1/27/2016 – The last time former World Champion Vishy Anand played in an open tournament with classical time control was back in 1986. After this long break he started the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival with a draw against Szidonia Lazarne Vajda. This was the biggest surprise of the first round in which most of the favorites won. But not all of them.
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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.
Tradewise Chairman James Humphreys plays the first move
on the first board to open the tournament.
Top seed and defending champion Hikaru Nakamu won without much difficulty against IM Robert Bellin. After quietly improving his pieces in a Stonewall Dutch Nakamura used a tactical opportunity to reach a won position.
Giving White a
winning tactical opportunity.After25...Qc726.Qxf5Ne627.Bd4White
is a pawn up and has the better position but still can dream of counterplay.26.e6Nxe627.Bxg7+Kxg728.Qb2+Kg829.Rxc5Nxc530.Qb6Bh531.Rd4Nd732.Qxb7Ne533.Rb4Nf3+34.Kh1Ne135.Qxc6Bf3+36.Kg1Be437.Be2Nf3+38.Bxf3Bxf339.Rb71–0
Vishy Anand before the start of the round (Photo: Sophie Triay)
Not a smooth start for Vishy Anand. He drew against Szidonia Lazarne Vajda
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Elo
Players
1.e4
1,184,215
54%
2421
---
1.d4
958,932
55%
2434
---
1.Nf3
286,327
56%
2441
---
1.c4
184,722
56%
2443
---
1.g3
19,884
56%
2427
---
1.b3
14,598
54%
2428
---
1.f4
5,953
48%
2377
---
1.Nc3
3,906
50%
2384
---
1.b4
1,790
48%
2378
---
1.a3
1,250
54%
2406
---
1.e3
1,081
49%
2409
---
1.d3
969
50%
2378
---
1.g4
670
46%
2361
---
1.h4
466
54%
2382
---
1.c3
439
51%
2425
---
1.h3
289
56%
2420
---
1.a4
118
60%
2461
---
1.f3
100
47%
2427
---
1.Nh3
92
67%
2511
---
1.Na3
47
62%
2476
---
Please, wait...
1.c4c62.d4d53.Nf3Nf64.Nc3dxc45.a4e6This is more in the style
of QGA.5...Bf5is of course the main line.6.e3c57.Bxc4Nc68.0-0cxd49.exd4Be710.Qe20-010...Nxd411.Nxd4Qxd412.Bb5+Followed by
Rd1 is just too much initiative for the pawn.11.Rd1Usually White would
like to place his rooks on e1 and d1 but here the d4 pawn was hanging and
hence this move was necessary.Nb412.Bg5h613.Bh4Bd714.Ne5Anand
plays in typical style when one has the isolated pawn and has a nice
initiative.Be8?!14...Bc6was much better. The exchange on c6 is really
in Black's favour.15.Nxc6bxc6!=And the control on d5 square is
quite high.15.a5!?Nfd5!Getting this knight to d5 is always better as
it invites White for an exchange on e7.16.Bg316.Bxe7Nxe717.a6could
have been slightly preferable for White than what happened in the game.16...Rc817.a6bxa618.Nxd5exd5!19.Bxa6Rc2!Black has excellent play and
has equalised the position without any difficulties.20.Rd2Rxd221.Qxd2Qb622.Bf1a523.h4Bf624.Ra3Nc625.Nxc6Bxc626.Rxa5Qxd427.Qxd4Bxd4=The position has petered out into equality and we have to agree that Szidonia
played a wonderful game.28.b4This advantage of outside passed pawn is not
so great. There isn't enough material on the board for it to be something
tangible.Ra829.Bd3Bb630.Rxa8+Bxa831.Kf1f632.h5Kf733.Ke2Bc634.Bf4Ke735.f3Bd436.Be3Bxe337.Kxe3Bb738.Kd4Kd639.b539.Bb5Ba840.Be8Bb741.b5Ba842.Bg6Bb743.Bf5Ba844.Bc8Kc745.Be6Kd6=
And there doesn't really seem a way to breakthrough.39...Bc840.g4Bd741.b6Bc842.Bg6Kc643.Bf5Bb744.Be6Kxb645.Bxd5Bc8!A draw was agreed.
A fine game by the Hungarian player.45...Bxd5??Of course after playing
such an awesome game you aren't going to fall for that!46.Kxd5+-½–½
Chinese Grandmaster Yu Yangyi also had to content himself with a draw.
He played against IM Alexandre Vuelleumier
FM Matthias Bach (Elo 2301) from Germany was close to an upset.
He missed a nice tactical shot and let Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly off the hook.
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Replay and check the LiveBook here
Please, wait...
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bb5f54.d3fxe45.dxe4Nf66.Nc3More popular is6.0-0Bc57.Nc3d66...d66...Bb4!?7.a3Be78.Bc4Bg49.h3Bxf310.Qxf3Nd411.Qd3Qd712.Be3Ne613.Nd5All this is still has been played
since ages. A game of 1903 continued:13.Nb5a614.Bxe6Qxb515.0-0Qxd316.cxd3Nh517.g3g518.Rac1Ng719.Bb3Kd720.d4h621.dxe5dxe522.Rfd1+Bd623.f4gxf424.gxf4Rhe825.f5Rh826.Kf2Raf827.Rg1Nh528.Kf3Rf629.Rcd1Kc830.Bf2Nf431.Rh1Bf832.Bh4Rd633.Rxd6Bxd634.Bf6Re835.Bg7Bf836.f6Ne637.Bxe6+Rxe638.Kg4Bxg739.fxg7Rg6+40.Kf5Rxg741.Kxe5Rg242.Ke6Rxb243.e5b544.Rf1c545.Kd6c446.Rf8+Kb747.e6Rd2+48.Ke5Re2+49.Kd6Rd2+50.Ke5Re2+51.Kd6Rd2+52.Ke5Re2+53.Kd6
1/2-1/2 (53) Marco,G-Marshall,F Monte Carlo 190313.0-0-0±13...Nxd514.Qxd5Nd815.Ba215.0-0-0!?c616.Qd315...c616.Qb3White is
better but he gradually gives his advantage away until he finally gets in
trouble.b617.0-0-0Rf818.g3Nb719.f4exf420.gxf40-0-021.Qc3Nc522.Rhe1?!Now Black seizes the initiative.Bh423.Rg1Nxe424.Qxg7d525.Qh6Bf626.Qh5Qe727.Rde1Rde828.Bb3Kb829.Kb1
29...Bh4Black misses
the tactical shot29...Bc3!30.Rd1after30.bxc3Qxa3White has no
defense against31.--Nxc3#and after30.Re2Black wins withBxb231.Kxb2Qf6+32.Kb1Nc3+33.Kc1Nxe2+34.Qxe2d430...Nf631.Qe2Qxe332.Qxe3Rxe333.bxc3Ne4-+30.Rd1Ng331.Qe5+Qxe532.fxe5Rxe533.Rd3
Ganguly has to fight for a draw.Ne234.Rgd1Rf335.Bh6Ref536.c4d437.Bc2c538.Rxf3Rxf339.Bd3Rf640.Bd2Nf441.Bxh7Nxh342.Rh1Bg543.Rxh3Bxd244.Bd3½–½
Untitled but number 34 on the Chinese ranking list: Xu Xiangyu (born 1999)
Valentina Gunina
Tim Harding
Lei Tingjie
Fide-Master, chess author, and stepfather of Hikaru Nakamura: Sunil Weeramantry
Weeramantry drew with Black against Alina Kashlinskaya
Number one on the junior list: Richard Rapport from Hungary
Swedish chess legend Pia Cramling
Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna
IM Nisha Mohota from India fighting hard against GM Pavel Tregubov
Indian talent Rout Padmini won with White against Kimia Moradi
Chinese GM Ni Hua
Nigel Short
Natalia Zhukova
Natalia Pogonina
IM Moulthun Ly from Australia
A chat during the game: Michael Dougherty played and lost against Harika Dronavalli
Women's World Champion Mariya Muzychuk
Chinese GM Li Chao
US Woman's Champion Irina Krush
Gata Kamsky
French GM Laurent Fressinet
Antoaneta Stefanova from Bulgaria
Bela Khotenashvili from Georgia
Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine)
Alexandra Kosteniuk from Russia
Number one on the girls ranking list: Aleksandra Goryachkina
IM Tania Sachdev is not playing in the tournament but as anchorwoman of the "Day's Play"
videos she is very active. In video #2 where she takes at a look at the opening ceremony
and talks to Vishy Anand and Hikaru Nakamura.
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".
Rossolimo-Moscow Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 10950 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 612 are annotated.
The greater part of the material on which the Rossolimo/Moscow Powerbook 2025 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 263.000 games. This imposing amount is supplemented by some 50 000 games from Mega and from Correspondence Chess.
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Throughout the video course, Sasikran shows various examples from his career to explain sacrifices for initiative, an attack, a better pawn structure and much more.
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The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
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