Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2017

[Alex Holowczak]

it does remind me that I get irritated by scoresheets where the columns aren't a multiple of five

Worth knowing should you ever decide to enter one of my tournaments.

[Angus French]

I enjoyed watching Mickey Adams' rook ending from today (see after Black's 38th) but wondered whether it was won from the start? In particular, did White have to allow the swap of his b-pawn for Black's g-pawn, leaving his king distant from Black's remaining c-pawn?

[Joshua Gibbs]

Anyone know where I can see Anna Muzychuk's game from yesterday please?

http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/r ... _17.htm#r1

many thanks

[Joshua Gibbs]

I enjoyed watching Mickey Adams' rook ending from today (see after Black's 38th) but wondered whether it was won from the start? In particular, did White have to allow the swap of his b-pawn for Black's g-pawn, leaving his king distant from Black's remaining c-pawn?

yeah i enjoyed it too though the people in the office space thought id lost my mind when I was watching it

it reminded me and others of this game : http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1126615

i dont reall understand engines but I *think* he did have to swap

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I enjoyed watching Mickey Adams' rook ending from today (see after Black's 38th) but wondered whether it was won from the start? In particular, did White have to allow the swap of his b-pawn for Black's g-pawn, leaving his king distant from Black's remaining c-pawn?

Do you think White erred in taking the bishop with the knight on move 38? OTOH, the outside passed pawn looks really scary for White (and good for Black), but what if White plays the rook to d3 and just sits there?

[Roger de Coverly]

In particular, did White have to allow the swap of his b-pawn for Black's g-pawn, leaving his king distant from Black's remaining c-pawn?

The stockfish at chessbomb points out the tactical problem. If 44. Kg1, then 41. .. Rb2

[FEN "8/8/2pk4/8/1pRP4/1P4p1/5rP1/5K2 w - - 2 44"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. Qc2 h6 7. Bh4 g6 8. e3 Bf5 9. Qb3 g5 10. Bg3 Qb6 11. Nf3 Nbd7 12. Nd2 Nh5 13. Be2 Nxg3 14. hxg3 Nf6 15. a3 Qxb3 16. Nxb3 a5 17. Kd2 Bd6 18. Bd3 Bg6 19. Rae1 Kd7 20. Re2 h5 21. Kc2 b5 22. Nd2 Rhb8 23. Ra1 b4 24. Bxg6 fxg6 25. Na4 Kc7 26. axb4 axb4 27. b3 g4 28. Kd3 Rf8 29. Rc1 Rf7 30. e4 dxe4+ 31. Nxe4 Nxe4 32. Kxe4 Re8+ 33. Kd3 Rxe2 34. Kxe2 Rf5 35. Nb2 Ra5 36. Nc4 Ra2+ 37. Kf1 g5 38. Nxd6 Kxd6 39. Rc4 h4 40. gxh4 gxh4 41. Kg1 g3 42. fxg3 hxg3 43. Kf1 Rf2+ 44. Ke1 Rxg2 45. Kf1 Rf2+ 46. Kg1 Kd5 47. Rxb4 Rc2 48. Rb8 Kxd4 49. b4 Rb2 50. Rb6 Kd5 51. Rb8 Ke6 52. Rb7 Kd6 53. Kf1 Rf2+ 54. Kg1 Re2 55. Kf1 g2+ 56. Kg1 Re7 57. Rb8 Rg7 58. Rd8+ Kc7 59. Rd4 Rg8 60. Rc4 Kb6 61. Rf4 Kb5 62. Re4 Rg3 63. Rf4 Rb3 64. Kxg2 Rxb4 65. Rf1 Rb2+ 66. Kf3 c5 67. Ke3 Kb4 68. Rf8 c4 69. Kd4 0-1

Some interesting opening ideas from Adams. If you elect to defend against 1. d4 with .. d5, you don't really want to be facing old Capablanca stuff that's very easy for White to play.

[Roger de Coverly]

Do you think White erred in taking the bishop with the knight on move 38? OTOH, the outside passed pawn looks really scary for White (and good for Black), but what if White plays the rook to d3 and just sits there?

[FEN "8/2k5/2pb4/6pp/1pNP2p1/1P4P1/r4PP1/2R2K2 w - - 0 38"]

chessbomb's stockfish reckons Re1 is 0.00. It's a lovely Knight on c4 and helps defend the b3 pawn by controlling b2 and a3. With the Rook on e1, annoying moves like Re6 may be possible.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

chessbomb's stockfish reckons Re1 is 0.00. It's a lovely Knight on c4 and helps defend the b3 pawn by controlling b2 and a3. With the Rook on e1, annoying moves like Re6 may be possible.

Indeed. And even in the rook endgame, the right move would have been to capture on b4 earlier and then (when Black plays h4) to play d5 and take the Black pawn on g4. It is not easy to play that sort of rook endgame, though.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Castling on move 35:

[Event "Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2017 "] [Site "Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar"] [Date "2017.01.25"] [Round "2.118"] [White "Robles, Bryan"] [Black "Gonzalez Gonzalez, Alfonso"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "1711"] [BlackElo "2162"] [PlyCount "184"] [EventDate "2017.01.24"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 b6 5. e4 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Bb7 7. Bd3 d6 8. Nf3 Nc6 9. O-O e5 10. h3 Qe7 11. Be3 Nd7 12. Qe2 Na5 13. Nd2 g5 14. Nb3 Nc6 15. d5 Nd8 16. a4 a5 17. g3 Rg8 18. Kh2 f6 19. Qh5+ Nf7 20. Qg4 Nf8 21. f4 h5 22. Qf3 exf4 23. gxf4 g4 24. hxg4 hxg4 25. Qg3 Rh8+ 26. Kg2 Rh3 27. Qf2 Ng6 28. Rh1 Rf3 29. Qd2 f5 30. Nd4 Nh4+ 31. Rxh4 Qxh4 32. Nxf3 Qh3+ 33. Kg1 gxf3 34. Qh2 f2+ 35. Qxf2 O-O-O 36. Bf1 Rg8+ 37. Bg2 Rxg2+ 38. Qxg2 Qxe3+ 39. Kf1 Qxc3 40. Re1 Qxc4+ 41. Kg1 Qd4+ 42. Kh2 Qxa4 43. Qg6 Qd7 44. exf5 Bxd5 45. f6 Qa4 46. Qf5+ Kb8 47. Qxd5 Qxf4+ 48. Kg1 Qxf6 49. Re8+ Nd8 50. Qg8 Kc8 51. Qg4+ Kb7 52. Qg8 Nc6 53. Ra8 Qf5 54. Rf8 Qc5+ 55. Kf1 d5 56. Qf7 Qc4+ 57. Kg1 Qd4+ 58. Kh2 Qe5+ 59. Kg1 Qe7 60. Qf5 Qg7+ 61. Kh1 Qa1+ 62. Kg2 Qb2+ 63. Kh3 Qc3+ 64. Kg2 Qd2+ 65. Kg1 Qe3+ 66. Kf1 Qc1+ 67. Kg2 Qb2+ 68. Kh3 Qc3+ 69. Kg2 Ne7 70. Qf7 Qd2+ 71. Kf1 Qd3+ 72. Ke1 Qe4+ 73. Kd1 Ng6 74. Re8 Qd4+ 75. Ke1 Ne5 76. Qf5 Qe3+ 77. Kf1 Qd3+ 78. Qxd3 Nxd3 79. Ke2 Nb4 80. Kd2 c5 81. Kc3 Ka6 82. Rc8 Kb5 83. Kb3 d4 84. Rc7 c4+ 85. Kb2 Nd3+ 86. Kc2 Kb4 87. Rd7 Kc5 88. Rc7+ Kd5 89. Rc8 Nb4+ 90. Kc1 c3 91. Rc7 d3 92. Rxc3 Na2+ 0-1

[Roger de Coverly]

but it does remind me that I get irritated by scoresheets where the columns aren't a multiple of five. Anybody else similarly afflicted?

We discussed the "last move number" and the position of the time control on scoresheets some time ago.

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... ts#p105223

The picture in the report on round 2 shows the Gibraltar scoresheets ending at move 68, with a logo in the way of going all the way to move 70. Alex McF suggested in the earlier thread that on a continuation sheet, you should start at move 9 as a proxy for 69.

4NCL sheets now end at move 70 with move 40 in bold.

In "How to Cheat at Chess", Hartston tells a story of how someone filled in a sheet in the manner of Ivanchuk with a gap or two. He then turned it to his advantage by allowing his non-scoring time pressured opponent to see his incorrect recording and the apparent arrival of move 40.

[Kevin Williamson]

Board 104 today is an interesting pairing:

104 131 GM Bellon Lopez Juan Manuel 2339 0 0 Cramling Bellon Anna 1954 227


Isn’t that father vs daughter? I guess that doesn’t happen very often.

[NickFaulks]

In "How to Cheat at Chess", Hartston tells a story of how someone filled in a sheet in the manner of Ivanchuk with a gap or two. He then turned it to his advantage by allowing his non-scoring time pressured opponent to see his incorrect recording and the apparent arrival of move 40.

I suspect that has been quite common. I watched the late GM Leonid Shamkovich do this - he made 1.e4, e5 cover the first two lines, then carried on from there, so it was clearly pre-planned. He was facing an opponent who had been suffering from frightful time shortages, although he had a rating of about 1900, so it looked like overkill. I was later told that this tactic was taught to juniors in the Soviet Union.

[Angus French]

Board 104 today is an interesting pairing:

104 131 GM Bellon Lopez Juan Manuel 2339 0 0 Cramling Bellon Anna 1954 227


Isn’t that father vs daughter? I guess that doesn’t happen very often.

Paehtz vs. Paehtz is also possible at Gibraltar.

[IM Jack Rudd]

The double-bishop sacrifice takes an early victim in round 3.

[Event "Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2017 "] [Site "Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar"] [Date "2017.01.26"] [Round "3.120"] [White "Suez-Panama, Gilles"] [Black "Neumanova, Monika"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2010"] [BlackElo "1707"] [PlyCount "29"] [EventDate "2017.01.24"] 1. Nf3 e6 2. b3 Nf6 3. Bb2 d5 4. e3 Be7 5. Bd3 O-O 6. O-O c5 7. Ne5 Qc7 8. f4 Nc6 9. a3 Nd7 10. Nxd7 Bxd7 11. Bxh7+ Kxh7 12. Qh5+ Kg8 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. Qg4+ Kh8 15. Rf3 1-0

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Did the second bishop have to be taken? Is White better after say 13...f6 (or 13...f5)? I presume White still follows up with 14.Rf3. Actually, it looks like 14.Bh6 is a killer move there.