Gibraltar 07: Anand loses, Anton leads

by André Schulz
2/2/2016 – In round seven of the Tradewise Gibraltar Open all games at the top boards were drawn, except one: David Anton won against Richard Rapport to become sole leader with 6.0/7. Half a point behind follows a group of 15 players with 5.5/7 each. Viswanathan Anand played against the Hungarian talent Benjamin Gledura and suffered his second loss in the tournament.

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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)

Nils Grandelius (front), Viswanathan Anand, Laurent Fressinet, and Nigel Short in the back.

Anand played with Black against the 16-year old Gledura and went for a line of the Semi-Slav, with which he had already drawn a couple of games against his "peers" at the very top. However, this time things went differently.

Benjamin Gledura

 

Austria's number one, Markus Ragger, played against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The French grandmaster is the second seed but had to concede two draws, one against the Indian GM Sethuraman and one against Swedish GM Nils Grandelius - which shows how strong the field in Gibraltar is.

Markus Ragger vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

 Markus Ragger paid a silent tribute to his oppenent by playing a line against the Grünfeld, which his opponent had tried a couple of years before against Emil Sutovsky. White won an exchange but Black was a pawn up. In the end the point was shared.

At board two Lazaro Bruzon from Cuba played against Pentala Harikrishna from India. With a rating of 2755 the Indian GM is number four on the ranking list in Gibraltar, number two in India, and in the world ranking list not so far away from Vishy Anand. However, against Bruzon he had to content himself with a draw.

Lazaro Bruzon vs Pentala Harikrishna

One of the up-and-coming players of Indian chess is the 22-year old Santosh Gujrathi Vidit. In round seven he had to play the Chinese Yu Yangyi, a real heavyweight. Vidit had White but still was on the defensive for the better part of the game. However, he managed to save the game by defending a rook ending with a pawn down.

Santosh Gujrathi Vidit vs Yu Yangyi

Top seed Hikaru Nakamura played at board six against Luka Lenic. After an English Opening Nakamura tried to complicate the game to play for an advantage but his opponent kept his cool and Nakamura had to settle for a draw.

Hikaru Nakamura gegen Luka Lenic

Richard Rapport v David Anton Guijarro. The Spaniard won the duel of the youngsters.

 

The Russian top GM Dmitry Jakovenko lost with white against French GM Sebastien Maze.

With her win against Nigel Short Indian GM Harika Dronavalli made the headlines, in round seven she drew against Laurent Fressinet.

Harika Dronavalli

Chinese talents: Lei Tingjie, Xu Xiangyu

Results of round seven

Br. Nr.   Name Elo Pkt. Ergebnis Pkt.   Name Elo Nr.
1 14 GM Ragger Markus 2689 5 ½ - ½ 5 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2785 2
2 18 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro 2666 5 ½ - ½ 5 GM Harikrishna P. 2755 4
3 23 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2642 5 ½ - ½ 5 GM Yu Yangyi 2747 6
4 9 GM Rapport Richard 2721 5 0 - 1 5 GM Anton Guijarro David 2639 24
5 32 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2613 5 ½ - ½ 5 GM Bacrot Etienne 2697 11
6 1 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 4½ ½ - ½ 4½ GM Lenic Luka 2611 33
7 5 GM Li Chao B 2751 4½ 1 - 0 4½ GM Bachmann Axel 2610 34
8 7 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2732 4½ 0 - 1 4½ GM Maze Sebastien 2591 35
9 39 GM Perez Ponsa Federico 2577 4½ 0 - 1 4½ GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2727 8
10 12 GM Ni Hua 2697 4½ 1 - 0 4½ GM Vazquez Igarza Renier 2572 40
11 43 IM Tari Aryan 2556 4½ 1 - 0 4½ GM Almasi Zoltan 2684 16
12 25 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2639 4½ 1 - 0 4½ IM Kelires Andreas 2444 82
13 26 GM Grandelius Nils 2635 4½ 1 - 0 4½ GM Gopal G.N. 2525 51
14 57 IM Gledura Benjamin 2515 4 1 - 0 4 GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 3
15 58 GM Harika Dronavalli 2511 4 ½ - ½ 4 GM Fressinet Laurent 2700 10
16 17 GM Short Nigel D 2684 4 1 - 0 4 GM Bai Jinshi 2507 60
17 19 GM Kamsky Gata 2665 4 1 - 0 4 IM Nakar Eylon 2479 70
18 65 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2500 4 ½ - ½ 4 GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof 2660 20
19 67 GM Gunina Valentina 2496 4 ½ - ½ 4 GM Sutovsky Emil 2647 22
20 28 GM Jones Gawain C B 2625 4 1 - 0 4 WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra 2502 64

...

Standings after round seven

Rg. Snr   Name Land Elo Pkt.  Wtg1  w we w-we K rtg+/-
1 24 GM Anton Guijarro David ESP 2639 6,0 2777 6 4,94 1,06 10 10,6
2 14 GM Ragger Markus AUT 2689 5,5 2816 5,5 4,35 1,15 10 11,5
3 2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2785 5,5 2805 5,5 5,29 0,21 10 2,1
4 11 GM Bacrot Etienne FRA 2697 5,5 2793 5 4,32 0,68 10 6,8
5 4 GM Harikrishna P. IND 2755 5,5 2769 5,5 5,33 0,17 10 1,7
  8 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw POL 2727 5,5 2769 5,5 5,14 0,36 10 3,6
7 25 GM Sethuraman S.P. IND 2639 5,5 2760 5,5 4,41 1,09 10 10,9
  32 GM Gupta Abhijeet IND 2613 5,5 2760 5,5 4,17 1,33 10 13,3
9 18 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro CUB 2666 5,5 2749 5,5 4,79 0,71 10 7,1
10 6 GM Yu Yangyi CHN 2747 5,5 2741 5,5 5,45 0,05 10 0,5
  43 IM Tari Aryan NOR 2556 5,5 2741 5,5 3,86 1,64 10 16,4
12 12 GM Ni Hua CHN 2697 5,5 2736 5,5 5,18 0,32 10 3,2
  35 GM Maze Sebastien FRA 2591 5,5 2736 5 3,83 1,17 10 11,7
14 5 GM Li Chao B CHN 2751 5,5 2698 5,5 5,80 -0,30 10 -3,0
15 26 GM Grandelius Nils SWE 2635 5,5 2696 5,5 4,91 0,59 10 5,9
16 23 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2642 5,5 2694 5,5 5,03 0,47 10 4,7
17 33 GM Lenic Luka SLO 2611 5,0 2762 4,5 3,25 1,25 10 12,5
18 57 IM Gledura Benjamin HUN 2515 5,0 2729 5 2,94 2,06 10 20,6
19 1 GM Nakamura Hikaru USA 2787 5,0 2712 5 5,46 -0,46 10 -4,6
20 28 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2625 5,0 2690 5 4,29 0,71 10 7,1
21 9 GM Rapport Richard HUN 2721 5,0 2679 5 5,23 -0,23 10 -2,3
22 44 GM Muzychuk Mariya UKR 2554 5,0 2639 5 4,15 0,85 10 8,5
23 38 GM Grigoriants Sergey RUS 2580 5,0 2625 4,5 4,10 0,40 10 4,0
24 45 GM Lalith Babu M R IND 2553 5,0 2617 5 4,30 0,70 10 7,0
25 19 GM Kamsky Gata USA 2665 5,0 2613 5 5,34 -0,34 10 -3,4
26 91 IM Padmini Rout IND 2427 5,0 2605 5 3,18 1,82 10 18,2
27 17 GM Short Nigel D ENG 2684 5,0 2582 5 5,68 -0,68 10 -6,8
28 36 GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2583 5,0 2576 5 4,97 0,03 10 0,3
29 79 GM Krush Irina USA 2458 5,0 2572 5 3,82 1,18 10 11,8
30 55 GM Libiszewski Fabien FRA 2515 5,0 2543 4,5 4,18 0,32 10 3,2

... 250 players

Pairings of round eight

Bo. No.   Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts.   Name Rtg No.
1 24 GM Anton Guijarro David 2639 6   5½ GM Li Chao B 2751 5
2 2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2785 5½   5½ GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro 2666 18
3 4 GM Harikrishna P. 2755 5½   5½ GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2642 23
4 6 GM Yu Yangyi 2747 5½   5½ GM Sethuraman S.P. 2639 25
5 8 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2727 5½   5½ GM Grandelius Nils 2635 26
6 11 GM Bacrot Etienne 2697 5½   5½ IM Tari Aryan 2556 43
7 32 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2613 5½   5½ GM Ni Hua 2697 12
8 35 GM Maze Sebastien 2591 5½   5½ GM Ragger Markus 2689 14
9 38 GM Grigoriants Sergey 2580 5   5 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 1
10 44 GM Muzychuk Mariya 2554 5   5 GM Rapport Richard 2721 9
11 45 GM Lalith Babu M R 2553 5   5 GM Short Nigel D 2684 17
12 55 GM Libiszewski Fabien 2515 5   5 GM Kamsky Gata 2665 19
13 79 GM Krush Irina 2458 5   5 GM Jones Gawain C B 2625 28
14 33 GM Lenic Luka 2611 5   5 IM Padmini Rout 2427 91
15 36 GM Sandipan Chanda 2583 5   5 IM Gledura Benjamin 2515 57
16 56 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2515 4½   4½ GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2732 7
17 10 GM Fressinet Laurent 2700 4½   4½ WGM Tan Zhongyi 2504 62
18 72 IM Ly Moulthun 2474 4½   4½ GM Howell David W L 2685 15
19 16 GM Almasi Zoltan 2684 4½   4½ GM Harika Dronavalli 2511 58
20 20 GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof 2660 4½   4½ GM Zhukova Natalia 2484 69
21 22 GM Sutovsky Emil 2647 4½   4½ GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2500 65
22 73 WGM Lei Tingjie 2474 4½   4½ GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2627 27
23 80 WGM Pogonina Natalija 2454 4½   4½ GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo 2624 29
24 30 GM Edouard Romain 2617 4½   4½ GM Gunina Valentina 2496 67
25 34 GM Bachmann Axel 2610 4½   4½ IM Prasanna Raghuram Rao 2460 77
26 37 GM Tregubov Pavel V. 2582 4½   4½ IM Anurag Mhamal 2387 115
27 82 IM Kelires Andreas 2444 4½   4½ GM Perez Ponsa Federico 2577 39
28 40 GM Vazquez Igarza Renier 2572 4½   4½ IM Tan Justin 2446 81
29 84 IM Shytaj Luca 2443 4½   4½ GM Donchenko Alexander 2570 41
30 87 GM Akesson Ralf 2435 4½   4½ GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2550 46
31 90 IM Almagro Llamas Pablo 2429 4½   4½ GM Demuth Adrien 2535 48
32 114 FM Hauge Lars Oskar 2388 4½   4½ GM Handke Florian Dr. 2533 49
33 126 FM Kavutskiy Konstantin 2360 4½   4½ GM Gopal G.N. 2525 51
34 130 IM Wemmers Xander 2352 4½   4½ GM Vishnu Prasanna. V 2518 53
35 54 IM Pichot Alan 2517 4½   4½   Siva Mahadevan 2370 123
36 96 IM Esserman Marc 2419 4   4 GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 3
37 13 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2696 4   4 FM Neef Maximilian 2423 93
38 107 IM Codenotti Marco 2406 4   4 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2660 21
39 110 IM Kuipers Stefan 2399 4   4 GM Erdos Viktor 2613 31
40 42 GM Oparin Grigoriy 2565 4   4 IM Docx Stefan 2416 99
41 47 GM Muzychuk Anna 2537 4   4 GM Vogt Lothar 2409 105
42 52 GM Cramling Pia 2523 4   4 IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat 2392 112
43 116 WIM Shvayger Yuliya 2381 4   4 GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2508 59
44 60 GM Bai Jinshi 2507 4   4 IM Gaponenko Inna 2393 111
45 118 FM Gulamali Kazim 2379 4   4 GM Zhao Xue 2506 61
46 122   Herman Matthew J 2370 4   4 GM Khotenashvili Bela 2502 63
47 64 WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra 2502 4   4 IM Quillan Gary 2369 124
48 70 IM Nakar Eylon 2479 4   4 WGM Vojinovic Jovana 2352 131
49 169   Midonet Matthieu 2211 4   4 IM Kashlinskaya Alina 2462 75
50 76 IM Carlstedt Jonathan 2461 4   4 FM Nava Pereda Carlos 2262 158

...

The tournament attracts a lot of prominent visitors. In round seven the minister of education, Gilbert Licudi, paid a visit.

Stuart Conquest (left), Gilbert Licudi

I

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

Episode 8

All videos from Gibraltar...

Links

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Topics: Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival
André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.
Discussion and Feedback Join the public discussion or submit your feedback to the editors

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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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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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ubernomics ubernomics 2/3/2016 03:25
Sorry, Anand is over the hill regardless of whether one-time blip or true senility. Frankly, it is difficult to care how he does at the Candidates. He won't finish first, and even if he does, what chance against Carlsen? Anand has been in the top ten (mostly top three) for, what? twenty-plus years? He may be dropping out as his peers Gelfand, Ivanchuk, and Adams did years ago. And Kamsky, too, who is now only mid-2600s.
digupagal digupagal 2/3/2016 07:18
I am sure, Anand is fooling with ppl. who don't understand chess.

This tournament is a just a way to get some OTB practice for him, i find it impossible at his level to mise-valuate a King pawn ending like he did the other day.

A IM at ~2300 level can also figure that out, he played 2-3 games perfectly against strong IMs where he did not give them chances. Yet in some games he went on defensive and played a rather drawish opening in order to divert attention away from main repertoire.

I predict Anand will be using Grunfel ddefense with black and French / Caro-Cann Defence and he will pay more positionally with white
thlai80 thlai80 2/3/2016 04:21
@VVI, disgrace is an overly strong words. It is obvious Anand is not paying attention to this tournament, using it to test out something in preparation for candidates. There were many fans writing him down after his 2nd world championship match against Carlsen and recalled how he fought back to the candidates?
ubernomics ubernomics 2/3/2016 02:23
I am guessing Anand still has the solidity to draw top GMs, but no longer the sharp claws to bring down the 2500 and 2600s with reliability.

If he starts a tactical melee with these hungry, young nomads, he is often worsted.
VVI VVI 2/3/2016 01:39
Anand`s play at this open tournament is a disgrace; very painful to watch for fans like myself.
How the hell can a top player struggle repeatedly against mediocre GMs & IMs? Very unprecedented. He has lost so far some 24 Elo points. On his current form, he should kiss goodbye to the Candidates and the Grand chess tour.
KevinC KevinC 2/3/2016 01:18
Harikrishna is now only one spot and 1.3 points behind Anand in the world rankings. A changing of the guard seems inevitable.
LAMIB LAMIB 2/2/2016 09:47
If Harikrishna wins again and Anand loses we will soon see a new Indian no. 1. After almost three decades!
Balthus Balthus 2/2/2016 07:32
Typical Rapport inconsistency :(
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