Gibraltar starts with a simul

by André Schulz
1/25/2016 – Tomorrow the first round of the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2016 begins. It is one of the strongest open tournaments of the year and top players such as Vishy Anand, Hikaru Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and others will fight for an overall prize-fund of 185,000 pounds. Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Alina Kashlinskaya opened the Festival with a simultaneous exhibition.

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Play in the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters starts at 15.00 local time (GMT+1) on Tuesday 26 January 2016, with live commentary from GM Simon Williams and IM Elisabeth Paehtz throughout. There is play every subsequent day at this time until Thursday 4 February 2016, when the tenth final round starts earlier at 11.00 (GMT+1). Live coverage may be found via the official website.

This year the field is stronger than ever before. Apart from former World Champion Viswanathan Anand and Hikaru Nakamura,  currently number six in the world on the FIDE, top players such as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Pentala Harikrishna, Li Chao, Yu Yangyi, and others start in Gibraltar. Ten players have an Elo-ranking of 2700 or more.

Starting list:

No.   Name FideID FED Rtg
1 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2016192 USA 2787
2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 623539 FRA 2785
3 GM Anand Viswanathan 5000017 IND 2784
4 GM Harikrishna P. 5007003 IND 2755
5 GM Li Chao B 8604436 CHN 2751
6 GM Yu Yangyi 8603820 CHN 2747
7 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 4122356 RUS 2732
8 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 1118358 POL 2727
9 GM Rapport Richard 738590 HUN 2721
10 GM Fressinet Laurent 608742 FRA 2700
11 GM Bacrot Etienne 605506 FRA 2697
12 GM Ni Hua 8601160 CHN 2697
13 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 4650891 AZE 2696
14 GM Ragger Markus 1610856 AUT 2689
15 GM Howell David W L 410608 ENG 2685
16 GM Almasi Zoltan 702293 HUN 2684
17 GM Short Nigel D 400025 ENG 2684
18 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro 3503739 CUB 2666
19 GM Kamsky Gata 2000024 USA 2665
20 GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof 1170546 POL 2660
21 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 5002150 IND 2660
22 GM Sutovsky Emil 2802007 ISR 2647
23 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 5029465 IND 2642
24 GM Anton Guijarro David 2285525 ESP 2639
25 GM Sethuraman S.P. 5021596 IND 2639

... 250 players

To start the Festival Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Alina Kashlinskaya gave a simultaneous exhibition in the Hotel Caleta.

Tournament director Stuart Conquest greets the two grandmasters

Alina Kashlinskaya and Radoslaw Wojtaszek

Radoslaw Wojtaszek

Alina Kashlinskaya

Occasionally you just have to take your time. Here Alina Kashlinskaya tries
to find the right move against the daughter of Swedish grandmaster Pia Cramling.

Advice is welcome

Former World Champion Vishy Anand came for a visit and had a chat with Stuart Conquest.

 

Photos: John Saunders (Tournament page)

 

The overall prize-fund amounts to 185.000 pounds, of which the winner will receive 20.000 pounds.

The Masters Turnament is played from 26 January to 4 February 2016. On 28 January a four-board-team-blitz-tournament will be played, on 31 January follows a two-board-team-blitz-tournament. The "Battle of the Sexes", a consultation game women against men will be fought on 30 January.

Tournament page...

Chess-results...


André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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