2/1/2012 – While much of Europe is in the clutch of blizzards and freezing temperatures the players in Gibraltar are frolicking on the beach in short sleeved T-shirts. Meanwhile women's world champion Hou Yifan, 17, is sweeping GMs under the carpet. With an eighth-round win over Le Quang Liem she has caught Michael Adams and stands to gain a whopping 26 points on the next FIDE list.
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The
2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival is taking place from Tuesday, 24th January
to Thursday, 2nd February 2012 at the Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar. The event is
the tenth in the series held on the Rock, the second to be sponsored by Tradewise
Insurance with technical support by Gibtelecom.
The rate of play: 40 moves in 100 minutes plus 20 moves in 50 minutes plus 15
minutes for all remaining moves with 30 seconds per move added from the start.
Frisbee on the beach – while much of Europe is being hit by a killer
freeze...
... our friends in Gibralter (US players Teddy Coleman, Molner Mackenzie
and Marc
Arnold are on the Mediterranean beach in short-sleeved T-shirts
GM Mlos Pavlovic from Serbia and WGM Jovana Vojinovic of Montenegro enjoy
the sun...
... and Jovana actually scales a seashore boulder to pose with the chess
piece
How many pictures do you want? Why so many? Come on, guys.
GM Sergei Movsesian of Armenia, Jovana Vojinovic, IM Mariya Muzychuk of
Ukraine
and Husein Aziz Nezad of Qatar climb the hill to visit the Barbary
Macaque monkeys
Sergei makes acquaintance with one of Gibraltar's most popular inhabitants...
... and Husein Aziz appears to have a friend for life
Very nice headgear, Mariya! Take it home with you...
Which brings us to the subject: what is our "little monkey" doing
(seriously, we are told that "Hou Yifan" translates to that). The
17-year-old women's world champion is simply sweeping GMs under the carpet,
as in her eighth round encounter with the very strong Vietnamese GM Le Quang
Liem. Yifan, rated over 100 points below Liem, sacrificed two pawns in a Sicilian
Scheveningen to launch an assault on the black king which eventually caused
her opponent to crack.
[Event "Gibraltar Open"]
[Site "Caleta ENG"]
[Date "2012.01.31"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Hou, Yifan"]
[Black "Le, Quang Liem"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B93"]
[WhiteElo "2605"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f4 e6 7. Be2 Qc7 8. O-O
Be7 9. Kh1 O-O 10. a4 Nc6 11. Be3 Re8 12. Bf3 Na5 13. Bf2 Nd7 14. Qe1 b6 15. e5
Bb7 16. Bg3 dxe5 17. fxe5 Rac8 18. Rd1 Bb4 19. Qf2 Rf8 20. Ne4 Nxe5 21. Bf4
Bxe4 22. Bxe4 Bd6 23. Nf3 f5 24. Bxe5 Bxe5 25. Bd3 Bxb2 26. Rb1 Bc3 27. Ng5 Qe7
28. Qe3 Nc4 29. Bxc4 Rxc4 30. Rxb6 Bd4 31. Qd3 Rxa4 32. Rxe6 Qa3 33. Qe2 h6 {
Black is still a pawn up but under constant pressure, as the next move
illustrates.} 34. Rxh6 gxh6 35. Qe6+ {This forces Liem to keep finding only
moves in order to survive.} Kg7 36. Qd7+ {White too must find only moves.} Kg6
37. Ne6 Bc5 $4 ({White should be able to survive after} 37... Rf7 {(only move)
and:} 38. Nf4+ Kg7 39. Nh5+ Kg8 40. Qe8+ Rf8 41. Qg6+ Kh8 42. Qxh6+ Kg8 43.
Qg6+ Kh8 44. Qh6+ {draw, with most of the moves pretty much forced.}) 38. Qg7+
({Was 37...Bc6 intended as an exchange sacrifice:} 38. Nxf8+ Bxf8 39. Qxf5+ Kg7
40. Qf7+ Kh8 41. Qxf8+ Qxf8 42. Rxf8+ {after which White is safe.}) 38... Kh5
39. Nxf8 Bxf8 40. Qf7+ {and it is a forced mate in five more moves.} 1-0
This game left Yifan sharing top position with Michael Adams, both with 6.5/8
points, but with the Chinese girl chalking up a higher performance (2859). With
this score she stands to gain 26 – twenty-six – rating points on
the next FIDE list.
Our hero: women's world champion Hou Yifan from China
At fourteen Hou Yifan became the youngest female player ever to qualify for
the title of Grandmaster, and at sixteen the youngest World Chess Champion in
history (men's or women's). In the most
recent FIDE rating list she is ranked as the No. 1 girl player in the world,
the No. 2 female player – behind Judit Polgar, whom she beat on Monday
– and the No. 10 junior player of any gender. She is only the third female
player to achieve a FIDE rating of over 2600.
Hou's outstanding chess career is continuing at a pace. In June 2011, she took
part in the AAI International GM Tournament in India and in August, won clear
first place in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2011-2012 tournament in Rostov, Russia.
She comfortably retained her World Championship title winning a match 5½-2½
against Humpy Koneru in November 2011.
Excerpt from the Gibraltar Chess Festival live commentary by GM Simon Williams.
The exciting climax of round eight with dual-game commentary on Hou Yifan vs.
Le Quang Liem and Artur Jussupow vs. Alexei Shirov.
Alexei Shirov shows us his victory over Artur Jussupow, which is a candidate
for best game prize
Master Class with IM Anna Zatonskih, who analyses a game she played in 2004
against Jan Votava.You will hear the discriptions of plans that went through her
mind during the game – and also enjoy her very charming accent.
Photos: Zeljka Malobabic – Videos by Macauley Peterson
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
Opening videos: Sipke Ernst brings the Ulvestad Variation up to date + Part II of ‘Mikhalchishin's Miniatures’. Special: Jan Werle shows highlights from the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 in the video. ‘Lucky bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, Illingworth et al.
In this video course, Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov explores the fascinating world of King’s Indian and Pirc structures with colours reversed, often arising from the French or Sicilian.
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The
2012 Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival is taking place from Tuesday, 24th January
to Thursday, 2nd February 2012 at the Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar. The event is
the tenth in the series held on the Rock, the second to be sponsored by 
