The Week in Chess

Home » Chess News » Events » 53rd Reggio Emilia 2010-11 » Gashimov beats and catches Vallejo, three a further half point back

With two rounds to go five players are within half a point off the lead (and a full 7 of the 10 players are a point off). This follows Vugar Gashinov's defeat of Francisco Vallejo Pons (both lead on 4.5/7). Movsesian (who drew with Morozevich), Onischuk (draw Caruana) and Navara (beat Ivanchuk) are all on 4.

Vugar Gashimov blew the tournament wide open when he defeated Francisco Vallejo Pons in a tricky little ending. Gashimov probably had the slightly better position out of the opening but there was probably no need to panic. In the position below he traded off his bishop for knight on e3 for a position that is almost certainly winning.

48... f6 49. h4 h5 50. gxh5 gxh5 51. Kc2 Kc4 52. Kb2 Rb8+ 53. Kc2 Rg8 54. Rxa2 Rg2+ 55. Kb1 Rxa2 56. Kxa2 Kxc3 57. Kb1 Kd2 0-1

Alexander Onischuk won a clean pawn on the white side of a Slav against Fabiano Caruana but it proved remarkably hard to make any progress.

22. Qe2 Qd7 23. Nc5 Qa7 24. Qe3 Ng4 25. Qf4 Nf6 26. Qe3 Ng4 27. Qf4 Nf6 28. Nd3 Qb7 29. Nc5 1/2-1/2

Nigel Short beat tail ender Michele Gondena on the black side of a sharp Caro-Kann. Once Short equalised he quite quickly outplayed Godena.

31. Rxd5 Nxd5 32. Kb1 h3 33. Qe2 hxg2 34. Qxg2 Rf5 35. Ne1 Rg5 36. Qh3 Qe4+ 37. Qd3 Qxd3+ 38. Nxd3 Rh5 39. Rf1 c4 40. Nc1 Rxh2 41. Rxf7 c3 42. Nd3 cxb2 43. Nxb2 Nc3+ 44. Kc1 Nxa2+ 45. Kb1 Nc3+ 46. Kc1 Nd5 47. Nc4 Rh6 48. Kb2 Nc7 49. Kb3 Re6 50. Na3 a6 51. Nc2 Rd6 52. Nb4 b5 53. Na2 Kb7 54. Nc3 Kb6 55. Rh7 Ne6 56. Rh8 Nc5+ 57. Ka3 Rd3 58. Rh6+ Ka5 59. Kb2 b4 0-1

Vassily Ivanchuk sacrificed a piece for manifest compensation against David Navara. However Ivanchuk either needed to recover some material or advance his attack and he did neither and Navara is very precise in endings. He headed for a winning position, although Ivanchuk could have played on a few more moves at the end it would not have changed the result.

13... Bxe4 14. Bxe4 Nxe4 15. Qd3

(15. Re1 Kh7 16. Nxh8 Nd6 17. Re6)

15... Nef6 16. Qb3+ Kh7 17. Qc2 Re8 18. Re1 Kg8 19. Qb3+ e6 20. Rxe6 Rxe6 21. Qxe6+ Kh7 22. Qf5 Qe8 23. Ne5+ Kg8 24. Bf4 Nxe5 25. Bxe5 Qd7 26. Qxd7 Nxd7 27. Bxc7 Rc8 28. Ba5 Rc2 29. Bc3 Nb6 30. Re1 Kf7 31. Kf1 Na4 32. Re2 Rc1+ 33. Re1 Rxe1+ 34. Kxe1 Nxc3 35. bxc3 Ke6 36. Kd2 Kd5 37. Kd3 b5 38. f4 a5 39. g4 Bf6 40. Ke3 a4 41. Kd3 Bd8 42. h3 Be7 0-1

Sergei Movsesian and Alexander Morozevich drew a very interesting Tarrasch French. Morozevich was the exchange up and could perhaps have made a bit more of his position. Movsesian made enough of his kingside pressure to draw the game.

29...b6

29... b5 30. axb5 axb5 31. Qa7 Qd6 32. Rb4 Rbe8 33. f4 needs looking at.

30. Rb4 Kg7 31. Rb3 Qd6 32. Qb1 Rfe8 33. Qc1 Kh8 34. Rg3 Re6 35. Nf4 Re7 36. Nd5 Rf7 37. Qh6 Rg8 38. Rf3 Qc6 39. Qh5 Rgg7 40. Qh4 Qxa4 41. Qd4 Qc6 42. Nxf6 Qc5 43. Qc3 Qe7 44. Nh5 Rxf3 1/2-1/2

53rd Masters Reggio Emilia (ITA), 28 xii 2010 - 6 i 2011															cat. XVIII (2695)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Gashimov, Vugar	g	AZE	2733	*	1	½	.	.	½	0	½	1	1	4½	2790
2.	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	g	ESP	2698	0	*	.	.	1	½	1	½	½	1	4½	2793
3.	Movsesian, Sergei	g	SVK	2721	½	.	*	½	½	.	1	½	½	½	4	2738
4.	Onischuk, Alexander	g	USA	2683	.	.	½	*	½	½	½	1	½	½	4	2740
5.	Navara, David	g	CZE	2708	.	0	½	½	*	1	.	0	1	1	4	2739
6.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2709	½	½	.	½	0	*	1	½	½	.	3½	2709
7.	Short, Nigel D	g	ENG	2680	1	0	0	½	.	0	*	1	.	1	3½	2684
8.	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2700	½	½	½	0	1	½	0	*	.	.	3	2654
9.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2764	0	½	½	½	0	½	.	.	*	1	3	2635
10.	Godena, Michele	g	ITA	2549	0	0	½	½	0	.	0	.	0	*	1	2403

Round 7 (January 4, 2011)
Vallejo Pons, Francisco	- Gashimov, Vugar	0-1	57	B06	Modern Defence
Movsesian, Sergei	- Morozevich, Alexander	½-½	44	C07	French Tarrasch
Onischuk, Alexander	- Caruana, Fabiano	½-½	29	D10	Slav Defence
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Navara, David	0-1	42	A15	English counter King's Fianchetto
Godena, Michele	- Short, Nigel D	0-1	59	B16	Caro Kann

View the games on this Page

Download the PGN from this page

vs

---

---

---

---

Contact Mark Crowther (TWIC) if you wish to advertise here.

TWIC Sponsors:

Clark St James Ltd - online advertising agency eg Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads

The Doctor.

• All material © The Week In Chess
• Email Mark Crowther - TWIC