Gibraltar Rd1: Only one surprise

by Alejandro Ramirez
1/28/2015 – As it often happens in open tournaments, the first round of the event produced few surprises. Only one of the top-20 grandmasters lost, though that doesn't mean that there weren't some exciting games. Hou Yifan was slightly lucky at the end of her game, while Nakamura played a crowd pleaser. Round one report as well as impressions from the opening ceremony.

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Opening Ceremony

Lela Javakhishvili and Bela Khotenashvili from Georgia

Hikaru Nakamura and his fiancee Mariagrazia De Rosa are both participating in the event

While the ceremony was happening, some players preferred to warm up!

Ivan Cheparinov heading an important analysis session. With wine, of course.

Veselin Topalov's team: Silvio Danaliov, the man himself, and Ivan Cheparinov

Anna comes back to her tournament!

Odin Blikra Vea, Tania Sachdev, Lawrence Trent

And they say chess players are not social creatures...

Miss Gibraltar, Shyanne Azzopardi, was there to help with the opening ceremony.
She is a teaching assistant and zumba instructor as well.

Topalov drew the White king, so all odd number players will have white in the first round

Shyanne Azzopardi and Hou Yifan, fresh from Wijk aan Zee

Can't pass the opportunity for a picture, after all

Round One

Round one under way

As usual, most of the top players took the full point in the first round. There were, however, some interesting moments.

Bo.   Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts.   Name Rtg
1 GM Topalov Veselin 2800 0 1 - 0 0 FM Sanchez Jerez Emilio Miguel 2282
2 WGM Vojinovic Jovana 2301 0 0 - 1 0 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2776
3 GM Svidler Peter 2739 0 1 - 0 0 WIM Frisk Ellinor 2266
4 WIM Olsarova Tereza 2288 0 0 - 1 0 GM Vitiugov Nikita 2735
5 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2733 0 1 - 0 0   Rydstrom Tom 2292
6 FM Nuri Kambez 2305 0 0 - 1 0 GM Yu Yangyi 2724
7 GM Harikrishna P. 2723 0 1 - 0 0 FM De Haan Eric 2299
8 FM Tate Alan 2297 0 0 - 1 0 GM Rapport Richard 2716
9 GM Matlakov Maxim 2695 0 1 - 0 0   Lombaers Peter 2291
10 FM Buchal Stephan 2273 0 0 - 1 0 GM Cheparinov Ivan 2681
11 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2680 0 1 - 0 0 FM Viana Dirceu 2268
12 IM Prosviriakov Vladimir 2257 0 0 - 1 0 GM Wei Yi 2675
13 GM Hou Yifan 2673 0 1 - 0 0 FM Cordes Hans-Joerg Dr. 2262
14   Semprun Martinez Fernando 2253 0 0 - 1 0 GM Jones Gawain C B 2671
15 GM Howell David W L 2670 0 1 - 0 0 FM Menna Barreto Felipe Kubiaki 2247
16   Galmandakh Badrakh 2240 0 1 - 0 0 GM Motylev Alexander 2665
17 GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo 2649 0 1 - 0 0 FM Scharrer Patrick 2231
18   Spence David J 2231 0 0 - 1 0 GM Edouard Romain 2638
19 GM Sutovsky Emil 2637 0 1 - 0 0   Hommerson Paul 2229
20   Barrenechea Bahamonde Gustavo 2223 0 0 - 1 0 GM Bartel Mateusz 2631

Nakamura's opening was unusual to say the least:
he moved his queen six times in the first eight moves!

[Event "Gibraltar Masters 2015"] [Site "Caleta ENG"] [Date "2015.01.27"] [Round "1.2"] [White "Vojinovic, Jovana"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A80"] [PlyCount "66"] [EventDate "2015.01.27"] 1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 c6 3. e3 Qb6 4. Nd2 Qxb2 5. Rb1 Qc3 6. g4 Qa5 7. gxf5 Qxf5 8. h4 Qa5 9. Nh3 g6 10. Bd3 d6 11. Qf3 Nd7 12. h5 Ndf6 13. hxg6 hxg6 14. Bxg6+ Kd8 15. Bf4 Kc7 16. Ng5 Rxh1+ 17. Qxh1 Bh6 18. Qh4 Bd7 19. Bd3 Nd5 20. Ne6+ Bxe6 21. Bxh6 Nc3 22. Ra1 Qb4 23. Kf1 Nxa2 24. Rd1 Nc3 25. Re1 Nxh6 26. Qxh6 Bd7 27. f3 a5 28. Kf2 a4 29. Qg5 Rh8 30. Qg3 Nd5 31. Rd1 c5 32. Bc4 Nc3 33. Re1 b5 0-1

And why did he do it?

It's likely that Jovana Vojinovic had good chances for an advantage in this game,
but it proved to be too complicated for her

Hou Yifan also saw herself in a little bit of a complicated position, but her opponent duly collapsed under time pressure:

[Event "Gibraltar Masters 2015"] [Site "Caleta ENG"] [Date "2015.01.27"] [Round "1.13"] [White "Hou, Yifan"] [Black "Cordes, Hans-Joerg"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C11"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "b3r3/p5kp/6p1/PPQ1p3/3p1qB1/2P4P/6P1/4R1K1 w - - 0 35"] [PlyCount "9"] [EventDate "2015.01.27"] 35. cxd4 {This tense French has come down to this. White is up material and a7 will hang with check, but Black still has some resources thanks to the weakness of White's king.} h5 $1 36. Qxa7+ Kh6 {Suddenly, the bishop cannot retreat!} 37. dxe5 {The best decision, even if it costs White her bishop.} (37. Bd1 Qd2 $19) (37. Be2 Qe3+ 38. Kh2 h4 $19) (37. Bd7 Qd2 $19) 37... hxg4 38. Qe3 Kg5 $4 (38... Qxe3+ 39. Rxe3 {is a difficult to evaluate engame. Clearly only White can win as her passed pawns are quite dangerous, but that doesn't mean that the endgame is lost for Black. With accurate defense it should somehow be drawn.}) 39. h4+ {Oops, now Black cannot keep his queen protected.} (39. h4+ Kf5 40. Rf1 $18) 1-0

The only major surprise at the top boards was Alexander Motylev's loss on board 16. He was simply outplayed by Badrakh Galmandakh from Mongolia.

Sunil Weeramantry is a famous coach in the US and Nakamura's stepdad

Tereza Olsarova started with a loss against the much higher rated Nikita Vitiugov

Yu Yangyi will face GM Shyam Sundar tomorrow

Round Two Pairings

Bo.   Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts.   Name Rtg
1 GM Debashis Das 2503 1   1 GM Topalov Veselin 2800
2 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2776 1   1 GM Harika Dronavalli 2496
3 IM Wagner Dennis 2501 1   1 GM Svidler Peter 2739
4 GM Vitiugov Nikita 2735 1   1 IM Raznikov Danny 2494
5 IM Svane Rasmus 2496 1   1 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2733
6 GM Yu Yangyi 2724 1   1 GM Shyam Sundar M. 2489
7 IM Ducarmon Quinten 2488 1   1 GM Harikrishna P. 2723
8 GM Rapport Richard 2716 1   1 IM Tari Aryan 2487
9 IM Javakhishvili Lela 2486 1   1 GM Matlakov Maxim 2695
10 GM Cheparinov Ivan 2681 1   1 IM Smith Axel 2483
11 GM Zhukova Natalia 2482 1   1 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2680
12 GM Wei Yi 2675 1   1 IM Pichot Alan 2480
13 IM Das Arghyadip 2476 1   1 GM Hou Yifan 2673
14 GM Jones Gawain C B 2671 1   1 IM Melia Salome 2473
15 IM Trent Lawrence 2470 1   1 GM Howell David W L 2670
16 GM Krush Irina 2467 1   1 GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo 2649
17 GM Edouard Romain 2638 1   1 IM Adla Diego 2469
18 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V 2463 1   1 GM Sutovsky Emil 2637
19 GM Bartel Mateusz 2631 1   1 IM Kjartansson Gudmundur 2468
20 IM Docx Stefan 2450 1   1 GM Adhiban B. 2630

Tomorrow's round promises to be very interesting - some of the highlights include of course the top boards with Debashis vs. Topalov and Nakamura vs. Dronavalli, but of special note is board 12. Wei Yi, the prodigy, will be facing... the World u-16 Champion! Alan Pichot, from Argentina, has been making strides in his chess and it will be interesting to see how he does against clearly the World's #1 u-16 player.

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All photos by Sophie Triay from the Official Website

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Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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