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.
new: ChessBase 16 - Mega package Edition 2021
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Your key to fresh ideas, precise analyses and targeted training! Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. 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.
In this DVD the author answers how to realize an advantage, considering both the psychological aspects of the realisation of an advantage and the technical methods.
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
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.
In this opening Black opts for active piece play and is not afraid to fight for the initiative from an early stage. One of the many good features of this opening is that Black is often the side which controls the pace of the game.
The French Defence Powerbase 2021 is a database and contains 9839 games from the Mega 2021 and the Correspondence Database 2020, 644 of which are annotated.
The main part of the material on which the French Powerbook 2021 is based comes from the playchess.com engine room: 637,000 games. An impressive number to which 80,000 games from correspondence chess and the Mega were added.
Looking for a surprise weapon against 1.e4? Try the Stafford Gambit! After the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5, rather than following the solid lines of the Petroff after 3...d6, Black prefers to sacrifice a pawn with 3...Nc6 4.Nxc6 dxc6.
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