Gibraltar 04: Ragger and Bacrot take the lead

by Johannes Fischer
1/30/2016 – After three rounds eleven players shared the lead with 3.0/3 at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2016, after four rounds only two remain at the top: Markus Ragger from Austria and Etienne Bacrot from France. Ragger won with White against Anna Muzychuk while Bacrot beat Aleksandra Goryachkina with Black. The other top boards all drew.

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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, Sophie Triay (Tournament page)

Markus Ragger kept his 100% result by playing a straightforward positional game against Anna Muzychuk.

 

Markus Ragger

Anna Muzychuk

Etienne Bacrot had a tough and interesting positional battle against Aleksandra Goryachkina, in which he showed a feeling for unexpected pawn-breaks.

 

The beginning of the battle between Aleksandra Goryachkina and Etienne Bacrot

A couple of hours later

Results

Bo. No.   Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts.   Name Rtg No.
1 2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2785 3 ½ - ½ 3 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2639 25
2 33 GM Lenic Luka 2611 3 ½ - ½ 3 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2732 7
3 58 GM Harika Dronavalli 2511 3 ½ - ½ 3 GM Rapport Richard 2721 9
4 64 WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra 2502 3 0 - 1 3 GM Bacrot Etienne 2697 11
5 14 GM Ragger Markus 2689 3 1 - 0 3 GM Muzychuk Anna 2537 47
6 4 GM Harikrishna P. 2755 2½ 1 - 0 3 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2500 65
7 40 GM Vazquez Igarza Renier 2572 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 1
8 42 GM Oparin Grigoriy 2565 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 3
9 6 GM Yu Yangyi 2747 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Maze Sebastien 2591 35
10 8 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2727 2½ 1 - 0 2½ GM Tregubov Pavel V. 2582 37
11 12 GM Ni Hua 2697 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Donchenko Alexander 2570 41
12 44 GM Muzychuk Mariya 2554 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Howell David W L 2685 15
13 16 GM Almasi Zoltan 2684 2½ 1 - 0 2½ GM Lalith Babu M R 2553 45
14 18 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro 2666 2½ 1 - 0 2½ GM Handke Florian Dr. 2533 49
15 56 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2515 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Kamsky Gata 2665 19
16 20 GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof 2660 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Gopal G.N. 2525 51
17 80 WGM Pogonina Natalija 2454 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2660 21
18 24 GM Anton Guijarro David 2639 2½ ½ - ½ 2½ IM Gledura Benjamin 2515 57
19 26 GM Grandelius Nils 2635 2½ 1 - 0 2½ GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2508 59
20 28 GM Jones Gawain C B 2625 2½ 1 - 0 2½ GM Khotenashvili Bela 2502 63
21 30 GM Edouard Romain 2617 2½ 1 - 0 2½ WGM Tan Zhongyi 2504 62
22 32 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2613 2½ 1 - 0 2½ IM Anurag Mhamal 2387 115
23 92 FM Santos Ruiz Miguel 2427 2 0 - 1 2 GM Li Chao B 2751 5
24 10 GM Fressinet Laurent 2700 2 1 - 0 2 FM Neef Maximilian 2423 93
25 94 IM Nezad Husein Aziz 2422 2 ½ - ½ 2 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2696 13
26 96 IM Esserman Marc 2419 2 1 - 0 2 GM Short Nigel D 2684 17
27 98 IM Holm Kristian Stuvik 2417 2 0 - 1 2 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2642 23
28 100 IM Teran Alvarez Ismael 2416 2 0 - 1 2 GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2627 27
29 112 IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat 2392 2 ½ - ½ 2 GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo 2624 29
30 114 FM Hauge Lars Oskar 2388 2 ½ - ½ 2 GM Erdos Viktor 2613 31
31 34 GM Bachmann Axel 2610 2 1 - 0 2 IM Ben Artzi Ido 2418 97
32 36 GM Sandipan Chanda 2583 2 1 - 0 2 FM Csonka Balazs 2415 101
33 38 GM Grigoriants Sergey 2580 2 1 - 0 2 FM Rydl Jiri 2412 103
34 116 WIM Shvayger Yuliya 2381 2 ½ - ½ 2 GM Perez Ponsa Federico 2577 39
35 118 FM Gulamali Kazim 2379 2 0 - 1 2 IM Tari Aryan 2556 43
36 46 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2550 2 ½ - ½ 2 IM Codenotti Marco 2406 107
37 48 GM Demuth Adrien 2535 2 1 - 0 2 IM Galinsky Timofey 2379 117
38 50 GM Al-Sayed Mohammed 2530 2 ½ - ½ 2 IM Gaponenko Inna 2393 111
39 122   Herman Matthew J 2370 2 0 - 1 2 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V 2518 53
40 54 IM Pichot Alan 2517 2 0 - 1 2 IM Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 2374 120
41 60 GM Bai Jinshi 2507 2 1 - 0 2 IM Quillan Gary 2369 124
42 126 FM Kavutskiy Konstantin 2360 2 0 - 1 2 GM Gunina Valentina 2496 67
43 68 GM Blomqvist Erik 2492 2 0 - 1 2   Siva Mahadevan 2370 123
44 72 IM Ly Moulthun 2474 2 1 - 0 2 IM Bitensky Igor 2362 125
45 130 IM Wemmers Xander 2352 2 ½ - ½ 2 IM Prasanna Raghuram Rao 2460 77
46 131 WGM Vojinovic Jovana 2352 2 ½ - ½ 2 GM Krush Irina 2458 79
47 137 WGM Pourkashiyan Atousa 2338 2 ½ - ½ 2 IM Tan Justin 2446 81
48 82 IM Kelires Andreas 2444 2 1 - 0 2 IM Vuilleumier Alexandre 2356 128
49 84 IM Shytaj Luca 2443 2 1 - 0 2 GM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan 2346 133
50 90 IM Almagro Llamas Pablo 2429 2 1 - 0 2 IM Perez Garcia Rodney Oscar 2332 141
51 173   Pinho Paulo 2197 2 0 - 1 2 IM Padmini Rout 2427 91

...

Standings

Rk. SNo   Name FED Rtg Pts.  TB1 
1 14 GM Ragger Markus AUT 2689 4,0 3259
2 11 GM Bacrot Etienne FRA 2697 4,0 3254
3 2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2785 3,5 2855
4 25 GM Sethuraman S.P. IND 2639 3,5 2835
5 7 GM Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2732 3,5 2834
6 8 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw POL 2727 3,5 2826
7 58 GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2511 3,5 2818
8 33 GM Lenic Luka SLO 2611 3,5 2811
9 4 GM Harikrishna P. IND 2755 3,5 2800
  9 GM Rapport Richard HUN 2721 3,5 2800
11 16 GM Almasi Zoltan HUN 2684 3,5 2796
12 18 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro CUB 2666 3,5 2785
13 28 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2625 3,5 2763
14 30 GM Edouard Romain FRA 2617 3,5 2742
15 32 GM Gupta Abhijeet IND 2613 3,5 2730
16 26 GM Grandelius Nils SWE 2635 3,5 2714
17 42 GM Oparin Grigoriy RUS 2565 3,0 2742
18 1 GM Nakamura Hikaru USA 2787 3,0 2699
19 80 WGM Pogonina Natalija RUS 2454 3,0 2697
20 47 GM Muzychuk Anna UKR 2537 3,0 2687
21 12 GM Ni Hua CHN 2697 3,0 2667
22 56 GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2515 3,0 2664
23 57 IM Gledura Benjamin HUN 2515 3,0 2656
24 15 GM Howell David W L ENG 2685 3,0 2654
25 40 GM Vazquez Igarza Renier ESP 2572 3,0 2647
26 3 GM Anand Viswanathan IND 2784 3,0 2643
27 6 GM Yu Yangyi CHN 2747 3,0 2638
  41 GM Donchenko Alexander GER 2570 3,0 2638
29 43 IM Tari Aryan NOR 2556 3,0 2637
30 10 GM Fressinet Laurent FRA 2700 3,0 2633
31 20 GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof POL 2660 3,0 2629
32 44 GM Muzychuk Mariya UKR 2554 3,0 2622
33 19 GM Kamsky Gata USA 2665 3,0 2617
34 5 GM Li Chao B CHN 2751 3,0 2599
35 51 GM Gopal G.N. IND 2525 3,0 2598
36 35 GM Maze Sebastien FRA 2591 3,0 2594
  65 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. IND 2500 3,0 2594
38 53 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V IND 2518 3,0 2593
  67 GM Gunina Valentina RUS 2496 3,0 2593
40 36 GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2583 3,0 2588
41 23 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2642 3,0 2587
  96 IM Esserman Marc USA 2419 3,0 2587
43 64 WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra RUS 2502 3,0 2582
44 21 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar IND 2660 3,0 2581
45 24 GM Anton Guijarro David ESP 2639 3,0 2579
46 27 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2627 3,0 2576
47 34 GM Bachmann Axel PAR 2610 3,0 2574
  60 GM Bai Jinshi CHN 2507 3,0 2574
49 72 IM Ly Moulthun AUS 2474 3,0 2570
50 38 GM Grigoriants Sergey RUS 2580 3,0 2564
51 91 IM Padmini Rout IND 2427 3,0 2556
52 82 IM Kelires Andreas CYP 2444 3,0 2543
53 84 IM Shytaj Luca ITA 2443 3,0 2535
54 48 GM Demuth Adrien FRA 2535 3,0 2534
55 120 IM Christiansen Johan-Sebastian NOR 2374 3,0 2486
56 90 IM Almagro Llamas Pablo ESP 2429 3,0 2470
57 123   Siva Mahadevan IND 2370 3,0 2469
58 45 GM Lalith Babu M R IND 2553 2,5 2597

... 250 players

In the Indian duel between Pentala Harikrishna (left, with White) and talented junior Aravindh Chithambaram
Pentala Harikrishna mated his young opponent with bishop and knight.

Harika Dronavalli and Richard Rapport did not take long to leave the well-trodden theoretical paths.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and S.P. Sethuraman drew

Vishy Anand drew with Black against...

...the young Russian GM Grigoriy Oparin.

Reinier Vazquez Igarza had no particular difficulties to draw against...

...Hikaru Nakamura.

Anand and Nakamura will both play in the Candidates Tournament in March and therefore might be unwilling to show much of their preparation.

Former Women's World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova from Bulgaria und Lazaro Bruzon
from Cuba. Stefanova drew with Gata Kamsky, Bruzon won against Florian Handke from Germany.

Gata Kamsky

So far Indian IM Rout Padmini has a good tournament. She won in round one and in round four and drew
in round two against GM Edouard Romain from France and in round three against GM Axel Bachmann from Paraguay.

The current Women's World Champion Mariya Muzychuk drew against English Champion David Howell.

Alexandra Kosteniuk concentrates in her game against Italian IM Marco Codenotti.
The game ended in a draw and Kosteniuk now has 2.5/4.

Bai Jinshi

Bai Jinshi is one of the many young talents from China. Born in 1999 he is a grandmaster with a current rating of 2507.
In round four he won against English IM Gary Quillan and now has 3.0/4. In round five
another English player waits for him: David Howell.

Pairings for round five

Bo. No.   Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts.   Name Rtg No.
1 11 GM Bacrot Etienne 2697 4   4 GM Ragger Markus 2689 14
2 26 GM Grandelius Nils 2635 3½   3½ GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2785 2
3 25 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2639 3½   3½ GM Harikrishna P. 2755 4
4 28 GM Jones Gawain C B 2625 3½   3½ GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2727 8
5 9 GM Rapport Richard 2721 3½   3½ GM Edouard Romain 2617 30
6 32 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2613 3½   3½ GM Almasi Zoltan 2684 16
7 58 GM Harika Dronavalli 2511 3½   3½ GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro 2666 18
8 1 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 3   3 GM Muzychuk Mariya 2554 44
9 3 GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 3   3 GM Demuth Adrien 2535 48
10 5 GM Li Chao B 2751 3   3 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2515 56
11 47 GM Muzychuk Anna 2537 3   3 GM Yu Yangyi 2747 6
12 51 GM Gopal G.N. 2525 3   3 GM Fressinet Laurent 2700 10
13 53 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V 2518 3   3 GM Ni Hua 2697 12
14 15 GM Howell David W L 2685 3   3 GM Bai Jinshi 2507 60
15 19 GM Kamsky Gata 2665 3   3 WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra 2502 64
16 57 IM Gledura Benjamin 2515 3   3 GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof 2660 20
17 21 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2660 3   3 IM Ly Moulthun 2474 72
18 23 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2642 3   3 WGM Pogonina Natalija 2454 80
19 65 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2500 3   3 GM Anton Guijarro David 2639 24
20 27 GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2627 3   3 IM Kelires Andreas 2444 82
21 67 GM Gunina Valentina 2496 3   3 GM Bachmann Axel 2610 34
22 35 GM Maze Sebastien 2591 3   3 IM Shytaj Luca 2443 84
23 91 IM Padmini Rout 2427 3   3 GM Sandipan Chanda 2583 36
24 120 IM Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 2374 3   3 GM Grigoriants Sergey 2580 38
25 41 GM Donchenko Alexander 2570 3   3 IM Almagro Llamas Pablo 2429 90
26 123   Siva Mahadevan 2370 3   3 GM Oparin Grigoriy 2565 42
27 43 IM Tari Aryan 2556 3   3 IM Esserman Marc 2419 96
28 13 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2696 2½   2½ GM Akesson Ralf 2435 87
29 29 GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo 2624 2½   2½ GM Tischbierek Raj 2433 88
30 31 GM Erdos Viktor 2613 2½   2½ IM Satyapragyan Swayangsu 2410 104
31 37 GM Tregubov Pavel V. 2582 2½   2½ IM Nezad Husein Aziz 2422 94
32 39 GM Perez Ponsa Federico 2577 2½   2½ IM Codenotti Marco 2406 107
33 45 GM Lalith Babu M R 2553 2½   2½ IM Kohlweyer Bernd 2404 108
34 111 IM Gaponenko Inna 2393 2½   2½ GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2550 46
35 49 GM Handke Florian Dr. 2533 2½   2½ IM Kuipers Stefan 2399 110
36 115 IM Anurag Mhamal 2387 2½   2½ GM Al-Sayed Mohammed 2530 50
37 55 GM Libiszewski Fabien 2515 2½   2½ IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat 2392 112
38 59 GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2508 2½   2½ FM Hauge Lars Oskar 2388 114
39 62 WGM Tan Zhongyi 2504 2½   2½ WIM Shvayger Yuliya 2381 116
40 63 GM Khotenashvili Bela 2502 2½   2½ GM Bellon Lopez Juan Manuel 2376 119
41 69 GM Zhukova Natalia 2484 2½   2½ IM Wemmers Xander 2352 130
42 160 FM Cordes Hans-Joerg Dr. 2257 2½   2½ IM Nakar Eylon 2479 70
43 77 IM Prasanna Raghuram Rao 2460 2½   2½ WGM Vojinovic Jovana 2352 131
44 168   Fiala Vaclav 2217 2½   2½ IM Galyas Miklos 2459 78
45 79 GM Krush Irina 2458 2½   2½ WGM Pourkashiyan Atousa 2338 137
46 81 IM Tan Justin 2446 2½   2½ FM De Haan Eric 2313 144
47 17 GM Short Nigel D 2684 2   2 IM Gara Anita 2339 135
48 129 FM Shachar Ehud 2353 2   2 GM Sutovsky Emil 2647 22
49 128 IM Vuilleumier Alexandre 2356 2   2 GM Cramling Pia 2523 52
50 133 GM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan 2346 2   2 IM Pichot Alan 2517 54
51 61 GM Zhao Xue 2506 2   2 FM Bach Matthias 2301 147

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

Episode 5

All videos from Gibraltar...

Links

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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

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The Elephant Gambit

The Elephant Gambit (1.e4.e5 2.Nf3 d5!?) has never really been given the attention it deserves. It is a very useful surprise weapon. Let us list the advantages of playing this particular opening: 1) Shock value 2) It is very aggressive. Black can take over the initiative early. 3) Many tricky lines 4) Unorthodox. Black is basically taking the game to the opponent as early as move two. Not many openings do that! It's a perfect opening for young players and club players to adopt. Let Andrew Martin select a repertoire for you on this 60 mins, which, if used with discretion, will rack up the points. I am sure that you will enjoy this unusual tour of the Elephant Gambit.

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thlai80 thlai80 1/31/2016 12:09
Can chessbase comment on why there are some players not paired in each round? How does that work? Bacrot leading after 5 rounds at 4.5 pts but wasn't paired in round6, thus wth no choice he had to accept half a point sitting out the round?
cabanoprimeiro cabanoprimeiro 1/31/2016 06:01
Tania is so cute!!!
ChessHulk ChessHulk 1/30/2016 01:15
Thanks for the videos, Tania!
1