Gibraltar Rd7: Finally Stopped
2/3/2015 – It came down to the wire, the last seconds of the game. David Howell was defending tenaciously the entire game against Hikaru Nakamura, but a last minute blunder... went unpunished! In a series of mistakes late in the game Howell finally held the draw against the tournament leader. Board two was a crazy duel between Yu Yangyi and Hou Yifan. Nakamura keeps his half point lead.
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Round Seven
Nakamura came incredibly close to going 7-0 in this event. Rook endgames are never basic, no matter who you are!
Almost there! Nakamura was grasping victory the entire game.
[Event "Gibraltar Masters 2015"] [Site "Caleta ENG"] [Date "2015.02.02"] [Round "7.1"] [White "Howell, David W L"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B52"] [WhiteElo "2670"] [BlackElo "2776"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/8/8/3R3p/7r/5k2/2K5/8 b - - 0 62"] [PlyCount "13"] [EventDate "2015.01.27"] 62... Rh1 {After a long, fighting game, we have re ached this position. Only one move preserves the draw.} 63. Kb2 $2 {Right idea! Wrong execution...} (63. Rd3+ $1 Ke4 64. Rc3 $1 {Again, absolutely forced.} (64. Rb3 h4 65. Kb2 Kf4 { doesn't allow White to check on c2.})) 63... h4 64. Rd4 Ke3 $4 {Gifting the game right back} (64... Kg3 $1 65. Rd3+ Kf2 $1 66. Rd2+ (66. Rd4 h3 $19) 66... Ke3 67. Rc2 Rf1 $1 $19) 65. Rc4 {Now Black is too late to a void the checks as he cannot move the rook from the h-file (it must defend the h4 pawn). The rest is easy for Howell.} h3 66. Rc3+ Kd4 67. Rg3 Rh2+ 68. Ka1 Rh1+ 1/2-1/2
Board two was a crazy fight between two Chinese stars:
Hou Yifan is still having a great event, keeping herself on the top boards
Yu Yangyi will face Nakamura with black tomorrow
[Event "Gibraltar Masters 2015"] [Site "Caleta ENG"] [Date "2015.02.02"] [Round "7.2"] [White "Yu, Yangyi"] [Black "Hou, Yifan"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B82"] [WhiteElo "2724"] [BlackElo "2673"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2015.01.27"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Be3 Nc6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3 Qc7 9. O-O-O a6 10. g4 Nd7 11. g5 b5 12. Bd3 Nc5 13. Kb1 Bb7 14. h4 Rc8 15. h5 Nxd4 16. Bxd4 b4 17. Ne2 e5 {It's always difficult to describe exactly what is happening in a Sicilian. Black's last move is strategically desirable, but it is risky as it opens the f-file for the White queen.} 18. Bxc5 (18. fxe5 dxe5 19. g6 exd4 (19... hxg6 20. hxg6 Rxh1 21. gxf7+ Kd7 22. Qxh1 exd4 23. Nxd4 $13 {is not pretty either, but maybe still unclear after} Qe5) 20. Qxf7+ Kd7 21. Nxd4 {is not for us mortals to analyze, but it does look bad for Black.}) 18... Qxc5 19. g6 $1 hxg6 20. hxg6 Rxh1 21. Rxh1 Bf6 $1 {Very tenacious from Hou Yifan. This is probably the best way to try to hold this difficult position.} 22. Qg4 Ke7 23. gxf7 Rf8 24. f5 a5 $1 {It's amazing how Black's slow counterattack is actually sufficient in this position. White is not only unable to prevent the push a4-a3, but he is also unable to create real threats on the kingside.} 25. Ng3 a4 26. Nh5 a3 27. Qg1 {Yu Yangyi exchanges queens before things actually go wrong.} Rxf7 (27... Qxg1+ 28. Rxg1 d5 {was probably more exact, and actually Gave Black some winning chances.}) 28. Qxc5 dxc5 29. bxa3 bxa3 30. c4 Kd8 (30... Rf8 {to bring the rook around was far more natural. }) 31. Kc2 Bc6 32. Nxf6 gxf6 33. Kb3 Rg7 {Black will lose the a-pawn for sure, but her counterplay compensates it fully.} 34. Rh3 Rg4 35. Re3 Kc7 36. Kxa3 Kb6 37. Kb3 Ka5 38. a3 Rh4 39. Kb2 {White is completely tied down to e4, so the came is clearly a draw.} 1/2-1/2
These two draws opened the doors for several people to put pressure on the leader by reaching 6.0/7. Two important victories in boards three and four were in favor of Daniel Naroditsky (over Baskaran Adhiban) and Axel Bachmann (over Dennis Wagner). There's still four rounds left, and anything can happen in Gibraltar.
Only half a point behind: Daniel Naroditsky
17-year old Dennis Wagner lost to Axel Bachmann from Paraguay
Alex Lenderman from USA
On board nine Pentala Harirkrishna defeated Anna Muzychuk
Richard Rapport is back in action with 5.5/7
Kayden Troff has had some problems this tournament, with only 4.0/7
Round Seven Standings
| Rk. | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. |
| 1 | Nakamura Hikaru | USA | 2776 | 6.5 |
| 2 | Howell David W L | ENG | 2670 | 6.0 |
| 3 | Yu Yangyi | CHN | 2724 | 6.0 |
| 4 | Naroditsky Daniel | USA | 2622 | 6.0 |
| 5 | Bachmann Axel | PAR | 2629 | 6.0 |
| 6 | Vitiugov Nikita | RUS | 2735 | 5.5 |
| 7 | Svidler Peter | RUS | 2739 | 5.5 |
| 8 | Harikrishna P. | IND | 2723 | 5.5 |
| 9 | Hou Yifan | CHN | 2673 | 5.5 |
| 10 | Jakovenko Dmitry | RUS | 2733 | 5.5 |
| 11 | Wei Yi | CHN | 2675 | 5.5 |
| 12 | Rapport Richard | HUN | 2716 | 5.5 |
| 13 | Cheparinov Ivan | BUL | 2681 | 5.5 |
| 14 | Topalov Veselin | BUL | 2800 | 5.0 |
| 15 | Vishnu Prasanna. V | IND | 2463 | 5.0 |
| 16 | Lenderman Aleksandr | USA | 2614 | 5.0 |
| 17 | Wagner Dennis | GER | 2501 | 5.0 |
| 18 | Adhiban B. | IND | 2630 | 5.0 |
| 19 | Lalith Babu M.R. | IND | 2537 | 5.0 |
| 20 | Rodshtein Maxim | ISR | 2680 | 5.0 |
Pairings Round Seven
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg |
| 1 | Nakamura Hikaru | 2776 | 6½ | 6 | Yu Yangyi | 2724 | |
| 2 | Bachmann Axel | 2629 | 6 | 6 | Howell David W L | 2670 | |
| 3 | Naroditsky Daniel | 2622 | 6 | 5½ | Vitiugov Nikita | 2735 | |
| 4 | Svidler Peter | 2739 | 5½ | 5½ | Hou Yifan | 2673 | |
| 5 | Rapport Richard | 2716 | 5½ | 5½ | Jakovenko Dmitry | 2733 | |
| 6 | Cheparinov Ivan | 2681 | 5½ | 5½ | Harikrishna P. | 2723 | |
| 7 | Wei Yi | 2675 | 5½ | 5 | Rodshtein Maxim | 2680 | |
| 8 | Ju Wenjun | 2547 | 5 | 5 | Topalov Veselin | 2800 | |
| 9 | Spraggett Kevin | 2538 | 5 | 5 | Matlakov Maxim | 2695 | |
| 10 | Motylev Alexander | 2665 | 5 | 5 | Lalith Babu M.R. | 2537 | |
| 11 | Xu Jun | 2523 | 5 | 5 | Sutovsky Emil | 2637 | |
| 12 | Popilski Gil | 2522 | 5 | 5 | Adhiban B. | 2630 | |
| 13 | Lenderman Aleksandr | 2614 | 5 | 5 | Wagner Dennis | 2501 | |
| 14 | Muzychuk Mariya | 2520 | 5 | 5 | Bologan Viktor | 2608 | |
| 15 | Mareco Sandro | 2583 | 5 | 5 | Vishnu Prasanna. V | 2463 | |
| 16 | Padmini Rout | 2388 | 5 | 5 | Nabaty Tamir | 2579 | |
| 17 | Hansen Eric | 2574 | 5 | 5 | Nakar Eylon | 2419 | |
| 18 | Watson John L | 2319 | 5 | 5 | Bok Benjamin | 2572 | |
| 19 | Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo | 2649 | 4½ | 5 | Dragnev Valentin | 2344 | |
| 20 | Edouard Romain | 2638 | 4½ | 4½ | Harika Dronavalli | 2496 |
Replay Masters games - Round Seven
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All photos by Sophie Triay and John Saunders from the Official Website
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