Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival ARONIAN WINS
2/1/2018 – Blitz playoffs with Hikaru Nakamura, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian and Richard Rapport. Live commentary of the playoff! | Photo: John Saunders
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Masters group live games and commentary
Aronian wins a nailbiter of a blitz tiebreak over Vachier-Lagrave!
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Final standing after round ten (top 25)
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | |
| 1 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2781 | 7,5 | 2822 |
| 2 | GM | Rapport Richard | 2700 | 7,5 | 2763 |
| 3 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | 2793 | 7,5 | 2759 |
| 4 | GM | Aronian Levon | 2797 | 7,5 | 2746 |
| 5 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | 2732 | 7,5 | 2731 |
| GM | Adams Michael | 2709 | 7,5 | 2731 | |
| 7 | GM | Le Quang Liem | 2737 | 7,5 | 2713 |
| 8 | GM | Howell David W L | 2682 | 7,0 | 2760 |
| 9 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | 2610 | 7,0 | 2732 |
| 10 | GM | Debashis Das | 2501 | 7,0 | 2728 |
| 11 | GM | Duda Jan-Krzysztof | 2724 | 7,0 | 2713 |
| GM | Oparin Grigoriy | 2607 | 7,0 | 2713 | |
| 13 | GM | Wang Hao | 2711 | 7,0 | 2710 |
| 14 | GM | Vocaturo Daniele | 2609 | 7,0 | 2679 |
| 15 | GM | Gelfand Boris | 2697 | 7,0 | 2673 |
| 16 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2646 | 7,0 | 2672 |
| 17 | GM | Sutovsky Emil | 2673 | 7,0 | 2668 |
| 18 | GM | Dubov Daniil | 2694 | 7,0 | 2658 |
| 19 | Henderson De La Fuente Lance | 2429 | 7,0 | 2642 | |
| 20 | GM | Kobo Ori | 2477 | 7,0 | 2638 |
| 21 | GM | Cheparinov Ivan | 2699 | 7,0 | 2634 |
| 22 | GM | Motylev Alexander | 2673 | 7,0 | 2633 |
| GM | Narayanan S. L. | 2573 | 7,0 | 2633 | |
| 24 | GM | Epishin Vladimir | 2536 | 7,0 | 2595 |
| 25 | GM | Bindrich Falko | 2605 | 7,0 | 2594 |
Top results of round ten
| Bo. | No. | Name | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | No. |
| 1 | 1 | Aronian Levon | 7 | ½ - ½ | 7 | Nakamura Hikaru | 3 |
| 2 | 2 | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | 7 | ½ - ½ | 7 | Rapport Richard | 12 |
| 3 | 6 | Le Quang Liem | 6½ | 1 - 0 | 7 | Dubov Daniil | 15 |
| 4 | 7 | Vitiugov Nikita | 6½ | 1 - 0 | 6½ | Antipov Mikhail Al. | 38 |
| 5 | 31 | Gupta Abhijeet | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | Duda Jan-Krzysztof | 9 |
| 6 | 10 | Wang Hao | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | Howell David W L | 16 |
| 7 | 11 | Adams Michael | 6½ | 1 - 0 | 6½ | Grandelius Nils | 24 |
| 8 | 13 | Cheparinov Ivan | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | Vocaturo Daniele | 32 |
| 9 | 33 | Oparin Grigoriy | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6½ | Gelfand Boris | 14 |
| 10 | 93 | Kobo Ori | 6½ | ½ - ½ | 6 | Ivanchuk Vassily | 8 |
(Daily at 15:00 CET, except round 10)
Live from beside the Rock
by Andre Schulz
The Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival is entering its 16th year and was recently voted the best open tournament by members of the Association of Chess Professionals. Numerous absolute world-class players dare to skate the the thin ice of a Swiss open tournament each year, battling against a pack of hungry non-or not-yet-world-class players eager to steal their Elo rating points. Even amateurs can sometimes land a lucky punch on a good day and beat a top player. Nobody is invulnerable in chess.
The organizers around Brian Callaghan and Stuart Conquest had a good idea years ago when they instituted special prizes for the female participants of the chess festival; this year there are 15 prizes with the top prize of GBP £ 15,000 (about USD $21,000). This has promoted the appeal of chess among the female professionals who flock to the city-state each year, and help create a festive and convivial social atmosphere.
Gibraltar Chess Festival on YouTube
While half of the world class is in Wijk aan Zee, the other half is in Gibraltar. Each tournament has its own format and appeal, with professional organization, attracting a large following. Although the tournament tradition of the Tradewise Chess Festival is not quite as old as the Tata Steel Festival, which is now in its 80th year, it is firmly established as a preminent chess destination gets more popular each year. In addition to the Masters, there are several Challenger and Amateur tournaments, each with 70 to 80 participants. 270 players registered for the Masters — the Caleta Hotel is bursting at the seams!
On the fringes of the tournaments there is an attractive supporting program, with team blitz events and such show bouts like the "Battle of the sexes," played on an oversized floor chess set.
World-class line-up
The top seed this year is 2017 "player of the year" Levon Aronian. Maxim Vachier-Lagrave and four-time champion Hikaru Nakamura are are back representing the world's top players as well. But in this open format, expect some surprises, as nine other grandmasters also sport an Elo rating of 2700 or more. In all there are 92 grandmasters playing. For the group as a whole, most players come from Spain (31) then India (28), England (24) and Germany (19). Among the best women in the starting field are Anna Muzychuk, Kateryna Lagno, and World Rapid Champion among women, Ju Wenjun.
The up and coming youth are out in force as well, particularly from India, the two "miracle children" Nihal Sarin and Praggnanandhaa R but also the young German star IM Vincent Keymer. All three compete for the special prize for the best player under eighteen years of age (£ 1,000). The winner of the tournament receives £ 25,000.
Translation from German: Macauley Peterson
Players (top 20) and Schedule
| No. | Name | FED | Rtg | |
| 1 | GM | Aronian Levon | ARM | 2797 |
| 2 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | FRA | 2793 |
| 3 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | USA | 2781 |
| 4 | GM | Navara David | CZE | 2749 |
| 5 | GM | Harikrishna P. | IND | 2745 |
| 6 | GM | Le Quang Liem | VIE | 2737 |
| 7 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | RUS | 2732 |
| 8 | GM | Ivanchuk Vassily | UKR | 2726 |
| 9 | GM | Duda Jan-Krzysztof | POL | 2724 |
| 10 | GM | Wang Hao | CHN | 2711 |
| 11 | GM | Adams Michael | ENG | 2709 |
| 12 | GM | Rapport Richard | HUN | 2700 |
| 13 | GM | Cheparinov Ivan | BUL | 2699 |
| 14 | GM | Gelfand Boris | ISR | 2697 |
| 15 | GM | Dubov Daniil | RUS | 2694 |
| 16 | GM | Howell David W L | ENG | 2682 |
| 17 | GM | Short Nigel D | ENG | 2681 |
| 18 | GM | Motylev Alexander | RUS | 2673 |
| 19 | GM | Sutovsky Emil | ISR | 2673 |
| 20 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | ESP | 2666 |
...270 players
| Round | Date | Time (CET) |
| 1 | 2018/01/23 | 15.00 |
| 2 | 2018/01/24 | 15.00 |
| 3 | 2018/01/25 | 15.00 |
| 4 | 2018/01/26 | 15.00 |
| 5 | 2018/01/27 | 15.00 |
| 6 | 2018/01/28 | 15.00 |
| 7 | 2018/01/29 | 15.00 |
| 8 | 2018/01/30 | 15.00 |
| 9 | 2018/01/31 | 15.00 |
| 10 | 2018/02/01 | 11.00 |
