The Week in Chess

Home » Chess News » Events » Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2011 » Cmilyte, Sengupta, Short and N Kosintseva lead on 3/3

The weather finally brightened yesterday and we were treated to brilliant sunshine - the beautiful winter weather for which Gibraltar is justly famous. But would the chess be able to match that scintillating light?

Truth to tell, quite a number of the top games ended in draws, but the game between Nigel Short and Tatiana Kosintseva stood out. This was partly because, as always, Nigel came into the commentary room after his game to give a blow by blow account of what happened. His opponent Tatiana also joined us.

Round 3

Short,Nigel (2658) - Kosintseva,Tatiana (2570)

QGD Ragozin

1.d4

"I'm old enough to play 1 d4! When I was a teenager, I told myself I would start playing 1 d4 when I was thirty but it didn't happen. It has now happened in my forties." (Nigel Short, in the commentary room)

1...Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Qb3

"What Capablanca used to play," said Nigel after the game. "It reduces Black's options. I've actually done a lot of work on this. I'm not really an amateur as I claim!"

7...c5 8.a3 Bxc3+ 9.Qxc3 c4 10.Qe3+ Qe7 11.Qxe7+ Kxe7 12.a4

Nigel told us he had written in his opening preparation notes that this was not the most precise move.

13.Bc1!

This move tournament commentator Simon Williams craftily made use of in one of his key encounters in the team blitz event later the same evening!

13...a5

Black hopes to target the a4 pawn with Nb6 and Bd7.

14.b3

A novelty by Nigel, who told us his 'Greek neighbour' Stelios Halkias had played it.

14...cxb3 15.Nd2 b6

15...Nb6 is better here, was Nigel's verdict.

16.Ba3+ Kd8 17.e3 Ba6 18.Bxa6 Rxa6 19.Rb1

"I thought I played very well in this game, he said immodestly," joked Nigel. The problem is Black's queenside pawn structure and the weak d-pawn.

19...Ra8 20.Rxb3 Rc8 21.f3 Re8 22.Ke2 Rc6 23.Rc1 Rxc1 24.Bxc1 Re6

24...Nh5!? might be better, thought Nigel, with the idea of ...f5.

25.Kd3 Ne8 26.e4

26.Nb1 f5 again restrains the e4 push.

26...Nc7 27.Ba3 Rc6

27...b5 28.axb5 Rb6 and simply 29.exd5 Rxb5 30.Rxb5 Nxb5 31.Bc5 is much better for White.

28.Nb1

On its way to b5.

28...dxe4+ 29.fxe4 Rf6 30.Rb2

30.Nc3 Rf2 31.Rb2 Rxb2 32.Bxb2 is an unpleasant endgame for Black but Nigel thought he had the better rook in the position, so kept it on.

30...Rf1 31.Nc3 Ne6 32.Bd6 f6 33.Rc2

Protecting the knight and preparing to enter with the king.

33...Re1 34.Bg3 Ra1 35.Kc4

Nigel thought Black was just lost here.

35...Nc7 36.Bxc7+ Kxc7 37.Kd5 Nf8 38.Nb5+ Kd8 39.Rc7 Rxa4 40.Rxg7 Ra2

40...Rb4 might have been better, to tempt White into the blunder 41.Na7?? Rxd4+! but Nigel was ready for that.

41.Kd6 Re2 42.Rb7 Kc8 43.Rxb6 1–0

Emanuel Berg versus Victoria Cmilyte was an engrossing game. The consensus in the commentary room was that 22 Qe4 was much better than Rxf8ch. After that the Swede’s position slowly went downhill and eventually the strong female grandmaster from Lithuania joined Nigel in the lead with 3/3. Though he lost, Emanuel sportingly visited the commentary room to share some thoughts about the game.

Two others have reached maximum points, Nadezhda Kosintseva, sister of Tatiana, and Deep Sengupta of India. Deep tied for first place in the Hastings Masters very recently. Whilst musing on topics for this bulletin, I asked co-reporter Stewart Reuben whether he thought the Indian grandmaster might perhaps have been named in honour of the IBM computer which famously defeated Garry Kasparov in a match some years. Stewart refuted my fanciful notion by pointing out that Deep Sengupta would have been eight years old at the time of the match. I fear he is right though I confess to being a trifle disappointed.

Anyway, returning to the subject, there are two men and two women in the lead. The Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Congress has the deliberate policy of encouraging leading women to take part here. There is no doubt this has had a positive effect on the number of strong women players worldwide. Incidentally, those of us Brits who have been away from our newspapers and TV screens for a few days have only just become aware that there has been a big scandal in the UK about well-known TV football commentators who have made disparaging remarks about female officials involved in their sport, resulting in them being sacked. Of course, we chess commentators would never do such a thoughtless and insensitive thing (he wrote, fingering his one-year contract nervously). Perhaps the muddied oafs and blinkered pundits of the round-ball game can learn something from the world of chess, where women have acted as chief arbiters at Olympiads and nobody thinks it remotely unusual.

WOMEN TO THE FORE

It was a particularly good day for the women players. As well as Victoria Cmilyte’s and Nadezhda Kosintseva’s wins against higher-rated GMs, Irina Krush beat former world championship finalist Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Nana Dzagnidze beat Juan-Manuel Bellón and Monica Calzetta beat Jean-Pierre Le Roux - which was incidentally Monica’s second GM scalp and Jean-Pierre’s second disaster against a lower-rated opponent. It wasn’t all one-way traffic, however, with former women’s world champion Antoaneta Stefanova falling victim to a much lower rated amateur player, Francisco Javier García Jiménez of Spain. Regrettably most of the women’s wins were rather long and technical, whereas this Spanish amateur’s win against Antoaneta was brisk and entertaining. We cannot resist appending the moves.

Round 3

p> García Jiménez,Francisco Javier (2274) - Stefanova,Antoaneta (2546)

Closed Sicilian

1.e4 g6 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.d3 Rb8 6.Be3 d6 7.Qd2 b5 8.Nge2 b4 9.Nd1 Qb6 10.0–0 e6 11.a3 a5 12.axb4 axb4 13.h3 h6 14.c3 Nge7 15.Re1 Na5 16.Nc1 Nec6 17.f4 0–0 18.f5

Risky but the big plus point is that White is attacking the place where the black king lives.

18...exf5 19.Bxh6 c4+ 20.d4 bxc3 21.bxc3 Bxh6 22.Qxh6 Nxd4

Who could resist?

23.cxd4 Qxd4+ 24.Ne3 Qxa1??

There was still a chance for Black to see the error of her ways and play 24...f4! when 25.Rxa5 Qd2! 26.Rh5! Qxe1+ 27.Nf1 gxh5 leads to a draw by perpetual check.

25.Nd5!

Threatening mate with Ne7.

25...Qe5

25...Re8 fails to 26.e5! and suddenly the unstoppable Garcithreat is Nf6 mate.

26.exf5!!

Having just given up one rook, White now gives up a second rook, this time with check.

26...Qxe1+ 27.Kh2 f6

27...Qe5 28.f6! wins.

28.Qxg6+ Kh8 29.Nxf6 Rxf6

There is nothing else.

30.Qxf6+ Kh7 31.Qg6+ Kh8 32.Qh6+ 1–0

32...Kg8 33.Bd5+ is a killer.

Tonight the teams of four blitz championship took place. Congress Director GM Stuart Conquest said that he could not remember any event elsewhere that attracts so many leading players in the evening after a hard day’s chess. The winners (sporting a bizarre team name of interest only to themselves) were GMs Berg, Jones, Williams and IM Jack Rudd. They were not the strongest team on paper (which was GMs Bologan, Onischuk, Zhukova and IM Gaponenko). So the English contingent can already celebrate a triumph at the congress - well, very nearly - I make it 2.25 cheers for England and of course 0.75 of a cheer for Sweden. Check that on a calculator if you don’t believe me.

Tournament Leaders on 3/3: Nigel Short (England), Nadezhda Kosintseva (Russia), Victoria Cmilyte (Lithuania), Deep Sengupta (India).

Round 4 (of 10) starts at 3pm (GMT+1) on Friday 28 January.

Gibraltar Masters Caleta ENG Mon 24th Jan 2011 - Thu 3rd Feb 2011 Leading Round 3 (of 10) Standings:
Rk	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1
1	Cmilyte Viktorija	GM	LTU	2526	3.0	3322
2	Sengupta Deep	GM	IND	2530	3.0	3321
3	Short Nigel D	GM	ENG	2658	3.0	3301
4	Kosintseva Nadezhda	IM	RUS	2552	3.0	3199
5	Korchnoi Viktor	GM	SUI	2544	2.5	2814
6	Rapport Richard	GM	HUN	2531	2.5	2810
7	Vallejo Pons Francisco	GM	ESP	2698	2.5	2795
8	Ivanchuk Vassily	GM	UKR	2764	2.5	2792
9	Adams Michael	GM	ENG	2723	2.5	2770
10	Fridman Daniel	GM	GER	2655	2.5	2769
11	Zhu Chen	GM	QAT	2495	2.5	2764
12	Weber Tom	FM	LUX	2310	2.5	2760
13	Felgaer Ruben	GM	ARG	2585	2.5	2757
14	Roiz Michael	GM	ISR	2649	2.5	2754
15	Dzagnidze Nana	GM	GEO	2550	2.5	2749
16	Akobian Varuzhan	GM	USA	2618	2.5	2742
17	Harikrishna Pentala	GM	IND	2667	2.5	2721
18	Kotronias Vasilios	GM	GRE	2599	2.5	2720
19	Buhmann Rainer	GM	GER	2572	2.5	2716
20	Kulaots Kaido	GM	EST	2577	2.5	2704
21	Krush Irina	IM	USA	2483	2.5	2655
22	Erdos Viktor	GM	HUN	2593	2.5	2642
23	Vaarala Eric		SWE	2152	2.5	2535
24	Sasikiran Krishnan	GM	IND	2690	2.5	0
25	Sarkar Justin	IM	USA	2418	2.0	2752
26	Calzetta Ruiz Monica	WGM	ESP	2284	2.0	2716
27	Sandipan Chanda	GM	IND	2641	2.0	2610
28	Berg Emanuel	GM	SWE	2627	2.0	2598
29	Lafuente Pablo	GM	ARG	2551	2.0	2577
30	Gopal Geetha Narayanan	GM	IND	2597	2.0	2576
31	Bologan Viktor	GM	MDA	2693	2.0	2563
32	Caruana Fabiano	GM	ITA	2721	2.0	2560
	Onischuk Alexander	GM	USA	2689	2.0	2560
34	Georgiev Kiril	GM	BUL	2669	2.0	2549
35	Karavade Eesha	IM	IND	2353	2.0	2531
36	Kantans Toms	FM	LAT	2342	2.0	2516
37	Kosintseva Tatiana	GM	RUS	2570	2.0	2510
38	El Debs Felipe De Cresce	GM	BRA	2499	2.0	2508
39	Garcia Jimenez Francisco Javie	FM	ESP	2274	2.0	2505
40	Zatonskih Anna	IM	USA	2493	2.0	2497
41	Mullon Jean-Baptiste	IM	FRA	2420	2.0	2493
42	Ikonnikov Vyacheslav	GM	RUS	2580	2.0	2490
43	Al-Sayed Mohammed	GM	QAT	2490	2.0	2487
	Melia Salome	IM	GEO	2449	2.0	2487
45	Soffer Ram	GM	ISR	2489	2.0	2481
46	Nezad Husein Aziz	IM	QAT	2420	2.0	2475
47	Fernandez Romero Ernesto	IM	ESP	2453	2.0	2472
48	Kanep Meelis	GM	EST	2531	2.0	2465
49	Oberhofer Andre		GER	2270	2.0	2462
50	Mikhalevski Victor	GM	ISR	2579	2.0	2451
51	Pogonina Natalija	WGM	RUS	2472	2.0	2434
52	Tscharotschkin Michael		GER	2181	2.0	2423
53	Andersen Mads	FM	DEN	2410	2.0	2422
54	Boskovic Drasko	IM	SRB	2412	2.0	2421
55	Wohl Aleksandar H	IM	AUS	2409	2.0	2409
56	Thomassen Joachim	IM	NOR	2404	2.0	2405
57	Lemos Damian	GM	ARG	2553	2.0	2390
	Bellin Robert	IM	ENG	2367	2.0	2390
59	Cummings David H	IM	CAN	2366	2.0	2389
60	Jones Richard S	FM	WLS	2361	2.0	2386
61	Robson Ray	GM	USA	2532	2.0	2371
62	Illner Achim Dr	FM	GER	2345	2.0	2339
63	Lasinskas Povilas	FM	LTU	2164	2.0	2322
64	Aerni Andi		SUI	2182	2.0	2293
65	Lacrosse Marc	FM	BEL	2181	2.0	2274
66	Lipecki Alexander		SUI	2126	2.0	2230
67	Daoudi Kamal		MAR	2155	2.0	2214
68	Kandic Milan		SRB	2143	2.0	2207
69	Tozer Philip A A		ENG	2140	2.0	2182
70	Daumen Michael		GER	2130	2.0	2175
	Sreeves Clement		SCO	2093	2.0	2175
72	Collier David O		ENG	2108	2.0	2149
73	Kelly Paul		WLS	1946	2.0	2138
74	Szuper Paul		USA	2174	2.0	2132
75	Wheldon Philip		ENG	2106	2.0	2014
76	Havik Victor		NOR	2107	2.0	1945
77	Fomani Mehdi		ESP	2013	2.0	1881
78	Kacheishvili Giorgi	GM	GEO	2585	2.0	0
79	Bellon Lopez Juan Manuel	GM	ESP	2404	1.5	2592
80	Hoffmann Michael	GM	GER	2506	1.5	2529
81	Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter	GM	ROU	2678	1.5	2481
82	Speelman Jon S	GM	ENG	2524	1.5	2413
83	Wahlbom Magnus		SWE	2305	1.5	2411
84	Edouard Romain	GM	FRA	2634	1.5	2403
85	Harika Dronavalli	IM	IND	2520	1.5	2400
86	Getz Nicolai	FM	NOR	2334	1.5	2396
87	Bellaiche Anthony	IM	FRA	2458	1.5	2390
88	Gallagher Joseph G	GM	SUI	2501	1.5	2387
89	Sipila Vilka		FIN	2269	1.5	2360
90	Nikolaidis Konstantinos	FM	GRE	2284	1.5	2357
91	Vogel Jaap	FM	NED	2207	1.5	2355
92	Battaglini Gabriel	IM	FRA	2437	1.5	2348
93	Das Arghyadip	IM	IND	2479	1.5	2343
94	Zhukova Natalia	GM	UKR	2441	1.5	2342
95	Valgmae Toomas		EST	2190	1.5	2338
96	Sanchez Louis	FM	FRA	2262	1.5	2337
	Urbina Perez Juan Antonio	CM	ESP	2189	1.5	2337
98	Andreasen Per	FM	DEN	2239	1.5	2325
99	Dougherty Michael	FM	CAN	2183	1.5	2323
100	Jaunooby Ali R		ENG	2207	1.5	2317
101	Stokke Kjetil	FM	NOR	2413	1.5	2312
102	Gaponenko Inna	IM	UKR	2466	1.5	2309
103	Vernay Clovis	IM	FRA	2446	1.5	2308
104	Iordachescu Viorel	GM	MDA	2634	1.5	2305
105	Karim Ismael	IM	MAR	2375	1.5	2284
106	Seyfried Claus		GER	2173	1.5	2278
107	Jones Gawain C B	GM	ENG	2593	1.5	2273
108	Peek Marcel	IM	NED	2342	1.5	2239
109	Dittmar Peter	FM	GER	2328	1.5	2236
110	Kolbus Dietmar	IM	GER	2332	1.5	2220
111	Tate Alan		SCO	2292	1.5	2213
	Navarrete Espi Samuel		ESP	2095	1.5	2213
113	Dasaolu Adeoye		ENG	2107	1.5	2212
114	Fier Alexandr	GM	BRA	2571	1.5	2204
115	Fairbairn Stephen		CAN	2058	1.5	2170
116	Compton Alistair		NZL	2046	1.5	2168
117	Cabrera Alexis	GM	ESP	2518	1.5	2166
	Schweizer Manfred		GER	2075	1.5	2166
119	Knudsen Jes West		DEN	2000	1.5	2163
120	Sommerhalder Eric		SUI	2000	1.5	2151
121	Spence David J		ENG	2231	1.5	2138
122	Lochte Thomas		GER	2173	1.5	2124
123	Hamer Martyn		ENG	2041	1.5	2115
124	Groffen Hans		NED	2169	1.5	2110
125	Arnott Jonathan W		ENG	2176	1.5	2107
126	Osuna Vega Enrique	CM	ESP	2140	1.5	2088
127	Carlsten Peter		SWE	2110	1.5	2062
128	Gillespie Gary		SCO	1848	1.5	2053
129	Tari Aryan		NOR	2097	1.5	2050
130	Gholami Armin		NOR	1779	1.5	2041
131	Hvenekilde Jorgen	FM	DEN	2121	1.5	2034
	Itkis Hana	WFM	USA	2084	1.5	2034
133	Becker Thomas		GER	2157	1.5	2025
134	Valhondo Morales Ruben		ESP	1948	1.5	2022
135	Hauge Lars Oskar		NOR	1942	1.5	2009
136	Bous Florian		GER	2088	1.5	1989
137	Stene Vegard		NOR	1608	1.5	1986
138	Flores Chico Jorge		ESP	1999	1.5	1975
139	Messam-Sparks Lateefah		ENG	1904	1.5	1966
140	Phillips Owen S		ENG	1992	1.5	1961
141	Obiamiwe Paul		NGR	2015	1.5	1947
142	Leimeister Winfried		GER	1906	1.5	1943
143	Henrichsen Jens		DEN	1925	1.5	1942
144	Ungureanu Sandu		ROU	2000	1.5	1932
145	Vaibhav Suri	IM	IND	2421	1.5	0
	Vinas Guerrero Carlos A		ESP	2121	1.5	0
147	Forsaa Espen	FM	NOR	2306	1.0	2475
148	Piasetski Leon	IM	CAN	2303	1.0	2442
149	Avalos Parra Joao	FM	CHI	2252	1.0	2398
150	Zaremba Andrie	FM	USA	2339	1.0	2320
151	Bergstrom Rolf	FM	SWE	2307	1.0	2307
152	Tabatt Hendrik		GER	2342	1.0	2299
153	Stefanova Antoaneta	GM	BUL	2546	1.0	2296
154	Estrada Nieto Julian	IM	MEX	2309	1.0	2295
155	Cramling Pia	GM	SWE	2516	1.0	2268
156	Nuri Kambez		SUI	2300	1.0	2255
157	Stebbings Anthony J		ENG	2285	1.0	2250
158	Malmdin Nils-Ake		SWE	2272	1.0	2237
159	Daurelle Herve		FRA	2243	1.0	2213
160	Henriksson Johan		SWE	2243	1.0	2208
161	Slavin Alexei	IM	RUS	2417	1.0	2192
162	Zygouris Hristos		GRE	2215	1.0	2185
163	Monroy Charles	IM	FRA	2421	1.0	2182
164	Meskovs Nikita		LAT	2243	1.0	2169
165	Freuler Roman		SUI	2092	1.0	2156
166	Le Roux Jean-Pierre	GM	FRA	2551	1.0	2135
167	Montabord Manuel		FRA	2063	1.0	2132
168	Byron Alan M		ENG	2192	1.0	2122
169	Mckenna Jason P		ENG	2062	1.0	2084
170	Marder Simon		SWE	1990	1.0	2072
171	Scholzen Wolfgang		GER	2057	1.0	2071
172	Chapman Terry P D		ENG	2250	1.0	2061
173	Henderikse Bert		NED	2058	1.0	2053
174	Perez Reisler Jose		PUR	1893	1.0	2036
175	Jameson David		WLS	2054	1.0	2033
	Lochte Szilvia		HUN	2015	1.0	2033
177	Wilson Alexandra	WFM	SUI	2037	1.0	1998
178	Suez-Panama Gilles		FRA	2096	1.0	1993
	Berggren Klas		SWE	1463	1.0	1993
180	Becking Franz Josef		GER	2029	1.0	1980
181	Neumanova Monika		CZE	1712	1.0	1971
182	Steil-Antoni Fiona	WIM	LUX	2118	1.0	1960
	Zaky Tamir		FRA	1861	1.0	1960
184	Cebada Benitez Fernando		ESP	1997	1.0	1952
185	Shepherd Michael		SCO	1999	1.0	1942
186	Khachatourian Yerazik		NOR	1996	1.0	1934
187	Costello Colin A		ENG	1975	1.0	1932
188	Hegvik Leif Trygve		NOR	1814	1.0	1927
189	Haga Halvor		NOR	2024	1.0	1919
190	De Lillo Michele		ITA	1964	1.0	1917
	Grainger Benjamin		ENG	1802	1.0	1917
	Eman Lennart		SWE	0	1.0	1917
193	Spanton Tim R		ENG	2007	1.0	1900
194	Brown David		ENG	1923	1.0	1889
195	Fogg Martin		ENG	1890	1.0	1880
196	Lee Kai Jie Edward		SIN	1833	1.0	1878
197	Moreno Cervera Jose Luis		ESP	1903	1.0	1874
198	Salomon Johan		NOR	1836	1.0	1872
199	Boesch Heinz		GER	1899	1.0	1830
200	Georgieva Emilia		BUL	1907	1.0	1825
201	Lundback Karl		SWE	1969	1.0	1817
202	Memarian Milad		IRI	2028	1.0	1807
	Jorgensen Line Jin		NOR	1892	1.0	1807
204	Garcia de Lomas Guerrero Carlo		ESP	1940	1.0	1765
	Bihi Mehdi		FRA	1936	1.0	1765
206	Zanetti Bruno		SUI	2017	1.0	1760
207	Reid Vaness	WFM	AUS	1841	1.0	1756
208	Bauder Herbert		GER	2005	1.0	1611
209	Andersson Ulf	GM	SWE	2579	1.0	0
	Vea Odin Blikra		NOR	2214	1.0	0
	Kuehnast Volker		GER	1899	1.0	0
	Siddiqui Nida		PAK	1739	1.0	0
213	Montero Melendez Rafael		ESP	2265	0.5	2083
214	Martinez Gonzalez Francisco Ii		ESP	1870	0.5	1794
215	Birkestrand Odd		NOR	1894	0.5	1787
216	Sigamoney Cyril S		USA	1978	0.5	1777
217	Winkler Stefan		GER	1867	0.5	1755
218	Forsa Elise		NOR	1726	0.5	1685
219	Kuenitz Klaus		GER	1695	0.5	1683
220	Wright Jonathan		ENG	1895	0.5	1671
221	Helin Mikael		SWE	1914	0.5	1651
222	Kympergr Vojtech		CZE	1631	0.5	0
	Connor Stephen J		ENG	2042	0.5	0
224	Matto Manuel		GIB	1838	0.0	1210
225	Gonzalez Amaya Millan		ESP	1817	0.0	1191
226	Bishop Peter		LUX	1784	0.0	1175
227	Rough Robert E		SCO	1742	0.0	1163
228	Veiga Rodriguez Pablo		ESP	1528	0.0	1147
229	Christiansen Johan-Sebastian		NOR	1955	0.0	1122
230	Whatley Stephen		GIB	1570	0.0	1118
231	Rudd Jack	IM	ENG	2297	0.0	0
	Jaime Montalvan Luis Felipe	FM	ESP	2186	0.0	0
232 players

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.