Gibraltar: Hikaru Nakamura wins after tie-break

by André Schulz
2/4/2016 – Hikaru Nakamura won the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival last year and he won it this year. But not as smoothly as before. This year after nine of ten rounds Nakamura shared the lead with seven players. By winning the last round against David Anton, he qualified for a tie-break against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Here, after four draws Nakamura won the fifth game and the tournament.
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Pictures: John Saunders, Sophie Triay (Tournament page)

Before the tenth and last round no less than eight players had chances to win the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival: after nine of ten rounds Hikaru Nakamura, David Anton, Sebastien Maze, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Pentala Harikrishna, Li Chao, Etienne Bacrot, and Sethuraman S.P. all shared the lead with 7.0/9. A multi-player tie-break was looming. However, things turned out differently: two of the four games on the top boards were decided, two ended in a draw - and thus only two players made it to the tie-breaks.

Harikrishna and Li Chao shared the point as did Bacrot and Sethuraman.

Pental Harikrishna and Li Chao

India's number two, Pentala Harikrishna had a good tournament, scored 7.5/10, won 3.5 Elo-points and in the live-rating list he is now only 5 points behind Anand.

Hikaru Nakamura played energetic chess against David Anton, won his game and was the first to qualify for the tie-break.

Nakamura-Anton

 
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1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 d6 After 3...g6 Black might have been afraid of 4.h4 Bg7 5.h5 4.Bg5 4.Nf3 g6 4...Nbd7 5.Qc2 g6 6.h4 Still... 6.e4 6...Bg7 7.0-0-0 Nakamura leaves no doubts that he wants to win. c6 8.Nh3 Eyeing the weakness e6. Nf8 8...Qa5 9.Nf4 Nf8 10.h5 Ne4 11.h6 Bxd4 12.Nxe4 fxe4 13.Bxe7 Qxa2 14.Rxd4 Qa1+ 15.Kd2 Qa5+ 16.b4 Qxb4+ 17.Kd1 Kxe7 18.Rxe4+ Ne6 19.Rh3 Re8 20.Rb3 Qa5 21.Qb2 Qf5 22.Qg7+ Kd8 23.Nxe6+ Bxe6 24.Rxb7 Qa5 25.Rxe6 Qa4+ 26.Kc1 1-0 (26) Laznicka,V (2679)-Muzychuk,M (2483) Legnica 2013 9.e3 Qa5 10.Kb1 Ne6 11.Be2 Bd7 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.g4 0-0-0 13...Bxh4 14.d5 14.gxf5 Qxf5 15.Bd3 Qf8 16.f4 0-0-0 14...Nc5 15.g5 and the bishop h4 is slightly misplaced. 14.gxf5 gxf5 14...Qxf5 was not to Black's taste, perhaps because of 15.Bd3 Qa5 16.f4 15.Bd3 Kb8 16.Ne2 Not 16.Bxf5? because of Nxd4-+ 16...Bxh4 17.Bxf5 Bf6
18.e4 Black is under pressure and finds no adequate defense. c5 19.d5 Nc7 20.Bxd7 Rxd7
21.f4± with a clear space advantage for White. Okay, the bishop f6 is very active and throws threatening glances at White's position but Nakamura soon takes measures to limit its possibilities. Rhd8 Trying to prevent e5, but the two rooks behind the d-pawn lack elegance. 22.Nf2 b5 23.Ng4 Bh8 24.Rxh7 Qb4 25.Ne3 a6 After 25...bxc4 26.Nxc4 Nb5 fails because of 27.a3 and Black's queen is trapped. 26.a3 Qa5 27.Nf5 Re8 28.e5 After the interlude on the wings White again concentrates on the center. bxc4 29.Rdh1 Asking the bishop h8 a question - to which there is no satisfying response. Nb5 29...Rdd8 does not help either: 30.Nxe7 Rxe7 31.Rxe7 Nxd5 32.Reh7+- 30.a4 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nakamura,H-Anton Guijarro,D-1–02016A85Gibraltar Masters 201610.1

Things were a bit more difficult for Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who was playing with Black against his countryman Sebastien Maze. The game was roughly balanced for a long time but then Vachier-Lagrave managed to exert some pressure and finally came up with a nice tactical surprise which gave him the game - and a tie-break duel against Nakamura.

Mazé vs Vachier-Lagrave

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Bxd7+ Bxd7 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Nc3 e5 9.Qd3 h6 10.Nd2 The main move is 10.a4 10...b5 11.a3 11.a4 Rb8 12.Rd1 Be7 13.axb5 axb5 14.Nf1 b4 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.Qxd5 0-0 17.Ne3 Be6 18.Qd3 Qc7 19.Bd2 Rfc8 20.c3 bxc3 21.Bxc3 Qb7 22.Nd5 Bg5 23.h3 Ra8 24.Ne3 Bxe3 25.Qxe3 Rxa1 26.Rxa1 Ra8 27.Rxa8+ Qxa8 28.f3 Qc6 29.Kf2 f6 30.Kg1 Qc5 31.Qxc5 dxc5 1/2-1/2 (31) Anand,V (2816)-Topalov,V (2816) Saint Louis 2015 11...Be7 11...Be6 12.Re1 Qa5 13.b3 Rd8 14.Bb2 Be7 15.Nf1 0-0 16.Ne3 Qc7 17.Rad1 Rc8 18.Re2 Qc5 19.a4 b4 20.Ncd5 Nxd5 21.exd5 Bd7 22.Qxa6 f5 23.Nc4 f4 24.Ree1 Bf5 25.Rd2 f3 26.Bd4 exd4 27.Rxe7 d3 28.cxd3 Qd4 29.Rd1 fxg2 30.Qa7 Qf6 31.Qe3 Bg4 32.Re1 Bf3 33.Nb6 Rcd8 34.a5 Qh4 35.a6 Kh7 36.a7 Rf5 37.Re4 Bxe4 38.dxe4 Rff8 39.Ra1 Qf6 40.e5 1-0 (40) Yudasin,L (2635)-Svidler,P (2630) Haifa 1996 12.Rd1 Bg4 13.f3 Qb6+ 14.Kh1 Be6 15.Nf1 0-0 16.Ne3 White wants to occupy the d5-square. Rac8 17.Qe2 Rc5 18.Bd2 Rfc8 19.Be1 Qb7 20.Rd2 a5 21.Bf2 b4 22.Na4 R5c6 23.Nd5
23...Bd8 The engines think that 23...Bxd5 is quite playable: 24.exd5 Nxd5 25.Rxd5 Rxc2 26.Rd2 b3 27.Nc3 d5 28.Rxc2 bxc2 29.Qxc2 d4= 24.b3 bxa3 25.Qd1
25...Ra6 Also worth considering was 25...Bxd5!? 26.exd5 Nxd5 27.Rxd5 Rxc2 and White has to be careful: 28.Nc5 28.Bg1 Bg5-+ 28...Qa8 29.Bg1 29.Qxc2 Qxd5 30.Rxa3 30.Qe4 Qxe4 31.Nxe4 d5-+ 30...dxc5 with two extra-pawns. 29...Bb6 30.Qxc2 Qxd5 31.Qe4 Qxe4 32.Nxe4= 26.Rxa3 Nxd5 27.exd5 Bf5 28.c4 Bg5 29.Rda2 e4 30.fxe4 Bxe4 31.Nc3 Bf5 32.Nb5 Bd7 33.Nc3
The critical part of the game: Black obtains good play and various hidden tactical possibilities. Objectively the position might still be equal but White now gradually loses his grip. 33...Re8 34.h3 Qb4 Eyeing not only b3 but also e1. 35.Qc2 35.Bd4 was better. Be3 36.Ra1= 35...Be3 36.Nd1 Bc5 37.Kh2 Re1 White was caught by surprise and commits a mistake. 38.Ra4? A creative idea which, however, does not work. 38.Bxe1?! Qxe1 threatens mate. But White still has 39.Nf2 Bxa3 40.Rxa3 Ra8 41.Ra2 Qe5+ 42.g3 Bf5 though Black here has a strong initiative. 38.Nb2 Bxf2 39.Qxf2 Qc3 40.Nd3! Re4 41.Qg3 and White seems to hold. 38...Bxa4 39.Rxa4 If Black now had to move his queen things would be fine for White, but... Bxf2! 40.Rxb4 Bg1+ 41.Kg3 axb4 42.Qd2 The black pieces dominate in all lines, e. g.: 42.Nb2 Ra2-+ 42.Nf2 Re3+ 43.Kf4 Rc3 44.Qe2 Bh2+ 45.Kf5 Ra7 46.Ng4 Be5 47.Nxe5 Re7-+ 42...Re8 43.Qxb4 Rb6 43...Rb6 44.Qc3 Reb8 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Maze,S-Vachier-Lagrave,M-0–12016B51Gibraltar Masters 201610.2

The tie-break between Nakamura and Vachier-Lagrave was close and exciting. After four draws the fifth game was played in Armageddon mode to force a decision: Nakamura won the game, the tie-break and the tournament.

And the winner is: ... Hikaru Nakamura

The fifth and decisive tie-break game

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 0-0 9.Nc3 Ne8 10.Nd5 Bd6 11.Re1 c6 12.Ne3 Be7 13.c4 Bf6 14.d4 d5 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.g3 Be6 17.Bg2 Nc7 18.b3 Qd7 19.Ba3 Rfe8 20.Rc1 Nb5 21.Bb2 Rac8 22.Qd3 Nc7 23.Re2 g6 24.Rce1 Bg7 25.h4 h5 26.Bf3 Red8 27.Ng2 Bf5 28.Qd2 Re8 29.Rxe8+ Nxe8 30.Ne3 Be4 31.Bxe4 dxe4 32.d5 Bxb2 33.Qxb2 Nd6 34.Qf6 Qd8 35.Qf4 Kg7
36.g4 White is getting active but this only brings trouble for him. 36.Nc4 Nxc4 37.bxc4 Rxc4 38.Rxe4= 36...Qf6 36...hxg4 37.h5 37.Nxg4 Qxh4 37.Qxg4 f5 37...f5 is also OK for Black. 37.Qg3 Exchanging queens with 37.Qxf6+ Kxf6 38.gxh5 gxh5 39.Kh2 Rg8 gives Black a better endgame. His king is more active. 37...hxg4 38.Nxg4? Correct was 38.h5 Nf5 38...gxh5? allows 39.Qxd6 Qxd6 40.Nf5+± winning a piece. 39.Nxg4= 38...Qc3 Forcing liquidation into an endgame that is better for Black. 39.Qxd6? White's attack is an illusion. 39.Qxc3+ Rxc3 40.Ne3 f5 39...Qxe1+ 40.Kg2 Qc3 41.Ne5 Qc7 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vachier-Lagrave,M2785Nakamura,H27870–12016C67Gibraltar Masters TB5

All tie-break games

 
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1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 d5 7.exd6 c4 8.Bc2 Qxd6 9.0-0 Bg4 10.h3 Bh5 11.Re1 e6 12.b3 Be7 13.Qe2 cxb3 14.axb3 0-0 15.d4 Rfd8 16.Bxh7+ Kxh7 17.Ng5+ Bxg5 18.Qxh5+ Bh6 19.Bxh6 gxh6 20.Qxf7+ Kh8 21.Qf6+ Kh7 22.Qf7+ Kh8 23.Rxe6 Rf8 24.Rxd6 Rxf7 25.d5 Rd8 26.Rxd8+ Nxd8 27.c4 a6 28.Nc3 Re7 29.c5 Nd7 30.c6 bxc6 31.Rxa6 Nb8 32.Rb6 Rb7 33.Rxb7 Nxb7 34.dxc6 Nxc6 35.Nd5 Kg7 36.b4 Nd6 37.g4 Kf7 38.Kg2 Ke6 39.Nc7+ Kd7 40.Na6 Ke6 41.f4 Kd5 42.f5 Ke5 43.Kg3 h5 44.Nc5 Nxf5+ ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nakamura,H2787Vachier-Lagrave,M2785½–½2016B22Gibraltar Masters TB1
Vachier-Lagrave,M2785Nakamura,H2787½–½2016C67Gibraltar Masters TB2
Vachier-Lagrave,M2785Nakamura,H2787½–½2016C67Gibraltar Masters TB3
Nakamura,H2787Vachier-Lagrave,M2785½–½2016B92Gibraltar Masters TB4
Vachier-Lagrave,M2785Nakamura,H27870–12016C67Gibraltar Masters TB5

With a score of 6.5/10 and a rating-performance of 2541 former World Champion Vishy Anand had a dismal tournament. However, he managed to end it with a fine win against Swedish GM Erik Blomqvist.

Anand won with Black against the Najdorf with Bc4 - a favorite of Bobby Fischer.

Grigoriy Oparin and Nigel Short drew

The best woman-player was Anna Muzychuk, who won in the last round against GM Salem A.R. Saleh to finish on 17th place with 7.0/10.

Results of round ten

Bo. No.   Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts.   Name Rtg No.
1 1 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 7 1 - 0 7 GM Anton Guijarro David 2639 24
2 35 GM Maze Sebastien 2591 7 0 - 1 7 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2785 2
3 4 GM Harikrishna P. 2755 7 ½ - ½ 7 GM Li Chao B 2751 5
4 11 GM Bacrot Etienne 2697 7 ½ - ½ 7 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2639 25
5 6 GM Yu Yangyi 2747 6½ 0 - 1 6½ GM Jones Gawain C B 2625 28
6 7 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2732 6½ ½ - ½ 6½ GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2642 23
7 26 GM Grandelius Nils 2635 6½ ½ - ½ 6½ GM Ragger Markus 2689 14
8 22 GM Sutovsky Emil 2647 6½ 1 - 0 6½ GM Bachmann Axel 2610 34
9 45 GM Lalith Babu M R 2553 6½ 0 - 1 6 GM Rapport Richard 2721 9
10 8 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2727 6 ½ - ½ 6 IM Tari Aryan 2556 43
11 37 GM Tregubov Pavel V. 2582 6 0 - 1 6 GM Fressinet Laurent 2700 10
12 38 GM Grigoriants Sergey 2580 6 ½ - ½ 6 GM Ni Hua 2697 12
13 39 GM Perez Ponsa Federico 2577 6 1 - 0 6 GM Howell David W L 2685 15
14 16 GM Almasi Zoltan 2684 6 1 - 0 6 GM Gopal G.N. 2525 51
15 42 GM Oparin Grigoriy 2565 6 ½ - ½ 6 GM Short Nigel D 2684 17
16 44 GM Muzychuk Mariya 2554 6 0 - 1 6 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro 2666 18
17 116 WIM Shvayger Yuliya 2381 6 0 - 1 6 GM Kamsky Gata 2665 19
18 20 GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof 2660 6 ½ - ½ 6 WGM Tan Zhongyi 2504 62
19 55 GM Libiszewski Fabien 2515 6 ½ - ½ 6 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2660 21
20 47 GM Muzychuk Anna 2537 6 1 - 0 6 GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2627 27

...

This year the first women's prize was 15,000 pounds and this convinced
almost all top-women players that Gibraltar was worth a trip and a try.

Anna Muzychuk

Bela Kotenashvili

Tan Zonqyi

Natalia Pogonina (left, with White) starts her battle
against Alexandra Kosteniuk, her colleague in Russia's national team.

Final standings after ten rounds

Rk. SNo   Name FED Rtg Pts.  TB1  rtg+/-
1 2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2785 8,0 2838 6,8
2 1 GM Nakamura Hikaru USA 2787 8,0 2811 3,4
3 11 GM Bacrot Etienne FRA 2697 7,5 2786 10,3
4 25 GM Sethuraman S.P. IND 2639 7,5 2781 19,4
5 4 GM Harikrishna P. IND 2755 7,5 2773 3,5
6 28 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2625 7,5 2730 14,2
7 5 GM Li Chao B CHN 2751 7,5 2721 -1,3
8 22 GM Sutovsky Emil ISR 2647 7,5 2628 -0,9
9 14 GM Ragger Markus AUT 2689 7,0 2737 7,6
10 32 GM Gupta Abhijeet IND 2613 7,0 2716 15,0
  35 GM Maze Sebastien FRA 2591 7,0 2716 16,9
12 7 GM Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2732 7,0 2711 -1,1
13 24 GM Anton Guijarro David ESP 2639 7,0 2706 10,7
14 18 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro CUB 2666 7,0 2703 5,9
15 26 GM Grandelius Nils SWE 2635 7,0 2692 9,5
16 9 GM Rapport Richard HUN 2721 7,0 2682 -3,6
17 47 GM Muzychuk Anna UKR 2537 7,0 2677 17,5
18 23 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2642 7,0 2675 5,7
19 16 GM Almasi Zoltan HUN 2684 7,0 2662 -1,9
20 30 GM Edouard Romain FRA 2617 7,0 2650 5,5
21 39 GM Perez Ponsa Federico ARG 2577 7,0 2628 8,0
22 10 GM Fressinet Laurent FRA 2700 7,0 2624 -7,7
23 19 GM Kamsky Gata USA 2665 7,0 2612 -5,3
24 33 GM Lenic Luka SLO 2611 6,5 2693 10,7
25 57 IM Gledura Benjamin HUN 2515 6,5 2691 24,2
26 43 IM Tari Aryan NOR 2556 6,5 2676 17,0
27 8 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw POL 2727 6,5 2670 -6,2
28 6 GM Yu Yangyi CHN 2747 6,5 2657 -9,2
29 12 GM Ni Hua CHN 2697 6,5 2643 -6,0
30 45 GM Lalith Babu M R IND 2553 6,5 2641 12,8
31 56 GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2515 6,5 2637 17,0
32 38 GM Grigoriants Sergey RUS 2580 6,5 2629 6,7
33 42 GM Oparin Grigoriy RUS 2565 6,5 2608 6,5
34 62 WGM Tan Zhongyi CHN 2504 6,5 2600 13,8
35 34 GM Bachmann Axel PAR 2610 6,5 2592 -1,1
36 20 GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof POL 2660 6,5 2590 -7,9
  60 GM Bai Jinshi CHN 2507 6,5 2590 11,9
38 82 IM Kelires Andreas CYP 2444 6,5 2579 18,8
39 36 GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2583 6,5 2577 0,2
40 55 GM Libiszewski Fabien FRA 2515 6,5 2575 8,6
41 3 GM Anand Viswanathan IND 2784 6,5 2568 -21,9
42 17 GM Short Nigel D ENG 2684 6,5 2565 -13,0
43 130 IM Wemmers Xander NED 2352 6,5 2547 24,9
44 84 IM Shytaj Luca ITA 2443 6,5 2543 14,5
45 21 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar IND 2660 6,5 2532 -14,1
46 112 IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat IRI 2392 6,5 2528 17,6
47 53 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V IND 2518 6,5 2517 1,4
48 122   Herman Matthew J USA 2370 6,5 2454 13,3
49 40 GM Vazquez Igarza Renier ESP 2572 6,0 2640 8,1
50 58 GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2511 6,0 2617 15,1

... 250 players

I

ChessBase author Tania Sachdev follows the tournament as anchorwoman of "The Day's Play"

Episode 11

All videos from Gibraltar...

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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