Tradewise Gibraltar Festival 2018

[IM Jack Rudd]

Checkmate with a bishop on move 24:

[Event "Tradewise Gibraltar Masters"] [Site "Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar"] [Date "2018.01.26"] [Round "4.83"] [White "Bjerre, Jonas Buhl"] [Black "Sajjadi, Kimiya"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2367"] [BlackElo "1911"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "2018.01.23"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Ngf3 cxd4 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nb3 Nc6 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 a6 11. Re1 Qc7 12. Qe2 h6 13. g3 b5 14. Bb3 Bd6 15. c4 b4 16. c5 Bxc5 17. Be3 Qb6 18. Qc4 Bd7 19. Nxe6 fxe6 20. Bxc5 Qc6 21. Ba4 Qxa4 22. Rxe6+ Bxe6 23. Qxe6+ Kd8 24. Bb6# 1-0

[David Robertson]

Poor game by Mickey Adams today - by his standards. He was all set to give Pichot a swift chop, but things went pear-shaped from #23 [0.5-0.5, 39]

[IM Jack Rudd]

I have no idea what 6.h4!? against the Najdorf is about, but it seemed to work today:

[Event "Tradewise Gibraltar Masters"] [Site "Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar"] [Date "2018.01.27"] [Round "5.76"] [White "Paramzina, Anastasya"] [Black "Docx, Stefan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2225"] [BlackElo "2442"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2018.01.23"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h4 Nc6 7. h5 h6 8. Be3 Ng4 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bd2 e5 11. Bc4 d5 12. exd5 Bc5 13. Ne4 Bd4 14. c3 Ba7 15. dxc6 f5 16. Qf3 Rf8 17. c7 Qxc7 18. Nd6+ Qxd6 19. Qxa8 Bxf2+ 20. Ke2 Ke7 21. Qd5 Qb6 22. Rad1 Bb7 23. Bg5+ 1-0

[Mick Norris]

Nakamura wins again to go 5/5; he should be white tomorrow against either David Howell or Antipov who are on 4.5

[Tim Harding]

Nakamura wins again to go 5/5; he should be white tomorrow against either David Howell or Antipov who are on 4.5

Howell.
Board 2 is Antipov-Harikrishna.

[Nick Burrows]

Howell seemed to spend 27 mins on move 6 ??

[Tim Harding]

Howell seemed to spend 27 mins on move 6 ??

Yes, ridiculous thinking times, even accepting that the players ended up in a variation that presumably neither expected before the game.
According to my database, Nakamura played the Scotch game a lot up to 2002/3, then not at all until 2009 but has had a few games with it more recently. So Howell might have half-expected it.
Howell spent 4 minutes on move 1 (arrived late?), then five and a half minutes on 4...Qf6 which Naka' appears not to have met in any game in ChessBase's database.
Nakamura spent 15 and a half minutes on 5 Nb3. Howell spent about two and a half minutes on 5...Qg6 the normal move.
White normally plays 6 f3 but after two minutes he chose 6 Qe2.

According to chess24 timings (which are sometimes a bit off) Howell spent 27 minutes on 6...Nf6, as you say.
Nakamura spent two minutes on 7 f3 and Howell has just replied 7...a5 after a further 17 minutes.

[Nick Burrows]

Does he expect to beat Nakamura whilst blitzing? Because that will be the inevitable consequence. He needs to take some coaching from Jack...

[Tim Harding]

Nakamura spent 25 minutes on 8 Be3 which may be a novelty. I found two games with 8 a4.
The position may be quite good for Howell but playing an original situation will surely lead to terrible time trouble later; Howell spent nearly 10 minutes on his 8th move: 8...d7-d5 just played.

[Nick Burrows]

David now has 18 minutes left - 8 moves made!

[Tim Harding]

Livened up now after 13 Qb5 Bd7 with Stockfish liking Black. Nakamura has a soft spot on c2. Huge time scramble about 30 minutes from now? To clash with the playoff at Wijk aan Zee unfortunately.
David has 12 min+ left while Hikaru is spending a lot of time on move 14 and is below 20 minutes.

[Tim Harding]

David missed 15...Nxc2 (or more likely saw it but didn't have time to work it out) so now Nakamura is bailing out to an ending where White's B pair could be annoying, or maybe there will be a draw from mutual fear of time trouble blunders.

15...Nxc2 16 Kxc2 exf3 gives Black probably decisive compensation according to Stockfish, while if 16 Nxd7 Nxe3 17 Qxe3 Nxd7 Black is OK but it's possible David didn't spot that 18 Rxd7 would lose to the fork 18...Qc6+

[Carl Hibbard]

Was .... Nb4 possible instead of Nd4 at one point? Anyone with an engine?

[LawrenceCooper]

Does he expect to beat Nakamura whilst blitzing? Because that will be the inevitable consequence. He needs to take some coaching from Jack...

I find it more understandable that he would use his time when black against Nakamura, especially as his opponent was doing likewise in an unusual position from very early on. The occasions where I would prefer to see him playing a little quicker are in more familiar positions and against opponents with lower ratings.

[Tim Harding]

Was .... Nb4 possible instead of Nd4 at one point? Anyone with an engine?

I think engines will show ...Nd4 was a strong move, forcing White to move his Q. Missed opportunity with ...Nxc2 perhaps but maybe it will turn out to be not so clear. Anyway David got the draw; well done!!

I agree with Lawrence on the clock issue - except that lost time on move 1.