1/29/2015 – Three Chinese players have a perfect score in Gibraltar: Ju Wenjun (who upset Richard Rapport), Wei Yi and Hou Yifan. The 15-year old prodigy is the youngest player in history to break 2700. Several people still have 3.0/3, but the matches are becoming tougher and tougher. Today's round was specially graced by the presence of the governor of Gibraltar, Sir James Dutton.
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Round Three
Another action packed round in Gibraltar. The difference in rating of the first boards was still significant, but it would have been hard to predict all of today's results.
The Governor of Gibraltar, Sir James Dutton, visited the event
Perhaps he is worried that none of the local players have 3.0/3 in the top section
Hikaru Nakamura holds on to board one as he defeated Tamir Nabaty after a very long struggle. Nikita Vitiugov, Dmitry Jakovenko and Yu Yangyi were all nicked for draws by grandmasters that were about 150 points lower rated: Hannes Stefansson, Victor Mikhalevski and Grigoriy Oparin.
Stefansson vs. Vitiugov ended in a draw on board two
Victor Mikhalevski's rating has been as high as 2638 and as low as 2516 in a span of five years
Several people, however, did manage to go 3.0/3, including Pentala Harikrishna
[Event "Gibraltar Masters 2015"] [Site "Caleta ENG"] [Date "2015.01.29"] [Round "3.5"] [White "Harikrishna, Pentala"] [Black "Chirila, Ioan-Cristian"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C65"] [WhiteElo "2723"] [BlackElo "2548"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2015.01.27"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. O-O Nd4 6. Nxd4 Bxd4 7. Nd2 O-O { Harikrishna actually had used this against Leko last month in the World Mind Games. His opponent must have p repared against this, but perhaps he confused his ideas.} 8. c3 (8. Nf3 Bb6 9. Nxe5 d5 10. Bg5 c6 $44 {Harikrishna-Leko, 2014.}) 8... Bc5 $2 {This is already a serious mistake. Black cannot afford to lose this much time.} (8... Bb6 {was necessary so the bishop would not be attacked at the end.} 9. d4 d6 $11) 9. d4 $1 exd4 {Black has no choice but to take on d4 now.} 10. e5 dxc3 (10... Ne8 11. Nb3 Be7 12. cxd4 d6 {is passive and a little better for White, but better than what happened in the game.}) 11. exf6 cxd2 12. fxg7 Kxg7 (12... Re8 13. Bxd2 {was almost as bad.}) 13. Bxd2 d6 14. Bc3+ {It's true that Black is up a pawn, but that is the only thing going for him in this position. His pieces are not developed and his king is going to come under serious pressure.} f6 15. Qh5 Qe7 16. Bd3 Kg8 17. Rae1 Qf7 {So far one would think Black is holding, but the addition of the rook to the attack will be lethal.} 18. Qh4 h5 19. Re3 $1 {White only needs one rook to crash through! The e3 kamikaze might as well be taken.} Bxe3 20. fxe3 {Now there is too much pressure on f6; also h5 is weak, there are idea of Bc4+ and rook lifts.} Qg7 21. Qxh5 c6 22. Rf4 Bd7 23. Bf5 $1 {Removing an important defender.} Bxf5 24. Qxf5 Qh6 25. Rg4+ Kh8 26. Rg5 {Rh5 next move is crushing. A swift punishment of a strange opening} 1-0
Richard Rapport, however, was not able to go 3.0/3, he fell to one of the best female players in the World, Ju Wenjun.
Swaminathan Soumya defeated GM Kayden Troff in
round two but was stopped by GM Michael Roiz today
Other players in the Chinese delegation also had a great day. Hou Yifan beat Mohammed Al-Sayed in a very strange game while Wei Yi took care of Bela Khotenashvili. With this the reigning Women's World Champion consolidates herself as the top female player in the World according to the live rating lists, while Wei Yi crosses 2700!
Some notable upsets were the victories of grandmasters Antoaneta Stefanova and Lalith Babu over the higher rated Romain Edouard and Ivan Cheparinov.
Lalith Babu beat Ivan Cheparinov and moves to 3.0/3
The commentary team of Simon Williams and Elisabeth Paehtz hard at work
The tension is building in Gibraltar as only a handful of people remain with a perfect score, and there is a battalion trailing them by half a point. Wei Yi and Ju Wenjun play a Chinese derby to determine who keeps their perfect performance. Peter Svidler will try to catch the leaders against Gudmundur Kjartansson, who has defeated two 2600s back to back.
Replay Masters games - Round Three
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All photos by Sophie Triay from the Official Website
The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess 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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Alejandro RamirezGrandmaster 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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