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The Gibraltar International Chess Festival 2020 starts today and runs over nine rounds through January 30th. It is the 18th 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 — 59th on the overall list.
Official teaser video
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.
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.
| No. | Name | FED | Rtg | |
| 1 | GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | AZE | 2770 |
| 2 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | FRA | 2770 |
| 3 | GM | Wang Hao | CHN | 2758 |
| 4 | GM | Topalov Veselin | BUL | 2738 |
| 5 | GM | Navara David | CZE | 2717 |
| 6 | GM | Le Quang Liem | VIE | 2713 |
| 7 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | RUS | 2704 |
| 8 | GM | Ivanchuk Vassily | UKR | 2698 |
| 9 | GM | Matlakov Maxim | RUS | 2698 |
| 10 | GM | Adams Michael | ENG | 2694 |
| 11 | GM | Cheparinov Ivan | GEO | 2686 |
| 12 | GM | Jones Gawain C B | ENG | 2679 |
| 13 | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | IRI | 2674 |
| 14 | GM | Saric Ivan | CRO | 2655 |
| 15 | GM | Adhiban B. | IND | 2654 |
| 16 | GM | Esipenko Andrey | RUS | 2654 |
| 17 | GM | Lagarde Maxime | FRA | 2651 |
| 18 | GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | IND | 2648 |
| 19 | GM | Donchenko Alexander | GER | 2647 |
| 20 | GM | Tabatabaei M.Amin | IRI | 2638 |
...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.
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.
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
