Start of the Gibraltar Chess Festival 2020

Round 1

The Gibraltar International Chess Festival 2020 starts today and runs over nine rounds through January 30^th. It is the 18^th edition of the tournament, which takes place, as usual, at the Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar and is directed by GM Stuart Conquest.

In the Masters tournament, 240 players are in attendance, including almost 100 grandmasters. The top seeds are Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Maxim Vachier-Lagrave, but also five other grandmasters rated over 2700. In addition, many other grandmasters with well-known names play along, including Vassily Ivanchuk and Michael Adams. Notably absent this year is the U.S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura who has been a Gibraltar regular in the past. The top-rated woman in the field is Anna Muzychuk — 59^th on the overall list.

Official teaser video

Live games and commentary

Players receive 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes until the end of the game plus 30 seconds per move starting from move one.

ChessBase Account Premium annual subscription

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Standings after Round 1 (top 20)

With 17 players each, England and Spain unsurprisingly have strong contingents, but they are surpassed by the Indian delegation, which comprises 29 players, led by Adhiban Baskaran, and featuring future stars Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh.

Starting list (top 20)

The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1 and 2

The Caro Kann is a very tricky opening. Black’s play is based on controlling and fighting for key light squares. It is a line which was very fashionable in late 90s and early 2000s due to the successes of greats like Karpov, Anand, Dreev etc. Recently due to strong engines lot of key developments have been made and some new lines have been introduced, while others have been refuted altogether. I have analyzed the new trends carefully and found some new ideas for Black.

...240 Players

Gibraltar is known in part for its high prize fund specifically for women, with the top scorer taking home GBP £20,000, ensuring once again that many women take part in the Chess Festival. Notable names include Alexandra Kosteniuk, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, Lei Tingje, Tan Zhongyi and many more.

Continuing a trend, the Tehran Times recently reported that Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, the strongest woman from Iran and eighth best player in the country overall, as well as number 13 in the women's world rankings, had announced her withdrawal from the country's national team on her Instagram account.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

در ایران هستم و قصد مهاجرت ندارم چند سالی است که به صورت انفرادی و با هزینه شخصی در مسابقات مختلف بین المللی به عنوان یک ایرانی شرکت میکنم و این روال ادامه خواهد داشت. تعدادی از این مسابقات به صورت ملی است و این اعزام ها زیر نظر فدراسیون و وزارت ورزش صورت میپذیرد که از این پس از حضور در هرگونه مسابقه ملی که تحت نظر فدراسیون، وزارت ورزش یا کمیته المپیک باشد، به عنوان ملی پوش یا نماینده یا هر چیز دیگری که بنامند، انصراف میدهم. این به معنای تغییر ملیتم نیست. شطرنج یک ورزش فکریست و دنیای عجیبی دارد. من میخواهم در فضایی آرام، بدون فشار و استرس و تهدید، فقط و فقط روی کارم تمرکز کنم. نمیگذارند، نمیفهمند و نخواهند فهمید. دلایل تصمیمم برای کسانی که باید ببینند روشن است، شاید نمیخواهند ببینند و این تصمیم آنهاست نه من! من فعلا قصد مهاجرت ندارم و کسی هم حق ندارد من را وادار به ماندن یا رفتن کند.

A post shared by Sara Khadem |سارا خادم الشريعه (@saraa_khadem) on Jan 13, 2020 at 7:45am PST

For many years, the Gibraltar Open was one of the best attended open tournaments in the world, a successor to the long-running Aeroflot Open. In recent years the Isle of Man has outstripped Gibraltar in this respect, particularly last year when the tournament was upgraded to a qualifying event for the FIDE candidates tournament. But the Gibraltar Chess Festival remains a first-class destination and its Masters group one of the absolute top opens. It is popular among players not only because of the high prize money, but also because of its friendly and fun-filled atmosphere. 

In addition to the Masters, amateur and challenge tournaments are offered, as well as a blitz tournament and a number of other side events. 

Master Class Vol.6: Anatoly Karpov

On this DVD a team of experts looks closely at the secrets of Karpov's games. In more than 7 hours of video, the authors examine four essential aspects of Karpov's superb play.

The 12th world champion in simultaneous action

Former World Champion Anatoly Karpov opened the festival with a simultaneous performance on 29 boards, which Karpov won with 27-2 (+25, = 4).

Translation from German and additional reporting: Macauley Peterson

Links

• Official site