2017 European Ind Ch 29 May - 11 June (Minsk)

[Chris Rice]

10 g4 looks like a statement of intent from David's opponent.

Matlakov's just gone 11 h4, this is scary stuff. Gawain's game is unbalanced as well (after 12...Rxb2) which is what he will have wanted.

[LawrenceCooper]

10 g4 looks like a statement of intent from David's opponent.

Matlakov's just gone 11 h4, this is scary stuff. Gawain's game is unbalanced as well (after 12...Rxb2) which is what he will have wanted.

Two draws in the 6.5 score group: Tomashevsky-Sutovsky & Fridman-Areshchenko.

[Roger de Coverly]

10 g4 looks like a statement of intent from David's opponent.

You might expect a peaceful game when you see a QGD on the board.

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Rc1 c6 10. g4 Nd7 11. h4 *

The g4, h4 idea has been punted a few times in recent years. Top players of a more sedate era preferred 10 Bd3 or 10. Qc2, which are the "logical" Queens Gambit moves.

[Mick Norris]

David's lost, looks like Gawain will do too

[Paul Dargan]

Looks like a huge full-point reversal (swidle) by Gawain - which is obviously great news!

After 55. ...Rxg4+ machine gives him +2.5, wheras he was about -6

Paul

[Chris Rice]

Looks like a huge full-point reversal (swidle) by Gawain - which is obviously great news!

After 55. ...Rxg4+ machine gives him +2.5, wheras he was about -6

Paul

That's unbelievable, I switched off thinking he was just about to get mated, now he's +8!

[LawrenceCooper]

Looks like a huge full-point reversal (swidle) by Gawain - which is obviously great news!

After 55. ...Rxg4+ machine gives him +2.5, wheras he was about -6

Paul

I believe he won albeit putting his king on e5 did briefly give me a heart attack

[Paul Dargan]

Phew - after Qd8+ Black appeared to play Ke5, allowing the not too hard to spot Qd4 mate! fortunately it was just the arbiter putting the king on a black sq!

0-1 to Gawain

[LawrenceCooper]

David's lost, looks like Gawain will do too

0-1 never in doubt

[Tim Harding]

Antipov must have had a total brain-freeze somewhere.
Scary at the end but now they have changed it to 59...Kf7 0-1.

Shame about David losing but he should be safe for World Cup qualification and with White tomorrow he may increase his score.
Gawain may be able to get into the Cup too; especially if he gets White in the last round.

[LawrenceCooper]

Pairings/Results
Round 11 on 2017/06/10 at 11.00
Bo. No. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg No.
1 6 GM Jobava Baadur 2713 8 8 GM Matlakov Maxim 2714 5
2 16 GM Cheparinov Ivan 2688 7½ 7½ GM Navara David 2739 1
3 18 GM Howell David W L 2684 7½ 7½ GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof 2693 13
4 14 GM Fedoseev Vladimir 2690 7½ 7 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2718 3
5 43 GM Sutovsky Emil 2646 7 7 GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2712 7
6 56 GM Bluebaum Matthias 2632 7 7 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2700 9
7 10 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2698 7 7 GM Zhigalko Sergei 2643 45
8 52 GM Kuzubov Yuriy 2637 7 7 GM Bacrot Etienne 2696 11
9 58 GM Yilmaz Mustafa 2630 7 7 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2696 12
10 124 GM Aleksandrov Aleksej 2559 7 7 GM Artemiev Vladislav 2682 19
11 20 GM Movsesian Sergei 2680 7 7 GM Lenic Luka 2641 47
12 22 GM Areshchenko Alexander 2677 7 7 GM Demchenko Anton 2629 59
13 84 GM Pashikian Arman 2603 7 7 GM Motylev Alexander 2665 28
14 71 GM Erdos Viktor 2614 7 7 GM Dubov Daniil 2660 31
15 32 GM Riazantsev Alexander 2659 7 7 GM Melkumyan Hrant 2613 72
16 136 GM Danin Alexandre 2543 7 7 GM Grachev Boris 2658 33
17 34 GM Kovalenko Igor 2657 7 7 GM Fridman Daniel 2605 79
18 36 GM Jones Gawain C B 2654 7 7 GM Ter-Sahakyan Samvel 2598 89
19 38 GM Kravtsiv Martyn 2653 7 7 IM Mikaelyan Arman 2444 216
20 15 GM Mamedov Rauf 2689 6½ 7 GM Kunin Vitaly 2551 130

[Chris Rice]

Both of our guys have the White pieces. That helps.

[Mick Norris]

Jobava will have to win for the title, so should be a decent game on board 1

I'm assuming, based on tiebreaks, that if board 1 is a draw, then neither David nor Duda his opponent can win the title; if so, does it make sense for them to draw to guarantee WC qualification?

[JustinHorton]

Also, can Gawain draw his way in?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Top 22. If it is a win on top board, you get a maximum of 22 in the next score group, I think. Some may be qualified on rating. So I think some will qualify from the third score group. But not many will qualify from 7.5/11. I think 8 will probably be needed.