Gibraltar 02: Smooth wins and a few upsets

by Johannes Fischer
1/28/2016 – Most favorites had no difficulties to win in round two of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2016. Top players such as Hikaru Nakamura and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave showed smooth chess and Viswanathan Anand easily defeated German FM Matthias Bach, who in round one was close to winning against Indian GM Ganguly. But not all favorites had such a good day.

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Play in the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters starts at 15.00 local time (GMT+1) on Tuesday 26 January 2016, with live commentary from GM Simon Williams and IM Elisabeth Paehtz throughout. There is play every subsequent day at this time until Thursday 4 February 2016, when the tenth final round starts earlier at 11.00 (GMT+1). Live coverage may be found via the official website.

Watch it live on Playchess!

Pictures: John Saunders (Tournament page)

Tamas Fodor vs Hikaru Nakamura

Top seed Hikaru Nakamura played with black against GM Tamas Fodor but scored an easy win. He improved a known line of the Nimzo-Indian with 4.Qc2, seized the initiative and finally won with a nice tactical maneuver.

 

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs Valentina Gunina

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave showed his attacking skills in his game against Valentina Gunina. The French number one sacrificed two pawns and then calmly build a strong attack against which Gunina found no defense.

 

Nigel Short (Picture: Sophie Triay)

Part of being successful in open tournaments is the ability to win equal or slightly better positions. In round 2 of the Gibraltar Chess Festival Nigel Short showed how to do this.

 

GM Pentala Harikrishna (in front) follows the theoretical
debate between Erik Blomqvist and Li Chao

However, not all favorites could win their games. Chinese GM Li Chao, for instance, fell victim to a well-prepared and tactically alert opponent.

 

Natalia Pogonina

The other big upset of the round was Natalia Pogonina's win against Arkadij Naiditsch.

 

Women's World Champion Mariya Muzychuk

Former Women's World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova from Bulgaria

Natalia Zhukova...

... drew with Black against Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna

After his first round Anand did not play on the top boards but had no trouble to win against...

... German FM Matthias Bach.

 

Focused: Vishy Anand (Picture: Sophie Triay)

Ni Hua

Alexandra Kosteniuk vs Jovanka Houska

Results

Br. Nr.   Name Elo Pkt. Ergebnis Pkt.   Name Elo Nr.
1 66 GM Fodor Tamas Jr. 2500 1 0 - 1 1 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 1
2 2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2785 1 1 - 0 1 GM Gunina Valentina 2496 67
3 4 GM Harikrishna P. 2755 1 ½ - ½ 1 GM Zhukova Natalia 2484 69
4 68 GM Blomqvist Erik 2492 1 1 - 0 1 GM Li Chao B 2751 5
5 70 IM Nakar Eylon 2479 1 0 - 1 1 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2732 7
6 8 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2727 1 1 - 0 1 GM Tarjan James E 2478 71
7 72 IM Ly Moulthun 2474 1 0 - 1 1 GM Rapport Richard 2721 9
8 10 GM Fressinet Laurent 2700 1 1 - 0 1 IM Prasanna Raghuram Rao 2460 77
9 78 IM Galyas Miklos 2459 1 0 - 1 1 GM Bacrot Etienne 2697 11
10 12 GM Ni Hua 2697 1 1 - 0 1 GM Krush Irina 2458 79
11 80 WGM Pogonina Natalija 2454 1 1 - 0 1 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2696 13
12 14 GM Ragger Markus 2689 1 1 - 0 1 IM Tan Justin 2446 81
13 82 IM Kelires Andreas 2444 1 0 - 1 1 GM Howell David W L 2685 15
14 16 GM Almasi Zoltan 2684 1 1 - 0 1 IM Salomon Johan 2444 83
15 84 IM Shytaj Luca 2443 1 0 - 1 1 GM Short Nigel D 2684 17
16 18 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro 2666 1 1 - 0 1 IM Stark Lars 2440 85
17 86   Kollars Dmitrij 2436 1 ½ - ½ 1 GM Kamsky Gata 2665 19
18 20 GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof 2660 1 ½ - ½ 1 GM Akesson Ralf 2435 87
19 88 GM Tischbierek Raj 2433 1 ½ - ½ 1 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2642 23
20 92 FM Santos Ruiz Miguel 2427 1 0 - 1 1 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2639 25

...

Standings after round two

1 1 GM Nakamura Hikaru USA 2787 2,0 0 2 1,76 0,24 10 2,4
  2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2785 2,0 0 2 1,76 0,24 10 2,4
  7 GM Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2732 2,0 0 2 1,72 0,28 10 2,8
  8 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw POL 2727 2,0 0 2 1,72 0,28 10 2,8
  9 GM Rapport Richard HUN 2721 2,0 0 2 1,72 0,28 10 2,8
  10 GM Fressinet Laurent FRA 2700 2,0 0 2 1,70 0,30 10 3,0
  11 GM Bacrot Etienne FRA 2697 2,0 0 2 1,70 0,30 10 3,0
  12 GM Ni Hua CHN 2697 2,0 0 2 1,70 0,30 10 3,0
  14 GM Ragger Markus AUT 2689 2,0 0 2 1,69 0,31 10 3,1
  15 GM Howell David W L ENG 2685 2,0 0 2 1,69 0,31 10 3,1
  16 GM Almasi Zoltan HUN 2684 2,0 0 2 1,69 0,31 10 3,1
  17 GM Short Nigel D ENG 2684 2,0 0 2 1,70 0,30 10 3,0
  18 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro CUB 2666 2,0 0 2 1,68 0,32 10 3,2
  25 GM Sethuraman S.P. IND 2639 2,0 0 2 1,67 0,33 10 3,3
  28 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2625 2,0 0 2 1,64 0,36 10 3,6
  29 GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo VEN 2624 2,0 0 2 1,65 0,35 10 3,5
  32 GM Gupta Abhijeet IND 2613 2,0 0 2 1,64 0,36 10 3,6
  33 GM Lenic Luka SLO 2611 2,0 0 2 1,64 0,36 10 3,6
  36 GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2583 2,0 0 2 1,60 0,40 10 4,0
  40 GM Vazquez Igarza Renier ESP 2572 2,0 0 2 1,59 0,41 10 4,1
  41 GM Donchenko Alexander GER 2570 2,0 0 2 1,60 0,40 10 4,0
  42 GM Oparin Grigoriy RUS 2565 2,0 0 2 1,60 0,40 10 4,0
  43 IM Tari Aryan NOR 2556 2,0 0 2 1,60 0,40 10 4,0
  45 GM Lalith Babu M R IND 2553 2,0 0 2 1,60 0,40 10 4,0
  46 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra RUS 2550 2,0 0 2 1,59 0,41 10 4,1
  47 GM Muzychuk Anna UKR 2537 2,0 0 2 1,58 0,42 10 4,2
  49 GM Handke Florian Dr. GER 2533 2,0 0 2 1,59 0,41 10 4,1
  50 GM Al-Sayed Mohammed QAT 2530 2,0 0 2 1,58 0,42 10 4,2
  53 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V IND 2518 2,0 0 2 1,58 0,42 10 4,2
  54 IM Pichot Alan ARG 2517 2,0 0 2 1,58 0,42 10 4,2
  56 GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2515 2,0 0 2 1,58 0,42 10 4,2
  57 IM Gledura Benjamin HUN 2515 2,0 0 2 1,59 0,41 10 4,1
  58 GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2511 2,0 0 2 1,59 0,41 10 4,1
  59 GM Sundararajan Kidambi IND 2508 2,0 0 2 1,59 0,41 10 4,1
  60 GM Bai Jinshi CHN 2507 2,0 0 2 1,58 0,42 10 4,2
  62 WGM Tan Zhongyi CHN 2504 2,0 0 2 1,59 0,41 10 4,1
  63 GM Khotenashvili Bela GEO 2502 2,0 0 2 1,59 0,41 10 4,1
  64 WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra RUS 2502 2,0 0 2 1,82 0,18 10 1,8
  65 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. IND 2500 2,0 0 2 1,80 0,20 10 2,0
  68 GM Blomqvist Erik SWE 2492 2,0 0 2 1,08 0,92 10 9,2
  80 WGM Pogonina Natalija RUS 2454 2,0 0 2 1,10 0,90 10 9,0
  115 IM Anurag Mhamal IND 2387 2,0 0 2 1,24 0,76 10 7,6

... 250 players

ChessBase author Tania Sachdev, anchorwoman of "The Day's Play"

Episode 3

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the 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 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
 
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Topics: Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival
Johannes was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".
Discussion and Feedback Join the public discussion or submit your feedback to the editors

See also

Tradewise Gibraltar: Four-way tie

1/31/2018 – The quartet at the Tradwise Masters in Gibraltar became a quartet. Rapport beat Howell and drew with Nakamura after he played only a draw against Wang Hao. Daniil Dubov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also score 6.5 points. | Photo: Sophie Triay
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See also

Tradewise Gibraltar: Keeping up with Nakamura

1/30/2018 – English GM David Howell, is the first player to pull even with defending champ Hikaru Nakamura. After nicking the American for a draw in round six, he followed up with a win over Ivan Saric (pictured). We check in with that game and other notable results from the recent rounds. Games annotated by John Saunders. | Photo: John Saunders www.GibChess.com
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 2

Video

Play the Exchange Variation against the Caro-Kann

The Exchange Variation (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3) is a simple and easy to learn answer to the Caro-Kann. By clarifying the central tension White gives himself a clear plan of attack using the half open e-file and the e5 square. This is far from easy for Black to meet as Bobby Fischer, Jan Timman, Walter Browne and other leading Grandmasters have demonstrated in their games. Black too has his resources but he needs to know what he's doing. On this DVD you will find a clear explanation of the strategy for both sides as well as answers to popular treatments such as 4...Nc6 5.c3 Qc7. Whilst the main focus is on the White side of this opening you will also find ways for Black to defend.

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sicilian_D sicilian_D 1/29/2016 01:28
1. please include a 'column name' row in the standings table.
2. open tournaments are fun. see, only 1 of the 3 very highly rated GMs (N, V-L, and A) are in the standings list.
it is, in a different sort of a way, refreshing.
of course, being an Anand fan, i'd like him to make his way into the list, but nevertheless :)
rickmad rickmad 1/28/2016 04:46
Nice article but somehow latinamerican players are always understimated in these "experts analysis", Bruzon has also scored 2 and he's one of the leaders but as usual you always center your pics and opinions on european and asian players, and now on the american stars too. Anyway, I think they're very used to be treated as underdogs and eventualy they always get better than "ok" results, so go Bruzon!!!
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