ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024
It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.
This year was the third edition of the battle of the sexes. The friendly, but at the same time competitive, atmosphere in Gibraltar continues with one of the most fun event for the players. The Battle of the Sexes rapid match between the Men and Women teams at a time limit of 10 minutes for all the moves plus an increment of 5 seconds a move. As always this light-hearted event, with Master of Ceremonies and Tournament Director Stuart Conquest (and his hat) in charge, was enjoyed by all. The match score was 2½-½ - the men won the first two games with the token third game, drawn.
The players would take turns playing their moves on a giant set, similar to tandem chess rules.
Natalia Zhukova
The Latin American delegation preparing before the match
Before the battle, a musical performance
Part of the Women's team: Mariya Muzychuk, Natalia Zhukova, Atonaeta Stefanova,
Salome Melia, Elisabeth Paehtz, Jovanka Houska, Harika Dronavalli and Tania Sachdev
The Master of Ceremonies and tournament director Stuart Conquest
The men's team had a decent rating average
Round one: start!
Mariya Muzychuk might be regretting her decision to wear heels
Ivan Cheparinov solidifies black's position
Elizabeth Paehtz on the attack: remember the games had a ten minute time limit!
"It's my pawn now, what are you going to do about it?"
David Howell, quite possibly literally, charging forward
The women start to seem concerned about their position
Round one victory for the men's team!
Reinforcements: Pentala Harikrishna and Ivan Salgado subbed in
Wei Yi showing his strength
By the end of the match it seemed as if Elisabeth Paehtz forgot who she was supposed to be helping
The jovial match ended in a 2.5-0.5 win for the men's team, revenge from last year's 2-1 defeat!
The big news of the day, is of course Nakamura's victory over Topalov:
A huge win for Naka, as he once again is the #1 American!
[Event "Gibraltar Masters 2015"] [Site "Caleta ENG"] [Date "2015.02.01"] [Round "6.1"] [White "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Black "Topalov, Veselin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B51"] [WhiteElo "2776"] [BlackElo "2800"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "99"] [EventDate "2015.01.27"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. a4 Ngf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Qxd4 a6 8. Be2 {It's always refreshing to see that after eight moves we are already out of theory. Black will play this in a hedgehog style, developing with b6 and Bb7, while White will try to contain his opponent.} b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Rd1 Qc7 11. Bg5 Be7 12. Nd2 h6 13. Bh4 Ne5 14. Nf1 Rd8 15. Bg3 O-O 16. Ne3 Rc8 17. Kh1 Rfd8 18. f3 Nh5 19. Bf2 Nf4 {Black doesn't have too much to complain about his position. He is a little cramped, but he has some good squares on the kingside; it is not trivial to push the knights back as any pawn move on the kingside will cause a weakness. On the other hand Nakamura still holds a nice amount of space and targets the b6 and a6 pawns with his diagonals.} 20. Bf1 Nfg6 (20... h5 {and march the pawns forward on the kingside is not completely crazy.}) 21. Qd2 Bg5 22. Qe1 Nf4 23. Bg3 Nh5 24. Bf2 {Black looks to be relatively planless, but as is usual in the hedgehog finding a way to improve ones position (doesn't matter if you are white or black) seems to be the most difficult part of the game.} Qe7 25. Ra3 Nf4 26. Rb3 Rc6 27. Ne2 $1 {White gets rid of this pesky knight on f4, and this gives him a slight edge.} Nxe2 (27... Nfg6 28. Nd4 $16) 28. Bxe2 Rdc8 29. c3 Nd7 30. Nc2 d5 $6 {This advance usually solves Black's problems, but here it is done too early. Black had to defend against certain threats.} (30... Nc5 31. Ra3 R6c7 {is perhaps slightly favorable for White but still anyone's game.}) 31. Nb4 $1 Rc5 32. exd5 {Suddenly thehre is no good way of recapturing on d5. It is unclear to me what Topalov had planned, as 31.Nb4 was quite obvious.} Ra5 33. Nc6 Bxc6 34. dxc6 Rxc6 35. Rb4 $16 {The pair of bishops and the awkward position of Black's rook causes real headaches for Topalov. White has a clear advantage.} Bf6 36. Qf1 Rd6 37. Rxd6 Qxd6 38. Bxa6 {One pawn finally falls: White has converted his advantage into something tangible.} Nc5 39. Bb5 Qd2 40. Bg1 Ra8 41. Bc6 $1 Rc8 42. Rxb6 $1 {Now it's two pawns!} Bd8 43. Rb5 Rxc6 44. Bxc5 Bc7 45. a5 {Black simply lacks any good compensation for his material. The rest is easy for Nakamura.} Qc2 46. f4 f6 47. h3 Kh7 48. f5 exf5 49. Bg1 Be5 50. a6 1-0
Boards two and three proved decisive as well. Board two saw an even fight between Yu Yangyi and Vazquez Igarza, but a blunder before time control cost Black the game:
[Event "Gibraltar Masters 2015"] [Site "Caleta ENG"] [Date "2015.02.01"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Yu, Yangyi"] [Black "Vazquez Igarza, Renier"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B46"] [WhiteElo "2724"] [BlackElo "2592"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "2r3k1/2r1qp1p/4p1p1/3pP2P/5R2/2P1R1Q1/5PPK/8 b - - 0 34"] [PlyCount "18"] [EventDate "2015.01.27"] 34... Qf8 $2 (34... Rc4 $1 $11 {stops all the nonsense that is about to occur.} ) 35. hxg6 hxg6 36. Rh4 Rc4 {Too little, too late.} 37. f4 $1 {Oops, now the rook is locked out of the kingside.} Re4 38. Rf3 d4 (38... Rb8 39. Qg5 Qg7 40. Rfh3 {is deadly, as White will follow up with Qf6 and the trade of queens does not save Black from checkmate.}) 39. cxd4 Rc1 40. Qh3 Qg7 41. Rb3 Rc8 42. d5 { unfortunately for Black, in this variation the rook on c8 is hanging, so d5 cannot be taken.} g5 43. dxe6 1-0
Wei Yi finally lost a game to an inspired David Howell. The Englishman played a very good game, slowly (very slowly) converting his pawn structure advantage in a long endgame. Yu Yangyi and David Howell are the only players with 5.5/6, and it is Howell that will have the pleasure of trying to stop Nakamura tomorrow.
A huge victory for David Howell
The pack of 5.0/6 is not big either, and is currently being spearheaded by Hou Yifan, who will face her compatriot Yu Yangyi tomorrow after a clean win over Argentinean Sandro Mareco. Last (by rating) but certainly not least in that list is Dennis Wagner, a 17-year old IM from Germany who has only dropped one point so far... by drawing Svidler and Matlakov!
Yu Yangyi in hot pursuit
Axel Bachmann from Paraguay trails the leaders by only one point
Interestingly several people were not paired on round six, some due to cricket-watching commitments, others for reasons unknown. Svidler, Vitiugov, Agdestein, Stefansson, Xu Jun, Mrktchian and a few others were not paired on this round, most of them with a half point bye.
| Rk. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. |
| 1 | Nakamura Hikaru | USA | 2776 | 6.0 |
| 2 | Howell David W L | ENG | 2670 | 5.5 |
| 3 | Yu Yangyi | CHN | 2724 | 5.5 |
| 4 | Wagner Dennis | GER | 2501 | 5.0 |
| 5 | Adhiban B. | IND | 2630 | 5.0 |
| 6 | Hou Yifan | CHN | 2673 | 5.0 |
| 7 | Naroditsky Daniel | USA | 2622 | 5.0 |
| 8 | Bachmann Axel | PAR | 2629 | 5.0 |
| 9 | Vitiugov Nikita | RUS | 2735 | 4.5 |
| 10 | Topalov Veselin | BUL | 2800 | 4.5 |
| Venkatesh M.R. | IND | 2460 | 4.5 | |
| 12 | Oparin Grigoriy | RUS | 2551 | 4.5 |
| 13 | Svidler Peter | RUS | 2739 | 4.5 |
| 14 | Harikrishna P. | IND | 2723 | 4.5 |
| 15 | Wei Yi | CHN | 2675 | 4.5 |
| 16 | Roiz Michael | ISR | 2592 | 4.5 |
| 17 | Vazquez Igarza Renier | ESP | 2592 | 4.5 |
| 18 | Rodshtein Maxim | ISR | 2680 | 4.5 |
| 19 | Jakovenko Dmitry | RUS | 2733 | 4.5 |
| 20 | Lenderman Aleksandr | USA | 2614 | 4.5 |
Nakamura avoids playing the 2700 player with Black, but Howell is not exactly an easy opponent either. If the American does manage to win, however, it would be quite the impressive streak. The Chinese duel in board two will also be a pleasure to watch; can Hou Yifan use her lessons learned in Wijk aan Zee tomorrow?
Select games from the dropdown menu above the board
All photos by Sophie Triay and John Saunders from the Official Website
LinksThe 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. |
|
