Tradewise Gibraltar Festival 2018

[LawrenceCooper]

Heh, so they have. Do we know who are likely to be the top four on tie-break if everybody ends up on 7.5? (Aronian or Dubov or even Nakamura may render this irrelevant, of course.)

You can view the TPRs at the end of round nine here: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr301239. ... d=9&wi=821

Adams has won to join the group of 7.5s.

[LawrenceCooper]

Draws on boards 5, 9 and 10 so we are down to a maximum of nine players that could finish on 7.5.

[Mick Norris]

Board has been drawn presumably?

[JustinHorton]

I wouldn't trust myself to calculate a rating performance with a flowchart and a calculator, but does everybody who might reach 7.5 look a little far back?

[LawrenceCooper]

Board has been drawn presumably?

1? Yes.

[JustinHorton]

I wouldn't trust myself to calculate a rating performance with a flowchart and a calculator, but does everybody who might reach 7.5 look a little far back?

That said, I'm not sure it's totally implausible right now that Howell might have to win an Arkell in order to get into a play-off.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The tournament Facebook feed (visible on the tournament website if you scroll down) says:

"UPDATE: It's down to 21 year-old Daniil Dubov. If he wins against Le Quang on Board 3 then he wins the tournament! #GibChess"

And Le Quang has blundered with 44...Bc7, allowing the classic breakthrough tactic of 45.d4.

Nice way to win the tournament, but a bit careless of Le Quang.

EDIT: Oops. It is Le Quang who is winning, not Dubov (I got the colours mixed up).

[JustinHorton]

The tournament Facebook feed (visible on the tournament website if you scroll down) says:

"UPDATE: It's down to 21 year-old Daniil Dubov. If he wins against Le Quang on Board 3 then he wins the tournament!

However, that's not currently a probable outcome (and nor is David winning).

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Oops. I got the colours the wrong way round!!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

In case anyone is as confused as I was: "If more than four players tie for first place, the four players with the highest performance ratings shall qualify for the play-off to decide the first prize."

[Roger de Coverly]

"If more than four players tie for first place, the four players with the highest performance ratings shall qualify for the play-off to decide the first prize."

That's marginally weighted against the highest rated players, particularly in the case of Aronian where they make a slow start to the tournament. Top down pairings may give them lower rated opposition than their rivals. That's why Aronian is only just scraping into the playoff (assuming the Howell game is drawn).

[LawrenceCooper]

Chess24 is counting down to a play-off starting in 9 minutes (16:00 UK time).

[JustinHorton]

They might want to tell themselves that they still have Wang v Howell in progress

[LawrenceCooper]

They might want to tell themselves that they still have Wang v Howell in progress

It wouldn't be the first time that a tournament had ploughed ahead with play-offs and discounted unfinished games.

[JustinHorton]

It wouldn't, but in this instance (and noting my disclaimer above) aren't we possibly talking about potential play-off qualifiers? (Unless of course the game has already been drawn, which is my suspicion but is not what's on my screen.)