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Pictures: John Saunders, Sophie Triay (Tournament page)
Before the tenth and last round no less than eight players had chances to win the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival: after nine of ten rounds Hikaru Nakamura, David Anton, Sebastien Maze, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Pentala Harikrishna, Li Chao, Etienne Bacrot, and Sethuraman S.P. all shared the lead with 7.0/9. A multi-player tie-break was looming. However, things turned out differently: two of the four games on the top boards were decided, two ended in a draw - and thus only two players made it to the tie-breaks.
Harikrishna and Li Chao shared the point as did Bacrot and Sethuraman.
Pental Harikrishna and Li Chao
India's number two, Pentala Harikrishna had a good tournament, scored 7.5/10, won 3.5 Elo-points and in the live-rating list he is now only 5 points behind Anand.
Hikaru Nakamura played energetic chess against David Anton, won his game and was the first to qualify for the tie-break.
Things were a bit more difficult for Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who was playing with Black against his countryman Sebastien Maze. The game was roughly balanced for a long time but then Vachier-Lagrave managed to exert some pressure and finally came up with a nice tactical surprise which gave him the game - and a tie-break duel against Nakamura.
Mazé vs Vachier-Lagrave
The tie-break between Nakamura and Vachier-Lagrave was close and exciting. After four draws the fifth game was played in Armageddon mode to force a decision: Nakamura won the game, the tie-break and the tournament.
And the winner is: ... Hikaru Nakamura
With a score of 6.5/10 and a rating-performance of 2541 former World Champion Vishy Anand had a dismal tournament. However, he managed to end it with a fine win against Swedish GM Erik Blomqvist.
Anand won with Black against the Najdorf with Bc4 - a favorite of Bobby Fischer.
Grigoriy Oparin and Nigel Short drew
The best woman-player was Anna Muzychuk, who won in the last round against GM Salem A.R. Saleh to finish on 17th place with 7.0/10.
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
1 | 1 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2787 | 7 | 1 - 0 | 7 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | 2639 | 24 |
2 | 35 | GM | Maze Sebastien | 2591 | 7 | 0 - 1 | 7 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | 2785 | 2 |
3 | 4 | GM | Harikrishna P. | 2755 | 7 | ½ - ½ | 7 | GM | Li Chao B | 2751 | 5 |
4 | 11 | GM | Bacrot Etienne | 2697 | 7 | ½ - ½ | 7 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2639 | 25 |
5 | 6 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2747 | 6½ | 0 - 1 | 6½ | GM | Jones Gawain C B | 2625 | 28 |
6 | 7 | GM | Jakovenko Dmitry | 2732 | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | 2642 | 23 |
7 | 26 | GM | Grandelius Nils | 2635 | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | GM | Ragger Markus | 2689 | 14 |
8 | 22 | GM | Sutovsky Emil | 2647 | 6½ | 1 - 0 | 6½ | GM | Bachmann Axel | 2610 | 34 |
9 | 45 | GM | Lalith Babu M R | 2553 | 6½ | 0 - 1 | 6 | GM | Rapport Richard | 2721 | 9 |
10 | 8 | GM | Wojtaszek Radoslaw | 2727 | 6 | ½ - ½ | 6 | IM | Tari Aryan | 2556 | 43 |
11 | 37 | GM | Tregubov Pavel V. | 2582 | 6 | 0 - 1 | 6 | GM | Fressinet Laurent | 2700 | 10 |
12 | 38 | GM | Grigoriants Sergey | 2580 | 6 | ½ - ½ | 6 | GM | Ni Hua | 2697 | 12 |
13 | 39 | GM | Perez Ponsa Federico | 2577 | 6 | 1 - 0 | 6 | GM | Howell David W L | 2685 | 15 |
14 | 16 | GM | Almasi Zoltan | 2684 | 6 | 1 - 0 | 6 | GM | Gopal G.N. | 2525 | 51 |
15 | 42 | GM | Oparin Grigoriy | 2565 | 6 | ½ - ½ | 6 | GM | Short Nigel D | 2684 | 17 |
16 | 44 | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | 2554 | 6 | 0 - 1 | 6 | GM | Bruzon Batista Lazaro | 2666 | 18 |
17 | 116 | WIM | Shvayger Yuliya | 2381 | 6 | 0 - 1 | 6 | GM | Kamsky Gata | 2665 | 19 |
18 | 20 | GM | Duda Jan-Krzysztof | 2660 | 6 | ½ - ½ | 6 | WGM | Tan Zhongyi | 2504 | 62 |
19 | 55 | GM | Libiszewski Fabien | 2515 | 6 | ½ - ½ | 6 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | 2660 | 21 |
20 | 47 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | 2537 | 6 | 1 - 0 | 6 | GM | Salem A.R. Saleh | 2627 | 27 |
...
This year the first women's prize was 15,000 pounds and this convinced
almost all top-women players that Gibraltar was worth a trip and a try.
Anna Muzychuk
Bela Kotenashvili
Tan Zonqyi
Natalia Pogonina (left, with White) starts her battle
against Alexandra Kosteniuk, her colleague in Russia's national team.
Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | rtg+/- | |
1 | 2 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | FRA | 2785 | 8,0 | 2838 | 6,8 |
2 | 1 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | USA | 2787 | 8,0 | 2811 | 3,4 |
3 | 11 | GM | Bacrot Etienne | FRA | 2697 | 7,5 | 2786 | 10,3 |
4 | 25 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | IND | 2639 | 7,5 | 2781 | 19,4 |
5 | 4 | GM | Harikrishna P. | IND | 2755 | 7,5 | 2773 | 3,5 |
6 | 28 | GM | Jones Gawain C B | ENG | 2625 | 7,5 | 2730 | 14,2 |
7 | 5 | GM | Li Chao B | CHN | 2751 | 7,5 | 2721 | -1,3 |
8 | 22 | GM | Sutovsky Emil | ISR | 2647 | 7,5 | 2628 | -0,9 |
9 | 14 | GM | Ragger Markus | AUT | 2689 | 7,0 | 2737 | 7,6 |
10 | 32 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | IND | 2613 | 7,0 | 2716 | 15,0 |
35 | GM | Maze Sebastien | FRA | 2591 | 7,0 | 2716 | 16,9 | |
12 | 7 | GM | Jakovenko Dmitry | RUS | 2732 | 7,0 | 2711 | -1,1 |
13 | 24 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | ESP | 2639 | 7,0 | 2706 | 10,7 |
14 | 18 | GM | Bruzon Batista Lazaro | CUB | 2666 | 7,0 | 2703 | 5,9 |
15 | 26 | GM | Grandelius Nils | SWE | 2635 | 7,0 | 2692 | 9,5 |
16 | 9 | GM | Rapport Richard | HUN | 2721 | 7,0 | 2682 | -3,6 |
17 | 47 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | UKR | 2537 | 7,0 | 2677 | 17,5 |
18 | 23 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | IND | 2642 | 7,0 | 2675 | 5,7 |
19 | 16 | GM | Almasi Zoltan | HUN | 2684 | 7,0 | 2662 | -1,9 |
20 | 30 | GM | Edouard Romain | FRA | 2617 | 7,0 | 2650 | 5,5 |
21 | 39 | GM | Perez Ponsa Federico | ARG | 2577 | 7,0 | 2628 | 8,0 |
22 | 10 | GM | Fressinet Laurent | FRA | 2700 | 7,0 | 2624 | -7,7 |
23 | 19 | GM | Kamsky Gata | USA | 2665 | 7,0 | 2612 | -5,3 |
24 | 33 | GM | Lenic Luka | SLO | 2611 | 6,5 | 2693 | 10,7 |
25 | 57 | IM | Gledura Benjamin | HUN | 2515 | 6,5 | 2691 | 24,2 |
26 | 43 | IM | Tari Aryan | NOR | 2556 | 6,5 | 2676 | 17,0 |
27 | 8 | GM | Wojtaszek Radoslaw | POL | 2727 | 6,5 | 2670 | -6,2 |
28 | 6 | GM | Yu Yangyi | CHN | 2747 | 6,5 | 2657 | -9,2 |
29 | 12 | GM | Ni Hua | CHN | 2697 | 6,5 | 2643 | -6,0 |
30 | 45 | GM | Lalith Babu M R | IND | 2553 | 6,5 | 2641 | 12,8 |
31 | 56 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | BUL | 2515 | 6,5 | 2637 | 17,0 |
32 | 38 | GM | Grigoriants Sergey | RUS | 2580 | 6,5 | 2629 | 6,7 |
33 | 42 | GM | Oparin Grigoriy | RUS | 2565 | 6,5 | 2608 | 6,5 |
34 | 62 | WGM | Tan Zhongyi | CHN | 2504 | 6,5 | 2600 | 13,8 |
35 | 34 | GM | Bachmann Axel | PAR | 2610 | 6,5 | 2592 | -1,1 |
36 | 20 | GM | Duda Jan-Krzysztof | POL | 2660 | 6,5 | 2590 | -7,9 |
60 | GM | Bai Jinshi | CHN | 2507 | 6,5 | 2590 | 11,9 | |
38 | 82 | IM | Kelires Andreas | CYP | 2444 | 6,5 | 2579 | 18,8 |
39 | 36 | GM | Sandipan Chanda | IND | 2583 | 6,5 | 2577 | 0,2 |
40 | 55 | GM | Libiszewski Fabien | FRA | 2515 | 6,5 | 2575 | 8,6 |
41 | 3 | GM | Anand Viswanathan | IND | 2784 | 6,5 | 2568 | -21,9 |
42 | 17 | GM | Short Nigel D | ENG | 2684 | 6,5 | 2565 | -13,0 |
43 | 130 | IM | Wemmers Xander | NED | 2352 | 6,5 | 2547 | 24,9 |
44 | 84 | IM | Shytaj Luca | ITA | 2443 | 6,5 | 2543 | 14,5 |
45 | 21 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | IND | 2660 | 6,5 | 2532 | -14,1 |
46 | 112 | IM | Khademalsharieh Sarasadat | IRI | 2392 | 6,5 | 2528 | 17,6 |
47 | 53 | GM | Vishnu Prasanna. V | IND | 2518 | 6,5 | 2517 | 1,4 |
48 | 122 | Herman Matthew J | USA | 2370 | 6,5 | 2454 | 13,3 | |
49 | 40 | GM | Vazquez Igarza Renier | ESP | 2572 | 6,0 | 2640 | 8,1 |
50 | 58 | GM | Harika Dronavalli | IND | 2511 | 6,0 | 2617 | 15,1 |
... 250 players
I
ChessBase author Tania Sachdev follows the tournament as anchorwoman of "The Day's Play"
LinksThe 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. |