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It was the penultimate round at the Gibraltar Masters 2017 and at the end of nearly seven hours of play, we have a sole leader. And it's not one of the 12 super 2700+ GMs that are playing at the event. It's the 21-year-old Spanish talent David Anton Guijarro. The Spaniard is having a phenomenal run at this event and is already gaining 25.5 Elo points with a rating performance of 2878!
David Anton's scorecard
David's latest scalp was the Bulgarian number one Veselin Topalov
When a player like Topalov plays 1.e4 and the game goes into the Ruy Lopez territory, you are sure to learn something. After all players of Veselin's calibre have such great knowledge in the Spanish system. They have played hundreds of games, prepared the lines deeply and studied thousands of other grandmaster battles. But then comes a youngster who plays the black side of the Chigorin variation with such ease that you think that the colours have been reversed! David Anton Guijarro played a nearly flawless game with black and simply outplayed Topalov. It seemed as if Anatoly Karpov was handling the black pieces. It's difficult to say where Topalov went wrong, but exchanging the dark squared bishop and giving Black complete control of the dark squares seems to be the reason for his downfall.
Veselin Topalov vs David Anton Guijarro (analysis by GM Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian)
"I can't say that it was an easy win, because it would be too much. But my play was very easy!"
David Anton is now the sole leader, and with just one round to go has excellent chances of winning the first prize of £23,000
The top board clash between MVL and Yu Yangyi was a dull draw in the Petroff
Caruana equalised with all the accurate moves in the Queen's Gambit Accepted against Hikaru Nakamura
The final position of the game was quite picturesque. There should always be a balance between rights and responsibilities in life!
Long story short: Tania Sachdev in conversation with Fabiano Caruana
Michael Adams had a blackout for a moment against Sethuraman S.P, but the Indian player was not alert enough to take advantage of the mistake. In the end the English GM scored a nice win!
In the above position Adams could have kept a clear edge with Nxe6 fxe6 Rxd7 followed by picking up the e5 bishop. However he went for...
....direct Rxd7. This turned out to be a grave error. Can you find how Black wins?
Three legends captured in one frame! Boris Gelfand has the best chance of a strong finish as he is on 7.0/9. Topalov is on 6.5 and Svidler on 6. Peter has not lost a single game. Six draws!
Romain Edouard was clearly thrilled at having won against the in form Nigel Short...
...while Nigel was clearly unhappy that his excellent run which had included wins over Grigoriants, Caruana and draws against Adams and Svidler, had come to an end.
Ju Wenjun has showcased some high class chess in this tournament. With a win over Sebastien Maze, she is now on 7.0/9.
This is a performance that Ju Wenjun would be proud of!
And she is now on 2606! Closing in on Hou Yifan, and forty points clear of World number three!
David leads the tournament with 7.5/9, but a pack of eight players are right on his toes. They include Mickey Adams Boris Gelfand, MVL, Hikaru Nakamura, Yu Yangyi, Ivan Cheparinov, Ju Wenjun and Romain Edouard.
That's the top board pairing in the final round. If David Anton wins, he is the champion. A draw would mean that he could be joined by many others. Currently Yu Yangyi seems to have the best chances as he has the white pieces against Ju Wenjun. Nakamura has a clear edge against Romain as far as rating is concerned. The game between Gelfand and Vachier-Lagrave will be a really exciting one!
In the event of a tie for first place, there shall be a speed play-off. If there are two or four players tied for first place, there will be a speed knock-out play-off for the first prize of £23,000. If three players tie for first place, the player with the highest performance rating will be seeded directly into the Final of the Play-Off; the other two players will contest the Semi-Final. If more than four players tie for first place, the four players with the highest performance ratings shall qualify for the play-off to decide the first prize.
Women's Awards: If there is a tie for the top women’s prize, the tie is resolved in favour of the woman with the highest performance rating, who will receive the prize of £15,000. All other prizes will not be subject to a tie-break and prize money other than the first prize will be divided equally amongst the players.
Who do you think will win? Write your answers in the comments section below.
| Rk. | SNo | Ti. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | w-we |
| 1 | 24 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | ESP | 2650 | 7.5 | 2878 | 2.55 |
| 2 | 3 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | USA | 2785 | 7.0 | 2826 | 0.60 |
| 3 | 2 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | FRA | 2796 | 7.0 | 2819 | 0.43 |
| 4 | 5 | GM | Adams Michael | ENG | 2751 | 7.0 | 2818 | 0.81 |
| 5 | 8 | GM | Yu Yangyi | CHN | 2738 | 7.0 | 2811 | 0.88 |
| 6 | 38 | GM | Ju Wenjun | CHN | 2583 | 7.0 | 2785 | 2.36 |
| 7 | 13 | GM | Cheparinov Ivan | BUL | 2689 | 7.0 | 2766 | 0.89 |
| 8 | 10 | GM | Gelfand Boris | ISR | 2721 | 7.0 | 2727 | 0.20 |
| 9 | 30 | GM | Edouard Romain | FRA | 2613 | 7.0 | 2685 | 0.88 |
| 10 | 20 | GM | Howell David W L | ENG | 2655 | 6.5 | 2740 | 1.12 |
| 11 | 28 | GM | Sutovsky Emil | ISR | 2628 | 6.5 | 2719 | 1.20 |
| 12 | 1 | GM | Caruana Fabiano | USA | 2827 | 6.5 | 2718 | -0.73 |
| 7 | GM | Topalov Veselin | BUL | 2739 | 6.5 | 2718 | -0.07 | |
| 14 | 12 | GM | Matlakov Maxim | RUS | 2701 | 6.5 | 2700 | 0.15 |
| 15 | 27 | GM | Akobian Varuzhan | USA | 2633 | 6.5 | 2696 | 0.91 |
| 16 | 69 | IM | Steinberg Nitzan | ISR | 2486 | 6.5 | 2684 | 2.38 |
| 17 | 18 | GM | Fressinet Laurent | FRA | 2660 | 6.5 | 2680 | 0.34 |
| 18 | 14 | GM | Kovalenko Igor | LAT | 2684 | 6.5 | 2634 | -0.43 |
| 19 | 36 | GM | Gledura Benjamin | HUN | 2589 | 6.5 | 2590 | 0.23 |
| 20 | 16 | GM | Short Nigel D | ENG | 2675 | 6.0 | 2708 | 0.54 |
| 21 | 11 | GM | Naiditsch Arkadij | AZE | 2702 | 6.0 | 2667 | -0.27 |
| 22 | 58 | GM | Stefanova Antoaneta | BUL | 2512 | 6.0 | 2663 | 1.90 |
| 23 | 9 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | RUS | 2724 | 6.0 | 2653 | -0.71 |
| 24 | 21 | GM | Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo | VEN | 2652 | 6.0 | 2649 | 0.07 |
| 25 | 26 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | IND | 2637 | 6.0 | 2646 | 0.25 |
| 42 | GM | Deac Bogdan-Daniel | ROU | 2572 | 6.0 | 2646 | 0.99 | |
| 27 | 6 | GM | Svidler Peter | RUS | 2748 | 6.0 | 2643 | -0.99 |
| 28 | 33 | GM | Fridman Daniel | GER | 2594 | 6.0 | 2639 | 0.59 |
| 29 | 22 | GM | Hou Yifan | CHN | 2651 | 6.0 | 2636 | -0.07 |
| 30 | 23 | GM | Piorun Kacper | POL | 2651 | 6.0 | 2633 | -0.09 |
| 31 | 54 | GM | Lagno Kateryna | RUS | 2530 | 6.0 | 2630 | 1.09 |
| 32 | 48 | GM | Huzman Alexander | ISR | 2557 | 6.0 | 2620 | 0.87 |
| 33 | 17 | GM | Shankland Samuel L | USA | 2674 | 6.0 | 2614 | -0.60 |
| 34 | 68 | IM | Krysa Leandro | ARG | 2491 | 6.0 | 2613 | 1.47 |
| 35 | 37 | GM | Lalith Babu M R | IND | 2587 | 6.0 | 2598 | 0.31 |
| 36 | 46 | GM | Donchenko Alexander | GER | 2559 | 6.0 | 2595 | 0.53 |
| 37 | 50 | GM | Schroeder Jan-Christian | GER | 2550 | 6.0 | 2594 | 0.63 |
| 38 | 4 | GM | Ivanchuk Vassily | UKR | 2752 | 6.0 | 2563 | -1.68 |
| 39 | 52 | GM | Libiszewski Fabien | FRA | 2545 | 6.0 | 2554 | 0.25 |
| 40 | 35 | GM | Istratescu Andrei | FRA | 2593 | 6.0 | 2508 | -0.86 |
| 41 | 51 | GM | Muzychuk Mariya | UKR | 2546 | 6.0 | 2502 | -0.29 |
| 42 | 86 | IM | Zatonskih Anna | USA | 2443 | 6.0 | 2489 | 0.71 |
| 43 | 94 | IM | Carlstedt Jonathan | GER | 2413 | 5.5 | 2634 | 2.74 |
| 44 | 34 | GM | Lagarde Maxime | FRA | 2594 | 5.5 | 2627 | 0.52 |
| 45 | 47 | GM | Muzychuk Anna | UKR | 2558 | 5.5 | 2607 | 0.61 |
| 46 | 67 | IM | Dragnev Valentin | AUT | 2492 | 5.5 | 2596 | 1.42 |
| 47 | 40 | GM | Gopal G.N. | IND | 2579 | 5.5 | 2594 | 0.28 |
| 48 | 31 | GM | Maze Sebastien | FRA | 2613 | 5.5 | 2585 | -0.16 |
| 49 | 32 | GM | Vocaturo Daniele | ITA | 2606 | 5.5 | 2584 | -0.13 |
| 50 | 15 | GM | Zvjaginsev Vadim | RUS | 2679 | 5.5 | 2579 | -1.02 |
Get the complete pairings and results: Masters + Rankings + Challengers A + Amateur A
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