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Home » Chess News » Events » Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2011 » Short leads alone on 5/5 in Gibraltar

John Saunders reports: And then there was one. Nigel Short is the sole leader of the Gibraltar Masters tournament at the halfway stage with 5/5. Yesterday he defeated the second Kosintseva sister, Nadezhda, after beating her younger sister in round three. This puts the English grandmaster half a point ahead of top-rated Vassily Ivanchuk and Daniel Fridman going into round six.

One curiosity is that the Kosintseva sisters share more or less the same opening repertoire, so Nigel found himself again facing the Queen’s Gambit, Ragozin variation. Nigel is gradually coming round to the virtues of 1 d4 - "this becoming a habit ... 1 d4 is a better move because your pawn is protected". He refined his opening line (having decided that his play against Tatiana was slightly sub-optimal). Nigel’s switch to d-pawn openings seems to have changed his playing style and made him more positional. Whether that is true or not, the change seems to be working for him.

Friday we had Viktor against Viktor but yesterday the game of the day was Vasilios against Vassily, i.e. Kotronias versus Ivanchuk. Vassily was the clear rating favourite but it was far from one-way traffic as the Greek grandmaster played positively from the start and was arguably winning at one stage. But it was very complex and later in the middlegame Vasilios went astray and blundered. Vassily (often known by his true Ukrainian name Vasyl) joined the audience in the commentary room immediately after his game and treated them to another entertaining session. He was very complimentary about Vasilios’s play. This could be a strong candidate for the best game prize.

Round 5

Kotronias,Vasilios (2599) - Ivanchuk,Vassily (2764)

Sicilian Dragon

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0–0 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0–0–0 Rb8

On his previous visit to this variation (it is well-known that Ivanchuk plays everything), Vassily played 10...Ne5

11.Bb3 Na5 12.Bh6 Bxh6 13.Qxh6 b5

The signature move of the so-called 'Chinese Dragon'.

14.g4 b4 15.Nd5 Nxb3+ 16.Nxb3!

16.axb3 Nxd5 17.exd5 e5

16...e5!?

This has been played once before. 16...Nxd5 has been seen more frequently.

17.Ne3!

Praised by Ivanchuk. 17.h4 Nxd5 18.Rxd5 Rb6 19.Rhd1 has been played before in a game in 2006.

17...Be6 18.h4 Kh8

A little joke from Vasyl. Both 19.h5 and 20.g5 lose the queen.

19.Qg5 Rb6 20.Na5!? Kg7 21.Nf5+ Bxf5 22.gxf5 Qc7

22...Nh5 23.Qxd8 Rxd8 24.Nc4 wins a pawn for White.

23.fxg6

23.h5 runs into 23...h6 .

23...fxg6 24.h5 Rc8 25.Rd2 Ra6 26.hxg6 h5

Forced.

27.Nb3 Rxa2

28.Kb1?

28.f4! was proposed by Simon Williams in the commentary room and Vassily agreed that this was excellent and maybe winning for White.

28...Ra6 29.Qf5

Now 29.f4 doesn't work because of 29...Nxe4 and the rook drops with check.

29...Qc4 30.Re1 Rc5!? 31.Rf2?!

31.f4! was still critical, according to Vassily. The problem is that 31...Rca5 (31...exf4 32.e5? (32.Qxf4) 32...Rxe5! 33.Rxe5 Qf1+ 34.Nc1 Qxc1+! 35.Kxc1 Ra1# is a beautiful mate.) 32.Nxa5 Rxa5 33.Rxd6 is winning for White.

31...Rca5! 32.Re3??

32.Nxa5 Rxa5 33.f4 Qa2+ 34.Kc1 Qa1+ 35.Kd2 Qxb2; 32.f4 Ra1+ 33.Nxa1 Qa2+ transposes

32...Qd4!

Suddenly White is lost.

33.Nxa5 Qd1+ 34.Ka2 Rxa5+ 35.Kb3 Qa1 36.c3 Qa4+ 37.Kc4 bxc3+ 0–1

As well as Ivanchuk, the audience later saw Nigel Short’s commentary on his second Kosintseva victory, and then Victoria Cmilyte going through her game. These videos are still available at the website.

The weather cleared yesterday and allowed the now traditional trip to the top of the rock. The party of GMs saw St Michael’s Cave, the siege tunnels and, of course, stopped off to monkey about with the apes. Please visit our website to see some photos of super-grandmasters interacting with super apes. My personal favourite was the photo of Salome Melia apparently wearing a small live monkey as if it were a hat from the latest Paris fashion show. In general I disapprove of the wearing of fur by humans but there can surely be no objection when the fur is still attached to a live and consenting animal.

You may recall that we featured an amusing illegal move in one of the games from the Challengers yesterday and set a little quiz question concerning illegal castling when the king has no legal move is: does the rook have to be moved? The answer is no: this is because castling is deemed to be a move of the king.

Would you believe it, yesterday we had a second illegal move, this time in the Masters. Here is the game.

Round 5

Fier,Alexandr (2571) - Getz,Nicolai (2334) [C10]

French Defence

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7 5.Nf3 Bc6 6.Neg5 Nd7 7.Nxf7!? Kxf7 8.Ng5+ Ke8 9.Bc4 Qe7?!

The first sign that Black is having an off day but this is nothing compared to what is to come.

10.0–0

At this point the young Norwegian FM attempted to play 10...0–0–0, apparently forgetting that two of his previous three moves had been with the king. As oversights go, this was a pretty big one. Unlike the game in the Masters, his GM opponent noticed the illegality and Nicolai found himself obliged to move his king...

10...Kd8 11.Re1 Nb6 12.Bxe6 Nh6 13.Bh3 1–0

On Friday we said farewell to the competitors of the first week tournaments. Of course, many of them are still here with us, playing in second week events or the Masters. But it seems an opportune moment to catch up on the results and prizes. Mr Joe Hernandez of the Gibraltar Leisure Centre was present to give out the prizes to the winners. First in the Amateur A tournament was Vegard Stene from Norway, who receives the £1,000 first prize. Second equal were Geoffrey Bishop, Alvaro Candano Gonzalez, Armin Gholami who received £400 each. The Gibraltar Prize was shared between Mario Garcia and Stephen Whatley who won £50 each.

In Challengers A, first was shared by Ivan Elishev and Johan Henriksson who received £1500 each. Third equal were Ali R Jaunooby, Hristos Zygouris, Nikita Meskovs, each of whom received £167. Rating 1950-2049: Halvor Haga, Simon Marder (£250 each). Rating below 1950: Mikael Helin, Samuel Flanagan, Emilia Georgieva (£167 each). Unrated: Sandu Ungureanu (£500). Gibraltar Prize: Alan D Gravett (£150).

There was a slight mix-up during the prizegiving at first and Norwegian player Armin Gholami was surprised not to hear his name read out as a prizewinner. He stood up and calmly explained to the organisers in perfect English that his name had not been read out and that he should have received a share of the second prize for the Challengers. He was quite right and the error swiftly rectified. An unremarkable incident, perhaps, but for the fact that Armin is just 11 years old. His calmness, logic and assertiveness were impressive for one so young and a sign of great character. I suspect we may hear more of him.

Round 6 (of 10) starts at 3pm (GMT+1) on Sunday 30 January.

Gibraltar Masters Caleta ENG Mon 24th Jan 2011 - Thu 3rd Feb 2011 Leading Round 5 (of 10) Standings:
Rk	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1
1	Short Nigel D	GM	ENG	2658	5.0	3317
2	Ivanchuk Vassily	GM	UKR	2764	4.5	2916
3	Fridman Daniel	GM	GER	2655	4.5	2880
4	Sengupta Deep	GM	IND	2530	4.0	2801
5	Adams Michael	GM	ENG	2723	4.0	2767
6	Roiz Michael	GM	ISR	2649	4.0	2734
7	Akobian Varuzhan	GM	USA	2618	4.0	2724
8	Kacheishvili Giorgi	GM	GEO	2585	4.0	2716
	Kosintseva Nadezhda	IM	RUS	2552	4.0	2716
10	Gopal Geetha Narayanan	GM	IND	2597	4.0	2698
11	Ikonnikov Vyacheslav	GM	RUS	2580	4.0	2626
12	Mikhalevski Victor	GM	ISR	2579	4.0	2535
13	Rapport Richard	GM	HUN	2531	3.5	2742
14	Korchnoi Viktor	GM	SUI	2544	3.5	2741
15	Buhmann Rainer	GM	GER	2572	3.5	2697
16	Kulaots Kaido	GM	EST	2577	3.5	2685
17	Sasikiran Krishnan	GM	IND	2690	3.5	2684
18	Vallejo Pons Francisco	GM	ESP	2698	3.5	2668
19	Harikrishna Pentala	GM	IND	2667	3.5	2644
20	Lafuente Pablo	GM	ARG	2551	3.5	2636
21	Sandipan Chanda	GM	IND	2641	3.5	2633
22	Kotronias Vasilios	GM	GRE	2599	3.5	2632
	Dzagnidze Nana	GM	GEO	2550	3.5	2632
24	Caruana Fabiano	GM	ITA	2721	3.5	2616
25	Bologan Viktor	GM	MDA	2693	3.5	2603
26	Georgiev Kiril	GM	BUL	2669	3.5	2598
27	Berg Emanuel	GM	SWE	2627	3.5	2589
28	Onischuk Alexander	GM	USA	2689	3.5	2583
29	Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter	GM	ROU	2678	3.5	2577
30	Edouard Romain	GM	FRA	2634	3.5	2528
31	Melia Salome	IM	GEO	2449	3.5	2521
32	Speelman Jon S	GM	ENG	2524	3.5	2509
33	Lemos Damian	GM	ARG	2553	3.5	2499
34	El Debs Felipe De Cresce	GM	BRA	2499	3.5	2498
35	Harika Dronavalli	IM	IND	2520	3.5	2484
36	Soffer Ram	GM	ISR	2489	3.5	2471
37	Gallagher Joseph G	GM	SUI	2501	3.5	2455
38	Vaibhav Suri	IM	IND	2421	3.5	2452
39	Bellaiche Anthony	IM	FRA	2458	3.5	2450
40	Das Arghyadip	IM	IND	2479	3.5	2426
41	Fier Alexandr	GM	BRA	2571	3.5	2386
42	Battaglini Gabriel	IM	FRA	2437	3.5	2372
43	Vernay Clovis	IM	FRA	2446	3.5	2367
44	Cabrera Alexis	GM	ESP	2518	3.5	2352
45	Szuper Paul		USA	2174	3.5	2341
46	Zhu Chen	GM	QAT	2495	3.0	2636
47	Cmilyte Viktorija	GM	LTU	2526	3.0	2615
48	Felgaer Ruben	GM	ARG	2585	3.0	2606
49	Krush Irina	IM	USA	2483	3.0	2541
50	Calzetta Ruiz Monica	WGM	ESP	2284	3.0	2522
51	Kosintseva Tatiana	GM	RUS	2570	3.0	2516
52	Erdos Viktor	GM	HUN	2593	3.0	2515
53	Zatonskih Anna	IM	USA	2493	3.0	2485
54	Kanep Meelis	GM	EST	2531	3.0	2482
55	Fernandez Romero Ernesto	IM	ESP	2453	3.0	2456
56	Forsaa Espen	FM	NOR	2306	3.0	2441
57	Nezad Husein Aziz	IM	QAT	2420	3.0	2439
	Vaarala Eric		SWE	2152	3.0	2439
59	Tscharotschkin Michael		GER	2181	3.0	2437
60	Piasetski Leon	IM	CAN	2303	3.0	2415
61	Robson Ray	GM	USA	2532	3.0	2404
62	Andersen Mads	FM	DEN	2410	3.0	2398
63	Karim Ismael	IM	MAR	2375	3.0	2390
64	Iordachescu Viorel	GM	MDA	2634	3.0	2384
65	Sanchez Louis	FM	FRA	2262	3.0	2382
	Aerni Andi		SUI	2182	3.0	2382
67	Boskovic Drasko	IM	SRB	2412	3.0	2381
68	Al-Sayed Mohammed	GM	QAT	2490	3.0	2379
69	Cummings David H	IM	CAN	2366	3.0	2373
	Garcia Jimenez Francisco Javie	FM	ESP	2274	3.0	2373
71	Wohl Aleksandar H	IM	AUS	2409	3.0	2368
72	Zaremba Andrie	FM	USA	2339	3.0	2366
73	Peek Marcel	IM	NED	2342	3.0	2356
74	Estrada Nieto Julian	IM	MEX	2309	3.0	2345
75	Bellin Robert	IM	ENG	2367	3.0	2342
76	Zhukova Natalia	GM	UKR	2441	3.0	2340
77	Illner Achim Dr	FM	GER	2345	3.0	2336
78	Jones Gawain C B	GM	ENG	2593	3.0	2331
79	Gaponenko Inna	IM	UKR	2466	3.0	2325
80	Slavin Alexei	IM	RUS	2417	3.0	2303
81	Le Roux Jean-Pierre	GM	FRA	2551	3.0	2299
82	Nuri Kambez		SUI	2300	3.0	2295
83	Lacrosse Marc	FM	BEL	2181	3.0	2291
84	Daurelle Herve		FRA	2243	3.0	2286
85	Mckenna Jason P		ENG	2062	3.0	2253
86	Meskovs Nikita		LAT	2243	3.0	2239
87	Sreeves Clement		SCO	2093	3.0	2237
88	Scholzen Wolfgang		GER	2057	3.0	2229
89	Chapman Terry P D		ENG	2250	3.0	2023
90	Sarkar Justin	IM	USA	2418	2.5	2639
91	Bellon Lopez Juan Manuel	GM	ESP	2404	2.5	2516
	Weber Tom	FM	LUX	2310	2.5	2516
93	Oberhofer Andre		GER	2270	2.5	2404
	Valgmae Toomas		EST	2190	2.5	2404
95	Thomassen Joachim	IM	NOR	2404	2.5	2395
96	Karavade Eesha	IM	IND	2353	2.5	2381
97	Jones Richard S	FM	WLS	2361	2.5	2380
98	Mullon Jean-Baptiste	IM	FRA	2420	2.5	2379
99	Getz Nicolai	FM	NOR	2334	2.5	2370
100	Hoffmann Michael	GM	GER	2506	2.5	2364
101	Stokke Kjetil	FM	NOR	2413	2.5	2354
102	Sipila Vilka		FIN	2269	2.5	2343
103	Nikolaidis Konstantinos	FM	GRE	2284	2.5	2342
104	Andreasen Per	FM	DEN	2239	2.5	2307
105	Vogel Jaap	FM	NED	2207	2.5	2306
106	Stebbings Anthony J		ENG	2285	2.5	2303
107	Vinas Guerrero Carlos A		ESP	2121	2.5	2302
108	Urbina Perez Juan Antonio	CM	ESP	2189	2.5	2283
109	Bergstrom Rolf	FM	SWE	2307	2.5	2281
110	Jaunooby Ali R		ENG	2207	2.5	2279
111	Dougherty Michael	FM	CAN	2183	2.5	2273
112	Tate Alan		SCO	2292	2.5	2272
113	Cramling Pia	GM	SWE	2516	2.5	2269
114	Kolbus Dietmar	IM	GER	2332	2.5	2263
115	Pogonina Natalija	WGM	RUS	2472	2.5	2251
	Seyfried Claus		GER	2173	2.5	2251
117	Henriksson Johan		SWE	2243	2.5	2248
118	Dittmar Peter	FM	GER	2328	2.5	2235
119	Monroy Charles	IM	FRA	2421	2.5	2211
120	Montero Melendez Rafael		ESP	2265	2.5	2207
121	Malmdin Nils-Ake		SWE	2272	2.5	2180
	Spence David J		ENG	2231	2.5	2180
123	Itkis Hana	WFM	USA	2084	2.5	2161
124	Carlsten Peter		SWE	2110	2.5	2152
125	Lochte Thomas		GER	2173	2.5	2136
126	Osuna Vega Enrique	CM	ESP	2140	2.5	2132
127	Hauge Lars Oskar		NOR	1942	2.5	2131
128	Hvenekilde Jorgen	FM	DEN	2121	2.5	2111
129	Hegvik Leif Trygve		NOR	1814	2.5	2089
130	Arnott Jonathan W		ENG	2176	2.5	2082
131	Wheldon Philip		ENG	2106	2.5	2079
132	Tari Aryan		NOR	2097	2.5	2069
133	Groffen Hans		NED	2169	2.5	2058
134	Messam-Sparks Lateefah		ENG	1904	2.5	2038
135	Marder Simon		SWE	1990	2.5	2014
136	Steil-Antoni Fiona	WIM	LUX	2118	2.5	2011
137	Fomani Mehdi		ESP	2013	2.5	2004
138	Boesch Heinz		GER	1899	2.5	1999
139	Bous Florian		GER	2088	2.5	1993
140	Helin Mikael		SWE	1914	2.5	1931
141	Zanetti Bruno		SUI	2017	2.5	1879
142	Kantans Toms	FM	LAT	2342	2.0	2295
143	Stefanova Antoaneta	GM	BUL	2546	2.0	2241
144	Avalos Parra Joao	FM	CHI	2252	2.0	2237
145	Lasinskas Povilas	FM	LTU	2164	2.0	2231
146	Tabatt Hendrik		GER	2342	2.0	2226
147	Zygouris Hristos		GRE	2215	2.0	2222
148	Navarrete Espi Samuel		ESP	2095	2.0	2199
149	Wahlbom Magnus		SWE	2305	2.0	2188
150	Vea Odin Blikra		NOR	2214	2.0	2162
151	Daoudi Kamal		MAR	2155	2.0	2161
152	Kandic Milan		SRB	2143	2.0	2145
	Lipecki Alexander		SUI	2126	2.0	2145
154	Montabord Manuel		FRA	2063	2.0	2136
155	Daumen Michael		GER	2130	2.0	2134
156	Tozer Philip A A		ENG	2140	2.0	2127
157	Knudsen Jes West		DEN	2000	2.0	2110
158	Collier David O		ENG	2108	2.0	2094
159	Freuler Roman		SUI	2092	2.0	2060
160	Suez-Panama Gilles		FRA	2096	2.0	2056
161	Kelly Paul		WLS	1946	2.0	2054
162	Becking Franz Josef		GER	2029	2.0	2038
163	Byron Alan M		ENG	2192	2.0	2037
164	Fairbairn Stephen		CAN	2058	2.0	2018
165	Brown David		ENG	1923	2.0	2011
166	Jameson David		WLS	2054	2.0	2003
167	Eman Lennart		SWE	0	2.0	2002
168	Costello Colin A		ENG	1975	2.0	2000
169	Salomon Johan		NOR	1836	2.0	1988
170	Cebada Benitez Fernando		ESP	1997	2.0	1982
171	Shepherd Michael		SCO	1999	2.0	1977
172	Spanton Tim R		ENG	2007	2.0	1972
173	Havik Victor		NOR	2107	2.0	1969
174	Georgieva Emilia		BUL	1907	2.0	1958
175	Wilson Alexandra	WFM	SUI	2037	2.0	1947
176	Winkler Stefan		GER	1867	2.0	1943
177	Ungureanu Sandu		ROU	2000	2.0	1933
178	Memarian Milad		IRI	2028	2.0	1928
179	Kuenitz Klaus		GER	1695	2.0	1892
180	Sigamoney Cyril S		USA	1978	2.0	1879
181	Moreno Cervera Jose Luis		ESP	1903	2.0	1833
182	Kuehnast Volker		GER	1899	2.0	1830
183	Garcia de Lomas Guerrero Carlo		ESP	1940	2.0	1807
184	Khachatourian Yerazik		NOR	1996	2.0	1760
185	Compton Alistair		NZL	2046	1.5	2104
186	Hamer Martyn		ENG	2041	1.5	2082
187	Sommerhalder Eric		SUI	2000	1.5	2050
188	Dasaolu Adeoye		ENG	2107	1.5	2027
189	Connor Stephen J		ENG	2042	1.5	2025
190	Schweizer Manfred		GER	2075	1.5	1992
191	Valhondo Morales Ruben		ESP	1948	1.5	1949
192	De Lillo Michele		ITA	1964	1.5	1946
	Stene Vegard		NOR	1608	1.5	1946
194	Gillespie Gary		SCO	1848	1.5	1945
195	Obiamiwe Paul		NGR	2015	1.5	1941
196	Flores Chico Jorge		ESP	1999	1.5	1939
197	Gholami Armin		NOR	1779	1.5	1929
198	Haga Halvor		NOR	2024	1.5	1928
199	Neumanova Monika		CZE	1712	1.5	1927
200	Phillips Owen S		ENG	1992	1.5	1924
201	Becker Thomas		GER	2157	1.5	1917
202	Henderikse Bert		NED	2058	1.5	1907
203	Henrichsen Jens		DEN	1925	1.5	1901
204	Lee Kai Jie Edward		SIN	1833	1.5	1881
205	Leimeister Winfried		GER	1906	1.5	1879
206	Martinez Gonzalez Francisco Ii		ESP	1870	1.5	1845
207	Fogg Martin		ENG	1890	1.5	1836
208	Lundback Karl		SWE	1969	1.5	1830
209	Reid Vaness	WFM	AUS	1841	1.5	1792
210	Bihi Mehdi		FRA	1936	1.5	1776
211	Gonzalez Amaya Millan		ESP	1817	1.5	1693
212	Bauder Herbert		GER	2005	1.5	1692
213	Perez Reisler Jose		PUR	1893	1.0	1912
214	Zaky Tamir		FRA	1861	1.0	1853
215	Berggren Klas		SWE	1463	1.0	1809
216	Lochte Szilvia		HUN	2015	1.0	1791
217	Grainger Benjamin		ENG	1802	1.0	1765
218	Birkestrand Odd		NOR	1894	1.0	1741
219	Jorgensen Line Jin		NOR	1892	1.0	1738
220	Christiansen Johan-Sebastian		NOR	1955	1.0	1684
221	Siddiqui Nida		PAK	1739	1.0	1675
222	Matto Manuel		GIB	1838	1.0	1660
223	Bishop Peter		LUX	1784	1.0	1650
224	Rough Robert E		SCO	1742	1.0	1634
225	Wright Jonathan		ENG	1895	1.0	1633
226	Andersson Ulf	GM	SWE	2579	1.0	0
	Kympergr Vojtech		CZE	1631	1.0	0
228	Forsa Elise		NOR	1726	0.5	1566
229	Whatley Stephen		GIB	1570	0.5	1093
230	Veiga Rodriguez Pablo		ESP	1528	0.0	1073
231	Rudd Jack	IM	ENG	2297	0.0	0
	Jaime Montalvan Luis Felipe	FM	ESP	2186	0.0	0
232 players

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