Gibraltar 26 January - 5 February 2015

[Barry Sandercock]

Yes. Also the Nakamura game, which will give Nakamura first outright.

[LawrenceCooper]

David may be back in the game after white's 45th move.

[Chris Rice]

Sadly Alan Walton lost so misses his IM norm. Lawrence Trent actually won beating American IM John Watson with Black but despite averaging well over 2500 yet he too seems to have missed his chance for a GM norm. Just hope I might be wrong there.

Anyway great performance by Nakamura to win and a world class performance by David Howell to come clear second with a 2815 TPR and a gain of 18 Elo.

1 2 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2776 8 ½ - ½ 7 GM Harikrishna P. 2723 7
2 13 GM Hou Yifan 2673 7 ½ - ½ 7½ GM Howell David W L 2670 15
3 4 GM Vitiugov Nikita 2735 7 ½ - ½ 7 GM Bachmann Axel 2629 22
4 20 GM Bartel Mateusz 2631 6½ 0 - 1 6½ GM Topalov Veselin 2800 1
5 3 GM Svidler Peter 2739 6½ ½ - ½ 6½ GM Sutovsky Emil 2637 19
6 26 GM Naroditsky Daniel 2622 6½ ½ - ½ 6½ GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2733 5
7 41 GM Bok Benjamin 2572 6½ ½ - ½ 6½ GM Yu Yangyi 2724 6
8 99 IM Kuipers Stefan 2390 6½ 0 - 1 6½ GM Matlakov Maxim 2695 9
9 10 GM Cheparinov Ivan 2681 6½ 0 - 1 6½ GM Adhiban B. 2630 21
10 12 GM Wei Yi 2675 6½ 1 - 0 6½ GM Felgaer Ruben 2575 37
11 65 IM Wagner Dennis 2501 6½ 1 - 0 6½ GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo 2649 17
12 8 GM Rapport Richard 2716 6 1 - 0 6½ IM Nakar Eylon 2419 92

Final standings:

1 Nakamura 8.5
2 Howell David 8
3= Hou Yifan, Vitiugov, Topalov, Wagner, Wei Yi, Adhiban, Harikrishna, Bachmann, Matlakov 7.5
12= Svidler, Yu Yangyi, Jakovenko, Naroditsky, Rapport, Nabaty Tamir, Sutovsky, Bok, Sengupta, Sandipan 7

[Mick Norris]

a world class performance by David Howell to come clear second with a 2815 TPR and a gain of 18 Elo.

Fantastic, I assume this is David's best ever result, and indicates he can cross the 2700 barrier

The prize must help him too financially, assuming he wants to be able to afford to play chess full time

I see Vishy is playing Gibraltar 2016

[Chris Rice]

The Association of Chess Professionals once again voted Gibraltar as tournament of the year. Actually the voting is for tournaments from March 2014 to April 2015 so even though it says 2014 below I assume its the 2015 edition they voted for:

Swiss Tournament:

1. Gibraltar Tradewise Chess
2. Qatar Masters
3. Millionaire Chess
4. Reykjavik Open
5. Baku Open

Round Robin events:

1st equal. Sinquefield Cup and Gashimov Memorial
3. Tata Steel Chess
4. ACP Golden Classic
5. No Logo Norway Chess

Rapid events:

1. World Rapid and Blitz Championship
2. London Chess Classic - Super Rapidplay
3. SportAccord Mind Games
4-5 Women's World Rapid and Blitz Championship and Tal blitz Memorial

Official events:

1. World Championship Match, Sochi
2. Chess Olympiad , Tromso
3. FIDE Candidates, Khanty-Mansiysk
4. Baku FIDE Grand Prix
5. European Chess Club Cup

Overall Best Tournament of the Year 2014:

1. Gibraltar Tradewise Chess
2. World Championship Match, Sochi
3. Qatar Masters
4. Sinquefield Cup
5. ACP Golden Classic