Gibraltar 03: Gopal’s gnarly Bishops
Three rounds have been completed so far at the Rock and the excitement grew threefold. Indian grandmaster GN Gopal held Hikaru Nakamura on the top board. IM V. Saravanan had Chucky on the ropes. GM SP Sethuraman was pitted against US prodigy IM Awonder Liang and was held to a draw. Aditya Pai sends us an illustrated report with video interviews by the beautiful Tania Sachdev.
Gibraltar 03: Gopal’s gnarly Bishops
Photos by Sophie Triay and Official Website
Day after day, the excitement just seems to be on the rise at the Gibraltar Masters 2017. Matching up to the hair-raising drama of the first two rounds, round three treated the spectators with several thrilling encounters. But before all the action began, the mayor of Gibraltar, Mr. Ed Davis graced the tournament with his presence.
As the action began, Hikaru Nakamura declared being all geared up to wreak havoc on the board against the Indian GM GN Gopal on board one. The Indian GM, however, was up for the task and held Hikaru to a draw with an enterprising exchange sacrifice.
In order to take advantage of the weakened light squares, GM Gopal instantly sacrificed the exchange with 15…Rxd5! Nakamura realized what a pickle he had gotten himself into when Gopal’s gnarly bishop came raking down the a1-h8 diagonal.
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.26"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Gopal G.N."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B94"]
[WhiteElo "2785"]
[BlackElo "2579"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:05:35"]
[BlackClock "0:26:16"]
5. Nc3 {0} a6 {0} 6. Bg5 {0} Nbd7 {0} 7. Qe2 {0} h6 {0} 8. Bxf6 {0} Nxf6 {2} 9.
g3 {0} e5 {595} 10. Nf5 {565} Be6 {576} 11. O-O-O {2098} g6 {476} 12. Ne3 {13}
Rc8 {31} 13. Ned5 {115} Nxd5 {241} 14. Nxd5 {318} Rc5 {416} 15. b4 {314} Rxd5 {
1290} 16. exd5 {18} Bd7 {0} 17. h4 {108} h5 {74} 18. Kb2 {933} Bg7 {280} 19. c3
{56} O-O {0} 20. a3 {10} f5 {553} 21. Ka2 {134} Qc7 {336} 22. c4 {96} e4 {199}
23. Qd2 {80} a5 {274} 24. b5 {21} Qc5 {431} 25. Qe3 {0} Qxe3 {40} 26. fxe3 {0}
Be5 {0} 27. Rg1 {98} b6 {0} 28. Be2 {50} Kf7 {47} 29. Rdf1 {0} Ke7 {0} 30. Kb3
{18} Rc8 {9} 31. a4 {0} Rc7 {246} 32. Kc2 {0} Rc8 {0} 33. Kd2 {0} Rh8 {0} 34.
Rf4 {0} Bxf4 {109} 35. gxf4 {0} Kf6 {0} 36. Kc3 {0} Rc8 {0} 37. Kd4 {0} Be8 {0}
38. Bd1 {0} Bf7 {0} 39. Bb3 {0} Rc7 {0} 40. Ba2 {0} Rc8 {0} 41. Bb3 {0} Rc7 {0}
42. Ba2 {0} Rc8 {0} 43. Bb3 {0} 1/2-1/2
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.26"]
[Round "3.18"]
[White "Kobo, Ori"]
[Black "Ju, Wenjun"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E25"]
[WhiteElo "2482"]
[BlackElo "2583"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "1:05:56"]
[BlackClock "0:36:35"]
a3 {0} Bxc3+ {0} 6. bxc3 {0} c5 {0} 7. cxd5 {0} Nxd5 {0} 8. dxc5 {0} f5 {0} 9.
Nh3 {98} Qa5 {0} 10. Bd2 {48} Qxc5 {197} 11. c4 {11} Ne3 {331} 12. Qc1 {115}
Nxf1 {165} 13. Kxf1 {51} Nc6 {16} 14. Nf4 {374} O-O {62} 15. Rb1 {658} Rd8 {466
} 16. Nd3 {993} Qd6 {260} 17. c5 {772} Qc7 {14} 18. Bc3 {559} e5 {92} 19. Qe3 {
52} f4 {613} 20. Qe4 {178} Qf7 {72} 21. Nxe5 {133} Nxe5 {9} 22. Qxe5 {21} Rd5 {
8} 0-1
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.26"]
[Round "3.23"]
[White "Almagro Llamas, Pablo"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2466"]
[BlackElo "2721"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:10:11"]
[BlackClock "0:03:08"]
5. Nc3 {213} O-O {121} 6. a3 {77} b6 {337} 7. b4 {793} c5 {148} 8. bxc5 {106}
bxc5 {24} 9. dxc5 {195} Bb7 {197} 10. Rb1 {1102} Qc8 {406} 11. Qb3 {1082} Bc6 {
394} 12. cxd5 {86} Nxd5 {206} 13. Nd4 {179} Nxc3 {247} 14. Qxc3 {7} Nd7 {279}
15. Bb2 {338} Be4 {515} 16. Rc1 {293} e5 {827} 17. Nf3 {518} Qc6 {851} 18. Be2
{120} Rab8 {202} 19. O-O {134} f6 {173} 20. a4 {270} Nxc5 {301} 21. Ba3 {142}
Rfc8 {1} 22. Bb5 {182} Qb7 {194} 23. Qc4+ {115} Kh8 {288} 24. Qe2 {0} Rc7 {180}
25. Bxc5 {42} Rxc5 {95} 26. Rxc5 {0} Bxc5 {0} 27. Rc1 {6} Bf8 {0} 28. Ne1 {138}
Rd8 {10} 29. h4 {36} Ba3 {73} 30. Rd1 {0} Qe7 {53} 31. Rxd8+ {0} Qxd8 {0} 32.
Qc4 {0} Bd5 {35} 33. Qd3 {16} Be7 {0} 34. Qc2 {35} g6 {109} 35. h5 {0} Kg7 {50}
36. Nf3 {0} Bf7 {5} 37. hxg6 {4} hxg6 {0} 38. Nd2 {17} f5 {13} 39. e4 {0} Qd4 {
31} 40. Nf3 {39} Qxe4 {6} 41. Qxe4 {0} fxe4 {0} 42. Nxe5 {0} Bb3 {0} 43. Be8 {0
} g5 {0} 44. Ng4 {0} Be6 {0} 45. Ne3 {0} Kf6 {0} 46. Bc6 {0} Ke5 {0} 47. a5 {0}
Bc8 {0} 48. Nc4+ {0} Kd4 {0} 49. Nd2 {0} e3 {0} 50. fxe3+ {0} Kxe3 {0} 51. Nc4+
{0} Kd4 {0} 52. Nb6 {0} axb6 {0} 53. axb6 {0} Bd6 {0} 54. b7 {0} Bf5 {0} 55.
Bf3 {0} Bg3 {0} 56. Be2 {37} Ke3 {0} 57. Bc4 {2} Be4 {0} 58. Ba6 {0} Bb8 {0}
59. Bb5 {3} Kf4 {0} 0-1
The Indian GM was walking a tightrope after having given his queen up to minimize the damage to his position. Luckily for him, his thirteen-year-old opponent faltered towards the very end and conceded a draw.
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.24"]
[Round "1.26"]
[White "Bergstrom, Rolf"]
[Black "Sethuraman, S.P."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2268"]
[BlackElo "2637"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[WhiteClock "0:05:46"]
[BlackClock "0:03:32"]
Bf8 9. O-O-O a5 10. a4 Na6 11. h3 c6 12. Nf4 Nb4 13. Be2 Bd7 14. g4 Rc8 15. Kb1
Nfxd5 16. Ncxd5 cxd5 17. c3 Na6 18. Bxa6 bxa6 19. Nxd5 Be6 20. Ka2 Rb8 21. Qc2
Qh4 22. c4 Rb7 23. Bc3 Reb8 24. Rb1 Bxd5 25. cxd5 Rc8 26. Qd2 f5 27. gxf5 Rf7
28. f6 Be7 29. f4 Bxf6 30. Bxa5 Qh5 31. Bb4 Rb7 32. Ba5 Rc5 33. Rbd1 h6 34. Ka3
Qe8 35. Rc1 Qb8 36. b4 Rxa5 37. Rc2 Kh7 38. bxa5 Rb3+ 39. Ka2 Rd3 0-1
After suffering an upset draw in round one, India’s highest rated participant, GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, won his round three game against the French GM Jean-Noel Riff and is on a respectable 2.5/3. Watch him give insights into his game in the above interview with Tania Sachdev.
In what turned out to be the most intriguing game of the round, the 19-year-old missed a big chance to win the game in time trouble. And when things seemed to have turned in Svidler’s favor, Nitzan found a brilliant way to force a draw.
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.26"]
[Round "3.21"]
[White "Steinberg, Nitzan"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2486"]
[BlackElo "2748"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:51:45"]
[BlackClock "0:37:49"]
5. Nc3 {0} a6 {2} 6. Be3 {23} Nf6 {16} 7. Be2 {804} d6 {535} 8. O-O {150} Bd7 {
50} 9. f4 {221} Be7 {680} 10. Nb3 {251} b5 {163} 11. a3 {26} O-O {16} 12. g4 {
130} Bc8 {39} 13. g5 {463} Nd7 {0} 14. Rf3 {342} Bb7 {332} 15. Rg3 {283} Re8 {
223} 16. Bf1 {387} Bf8 {176} 17. Qg4 {328} g6 {304} 18. Rd1 {54} Rc8 {407} 19.
Rh3 {260} f6 {289} 20. Qh4 {403} Qe7 {85} 21. f5 {231} exf5 {66} 22. Nd5 {590}
Qf7 {0} 23. exf5 {0} Nce5 {108} 24. Bg2 {52} Rxc2 {384} 25. Be4 {0} Rc4 {40}
26. Nd4 {310} fxg5 {1334} 27. Bxg5 {10} gxf5 {0} 28. Bxf5 {190} Ng6 {0} 29.
Bxg6 {64} Qxg6 {0} 30. Rg3 {58} Bxd5 {20} 31. b3 {302} Rc3 {611} 32. Rxc3 {57}
Re4 {15} 33. Rg3 {90} Kh8 {228} 34. Qh3 {91} Bg7 {73} 35. Qxd7 {35} Rxd4 {0}
36. Qd8+ {101} Bg8 {0} 37. Rf1 {0} Rd3 {0} 38. Rg2 {16} Bd4+ {0} 39. Kh1 {0}
Rf3 {0} 40. Rd1 {68} Qf7 {9} 41. Rdg1 {0} Bxg1 {0} 42. Bf6+ {0} Rxf6 {0} 43.
Rxg8+ {0} Qxg8 {0} 44. Qxf6+ {0} Qg7 {0} 1/2-1/2
After three rounds of play, nine players including Mickey Adams, Vadim Zvjaginsev, Ju Wenjun and Sam Shankland lead the tournament with a perfect 3/3 score. It will be interesting to see how things turn out as the tournament progresses.
Round 4 on 2017/01/27 at 15.00
Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||
1 | 21 | GM | Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo | 2652 | 3 | 3 | GM | Adams Michael | 2751 | 5 | |
2 | 28 | GM | Sutovsky Emil | 2628 | 3 | 3 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | 2724 | 9 | |
3 | 34 | GM | Lagarde Maxime | 2594 | 3 | 3 | GM | Zvjaginsev Vadim | 2679 | 15 | |
4 | 38 | GM | Ju Wenjun | 2583 | 3 | 3 | GM | Shankland Samuel L | 2674 | 17 | |
5 | 2 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | 2796 | 2½ | 3 | GM | Piorun Kacper | 2651 | 23 | |
6 | 32 | GM | Vocaturo Daniele | 2606 | 2½ | 2½ | GM | Caruana Fabiano | 2827 | 1 | |
7 | 36 | GM | Gledura Benjamin | 2589 | 2½ | 2½ | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2785 | 3 | |
8 | 8 | GM | Yu Yangyi | 2738 | 2½ | 2½ | GM | Maze Sebastien | 2613 | 31 | |
9 | 10 | GM | Gelfand Boris | 2721 | 2½ | 2½ | GM | Gopal G.N. | 2579 | 40 | |
10 | 12 | GM | Matlakov Maxim | 2701 | 2½ | 2½ | GM | Blomqvist Erik | 2574 | 41 |