Pictures by John Saunders and Sophie Triay
The leadership in the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters has been whittled down from nine to two as Ju Wenjun (China) and Emil Sutovsky (Israel) are now the only players to have maintained maximum scores after the fourth round, played on 27 January 2017. They will meet in round five, with Ju Wenjun having the white pieces.
Emil Sutovsky beat Nikita Vitiugov in round four
The gloves were off in round four as the higher rated started to assert themselves and there were a few more decisive results amongst the leading encounters. The only significant exception was Emil Sutovsky's victory over Nikita Vitiugov, though Sutovsky's 2628 rating doesn't really reflect his true class. Like Vitiugov he is a former winner of the Tradewise Gibraltar tournament and he remains a dangerous and imaginative opponent against anyone. In their game Vitiugov went in for an exchange for two pawns sacrifice (if that can be construed as a sacrifice) which analysis engines also thought was playable, but Sutovsky demonstrated otherwise in a forceful series of moves up to the time control, neutralising Black's two bishops and establishing his own knight on a dominating square. An interesting game which includes a few exceptions to general positional principles.
The Benoni System was looking extremely comfortable for Sam Shankland who had the black pieces, until he blundered big time!
It is perhaps unchivalrous to say so but for the second day running Ju Wenjun was the beneficiary of a major blunder by her opponent. Sam Shankland had given up a piece for considerable compensation, which might have been even better but then, despite a five-minute think and still having plenty of time left until the time control, inexplicably overlooked a none too difficult tactic. The parallel between Ju Wenjun's third and fourth round games was rather spooky – both of her opponent's blunders involved capturing a hot e-pawn.
14 players are now on 3½/4 including four of the elite players, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, Mickey Adams and Boris Gelfand, and the women's world champion Hou Yifan, with the rest of the 2700+ rated players on 3.0/4. It is perhaps worth bearing in mind that last year's winner emerged from the 3.0/4 pack so everyone is still well in contention. Swiss system tournaments are all about how you fare in the home straight.
Hou Yifan coming to the playing hall with her mother Wang Qian. All of Hou Yifan's opponents have been women players! In the fifth round she is playing against Michael Adams.
Interview with Hou Yifan
Thank God I have the b2 bishop! Laurent Fressinet was able to defend against Anna Muzychuk's reckless attack and turn the tables around thanks to his powerful dark squared bishop.
The first round draw seems to have really woken up Nigel as he powered to 3.5/4, with three consecutive victories
Boris Gelfand managed to overcome G.N. Gopal and moved to 3.5/4
GM S.P. Sethuraman beat Nino Batsiashvili to move to 3.5/4
The core team of the Gibraltar Masters: Sophie Triay, Tania Sachdev, Stuart Conquest and Suzie Bath
Get the complete results + Challengers A + Amateur A
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