Few surprises in Gibraltar Masters Round 1

Home » Chess News » Events » Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2011 » Few surprises in Gibraltar Masters Round 1

Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2011 (1)

Few surprises in Gibraltar Masters Round 1

John Saunders - Wednesday 26th January 2011

Jean-Baptiste Mullon got to play Vassily Ivanchuk in Round 1.

Jean-Baptiste Mullon got to play Vassily Ivanchuk in Round 1. | http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/

John Saunders reports on the first round of the Masters where most of the favourites won. The biggest surprise was Monica Calzetta's defeat of US GM Ray Robson which is analysed in depth.

Stuart Conquest tournament director with the Mayor of Gibraltar Tony Lombard, Miss Girbaltar Larissa Dalli and the head of the Gibraltar Sports and Leisure Authority in the Archie Suite viewing in the games on line. Photo © Gibraltar Website. 2011 http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/gib2011/index.html.

The major event of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival - the Gibraltar Masters - got underway at the Caleta Hotel yesterday afternoon. This is the ninth in the series of major international chess events held on the Rock but the first one to be sponsored by Tradewise Insurance.

For the most part, round one of the Masters saw the big stars defeat their more modestly rated opponents. World number nine Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, making his debut in Gibraltar, was too strong for French IM Jean-Baptiste Mullon, and a similar story continued down the list of boards, with only a handful of the lower-rated players escaping with results against their more illustrious rivals. To find the first major casualty we have to track all the way down to board 28 where GM Alexandr Fier of Brazil lost to FM Tom Weber of Luxembourg. Brazil 0, Luxembourg 1 is not the sort of score you’d expect to see on a football pitch, is it? Elsewhere the theme of Europe beating the Americas continued with experienced Spanish woman international Monica Calzetta defeating 16-year-old US prodigy GM Ray Robson. One possible theory behind these results was jet lag - flying west-east is allegedly the worst form of this affliction. However, this may have been partially refuted by Canadian IM Leon Piasetski’s excellent win against French GM Jean-Pierre Le Roux.

SIMON SAYS

Stuart and new commentator Simon Williams behind the new specially built desk controlling the internet live streaming. Photo © Gibraltar Website. 2011 http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/gib2011/index.html.

With Stuart Conquest’s elevation to tournament director, his former role of commentator has been filled by English GM Simon Williams. Simon put in a five-hour stint at the microphone in the specially-equipped commentary room at the Caleta Hotel and did a great job. A couple of those hours he spent in the company of the English super-GM Nigel Short, after the former world championship finalist had won his own game. Nigel was his usual witty and erudite self, entertaining the audience with all manner of anecdotes and advice. If anyone reading this bulletin is cursing their luck because they missed Nigel’s session, we’ve got good news - the session has been recorded for posterity and is still available to listen to at a website near you (check out the links on the website).

The first round of the Masters was formally opened at 3pm by Anthony Lombard, Mayor of Gibraltar, accompanied by Gibraltar Leisure Centre chief Joe Hernandez and the reigning Miss Gibraltar, Larissa Dalli. The VIPs chatted with Vassily Ivanchuk and other leading players before going to watch local boy Stephen Whatley’s first game in the Masters, against English amateur player (and Sun journalist) Tim Spanton. The opening party also visited the commentary suite to follow Simon Williams’ webcast and see the state-of the-art technology which is used to power the event and the webcast.

RHAPSODY IN BLUE

Blue pieces. Photo © Gibraltar Website. 2011 http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/gib2011/index.html.

Anyone who has visited the website should by now have seen the striking animated logo at the top of the each page featuring Tradewise Insurance’s blue pawn. Continuing this theme, there are giant blue pieces in strategic places all around the hotel. We’ve appended a photo to show you what we mean.

ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK

Jean-Baptiste Mullon got to play Vassily Ivanchuk in Round 1. Photo © Gibraltar Website. 2011 http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/gib2011/index.html.

It wasn’t just the giant pieces that were blue... the last four participants have finally arrived! Krishnan Sasikiran, Giorgi Kacheishvili, Vaibhav Suri and Nida Siddiqui (and Vaibhav’s non-playing sister) were collected at Gibraltar airport on Tuesday night at 11pm by tournament director Stuart Conquest after a soul-destroying trip from hell. On two consecutive days they were not permitted to board the British Airways flight from London to Gibraltar because they do not hold Shengen visas and, in view of the uncertain weather conditions here, BA thought it likely that the flights would have to re-route to Malaga. As it happens, both Sunday and Monday flights did land at Gibraltar. On Tuesday morning they were finally allowed to board a flight - but, contrary to expectations, this plane was diverted to Malaga airport! Oh dear! Irina Krush, who was travelling with the group, now continued her journey to Gibraltar without further delay and arrived in time for the first round. The remaining five people, however, were detained by Spanish authorities while emergency transit visas were processed. This procedure took an excruciatingly long time - some eight or nine hours - until they were finally allowed to travel to Gibraltar. Vaibhav and his sister are staying at the Bristol Hotel and the others are at the Caleta Hotel. These four players have been given a half-point bye in round one.

The "Where's Ulf?" competition. Photo © Gibraltar Website. 2011 http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/gib2011/index.html.

Talking of lateness... one game this afternoon (Kulaots-Kolbus) saw one player only cede the right to castle on move 52, and no piece or pawn was captured until move 56. Perhaps not a record but very unusual.

Round 1 reports on Swiss-system tournaments nearly always feature a ‘David versus Goliath’ win by a lower rated player against a higher one. This is no exception (though the parallel shouldn’t be taken too literally in either case). The following game is testament to the determination and experience of Spanish international and several times Spanish Women’s Champion Monica Calzetta.

Round 1, Gibraltar Masters

Calzetta Ruiz,Monica (2284) - Robson,Ray (2532)

French Tarrasch C04

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nc6

Not the commonest line of the Tarrasch French but very solid.

4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nd7 6.Be2 f6 7.exf6 Qxf6 8.Nf1 Bd6 9.Ne3 0–0 10.0–0 Qg6 11.c4 Nf6 12.c5 Be7

12...Bf4 13.Nc2 Ne4 has been played a few times.

13.Nc2

13.Bb5 Bd7 14.Re1 was played by Monica Calzetta in a game she won in the Spanish Women's Championship in 2009, so she was familiar with this line. The text may not be an improvement.

13...Ne4 14.a4 e5!?

Black is starting to take the initiative.

15.Be3 exd4 16.Nfxd4 Bxc5

The weakness of the pawns on c7 and d5 make this a little loose. 16...Bh3 17.Ne1 Nxd4 18.Bxd4 Be6 gives Black a slight edge, while; 16...Nxd4 17.Bxd4 c6 18.b4 a5 19.Bd3 Bh3 20.Ne3 Bg5 21.Qc2 is unclear.

17.Bh5 Qf6

17...Qd6 18.Nb5 Qd7!? amounts to the same thing after 19.Nxc7

18.Nb5 Qd8 19.Nxc7! d4

The main point here is that 19...Qxc7 20.Qxd5+ Kh8 21.Qxe4 leaves White a pawn up with a clear advantage. So Black, conscious of the wide rating disparity decides to stir things up with an exchange sacrifice.

20.Nxa8 dxe3 21.Nxe3 Qxd1

Keeping on the queens with something like 21...Nd4 may be a better bet.

22.Nxd1 Bd6 23.Ne3 Be6 24.Rad1! Bf4

Very annoying for Black. If 24...Rxa8 25.Bf3! forces 25...Bb3 26.Bxe4 Bxd1 27.Rxd1 and White will be a clear pawn to the good.

25.Bf3! Ng5

25...Nc5 26.Nd5! Bxd5 27.Bxd5+ Kh8 28.g3! and Black still cannot capture the knight on a8 without losing his bishop.

26.Bxc6 bxc6 27.Rc1 Rxa8 28.Rxc6 Bb3 29.a5 Rd8 30.Nf5 Rd2 31.h4!? Ne4?!

This turns out to be a slight error. 31...Ne6 seems to hold everything together, though Black cannot claim an advantage.

32.g3 Be5?

Two undefended pieces on the same file spells trouble.

Monica Calzetta Ruiz

Ray Robson

Position after 32...Be5?

33.Re1! Bf6?

After this, Black is quite lost. He might have been put off playing 33...Rd1 34.Rxd1 Bxd1 35.Re6 because White would be attacking the two loose pieces with his other rook. However, Black might have tried this as he has a trick of his own: 35...Nd2! and the bishop cannot be taken because of the knight fork on f3.

34.Rxe4 Rd1+ 35.Kh2 Bd5

Looks like a good riposte but White was ready.

36.Rc8+ Kf7 37.Ne3! Re1 38.Rc7+ Kg6 39.h5+ Kxh5 40.Nxd5?!

40.Rc5 would probably have led to immediate resignation but now the game goes on for a while.

40...Rxe4 41.Nxf6+ gxf6 42.Rxh7+ Kg6 43.Rxa7 Rb4 44.Kg2 Rxb2 45.a6

This is an easily won endgame, requiring just a little care at the right time.

45...Ra2 46.g4 Ra3 47.f3 Ra4 48.Ra8 Ra3 49.Kg3 Ra4 50.Kf2 Ra3 51.Ke2 Kg7 52.a7 Ra4 53.Ke3 Ra3+ 54.Kd4 Ra4+ 55.Kc5 Ra1 56.f4 Rc1+ 57.Kd6 Rd1+ 58.Ke6 Re1+ 59.Kf5 Ra1 60.g5 fxg5 61.Kxg5 Ra4 62.f5 Ra5 63.Kf4 Kf7

Monica Calzetta Ruiz

Ray Robson

Position after 63...Kf7

64.Ke4!

Not falling for Black's last trap: 64.Rh8? Rxa7 65.Rh7+ Kf6 66.Rxa7 stalemate.

64...Ra4+ 65.Kd5 Kg7 66.f6+ Kf7 67.Rh8 1–0

Now of course there is no stalemate trick.

Gibraltar Masters Caleta ENG Mon 24th Jan 2011 - Thu 3rd Feb 2011 Leading Round 1 (of 10) Standings:
Rk	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1
1	Ivanchuk Vassily	GM	UKR	2764	1.0	0
	Adams Michael	GM	ENG	2723	1.0	0
	Caruana Fabiano	GM	ITA	2721	1.0	0
	Vallejo Pons Francisco	GM	ESP	2698	1.0	0
	Bologan Viktor	GM	MDA	2693	1.0	0
	Onischuk Alexander	GM	USA	2689	1.0	0
	Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter	GM	ROU	2678	1.0	0
	Georgiev Kiril	GM	BUL	2669	1.0	0
	Short Nigel D	GM	ENG	2658	1.0	0
	Fridman Daniel	GM	GER	2655	1.0	0
	Roiz Michael	GM	ISR	2649	1.0	0
	Sandipan Chanda	GM	IND	2641	1.0	0
	Edouard Romain	GM	FRA	2634	1.0	0
	Berg Emanuel	GM	SWE	2627	1.0	0
	Akobian Varuzhan	GM	USA	2618	1.0	0
	Kotronias Vasilios	GM	GRE	2599	1.0	0
	Gopal Geetha Narayanan	GM	IND	2597	1.0	0
	Erdos Viktor	GM	HUN	2593	1.0	0
	Felgaer Ruben	GM	ARG	2585	1.0	0
	Andersson Ulf	GM	SWE	2579	1.0	0
	Kulaots Kaido	GM	EST	2577	1.0	0
	Buhmann Rainer	GM	GER	2572	1.0	0
	Kosintseva Tatiana	GM	RUS	2570	1.0	0
	Kosintseva Nadezhda	IM	RUS	2552	1.0	0
	Lafuente Pablo	GM	ARG	2551	1.0	0
	Dzagnidze Nana	GM	GEO	2550	1.0	0
	Stefanova Antoaneta	GM	BUL	2546	1.0	0
	Korchnoi Viktor	GM	SUI	2544	1.0	0
	Rapport Richard	GM	HUN	2531	1.0	0
	Sengupta Deep	GM	IND	2530	1.0	0
	Cmilyte Viktorija	GM	LTU	2526	1.0	0
	Cramling Pia	GM	SWE	2516	1.0	0
	Hoffmann Michael	GM	GER	2506	1.0	0
	Gallagher Joseph G	GM	SUI	2501	1.0	0
	El Debs Felipe De Cresce	GM	BRA	2499	1.0	0
	Zhu Chen	GM	QAT	2495	1.0	0
	Zatonskih Anna	IM	USA	2493	1.0	0
	Al-Sayed Mohammed	GM	QAT	2490	1.0	0
	Soffer Ram	GM	ISR	2489	1.0	0
	Das Arghyadip	IM	IND	2479	1.0	0
	Bellaiche Anthony	IM	FRA	2458	1.0	0
	Battaglini Gabriel	IM	FRA	2437	1.0	0
	Illner Achim Dr	FM	GER	2345	1.0	0
	Weber Tom	FM	LUX	2310	1.0	0
	Forsaa Espen	FM	NOR	2306	1.0	0
	Piasetski Leon	IM	CAN	2303	1.0	0
	Calzetta Ruiz Monica	WGM	ESP	2284	1.0	0
	Avalos Parra Joao	FM	CHI	2252	1.0	0
	Urbina Perez Juan Antonio	CM	ESP	2189	1.0	0
	Dougherty Michael	FM	CAN	2183	1.0	0
	Aerni Andi		SUI	2182	1.0	0
	Lacrosse Marc	FM	BEL	2181	1.0	0
	Tscharotschkin Michael		GER	2181	1.0	0
	Lochte Thomas		GER	2173	1.0	0
	Seyfried Claus		GER	2173	1.0	0
	Groffen Hans		NED	2169	1.0	0
231 players