Gibraltar 08: Four players share the lead

by Marco Baldauf
2/3/2016 – After eight of ten rounds four players with 6.5/8 each share the lead at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Etienne Bacrot, David Anton, and Pentala Harikrishna. Half a point behind follows a group of twelve players with 6.0/8 each. Among them is top seed Hikaru Nakamura who won with Black against Sergey Grigoriants.

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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)

Results of round eight

Bo. No.   Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts.   Name Rtg No.
1 24 GM Anton Guijarro David 2639 6 ½ - ½ 5½ GM Li Chao B 2751 5
2 2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2785 5½ 1 - 0 5½ GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro 2666 18
3 4 GM Harikrishna P. 2755 5½ 1 - 0 5½ GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2642 23
4 6 GM Yu Yangyi 2747 5½ ½ - ½ 5½ GM Sethuraman S.P. 2639 25
5 8 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2727 5½ ½ - ½ 5½ GM Grandelius Nils 2635 26
6 11 GM Bacrot Etienne 2697 5½ 1 - 0 5½ IM Tari Aryan 2556 43
7 32 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2613 5½ ½ - ½ 5½ GM Ni Hua 2697 12
8 35 GM Maze Sebastien 2591 5½ ½ - ½ 5½ GM Ragger Markus 2689 14
9 38 GM Grigoriants Sergey 2580 5 0 - 1 5 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 1
10 44 GM Muzychuk Mariya 2554 5 ½ - ½ 5 GM Rapport Richard 2721 9
11 45 GM Lalith Babu M R 2553 5 1 - 0 5 GM Short Nigel D 2684 17
12 55 GM Libiszewski Fabien 2515 5 ½ - ½ 5 GM Kamsky Gata 2665 19
13 79 GM Krush Irina 2458 5 ½ - ½ 5 GM Jones Gawain C B 2625 28
14 33 GM Lenic Luka 2611 5 1 - 0 5 IM Padmini Rout 2427 91
15 36 GM Sandipan Chanda 2583 5 ½ - ½ 5 IM Gledura Benjamin 2515 57
16 56 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2515 4½ 0 - 1 4½ GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2732 7
17 10 GM Fressinet Laurent 2700 4½ ½ - ½ 4½ WGM Tan Zhongyi 2504 62
18 72 IM Ly Moulthun 2474 4½ ½ - ½ 4½ GM Howell David W L 2685 15
19 16 GM Almasi Zoltan 2684 4½ 1 - 0 4½ GM Harika Dronavalli 2511 58
20 20 GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof 2660 4½ 1 - 0 4½ GM Zhukova Natalia 2484 69
21 22 GM Sutovsky Emil 2647 4½ 1 - 0 4½ GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2500 65
22 73 WGM Lei Tingjie 2474 4½ 0 - 1 4½ GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2627 27
23 80 WGM Pogonina Natalija 2454 4½ ½ - ½ 4½ GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo 2624 29
24 30 GM Edouard Romain 2617 4½ 1 - 0 4½ GM Gunina Valentina 2496 67
25 34 GM Bachmann Axel 2610 4½ 1 - 0 4½ IM Prasanna Raghuram Rao 2460 77
26 37 GM Tregubov Pavel V. 2582 4½ 1 - 0 4½ IM Anurag Mhamal 2387 115
27 82 IM Kelires Andreas 2444 4½ 0 - 1 4½ GM Perez Ponsa Federico 2577 39
28 40 GM Vazquez Igarza Renier 2572 4½ 1 - 0 4½ IM Tan Justin 2446 81
29 84 IM Shytaj Luca 2443 4½ 1 - 0 4½ GM Donchenko Alexander 2570 41
30 87 GM Akesson Ralf 2435 4½ 0 - 1 4½ GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2550 46
31 90 IM Almagro Llamas Pablo 2429 4½ ½ - ½ 4½ GM Demuth Adrien 2535 48
32 114 FM Hauge Lars Oskar 2388 4½ ½ - ½ 4½ GM Handke Florian Dr. 2533 49
33 126 FM Kavutskiy Konstantin 2360 4½ ½ - ½ 4½ GM Gopal G.N. 2525 51
34 130 IM Wemmers Xander 2352 4½ 1 - 0 4½ GM Vishnu Prasanna. V 2518 53
35 54 IM Pichot Alan 2517 4½ 1 - 0 4½   Siva Mahadevan 2370 123
36 96 IM Esserman Marc 2419 4 ½ - ½ 4 GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 3
37 13 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2696 4 1 - 0 4 FM Neef Maximilian 2423 93

...

Standings after round eight

Rk. SNo   Name FED Rtg Pts.  TB1 
1 2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2785 6,5 2837
2 11 GM Bacrot Etienne FRA 2697 6,5 2834
3 4 GM Harikrishna P. IND 2755 6,5 2803
4 24 GM Anton Guijarro David ESP 2639 6,5 2755
5 14 GM Ragger Markus AUT 2689 6,0 2780
6 33 GM Lenic Luka SLO 2611 6,0 2779
7 1 GM Nakamura Hikaru USA 2787 6,0 2750
  25 GM Sethuraman S.P. IND 2639 6,0 2750
9 8 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw POL 2727 6,0 2744
  32 GM Gupta Abhijeet IND 2613 6,0 2744
11 35 GM Maze Sebastien FRA 2591 6,0 2726
12 6 GM Yu Yangyi CHN 2747 6,0 2720
13 12 GM Ni Hua CHN 2697 6,0 2712
14 26 GM Grandelius Nils SWE 2635 6,0 2692
15 5 GM Li Chao B CHN 2751 6,0 2683
16 45 GM Lalith Babu M R IND 2553 6,0 2680
17 57 IM Gledura Benjamin HUN 2515 5,5 2713
18 18 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro CUB 2666 5,5 2693
19 7 GM Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2732 5,5 2683
20 43 IM Tari Aryan NOR 2556 5,5 2675
21 9 GM Rapport Richard HUN 2721 5,5 2666
22 28 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2625 5,5 2664
23 44 GM Muzychuk Mariya UKR 2554 5,5 2652
24 16 GM Almasi Zoltan HUN 2684 5,5 2644
  30 GM Edouard Romain FRA 2617 5,5 2644
26 23 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2642 5,5 2642
27 40 GM Vazquez Igarza Renier ESP 2572 5,5 2634
28 20 GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof POL 2660 5,5 2608
29 34 GM Bachmann Axel PAR 2610 5,5 2605
30 19 GM Kamsky Gata USA 2665 5,5 2603
31 37 GM Tregubov Pavel V. RUS 2582 5,5 2602
32 46 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra RUS 2550 5,5 2585
33 79 GM Krush Irina USA 2458 5,5 2582
34 36 GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2583 5,5 2571
35 39 GM Perez Ponsa Federico ARG 2577 5,5 2569
36 55 GM Libiszewski Fabien FRA 2515 5,5 2553
37 27 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2627 5,5 2552
38 22 GM Sutovsky Emil ISR 2647 5,5 2540
39 84 IM Shytaj Luca ITA 2443 5,5 2537
  130 IM Wemmers Xander NED 2352 5,5 2537
41 54 IM Pichot Alan ARG 2517 5,5 2533
42 72 IM Ly Moulthun AUS 2474 5,0 2610
43 47 GM Muzychuk Anna UKR 2537 5,0 2609
44 80 WGM Pogonina Natalija RUS 2454 5,0 2598
45 51 GM Gopal G.N. IND 2525 5,0 2595
46 38 GM Grigoriants Sergey RUS 2580 5,0 2584
47 62 WGM Tan Zhongyi CHN 2504 5,0 2580
48 42 GM Oparin Grigoriy RUS 2565 5,0 2579
49 48 GM Demuth Adrien FRA 2535 5,0 2573
50 10 GM Fressinet Laurent FRA 2700 5,0 2572
51 64 WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra RUS 2502 5,0 2570
52 15 GM Howell David W L ENG 2685 5,0 2567
53 91 IM Padmini Rout IND 2427 5,0 2563
54 17 GM Short Nigel D ENG 2684 5,0 2535
55 49 GM Handke Florian Dr. GER 2533 5,0 2534
56 114 FM Hauge Lars Oskar NOR 2388 5,0 2524
57 29 GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo VEN 2624 5,0 2523
58 70 IM Nakar Eylon ISR 2479 5,0 2522
59 21 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar IND 2660 5,0 2505
60 13 GM Naiditsch Arkadij AZE 2696 5,0 2496
61 112 IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat IRI 2392 5,0 2477
62 90 IM Almagro Llamas Pablo ESP 2429 5,0 2476
63 173   Pinho Paulo POR 2197 5,0 2447
64 116 WIM Shvayger Yuliya ISR 2381 5,0 2446
  168   Fiala Vaclav CZE 2217 5,0 2446
66 126 FM Kavutskiy Konstantin USA 2360 5,0 2442
67 75 IM Kashlinskaya Alina RUS 2462 5,0 2408
68 78 IM Galyas Miklos HUN 2459 5,0 2397
69 89 GM Carlsson Pontus SWE 2430 5,0 2393
70 76 IM Carlstedt Jonathan GER 2461 5,0 2356
71 61 GM Zhao Xue CHN 2506 5,0 2348
72 58 GM Harika Dronavalli IND 2511 4,5 2620

... 250 players

After seven rounds David Anton Guijarro from Spain was sole leader, after
his draw against Chinese GM Li Chao he shares the lead with three other players.

Anton took no risks against Li Chao. In the main of the Petroff with 5.Nc3 he played very quietly but could not claim any advantage. In fact, it was Black who set the pace but without any tangible results.

Li Chao

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (left, with White) before the start of his game against Bruzon Batista.

On board two Maxime Vachier-Lagrave managed to overcome Bruzon's Berlin and on board three Pentala Harikrishna started a quiet and strong attack with an unorthodox retreat. With this win Pentala Harikrishna has 2758 points on the live-rating list and is now only one point behind Anand who drew against IM Marc Esserman from the US.

India's number two Pentala Harikrishna

 

Santosh Gujrathi Vidit showed strong chess in Gibraltar
but found no recipe against Pentala Harikrishna

Vishy Anand: Draw again! English Champion David Howell follows the game unfold.

 

Women's World Champion Mariya Muzychuk drew against Richard Rapport.

Norwegian Champion and GM elect Aryan Tari lost a sharp against Etienne Bacrot.

After a stumbling start Nigel Short seemed to have recovered and with three games in a row reclimbed the top ranks. However, in round eight he suffered another setback against Indian GM Lalith. Short, who was playing with Black, emerged with a difficult position from the opening and and then tried to stir up some trouble - but in vain.

Position after 49.Qc8-c6: Black has three more checks before White's king is safe.

Nigel Short: fighting spirit which was not rewarded.

A nice tactical shot could be seen in the game between Luca Lenic and Rout Padmini:

Black just played 27...Bxc4. How did White decide the game immediately?
(See solution at the end of the article)

Top seed Hikaru Nakamura, who won the tournament in 2015, kept in touch with the leaders by winning with Black against Sergey Grigoriants.

 

 

Hikaru Nakamura

Abhijeet Gupta drew in round eight against Ni Hua - in round nine he has to play against Hikaru Nakamura.

Antoaneta Stefanova lost against Dmitry Jakovenko.

Sebastien Maze and Markus Ragger played a quick and unspectacular draw.

Round nine promises to be exciting because the four top players face each other: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave plays with White against his countryman Etienne Bacrot while David Anton Guijarro plays White against Pentala Harikrishna.

Top pairings of round nine

Bo. No.   Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts.   Name Rtg No.
1 2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2785 6½   6½ GM Bacrot Etienne 2697 11
2 24 GM Anton Guijarro David 2639 6½   6½ GM Harikrishna P. 2755 4
3 1 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2787 6   6 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2613 32
4 5 GM Li Chao B 2751 6   6 GM Lenic Luka 2611 33
5 26 GM Grandelius Nils 2635 6   6 GM Yu Yangyi 2747 6
6 25 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2639 6   6 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2727 8
7 12 GM Ni Hua 2697 6   6 GM Maze Sebastien 2591 35
8 14 GM Ragger Markus 2689 6   6 GM Lalith Babu M R 2553 45
9 7 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2732 5½   5½ GM Sandipan Chanda 2583 36
10 9 GM Rapport Richard 2721 5½   5½ GM Tregubov Pavel V. 2582 37
11 39 GM Perez Ponsa Federico 2577 5½   5½ GM Almasi Zoltan 2684 16
12 18 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro 2666 5½   5½ GM Vazquez Igarza Renier 2572 40
13 19 GM Kamsky Gata 2665 5½   5½ GM Muzychuk Mariya 2554 44
14 43 IM Tari Aryan 2556 5½   5½ GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof 2660 20
15 46 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2550 5½   5½ GM Sutovsky Emil 2647 22
16 23 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2642 5½   5½ IM Pichot Alan 2517 54
17 27 GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2627 5½   5½ GM Libiszewski Fabien 2515 55
18 28 GM Jones Gawain C B 2625 5½   5½ IM Shytaj Luca 2443 84
19 57 IM Gledura Benjamin 2515 5½   5½ GM Edouard Romain 2617 30
20 34 GM Bachmann Axel 2610 5½   5½ GM Krush Irina 2458 79
21 10 GM Fressinet Laurent 2700 5   5½ IM Wemmers Xander 2352 130
22 72 IM Ly Moulthun 2474 5   5 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2696 13
23 15 GM Howell David W L 2685 5   5 IM Carlstedt Jonathan 2461 76
24 17 GM Short Nigel D 2684 5   5 IM Galyas Miklos 2459 78
25 21 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2660 5   5 IM Almagro Llamas Pablo 2429 90
26 75 IM Kashlinskaya Alina 2462 5   5 GM Grigoriants Sergey 2580 38
27 89 GM Carlsson Pontus 2430 5   5 GM Oparin Grigoriy 2565 42
28 91 IM Padmini Rout 2427 5   5 GM Muzychuk Anna 2537 47
29 48 GM Demuth Adrien 2535 5   5 WGM Pogonina Natalija 2454 80
30 49 GM Handke Florian Dr. 2533 5   5   Pinho Paulo 2197 173
31 51 GM Gopal G.N. 2525 5   5 FM Hauge Lars Oskar 2388 114
32 61 GM Zhao Xue 2506 5   5 WIM Shvayger Yuliya 2381 116
33 62 WGM Tan Zhongyi 2504 5   5 FM Kavutskiy Konstantin 2360 126
34 112 IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat 2392 5   5 WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra 2502 64
35 168   Fiala Vaclav 2217 5   5 IM Nakar Eylon 2479 70
36 3 GM Anand Viswanathan 2784 4½   4½   Kollars Dmitrij 2436 86
37 31 GM Erdos Viktor 2613 4½   4½ GM Akesson Ralf 2435 87
38 41 GM Donchenko Alexander 2570 4½   4½ IM Esserman Marc 2419 96
39 83 IM Salomon Johan 2444 4½   4½ GM Al-Sayed Mohammed 2530 50
40 53 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V 2518 4½   4½ IM Nagy Gabor 2413 102
41 103 FM Rydl Jiri 2412 4½   4½ GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2515 56
42 58 GM Harika Dronavalli 2511 4½   4½ IM Satyapragyan Swayangsu 2410 104
43 115 IM Anurag Mhamal 2387 4½   4½ GM Bai Jinshi 2507 60
44 63 GM Khotenashvili Bela 2502 4½   4½ IM Martinez Martin David 2407 106
45 65 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2500 4½   4½ IM Kuipers Stefan 2399 110
46 111 IM Gaponenko Inna 2393 4½   4½ GM Fodor Tamas Jr. 2500 66
47 67 GM Gunina Valentina 2496 4½   4½ IM Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 2374 120
48 135 IM Gara Anita 2339 4½   4½ GM Blomqvist Erik 2492 68
49 69 GM Zhukova Natalia 2484 4½   4½   Herman Matthew J 2370 122
50 71 GM Tarjan James E 2478 4½   4½ GM Paehtz Thomas 2372 121

...

I

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

Episode 9

All videos from Gibraltar...

 

Solution to the combination: 28.Qxh6 1-0

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.
 
Marco Baldauf, born 1990, has been playing since he was eight. In 2000 and 2002 he became German Junior Champion, in 2014 he became International Master. He plays for SF Berlin in the Bundesliga.

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