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The first round at Gibraltar is due to kick off at 2pm. John Pigott white against Wesley So on Board 3 is a stand out pairing.

John lost as expected and there don't look like being many upsets.
However, IM Gary Lane (on a European tour with his son) has chances to win with Black against Pavel Eljanov:
https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tourn ... 019/1/1/20

It's getting tense around move 28 with both players having 7-8 minutes plus increment.

Whoops

Yes indeed, poor Gary. Why didn't he just recapture on d3?

Board 44 went the "wrong" way it seems...

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 22, 2019 7:43 pm

Board 44 went the "wrong" way it seems...

According to the FIDE list, the Chinese giant-killer Zuo Yifan is male and was born in 2005.

Steve and I had dinner with him last night. He seems a nice chap.

This afternoon's games are brought to you by the Fianchetto King's Indian.

[Event "Gibraltar International Chess Festival 2019 - Masters"] [Site "Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar"] [Date "2019.01.23"] [Round "2.74"] [White "Logothetis, Sotirios"] [Black "Santos Latasa, Jaime"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E67"] [WhiteElo "2210"] [BlackElo "2581"] [EventDate "2019.01.22"] [Opening "King's Indian: fianchetto, classical variation"] [PlyCount "0"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. Nc3 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. e4 exd4 9. Nxd4 Re8 10. h3 Nc5 11. Re1 Bd7 12. Bf4 h6 13. h4 Ng4 14. b4 g5 15. hxg5 hxg5 16. Be3 Nxe3 17. Rxe3 Na4 18. Nde2 Nb6 19. Nd5 Nxc4 20. Rc3 Bxc3 21. Nexc3 c6 0-1

[Event "Gibraltar International Chess Festival 2019 - Masters"] [Site "Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar"] [Date "2019.01.23"] [Round "2.62"] [White "Tan, Zhongyi"] [Black "Koehler, Gerhard"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E67"] [WhiteElo "2502"] [BlackElo "2184"] [EventDate "2019.01.22"] [Opening "King's Indian: fianchetto, classical variation"] [PlyCount "0"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d6 3. d4 Nbd7 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O e5 8. h3 Re8 9. e4 c6 10. Re1 Qc7 11. Be3 exd4 12. Nxd4 Nc5 13. Qc2 a5 14. Rad1 Nfd7 15. b3 Ne6 16. Nde2 Bf8 17. Qd2 Ng7 18. Nd4 Nc5 19. Ndb5 cxb5 20. Nd5 Qb8 21. Bxc5 1-0

David Howell will be having nightmares about his 59th move tonight, I fear.

"David Howell will be having nightmares about his 59th move tonight, I fear."

Yes...

Board 120 pairing was a bit unfortunate.

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:35 pm

"David Howell will be having nightmares about his 59th move tonight, I fear."

Yes...

Board 120 pairing was a bit unfortunate.

I originally looked at the Round 4 pairings to see what you meant, and saw Gilles Suez-Panama as white on board 121. An impressive number of canals in one surname.

Alex Holowczak wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:50 pm

I originally looked at the Round 4 pairings to see what you meant, and saw Gilles Suez-Panama as white on board 121. An impressive number of canals in one surname.

Don't ask Gilles S-P whether he plays the Canal Variation. That joke has worn rather thin.

Tim Harding wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 24, 2019 8:11 pm

David Howell will be having nightmares about his 59th move tonight, I fear.

Black to play and win. Ouch!

Then there is the case where you are playing a 2700 who outrates you by 300+ but offers you a draw. You know you shouldn't really take it don't you?

Chris Rice wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 25, 2019 9:11 am

Then there is the case where you are playing a 2700 who outrates you by 300+ but offers you a draw. You know you shouldn't really take it don't you?

I genuinely do not understand how anyone takes a draw there against anyone. At a minimum you play the obvious forcing line with 39.Qh3 to get to the time control and have another think.