Tradewise Gibraltar: Four-way tie

Four fight for first

Hikaru Nakamura lost momentum at the Tradwise Gibraltar Open and made his third draw — with Black against Wang Hao — in yesterday's round eight of the Masters, after a fairly uneventful and short game. His co-leader David Howell was defeated in a one-sided match against Richard Rapport.

Rapport played 36.b4! — an ingenious move to activate his bishop, which swings over to h5 with check — giving him a winning position. Now the Hungarian Grandmaster has caught up with Nakamura.

Rapport-Howell

In a French derby, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated the surprising Jules Moussard, who was in fifth place after seven rounds, and thus also comes to 6½ points. The fourth in the group is Daniil Dubov after his victory over Mikhail Antipov. Dubov now has 6½ points and completes the quartet.

Oparin-Aronian | Photo: Sophie Triay

Trying to make his way up as well is top seed Levon Aronian. But with the black pieces he did not get more than a draw in the seventh round against Grigoriy Oparin. Aronian played a rare variation, not for the first time, and the Russian GM forced Black to a new move to a draw.

The ABC of the Ruy Lopez 2nd Edition

The venerable Ruy Lopez is one of the most interesting of chess openings. In this diverse and instructive DVD, International Master Andrew Martin explains how the opening works, with the help of mostly recent, complete master games, although there are some classics too! The most important ideas are highlighted and there are some repertoire suggestions, all presented in the light, easy, relaxed style for which this author is noted.

Vassily Ivanchuk suffered another setback in the eighth round. He lost against Abhijeet Gupta, when a victory would have brought him in striking distance to the top group. Now the Ukrainian legend has to win his remaining two games to finish anywhere near the top.

Ju Wenjun | Photo: Sophie Triay

Ju Wenjun dealt a blow in the fight for the special prize for the best woman in the tournament. Boris Gelfand proved to be a powerful stumbling block. The Israeli top grandmaster, born in 1968 in Minsk (Belarus), Vice World Champion of 2012, who will turn 50 in June. Four years ago, in January 2014, Gelfand was still number eight in the world. Currently, his Elo rating is just under 2700. However, Gelfand had in previous years, phases in which he underperformed, but then recovered and climbed up in the world rankings once again.

Nimzo Indian 4.f3 and Saemisch Variation

The Nimzo Indian is one of Black's most popular and reliable openings. White strives for an opening advantage and interesting, rich positions with ample room for creativity. It is often a good idea to avoid the well trodden paths. Thus, the variations 4.f3 and the Sämisch, which are presented on this CD, are ideally suited to fight the Nimzo Indian. They usually give rise to sharp, unbalanced positions with chances for both sides.

Gelfand on his win over Ju Wenjun | Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival YouTube

Who will be the best woman?

After the defeat of Ju Wenjun, Nino Batsiashvili is currently the most promising candidate for the first women's prize. The Georgian beat the Hungarian Grandmaster Gabor Papp yesterday and is the only woman in the field with 5½ points. She's pursued by a number of women in the group of players with 5 points: Pia Cramling, Mariya Muzychuk, Ju Wenjun, Lei Tingjie, Katerina Lagno, Valentina Gunina, Anna Muzychuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk and also Elisabeth Pähtz. Of course, they all still have chances for the special prices. 

To results of round eight

All games