of this course is to help you understand how to make tactical opportunities arise as well as to sharpen your tactical vision - these selected lectures will help to foster your overall tactical understanding.

IM Tania Sachdev previews the 2019 festival | Photo: John Saunders

Amid the opening festivities at the Caleta Hotel, Wesley So and Kateryna Lagno gave simultaneous exhibitions.

Lagno simul

Simultaneous exhibition

Wesley So

Wesley So and Kateryna Lagno with Ryan Lane (son of IM Gary Lane) | Photo: John Saunders

Players starting rank (top 40)

No.		Name	FideID	FED	Rtg
1	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	623539	FRA	2780
2	GM	Aronian Levon	13300474	ARM	2767
3	GM	So Wesley	5202213	USA	2765
4	GM	Yu Yangyi	8603820	CHN	2764
5	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2016192	USA	2749
6	GM	Navara David	309095	CZE	2738
7	GM	Naiditsch Arkadij	4650891	AZE	2734
8	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	4152956	RUS	2720
9	GM	Le Quang Liem	12401137	VIE	2714
10	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	14100010	UKR	2713
11	GM	Artemiev Vladislav	24101605	RUS	2709
12	GM	Mamedov Rauf	13401653	AZE	2703
13	GM	Adams Michael	400041	ENG	2701
14	GM	Matlakov Maxim	4168003	RUS	2700
15	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2905540	GEO	2691
16	GM	Jones Gawain C B	409561	ENG	2691
17	GM	Saric Ivan	14508150	CRO	2690
18	GM	Adhiban B.	5018471	IND	2689
19	GM	Howell David W L	410608	ENG	2685
20	GM	Grandelius Nils	1710400	SWE	2682
21	GM	Eljanov Pavel	14102951	UKR	2680
22	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	5021596	IND	2665
23	GM	Melkumyan Hrant	13302485	ARM	2660
24	GM	Short Nigel D	400025	ENG	2648
25	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	13300580	USA	2643
26	GM	Edouard Romain	633429	FRA	2643
27	GM	Anton Guijarro David	2285525	ESP	2642
28	GM	Alekseenko Kirill	4135539	RUS	2637
29	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo	3901211	VEN	2637
30	GM	Indjic Aleksandar	911925	SRB	2630
31	GM	Vocaturo Daniele	813192	ITA	2626
32	GM	Tari Aryan	1510045	NOR	2625
33	GM	Moussard Jules	642908	FRA	2605
34	GM	Donchenko Alexander	24603295	GER	2604
35	GM	Jumabayev Rinat	13702661	KAZ	2604
36	GM	Lagarde Maxime	662399	FRA	2604
37	GM	Deac Bogdan-Daniel	1226380	ROU	2603
38	GM	Papp Gabor	718602	HUN	2603
39	GM	Maze Sebastien	613762	FRA	2596
40	GM	Svane Rasmus	4657101	GER	2594