Gibraltar Rd03: Only two 2700+ with 3.0/3!

by Sagar Shah
1/27/2017 – Michael Adams and Nikita Vitiugov are the only 2700+ player with a perfect score at the end of the third round of the Gibraltar Masters 2017. All the elite players who had drawn their games yesterday including Caruana, MVL and Gelfand were able to win. However, Svidler had to once again split the point and on the top board Nakamura was surprised by an excellent exchange sacrifice by G. N. Gopal. We have the full illustrated report from round four rich with analysis, pictures, videos and also information about the team blitz and Governor's visit to the event.

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Photos by Sophie Triay and John Saunders

The Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2017 began with 12 players above 2700. After three rounds only two of them are on a 100% score with 3.0/3 – Michael Adams and Nikita Vitiugov. In the third round Mickey got the better of the talented Romanian Deac Bogdan-Daniel.

The game was heading towards a draw when the young Romanian just blundered a pawn. A costly error as Michael picked up the pawn and mopped up the game.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters 2017"] [Site "Caleta ENG"] [Date "2017.01.26"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Adams, Michael"] [Black "Deac, Bogdan-Daniel"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A13"] [WhiteElo "2751"] [BlackElo "2572"] [Annotator "Sagar,Shah"] [PlyCount "137"] [EventDate "2017.01.24"] 1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qxc4 c5 7. Ne5 Qc8 8. d3 Nc6 9. Nxd7 Qxd7 10. Nd2 Rc8 11. Nf3 Be7 12. Bd2 O-O 13. O-O Rfd8 14. Rfc1 Nd5 15. a3 a6 16. a4 Bf6 17. Rab1 Ncb4 18. a5 b5 19. axb6 Nxb6 20. Qe4 Qb5 21. Bg5 N4d5 22. Bxf6 Nxf6 23. Qe3 Nfd5 24. Qe4 Nf6 25. Qe5 c4 26. Qxb5 axb5 27. Ne5 Nfd5 28. dxc4 bxc4 29. Bf1 f6 30. Nf3 Nb4 31. e3 e5 32. Rc3 Kf8 33. Ra1 N4d5 34. Rc2 {The position is round about equal. Black has played pretty well and has many ways to maintain the equality. However, the young Romanian goes wrong.} c3 $2 35. e4 Ne7 (35... cxb2 36. Rxb2 $18 {simply loses a piece.}) 36. Rxc3 {White is up a pawn and the rest was done nicely by Michael.} Rb8 37. b3 Nec8 38. Ra2 Rb7 39. Nd2 Na7 40. Ba6 Rbd7 41. Nf1 Rd6 42. Ne3 Nc6 43. Bf1 Nd4 44. Ra6 Rb8 45. Kg2 Rd7 46. b4 Rdb7 47. b5 Nc8 48. Nd5 Nxb5 49. Bxb5 Rxb5 50. Rc7 h5 51. Rd7 Nb6 52. Nxb6 R5xb6 53. Raa7 g5 54. Rh7 Kg8 55. Rag7+ Kf8 56. Rc7 Kg8 57. Rcg7+ Kf8 58. Rg6 Re8 59. Rxh5 Rbe6 60. Kf3 Kf7 61. Rgh6 Rb6 62. Kg4 Rb2 63. f3 Rb3 64. Rh7+ Ke6 65. Ra7 Rd8 66. Rh6 Rd6 67. Rhh7 Rd4 68. Rhe7+ Kd6 69. Rf7 1-0

Hikaru Nakamura played the most aggressive system in the Najdorf, but his opponent G.N. Gopal was excellently prepared, played an interesting exchange sacrifice and the game ended in a draw

[Event "Gibraltar Masters 2017"] [Site "Caleta ENG"] [Date "2017.01.26"] [Round "3.1"] [White "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Black "Gopal, G.N."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B94"] [WhiteElo "2785"] [BlackElo "2579"] [Annotator "Sagar,Shah"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2017.01.24"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Qe2 h6 8. Bxf6 Nxf6 9. g3 e5 10. Nf5 Be6 11. O-O-O g6 12. Ne3 Rc8 {This position has been reached in two top level encounters Wang-Grischuk and Motylev-Wojtaszek.} 13. Ned5 Nxd5 14. Nxd5 Rc5 15. b4 Rxd5 $5 {This is excellent preparation by Gopal who clearly understood that sacrificing and exchange will give him good chances because of the strong bishops and the safer king.} 16. exd5 Bd7 17. h4 h5 18. Kb2 Bg7 19. c3 O-O {Black is just an exchange down, but the bishop on g7 is a monster and Black's king is safe. All in all I would count this as an extremely complex position.} 20. a3 f5 21. Ka2 Qc7 22. c4 e4 23. Qd2 a5 24. b5 Qc5 25. Qe3 Qxe3 $5 {Even the exchange of queens is not such a bad news for Black.} 26. fxe3 Be5 27. Rg1 b6 28. Be2 Kf7 29. Rdf1 Ke7 30. Kb3 Rc8 31. a4 Rc7 32. Kc2 Rc8 33. Kd2 Rh8 34. Rf4 {Hikaru returns the exchange seeing that there is absolutely no way to make progress.} Bxf4 35. gxf4 Kf6 36. Kc3 Rc8 37. Kd4 Be8 38. Bd1 Bf7 39. Bb3 Rc7 40. Ba2 Rc8 41. Bb3 Rc7 42. Ba2 Rc8 43. Bb3 { An interesting duel in the Najdorf.} 1/2-1/2

Gopal explains his exchange sacrifice

Fabiano Caruana was able to beat his Mongolian opponent Tuvshitungs Batchimeg. Fabi now moves to 2.5/3.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters 2017"] [Site "Caleta ENG"] [Date "2017.01.26"] [Round "3.19"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Batchimeg, Tuvshintugs"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D25"] [WhiteElo "2827"] [BlackElo "2390"] [Annotator "Sagar,Shah"] [PlyCount "79"] [EventDate "2017.01.24"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. e3 a6 5. Bxc4 e6 6. O-O b5 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. a4 bxa4 9. Rxa4 c5 10. Nc3 cxd4 11. exd4 Be7 12. Qe2 O-O 13. Bg5 Bc6 14. Raa1 Nd5 15. Qe4 g6 16. Qh4 Bxg5 17. Nxg5 h5 18. Qg3 Qf6 19. Rac1 Ra7 20. Rfd1 Kg7 21. Be4 Rb7 {Fabiano's decision at this point was very interesting.} 22. Bxd5 $5 exd5 23. Rd2 Re8 24. h4 Nd7 25. Ne2 $1 {The knight comes to f4 and White kinght's start to weave their magic.} Nf8 26. Nf4 Kh8 27. Rdc2 $16 {White has beautifully co-ordinated his pieces. That's what top players do. They just get their guys on the best squares!} Ba4 28. Rc7 Rxc7 29. Rxc7 Bd7 30. Nf3 Be6 31. Ne5 Re7 32. Rc6 Qf5 33. Rxa6 Rb7 34. b3 Kg7 35. Rd6 Rc7 36. Kh2 Rb7 37. Rc6 Re7 38. b4 Rb7 39. Nfd3 Qe4 40. Nc5 1-0

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was able to win with a cute little exchange sacrifice. It wasn't decisive and perhaps his opponent had a fine position, but the French GM was able to outplay his opponent and win the game.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters 2017"] [Site "Caleta ENG"] [Date "2017.01.26"] [Round "3.20"] [White "Salomon, Johan"] [Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B51"] [WhiteElo "2470"] [BlackElo "2796"] [Annotator "Sagar,Shah"] [PlyCount "58"] [EventDate "2017.01.24"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. c3 Ngf6 5. Qe2 a6 6. Ba4 e6 7. Bc2 b5 8. d4 Bb7 9. a4 cxd4 10. cxd4 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. b3 Rc8 13. Bb2 {[#]} Rxc2 $1 { This exchange sacrifice is as natural as a baby's smile!} 14. Qxc2 Bxe4 15. Qe2 Bc6 16. Rc1 Qa8 17. axb5 Bxb5 18. Qd1 Rb8 19. Na3 Bc6 20. Nc4 Nd5 21. Ba3 Nf4 22. Ra2 (22. Bxd6 $1 $11) 22... Bd5 23. Rc3 Nf6 24. Ncd2 g5 25. Nxg5 $2 Bxb3 $1 26. Qf3 Qxf3 27. Rxf3 Bxa2 28. Rxf4 Nh5 29. Rg4 f5 {Black is just up a piece.} 0-1

Boris Gelfand drew his first round, but is now back with two wins

Peter Svidler was held to another draw in the third round. It was a crazily complicated game and Nitzan Steinberg has had a great start to the tournament with draws against MVL and Svidler

Vassily Ivanchuk was in danger of losing his game against IM Venkatachalam Saravanan. The Indian IM went wrong at some point and Chucky managed to win. This was after he lost on time yesterday. So Ivanchuk is on 2.0/3.

My position objectively was completely hopeless!

On the third board Yu Yangyi drew his game against 2015 World Junior Champion Mikhail Antipov

Nikita Vitiugov is on 3.0/3 after he beat German grandmaster Alexander Donchenko

Vadim Zviaginsev, the inventor of 1.e4 c5 2.Na3!? beat Kateryna Lagno and is now on 3.0/3

David Howell played the Caro Kann for the first time in his life and suddenly found out that he had very little space to manoeuvre! He drew his game against Sergey Grigoriants.

The game between Anna Muzychuk and Hou Yifan ended in a draw

The battle of sexes between Nigel Short versus Anna Zatonskih ended in a win for Nigel!

The prodigy from America Awonder Liang managed to hold GM S.P. Sethuraman to a draw

Ju Wenjun made short work of her opponent Ori Kobo and is now on 3.0/3

The most popular couple in Gibraltar is Laurent Fressinet and Valentina Gunina!

The duel between father and daughter: Bellon Lopez and Anna Bellon Cramling ended in a draw!

Top pairings and results of Round 3

Ti. Name Rtg Pts. Res. Pts. Ti. Name Rtg
GM Nakamura Hikaru 2785 2 ½-½ 2 GM Gopal G.N. 2579
GM Adams Michael 2751 2 1-0 2 GM Deac Bogdan-Daniel 2572
GM Antipov Mikhail Al. 2580 2 ½-½ 2 GM Yu Yangyi 2738
GM Vitiugov Nikita 2724 2 1-0 2 GM Donchenko Alexander 2559
GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2702 2 ½-½ 2 GM Huzman Alexander 2557
GM Cheparinov Ivan 2689 2 ½-½ 2 GM Schroeder Jan-Christian 2550
GM Zvjaginsev Vadim 2679 2 1-0 2 GM Lagno Kateryna 2530
GM Shankland Samuel L 2674 2 1-0 2 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2512
GM Grigoriants Sergey 2564 2 ½-½ 2 GM Howell David W L 2655
GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo 2652 2 1-0 2 IM Kollars Dmitrij 2500
GM Muzychuk Anna 2558 2 ½-½ 2 GM Hou Yifan 2651
GM Piorun Kacper 2651 2 1-0 2 IM Bellahcene Bilel 2493
GM Mastrovasilis Athanasios 2551 2 ½-½ 2 GM Anton Guijarro David 2650
IM Liang Awonder 2496 2 ½-½ 2 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2637
GM Akobian Varuzhan 2633 2 ½-½ 2 IM Batsiashvili Nino 2492
GM Cuenca Jimenez Jose Fernando  2492 2 0-1 2 GM Sutovsky Emil 2628
IM Dragnev Valentin 2492 2 0-1 2 GM Lagarde Maxime 2594
IM Kobo Ori 2482 2 0-1 2 GM Ju Wenjun 2583
GM Caruana Fabiano 2827 1½ 1-0 2 IM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs 2390
IM Salomon Johan 2470 1½ 0-1 1½ GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2796
IM Steinberg Nitzan 2486 1½ ½-½ 1½ GM Svidler Peter 2748
GM Topalov Veselin 2739 1½ ½-½ 1½ IM Krysa Leandro 2491
IM Almagro Llamas Pablo 2466 1½ 0-1 1½ GM Gelfand Boris 2721
IM Kantans Toms 2456 1½ 0-1 1½ GM Matlakov Maxim 2701
GM Cramling Pia 2454 1½ ½-½ 1½ GM Kovalenko Igor 2684
IM Zatonskih Anna 2443 1½ 0-1 1½ GM Short Nigel D 2675
IM Sarkar Justin 2428 1½ 0-1 1½ GM Fressinet Laurent 2660
GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2657 1½ 1-0 1½ GM Riff Jean-Noel 2468
WIM Shvayger Yuliya 2413 1½ ½-½ 1½ GM Edouard Romain 2613
GM Maze Sebastien 2613 1½ 1-0 1½ FM Pustovoitova Daria 2407
FM Perez Garcia Alejandro 2398 1½ 0-1 1½ GM Vocaturo Daniele 2606
GM Fridman Daniel 2594 1½ ½-½ 1½ IM Carlstedt Jonathan 2413
GM Istratescu Andrei 2593 1½ 0-1 1½ FM Garriga Cazorla Pere 2386
WGM Tsolakidou Stavroula 2387 1½ 0-1 1½ GM Gledura Benjamin 2589
GM Blomqvist Erik 2574 1½ 1-0 1½ IM Docx Stefan 2405
IM Omar Noaman 2369 1½ ½-½ 1½ GM Vazquez Igarza Renier 2572
GM Muzychuk Mariya 2546 1½ 1-0 1½ FM Mihajlov Sebastian 2384
GM Spraggett Kevin 2542 1½ ½-½ 1½ FM Shachar Ehud 2374
GM Del Rio De Angelis Salvador G 2527 1½ ½-½ 1½ FM Kozak Adam 2376
IM Godart Francois 2381 1½ ½-½ 1½ GM Gunina Valentina 2524
GM Lemos Damian 2516 1½ ½-½ 1½ FM Thavandiran Shiyam 2367
GM Narciso Dublan Marc 2508 1½ ½-½ 1½ IM Derakhshani Dorsa 2370
IM Aryan Chopra 2503 1½ ½-½ 1½ FM Tate Alan 2309
GM Oparin Grigoriy 2625 1 1-0 1½ FM Buchenau Frank 2274
IM Saravanan V. 2306 1 0-1 1 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2752
GM Gupta Abhijeet 2645 1 1-0 1 FM Lopez Mulet Inigo 2304
GM Lalith Babu M R 2587 1 1-0 1 FM Sanchez Jerez Emilio Miguel 2257
WGM Pourkashiyan Atousa 2303 1 0-1 1 GM Libiszewski Fabien 2545
FM Loh Zachary 2291 1 1-0 1 GM Mikhalevski Victor 2504
FM Bergstrom Rolf 2268 1 ½-½ 1 IM Santos Ruiz Miguel 2484
FM Plotkin Victor 2253 1 0-1 1 GM Debashis Das 2472
IM Esserman Marc 2468 1 1-0 1 FM Cordes Hans-Joerg Dr. 2242
WIM Pratyusha Bodda 2247 1 0-1 1 IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2468
FM Renteria Jorge 2242 1 0-1 1 IM Ider Borya 2463
  Weisbuch Udi 2240 1 0-1 1 IM Javakhishvili Lela 2455
FM Damia Angelo 2233 1 0-1 1 IM Cheng Bobby 2452
IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat 2452 1 ½-½ 1   Serarols Mabras Bernat 2242
WIM Heinemann Josefine 2227 1 0-1 1 IM Kantor Gergely 2448
GM Zhukova Natalia 2447 1 1-0 1   Vea Odin Blikra 2234
GM Womacka Mathias 2435 1 ½-½ 1   Bujnoch Radek 2233
IM Gluckman David 2215 1 0-1 1 GM Khotenashvili Bela 2430
  Verneuil Pascal 2215 1 ½-½ 1 IM Wemmers Xander 2424
GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2420 1 ½-½ 1   Pinho Paulo 2220
FM Baert Andy 2210 1 ½-½ 1 IM Karavade Eesha 2418
IM Kuipers Stefan 2414 1 1-0 1   Tscharotschkin Michael 2190
IM Vega Gutierrez Sabrina 2406 1 1-0 1   Aroven Mikael 2172
FM Guerra Rivera Salvador 2389 1 ½-½ 1 FM Alberto Manuel 2168
FM Derakhshani Borna 2195 1 ½-½ 1 IM Milliet Sophie 2387
FM Ladron De Guevara Pinto Paolo  2386 1 1-0 1   Bopp Thomas Dr. 2157
IM Herman Matthew J 2383 1 1-0 1   Seyfried Claus 2152
CM Osuna Vega Enrique 2181 1 0-1 1 FM Jessel Stephen 2382
  Veltkamp Gerben 2166 1 0-1 1   Henderson De La Fuente Lance 2380
IM Nomin-Erdene Davaademberel  2378 1 ½-½ 1   Herzwurm Robert 2143
  Gonzalez Gonzalez Alfonso 2162 1 1-0 1 IM Szabo Bence 2378
WGM Gara Ticia 2378 1 1-0 1 FM Weeramantry Sunil 2129
WGM Soumya Swaminathan 2375 1 1-0 1   Whatley Stephen A J 2127
GM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan 2370 1 1-0 1   Behrendt Clemens 2121
FM Smith Andrew Philip 2152 1 0-1 1 GM Paehtz Thomas 2365
IM Lazarne Vajda Szidonia 2364 1 1-0 1   Eagleton Greg T 2055
IM Sahl Bjarke 2363 1 1-0 1   Dasaolu Rotimi 2051
  Chan Kim Yew 2152 1 ½-½ 1 IM Siva Mahadevan 2356
WGM Papp Petra 2352 1 1-0 1   Carlsten Peter 2047
  Finsterwalder Sebastian 2130 1 0-1 1 IM Vuilleumier Alexandre 2347
IM Sodoma Jan 2344 1 ½-½ 1   Skutta Bernd Dr. 1957
  Bendayan Claros Aaron 2128 1 0-1 1 FM Rakesh Kumar Jena 2335
  Lochte Thomas 2070 1 0-1 1 IM Mannion Stephen R 2326
  Newbry Benjamin J 1879 1 0-1 1 IM Welling Gerard 2314
FM Wantiez Fabrice 2312 1 1-0 1   Bauer Dieter 1772
GM Kaidanov Gregory S 2572 ½ 1-0 1 WFM Gamboa Alvarado Olga Leticia 1913
IM Bellin Robert 2353 ½ ½-½ ½   Mueller-Dehn Christian Dr. 2170
  Vanheirzeele Daniel 2154 ½ --+ ½ FM Gulamali Kazim 2341
FM Lombaers Peter 2314 ½ ½-½ ½   Gillis Onieva Celia 1966
FM Kandic Milan 2061 ½ 0-1 ½ FM Webb Laurence E 2313
  Hamer Martyn 2039 ½ 0-1 ½ IM Povah Nigel E 2298
  Noordhoek Henk 2004 ½ 0-1 ½ FM Bach Matthias 2264
  Broekman Willem 1997 ½ 0-1 ½   Gluhovsky Mark 2263
WIM Kantane Anna 2259 ½ ½-½ ½   Amgalanbaatar Ravdanlkhumbuu  1988
CM Miracola Giorgia 1924 ½ 0-1 ½ FM De Francesco Klaus 2252
  Burke Mitchell R 1975 ½ 0-1 ½   Galmandakh Badrakh 2215
  Slinger Tony J 1911 ½ 0-1 ½   Villar Reymundo Juan Antonio 2212

Top pairings for round 4 on 2017/01/27 at 15.00

Ti. Name Rtg Pts. Res. Pts. Ti. Name Rtg
GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo 2652 3   3 GM Adams Michael 2751
GM Sutovsky Emil 2628 3   3 GM Vitiugov Nikita 2724
GM Lagarde Maxime 2594 3   3 GM Zvjaginsev Vadim 2679
GM Ju Wenjun 2583 3   3 GM Shankland Samuel L 2674
GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2796 2½   3 GM Piorun Kacper 2651
GM Vocaturo Daniele 2606 2½   2½ GM Caruana Fabiano 2827
GM Gledura Benjamin 2589 2½   2½ GM Nakamura Hikaru 2785
GM Yu Yangyi 2738 2½   2½ GM Maze Sebastien 2613
GM Gelfand Boris 2721 2½   2½ GM Gopal G.N. 2579
GM Matlakov Maxim 2701 2½   2½ GM Blomqvist Erik 2574
GM Huzman Alexander 2557 2½   2½ GM Cheparinov Ivan 2689
GM Short Nigel D 2675 2½   2½ GM Grigoriants Sergey 2564
GM Fressinet Laurent 2660 2½   2½ GM Muzychuk Anna 2558
GM Schroeder Jan-Christian 2550 2½   2½ GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2657
GM Howell David W L 2655 2½   2½ GM Mastrovasilis Athanasios 2551
GM Hou Yifan 2651 2½   2½ GM Muzychuk Mariya 2546
GM Anton Guijarro David 2650 2½   2½ IM Liang Awonder 2496
GM Sethuraman S.P. 2637 2½   2½ IM Batsiashvili Nino 2492
FM Garriga Cazorla Pere 2386 2½   2½ GM Akobian Varuzhan 2633
GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2752 2   2 IM Cheng Bobby 2452
GM Svidler Peter 2748 2   2 GM Zhukova Natalia 2447
IM Kantor Gergely 2448 2   2 GM Topalov Veselin 2739
GM Kovalenko Igor 2684 2   2 IM Kuipers Stefan 2414
GM Khotenashvili Bela 2430 2   2 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2645
IM Carlstedt Jonathan 2413 2   2 GM Oparin Grigoriy 2625
GM Edouard Romain 2613 2   2 IM Vega Gutierrez Sabrina 2406
FM Jessel Stephen 2382 2   2 GM Lalith Babu M R 2587
GM Deac Bogdan-Daniel 2572 2   2 FM Ladron De Guevara Pinto Paolo  2386
GM Vazquez Igarza Renier 2572 2   2 IM Herman Matthew J 2383
GM Donchenko Alexander 2559 2   2 IM Godart Francois 2381
GM Libiszewski Fabien 2545 2   2 WGM Gara Ticia 2378
IM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs 2390 2   2 GM Spraggett Kevin 2542
GM Lagno Kateryna 2530 2   2 WGM Soumya Swaminathan 2375
  Henderson De La Fuente Lance  2380 2   2 GM Del Rio De Angelis Salvador G 2527
GM Gunina Valentina 2524 2   2 GM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan 2370
FM Kozak Adam 2376 2   2 GM Lemos Damian 2516
GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2512 2   2 IM Omar Noaman 2369
FM Shachar Ehud 2374 2   2 GM Narciso Dublan Marc 2508
IM Derakhshani Dorsa 2370 2   2 IM Aryan Chopra 2503
IM Kollars Dmitrij 2500 2   2 IM Lazarne Vajda Szidonia 2364
IM Bellahcene Bilel 2493 2   2 IM Sahl Bjarke 2363
FM Thavandiran Shiyam 2367 2   2 GM Cuenca Jimenez Jose Fernando  2492
GM Paehtz Thomas 2365 2   2 IM Dragnev Valentin 2492
IM Krysa Leandro 2491 2   2 WGM Papp Petra 2352
IM Vuilleumier Alexandre 2347 2   2 IM Steinberg Nitzan 2486
FM Rakesh Kumar Jena 2335 2   2 IM Kobo Ori 2482
GM Debashis Das 2472 2   2 FM Wantiez Fabrice 2312
IM Mannion Stephen R 2326 2   2 IM Esserman Marc 2468
IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2468 2   2 FM Loh Zachary 2291
IM Ider Borya 2463 2   2   Gonzalez Gonzalez Alfonso 2162

Get the complete results + Challengers A + Amateur A

Many of the strongest players, including Fabiano Caruana and Nigel Short (who met in the first round), took part in the team blitz event. The strongest team probably is 'Howell's Honeys (Fabiano Caruana, David Howell, Tania Sachdev and Dorsa Derakhshani). Two rounds have been completed and you can check the standings here.

Gibraltar's Governor Ed Davies (left) visited the tournament hall. Along with him in the picture is the organizer of the event Brian Callaghan

Interviewed live by commentator British Women’s Champion Jovanka Houska on the daily internet show streamed across the world the Governor described the tournament as a wonderful event. “What has kept this competition so progressive, so alive and made it so successful is that every year there are more people, more initiatives and different spins on the competition,” he said.

Talking about how the tournament had grown he commented on how Gibraltar was a place which had “ambition, innovation and boldness”.“This competition is just testament to these attributes because Gibraltar goes about projecting itself in that way. The natural characteristics that make these things successful is what has happened here. Brian Callaghan had an idea, he had a vision, he was bold, innovative, and it has been a great success,” he added.  

The games will be 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.
 
Sagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He is also a chartered accountant. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He and is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India website, the biggest chess news outlet in the country.