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.
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...
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.
Johannes FischerJohannes Fischer 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".
2nd Move Anti-Sicilian Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 12090 games from Mega 2025 or the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 874 are annotated.
Ruy Lopez Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 12092 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 1276 are annotated.
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