Gibraltar 2014

[Chris Rice]

Better be quick if you want to enter although maybe its already too late. Truly impressive....

Huge turn out expected in Gibraltar. Masters is fully booked two months ahead

The Gibraltar Chess Festival 2014 will attract close to 400 people, including players, families, officials, and visitors, staying ten nights or more in Gibraltar and in neighbouring Spain. There are more than fifty Grandmasters and over a hundred titled players. There will be a higher ratio than ever of female players (40+), said the organisers.

They added: Fifty countries will be represented, including players travelling from Bangladesh, Namibia, Egypt, Mongolia, New Zealand, and Brazil. Record numbers will be travelling from India (12), China (6), Norway (20) etc.

Another plus point is that Simen Agdestein, former coach of new 22-year old World Champion, Magnus Carlsen, is bringing his chess students from Oslo. The Festival has been voted Best Open in the World for the last two years by the Association of Chess Professionals, which shows to what extent this event is putting Gibraltar on the map.

Source: http://www.panorama.gi

[MJMcCready]

Chess needs more successful open tournaments... .

[Chris Rice]

Masters starting tomorrow, phenomenal line up http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/w ... asters.htm

[Roger de Coverly]

Pairings at http://chess-results.com/tnr120746.aspx ... d=1&wi=821

No acceleration, but Adams faces a player rated 2287 on top board.

[John McKenna]

I see that GM Kevin Spraggett is down to play (quite) a few boards below Nigel Short. That probably won't stop them from mixing the business of playing chess and chess politics, though.

[IM Jack Rudd]

A nice little deflection tactic to finish this one off:

[Event "Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2014 "] [Site "The Caleta Hotel - Gibraltar"] [Date "2014.01.28"] [Round "1.88"] [White "Fenollar Jorda, Manuel"] [Black "Andersen, Daniel"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2419"] [BlackElo "1941"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2014.01.28"] 1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 f5 3. Bg5 Nf6 4. Nbd2 d5 5. Ne5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 b6 8. O-O Bb7 9. Qe2 Nfd7 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. Nxd7 Nxd7 12. f4 c5 13. c3 Nf6 14. Nf3 c4 15. Bc2 b5 16. a3 a5 17. Qd2 Ne4 18. Bxe4 dxe4 19. Ne5 Bd5 20. g4 Rfb8 21. Qe2 Rc8 22. Kh1 b4 23. axb4 axb4 24. gxf5 Rxa1 25. Rxa1 bxc3 26. bxc3 exf5 27. Ra5 Qe6 28. Qb2 g5 29. Qg2 Kh8 30. Qxg5 Rg8 31. Qh4 Qb6 32. Ra1 Qb2 33. Qf6+ Rg7 34. Ra8+ 1-0

[IM Jack Rudd]

One for Jonathan Bryant: white win with not one but two exchange sacrifices.

[Event "Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2014 "] [Site "The Caleta Hotel - Gibraltar"] [Date "2014.01.28"] [Round "1.82"] [White "Kohlweyer, Bernd"] [Black "Jacobsen, Fredrik Beer"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2437"] [BlackElo "1991"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "2014.01.28"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nf3 g6 7. Qa4+ Bd7 8. Qb3 b6 9. e4 Bg7 10. Bc4 Ng4 11. Bf4 Qe7 12. O-O O-O 13. Rad1 Kh8 14. h3 Ne5 15. Bxe5 Bxe5 16. Nxe5 Qxe5 17. f4 Qe7 18. e5 dxe5 19. d6 Qe8 20. Nd5 Ba4 21. Qc3 Bxd1 22. Rxd1 Nc6 23. Nc7 Qd7 24. fxe5 Nd4 25. Rxd4 cxd4 26. Qxd4 Kg8 27. e6 Qc6 28. Bd5 Qc1+ 29. Kh2 Rac8 30. Qe5 1-0

[IM Jack Rudd]

A thrilling king-hunt:

[Event "Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2014 "] [Site "The Caleta Hotel - Gibraltar"] [Date "2014.01.28"] [Round "1.45"] [White "Van Den Bersselaar, Jeroen"] [Black "Libiszewski, Fabien"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2146"] [BlackElo "2533"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "2014.01.28"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. Be3 Qe7 9. Qc2 c6 10. Rfe1 h6 11. h3 exd4 12. Bxd4 Re8 13. Bf1 Ne5 14. Nxe5 dxe5 15. Be3 Nh5 16. g3 Be6 17. a3 f5 18. exf5 gxf5 19. Kh2 Qf7 20. f4 Kh8 21. Rad1 Rg8 22. Be2 Nxg3 23. Kxg3 exf4+ 24. Kxf4 Be5+ 25. Kxe5 Qg7+ 26. Kd6 Rad8+ 27. Kxe6 Rde8+ 28. Kd6 Qe7# 0-1

[Jonathan Bryant]

One for Jonathan Bryant: white win with not one but two exchange sacrifices.

very nice. I wonder if there's been a game with all four rooks given up for minor pieces. Presumably there must have been at some point. Anybody know of one?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I see four GMs got scalped in the first round at Gibraltar today:

IM Sanchez Castillo Sarai Caroli (2219) 1-0 GM Georgiev Kiril (2653)
GM El Debs Felipe De Cresce (2520) 0-1 Amgalanbaatar Ravdanlkhumbuu (2137)
Mihajlov Sebastian (2185) 1-0 GM Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag (2566)
GM Tseitlin Mark D (2389) 0-1 Knudsen Jes West (1874)

Still an awful lot of GMs won today. Playing here are a total of 68 GMs and 38 IMs according to chess-results.com.

[Peter Shaw]

One for Jonathan Bryant: white win with not one but two exchange sacrifices.

very nice. I wonder if there's been a game with all four rooks given up for minor pieces. Presumably there must have been at some point. Anybody know of one?

http://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/chess2/diary13txt.htm

Scroll down to the bottom of item 242

[Peter D Williams]

I do like the Gibraltar chess tournament very well run and a wonderful hotel to play chess in.I always be grateful to Stewart Reuben for having the courage to invite Peter to play in this event when he was 7.We had a great time in Gibraltar and the people are so friendly. If you get the chance go on one of the boat trips to look for sharks/dolphins.

Well its time for some ELO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IlfCsj7gWQ

keep safe dry every one the weather going to get very bad for the weekend.

[Kevin Thurlow]

Lawrence Trent's draw with Sutovsky is worthy of note in round 2.

[IM Jack Rudd]

I don't know of one with four, but here's one with three:

[Event "Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2014 "] [Site "The Caleta Hotel - Gibraltar"] [Date "2014.01.30"] [Round "3.84"] [White "Baert, Andy"] [Black "Deac, Bogdan-Daniel"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2104"] [BlackElo "2289"] [PlyCount "120"] [EventDate "2014.01.28"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. e4 Bxf1 8. Kxf1 d6 9. Nf3 Bg7 10. g3 O-O 11. Kg2 Nbd7 12. a4 Ra6 13. Qc2 Qa8 14. Nb5 Rc8 15. Bd2 Ne8 16. Bc3 Bxc3 17. bxc3 Nb6 18. Ra2 Nc7 19. Rha1 Ra5 20. Qb3 c4 21. Qc2 Na6 22. Nfd4 Nc5 23. Nc6 Rxc6 24. dxc6 Qxc6 25. Nd4 Qa8 26. f3 Nbxa4 27. Qe2 Qa6 28. e5 d5 29. Ra3 Nxc3 30. Rxa5 Nxe2 31. Rxa6 Nxd4 32. Ra8+ Kg7 33. Rd1 Nd3 34. Ra3 Nc2 35. Raxd3 cxd3 36. Kf2 Nb4 37. Ke3 Nc6 38. f4 h5 39. Rxd3 e6 40. Rb3 Ne7 41. Rb7 Nf5+ 42. Kf3 Nd4+ 43. Kf2 Nf5 44. h3 Nd4 45. g4 hxg4 46. hxg4 g5 47. Ke3 Nc6 48. f5 exf5 49. gxf5 Nxe5 50. Kd4 Kf6 51. Kxd5 Kxf5 52. Rb1 g4 53. Kd4 Kf4 54. Rf1+ Nf3+ 55. Kd3 f5 56. Ke2 Kg3 57. Rd1 f4 58. Kd3 Nh2 59. Kd4 f3 60. Ke3 f2 0-1

[MartinCarpenter]

White was probably wishing he could have managed a fourth by the end of the game