Peter Svidler wins the 7th Gibtelecom tournament in Gibraltar

by ChessBase
2/6/2009 – After nine rounds five GMs were tied for first. Peter Svidler beat Pentala Harikrishna and Vadim Milov beat Boris Avrukh in round ten to force a rapid chess tiebreak, which Svidler won quite convincingly to take the £15,000 first prize. Best female player was Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia. We have a pictorial report plus video footage of Peter doing something you have never seen him do before.

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The 7th edition of Gibraltar's Gibtelecom Chess Festival was held from Tuesday January 27 to Thursday February 5, 2009 at the Caleta Hotel, one of Gibraltar's best hotels.

One round before the end there was a huge pile-up, with five players, Peter Svidler, Vugar Gashimov, Pentala Harikrishna, Vadim Milov, and Hikaru Nakamura, in the joint lead with 7.0/9 points. Actually eight players could theoretically tie for first place at the end of ten rounds - if results went the right way for them and the wrong way for their opponents. However, there can be no joint winners in Gibraltar. In the event of a tie the players have to take part in a rapid play play-off for the £15,000 first prize. However, the play-off was limited to four players so that if more than four tied for first, only the four with the highest Tournament Performance Rating would take part in the play-off

In the final (tenth) round Hikaru Nakamura spoilt a promising position against Vugar Gashimov (He played 30.Qxg5? instead of 30.e5!+–) and drew in 37 moves. Both finished at 7.5/10. Peter Svidler defeated co-leader Pentala Harikrishna in 50 moves to score 8.0/10 and put "Hari" out of contention. And Vadim Milov beat Boris Avrukh with the black pieces in 40 moves to tie with Svidler for first place. .


Round 10 top boards: Nakamura-Gashimov ½-½ , Svidler-Harikrishna 1-0


Vadim Milov in a crucial tenth round game against Boris Avrukh


Best female player: GM Nana Dzagnidze, GEO, with a 2675 performance

And so the tiebreak was on.


Peter Svidler vs Vadim Milov in the first tiebreak game in Gibraltar

Milov,V (2669) - Svidler,P (2723) [A28]
7th Gibtelecom Masters Playoff Caleta ENG (1), 06.02.2009
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e3 Nc6 4.a3 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.d3 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bd2 0-0 9.Be2 a5 10.0-0 Be6 11.Rc1 Nxc3 12.Bxc3 a4 13.Nd2 Na5 14.f4 Nb3 15.Nxb3 Bxb3 16.Qe1 Re8 17.Qg3 exf4 18.Qxf4 Qe7 19.Bxg7 Kxg7 20.Bd1 Bxd1 21.Rxc7 Qxe3+ 22.Qxe3 Rxe3 23.Rxd1 b5 24.Rd2 Rd8 25.d4 Rd5 26.h3 h5 27.Rb7 Re4 28.Kf2 Rf5+ 29.Kg1 h4 30.Kh2 Re1 31.g3 hxg3+ 32.Kxg3 Re3+ 33.Kg2 Rg5+ 34.Kh2 Rh5

35.d5? White is on the defensive – 35.Kg1 or 35.Kg2 is required if he is to have any chances of survival. 35...Rexh3+ 36.Kg1 Rh1+ 37.Kf2 R1h2+ and because of 38.Ke1 Rxd2 39.Kxd2 Rxd5+ White is lost. 0-1.

Svidler,P (2723) - Milov,V (2669) [C72]
7th Gibtelecom Masters Playoff Caleta ENG (2), 06.02.2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.0-0 Bd7 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 b5 8.Nxc6 Bxc6 9.Bb3 Nf6 10.Re1 Be7 11.c4 0-0 12.Nc3 Nd7 13.Nd5 Re8 14.Be3 Bb7 15.Rc1 c6 16.Nxe7+ Qxe7 17.f3 c5 18.Qd2 Ne5 19.Red1

19...Rad8? (why not simply 19...bxc4?) 20.cxb5 h6 (instead of 20...axb5) 21.bxa6 Bxa6 22.Rc3 c4 23.Ba4 Rf8 24.b4 f5 25.Bb6 Nd3 26.b5 d5 27.bxa6 dxe4 28.fxe4 fxe4

It is of course all over, but Milov has set a nice little trap: 29.Bxd8? Qc5+ 30.Kh1 Nf2+ and although this would not necessarily save him (31.Qxf2 Qxf2 32.Rcc1+–) it would at least disconcert his opponent. 29.Qe3. Naturally Svidler has seen it. 29...Rd6 30.Bb5 Nb2 31.Rxd6 Qxd6 32.Bd4 Nd1 33.Bxc4+ Kh8 34.Qd2 1-0.

The tournament bulletin tells us that Peter Svidler was following the cricket test match between England and the West Indies, and was actually getting updates of the score during his games. We know this from Peter, but had never seen him wield a cricket bat before.


An heroic image: Peter Svidler actually playing cricket!

Thankfully his foray onto the cricket field was filmed and placed on YouTube by Zeljka Malobabic of MonRoi.

In this video you see Manuel Weeks of Australia bowling to Peter Svidler, who aquits himself fairly with the bat. His own attempts at bowling are not so successful – that's throwing or chucking, Peter, and would get you a "no ball" from any umpire. The best part is when Irina Krush dons the pads and tries her hand at batting. What a feisty gal!


Just as heroic: Irina Krush on the cricket pitch

If your are in the mood you can watch a lot of chess videos posted by Zeljka on YouTube.


Final standings (top scorers, after ten rounds)

# Player Pts. Nat. Gen. Rtng Perf W-We
1 GM Svidler, Peter 8.0 RUS M 2723 2829 +1.28
2 GM Milov, Vadim 8.0 SUI M 2669 2769 +1.26
3 GM Gashimov, Vugar 7.5 AZE M 2723 2764 +0.68
4 GM Nakamura, Hikaru 7.5 USA M 2699 2700 +0.18
5 GM Berg, Emanuel 7.5 SWE M 2606 2648 +0.60
6 GM Akobian, Varuzhan 7.5 USA M 2619 2640 +0.40
7 GM Harikrishna, Pentala 7.0 IND M 2673 2694 +0.38
8 GM Dzagnidze, Nana 7.0 GEO F 2518 2675 +2.21
9 GM Sokolov, Ivan 7.0 NED M 2657 2626 -0.27
10 GM Stefanova, Antoaneta 7.0 BUL F 2557 2612 +0.79
11 GM Cramling, Pia 7.0 SWE F 2548 2511 -0.23
12 GM Socko, Bartosz 6.5 POL M 2631 2671 +0.61
13 GM Ganguly, Surya Shekhar 6.5 IND M 2614 2660 +0.70
14 GM Golod, Vitali 6.5 ISR M 2575 2653 +1.20
15 GM Avrukh, Boris 6.5 ISR M 2645 2652 +0.16
16 GM Beliavsky, Alexander G 6.5 SLO M 2646 2651 +0.15
17 GM Roiz, Michael 6.5 ISR M 2647 2610 -0.37
18 GM Gurevich, Mikhail 6.5 TUR M 2624 2603 -0.19
19 GM Berkes, Ferenc 6.5 HUN M 2651 2588 -0.74
20 GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 6.5 FRA M 2696 2587 -1.19
21 GM Lopez Martinez, Josep M 6.5 ESP M 2540 2583 +0.71
22 IM Papp, Gabor 6.5 HUN M 2517 2558 +0.71
23 IM Gordon, Stephen J 6.5 ENG M 2524 2551 +0.50
24 IM Al Sayed, Mohamad N. 6.5 QAT M 2488 2536 +0.75
25 GM Berczes, David 6.5 HUN M 2513 2521 +0.27
26 IM Szabo, Krisztian 6.5 HUN M 2508 2513 +0.25
27 IM Krush, Irina 6.5 USA F 2457 2496 +0.69
28 GM Speelman, Jon S 6.5 ENG M 2536 2487 -0.43
29 IM Kozlov, Oleg 6.5 RUS M 2187 2481 +3.65
30 GM Pavlovic, Milos 6.5 SRB M 2520 2467 -0.49
31 IM Zatonskih, Anna 6.5 USA F 2462 2463 +0.20
32 IM Cmilyte, Viktorija 6.5 LTU F 2497 2458 -0.24
33 GM Bellon Lopez, Juan M 6.5 ESP M 2440 2453 +0.40
34 IM Maryasin, Boris 6.5 ISR M 2340 2445 +1.37
35 IM D'Costa, Lorin A R 6.5 ENG M 2445 2438 +0.15
36 IM Nezad, Husein Aziz 6.5 QAT M 2403 2405 +0.34
37 GM Kotronias, Vasilios 6.0 GRE M 2603 2613 +0.32
38 GM Hauchard, Arnaud 6.0 FRA M 2497 2586 +1.15
39 FM Nithander, Victor 6.0 SWE M 2369 2518 +2.06
40 IM Hammer, Jon Ludvig 6.0 NOR M 2532 2517 -0.10
41 GM Del Rio De Angelis, Salvad 6.0 ESP M 2532 2509 -0.08
42 GM Sandipan, Chanda 6.0 IND M 2568 2477 -0.98
43 IM Nemeth, Miklos 6.0 HUN M 2472 2463 -0.02
44 IM Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan 6.0 SCO F 2500 2449 -0.47
45 FM Hommeles, Theo 6.0 NED M 2410 2435 +0.41
46 IM Kiik, Kalle 6.0 EST M 2466 2430 -0.30
47 IM Karim, Ismael 6.0 MAR M 2407 2404 +0.11
48 IM Capo Vidal, Uriel 6.0 MEX M 2336 2381 +0.66
49 FM Perez Ponsa, Federico 6.0 ARG M 2390 2378 -0.07
50 GM Socko, Monika 6.0 POL F 2449 2362 -0.91
51 IM Sachdev, Tania 6.0 IND F 2435 2343 -1.03
52 IM Bruno, Fabio 6.0 ITA M 2460 2326 -1.51
53 Carlhammar, Magnus 6.0 SWE M 2351 2312 -0.33
54 FM Leniart, Arkadiusz 6.0 POL M 2360 2308 -0.58
55 De Groote, Ewoud 6.0 NED M 2203 2275 +1.00
56 Bravetti, Antonio 6.0 ITA M 2205 2237 +0.47


GM Nana Dzagnidze, Georgia, and IM Tania Sachdev, India


1.c4 – what kind of a move is that? Anna, daughter of GMs Pia Cramling and Juan Manuel Bellon


A big generation gap – but Anna knows here English Opening!


Another budding talent with GM parents: Weronica, daughter of GMs Bartosz and Monika Socko


Sunset in Gibraltar

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