Gibraltar 03: Gopal’s gnarly Bishops

by Aditya Pai - 27/01/2017

Three rounds have been completed so far at the Rock and the excitement grew threefold. Indian grandmaster GN Gopal held Hikaru Nakamura on the top board. IM V. Saravanan had Chucky on the ropes. GM SP Sethuraman was pitted against US prodigy IM Awonder Liang and was held to a draw. Aditya Pai sends us an illustrated report with video interviews by the beautiful Tania Sachdev.

Gibraltar 03: Gopal’s gnarly Bishops

Photos by Sophie Triay and Official Website

Day after day, the excitement just seems to be on the rise at the Gibraltar Masters 2017. Matching up to the hair-raising drama of the first two rounds, round three treated the spectators with several thrilling encounters. But before all the action began, the mayor of Gibraltar, Mr. Ed Davis graced the tournament with his presence.

Ed Davis (left) with the Gibraltar Chess Festival organizer Brian Callaghan

In a brief chat with commentator IM Jovanka Houska, Mr. Davis not only drew similarities between military and chess but also spoke about forming a federation for the state of Gibraltar.

As the action began, Hikaru Nakamura declared being all geared up to wreak havoc on the board against the Indian GM GN Gopal on board one. The Indian GM, however, was up for the task and held Hikaru to a draw with an enterprising exchange sacrifice.

On move 15 in a Sicilian Najdorf, Naka upped the ante with 15. b4.

Guess what Gopal played!

In order to take advantage of the weakened light squares, GM Gopal instantly sacrificed the exchange with 15…Rxd5! Nakamura realized what a pickle he had gotten himself into when Gopal’s gnarly bishop came raking down the a1-h8 diagonal.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.26"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Gopal G.N."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B94"]
[WhiteElo "2785"]
[BlackElo "2579"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:05:35"]
[BlackClock "0:26:16"]

1. e4 {557} c5 {567} 2. Nf3 {0} d6 {0} 3. d4 {0} cxd4 {0} 4. Nxd4 {0} Nf6 {0}
5. Nc3 {0} a6 {0} 6. Bg5 {0} Nbd7 {0} 7. Qe2 {0} h6 {0} 8. Bxf6 {0} Nxf6 {2} 9.
g3 {0} e5 {595} 10. Nf5 {565} Be6 {576} 11. O-O-O {2098} g6 {476} 12. Ne3 {13}
Rc8 {31} 13. Ned5 {115} Nxd5 {241} 14. Nxd5 {318} Rc5 {416} 15. b4 {314} Rxd5 {
1290} 16. exd5 {18} Bd7 {0} 17. h4 {108} h5 {74} 18. Kb2 {933} Bg7 {280} 19. c3
{56} O-O {0} 20. a3 {10} f5 {553} 21. Ka2 {134} Qc7 {336} 22. c4 {96} e4 {199}
23. Qd2 {80} a5 {274} 24. b5 {21} Qc5 {431} 25. Qe3 {0} Qxe3 {40} 26. fxe3 {0}
Be5 {0} 27. Rg1 {98} b6 {0} 28. Be2 {50} Kf7 {47} 29. Rdf1 {0} Ke7 {0} 30. Kb3
{18} Rc8 {9} 31. a4 {0} Rc7 {246} 32. Kc2 {0} Rc8 {0} 33. Kd2 {0} Rh8 {0} 34.
Rf4 {0} Bxf4 {109} 35. gxf4 {0} Kf6 {0} 36. Kc3 {0} Rc8 {0} 37. Kd4 {0} Be8 {0}
38. Bd1 {0} Bf7 {0} 39. Bb3 {0} Rc7 {0} 40. Ba2 {0} Rc8 {0} 41. Bb3 {0} Rc7 {0}
42. Ba2 {0} Rc8 {0} 43. Bb3 {0} 1/2-1/2

Gopal gives insights into his game in his post-game interview with Tania Sachdev.

Mickey Adams cruised to a comfortable win against the world's youngest grandmaster Deac Bogdan-Daniel in an English Opening after the latter blundered a pawn.

The Russian GM Mikhail Antipov comfortably held GM Yu Yangyi to a draw with the white pieces in a rook endgame that arose out of a Caro-Kann.

After his upset in the previous round, top seed GM Fabiano Caruana was paired against the 2390 rated Mongolian IM Batchimegs Tuvshintugs and made no mistake in securing a clean victory.

Paired against Johan Saloman, the Norwegian IM who held Svidler to a draw in the previous round, Maxim Vachier-Lagrave won with a speculative exchange sacrifice in a 3. Bb5 Sicilian.

Women’s World Champion, GM Hou Yifan was paired against Anna Muzychuk. The game opened with a Four Knights and was an uneventful draw.

IM Ori Kobo wasn’t able to stop shaking his head once he realized he had walked into a sneaky trap laid by Ju Wenjun and had to resign after only 22 moves! The World Championship Challenger has moved up to a perfect score of 3.0/3 with this victory.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.26"]
[Round "3.18"]
[White "Kobo, Ori"]
[Black "Ju, Wenjun"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E25"]
[WhiteElo "2482"]
[BlackElo "2583"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "1:05:56"]
[BlackClock "0:36:35"]

1. d4 {562} Nf6 {569} 2. c4 {0} e6 {0} 3. Nc3 {0} Bb4 {0} 4. f3 {0} d5 {0} 5.
a3 {0} Bxc3+ {0} 6. bxc3 {0} c5 {0} 7. cxd5 {0} Nxd5 {0} 8. dxc5 {0} f5 {0} 9.
Nh3 {98} Qa5 {0} 10. Bd2 {48} Qxc5 {197} 11. c4 {11} Ne3 {331} 12. Qc1 {115}
Nxf1 {165} 13. Kxf1 {51} Nc6 {16} 14. Nf4 {374} O-O {62} 15. Rb1 {658} Rd8 {466
} 16. Nd3 {993} Qd6 {260} 17. c5 {772} Qc7 {14} 18. Bc3 {559} e5 {92} 19. Qe3 {
52} f4 {613} 20. Qe4 {178} Qf7 {72} 21. Nxe5 {133} Nxe5 {9} 22. Qxe5 {21} Rd5 {
8} 0-1

Gelfand’s laser bishops set the board on fire in an almost equal looking Bishop + Knight vs Two Bishops endgame against the Spanish IM Pablo Almagro Llamas. The 2012 world championship challenger won in style!

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.26"]
[Round "3.23"]
[White "Almagro Llamas, Pablo"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "2466"]
[BlackElo "2721"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:10:11"]
[BlackClock "0:03:08"]

1. d4 {557} Nf6 {563} 2. Nf3 {32} d5 {0} 3. c4 {18} e6 {0} 4. e3 {68} Be7 {23}
5. Nc3 {213} O-O {121} 6. a3 {77} b6 {337} 7. b4 {793} c5 {148} 8. bxc5 {106}
bxc5 {24} 9. dxc5 {195} Bb7 {197} 10. Rb1 {1102} Qc8 {406} 11. Qb3 {1082} Bc6 {
394} 12. cxd5 {86} Nxd5 {206} 13. Nd4 {179} Nxc3 {247} 14. Qxc3 {7} Nd7 {279}
15. Bb2 {338} Be4 {515} 16. Rc1 {293} e5 {827} 17. Nf3 {518} Qc6 {851} 18. Be2
{120} Rab8 {202} 19. O-O {134} f6 {173} 20. a4 {270} Nxc5 {301} 21. Ba3 {142}
Rfc8 {1} 22. Bb5 {182} Qb7 {194} 23. Qc4+ {115} Kh8 {288} 24. Qe2 {0} Rc7 {180}
25. Bxc5 {42} Rxc5 {95} 26. Rxc5 {0} Bxc5 {0} 27. Rc1 {6} Bf8 {0} 28. Ne1 {138}
Rd8 {10} 29. h4 {36} Ba3 {73} 30. Rd1 {0} Qe7 {53} 31. Rxd8+ {0} Qxd8 {0} 32.
Qc4 {0} Bd5 {35} 33. Qd3 {16} Be7 {0} 34. Qc2 {35} g6 {109} 35. h5 {0} Kg7 {50}
36. Nf3 {0} Bf7 {5} 37. hxg6 {4} hxg6 {0} 38. Nd2 {17} f5 {13} 39. e4 {0} Qd4 {
31} 40. Nf3 {39} Qxe4 {6} 41. Qxe4 {0} fxe4 {0} 42. Nxe5 {0} Bb3 {0} 43. Be8 {0
} g5 {0} 44. Ng4 {0} Be6 {0} 45. Ne3 {0} Kf6 {0} 46. Bc6 {0} Ke5 {0} 47. a5 {0}
Bc8 {0} 48. Nc4+ {0} Kd4 {0} 49. Nd2 {0} e3 {0} 50. fxe3+ {0} Kxe3 {0} 51. Nc4+
{0} Kd4 {0} 52. Nb6 {0} axb6 {0} 53. axb6 {0} Bd6 {0} 54. b7 {0} Bf5 {0} 55.
Bf3 {0} Bg3 {0} 56. Be2 {37} Ke3 {0} 57. Bc4 {2} Be4 {0} 58. Ba6 {0} Bb8 {0}
59. Bb5 {3} Kf4 {0} 0-1

Here’s Gelfand in a long candid interview with Tania Sachdev!

The 2306 rated Indian IM V Saravanan was a stone’s throw away from beating Vassily Ivanchuk who himself admitted that his position was hopeless.

Chucky speaks...

GM SP Sethuraman played on board 14 against the American child prodigy, Awonder Liang. In a tumultuous Pirc defense game, the advantage changed hands quite a few times.

The Indian GM was walking a tightrope after having given his queen up to minimize the damage to his position. Luckily for him, his thirteen-year-old opponent faltered towards the very end and conceded a draw.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.24"]
[Round "1.26"]
[White "Bergstrom, Rolf"]
[Black "Sethuraman, S.P."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2268"]
[BlackElo "2637"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[WhiteClock "0:05:46"]
[BlackClock "0:03:32"]

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 d6 3. e3 Nf6 4. d4 e4 5. d5 Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Nge2 Re8 8. Qd2
Bf8 9. O-O-O a5 10. a4 Na6 11. h3 c6 12. Nf4 Nb4 13. Be2 Bd7 14. g4 Rc8 15. Kb1
Nfxd5 16. Ncxd5 cxd5 17. c3 Na6 18. Bxa6 bxa6 19. Nxd5 Be6 20. Ka2 Rb8 21. Qc2
Qh4 22. c4 Rb7 23. Bc3 Reb8 24. Rb1 Bxd5 25. cxd5 Rc8 26. Qd2 f5 27. gxf5 Rf7
28. f6 Be7 29. f4 Bxf6 30. Bxa5 Qh5 31. Bb4 Rb7 32. Ba5 Rc5 33. Rbd1 h6 34. Ka3
Qe8 35. Rc1 Qb8 36. b4 Rxa5 37. Rc2 Kh7 38. bxa5 Rb3+ 39. Ka2 Rd3 0-1

After suffering an upset draw in round one, India’s highest rated participant, GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, won his round three game against the French GM Jean-Noel Riff and is on a respectable 2.5/3. Watch him give insights into his game in the above interview with Tania Sachdev.

The Israeli IM Nitzan Steinberg is having the tournament of his life. Having drawn his game against Vachier Lagrave in the last round, he chose to take the bull by horns against Peter Svidler and leaped his king-side pawns forward.

In what turned out to be the most intriguing game of the round, the 19-year-old missed a big chance to win the game in time trouble. And when things seemed to have turned in Svidler’s favor, Nitzan found a brilliant way to force a draw.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.26"]
[Round "3.21"]
[White "Steinberg, Nitzan"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2486"]
[BlackElo "2748"]
[PlyCount "88"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:51:45"]
[BlackClock "0:37:49"]

1. e4 {560} c5 {621} 2. Nf3 {0} Nc6 {0} 3. d4 {0} cxd4 {0} 4. Nxd4 {0} e6 {33}
5. Nc3 {0} a6 {2} 6. Be3 {23} Nf6 {16} 7. Be2 {804} d6 {535} 8. O-O {150} Bd7 {
50} 9. f4 {221} Be7 {680} 10. Nb3 {251} b5 {163} 11. a3 {26} O-O {16} 12. g4 {
130} Bc8 {39} 13. g5 {463} Nd7 {0} 14. Rf3 {342} Bb7 {332} 15. Rg3 {283} Re8 {
223} 16. Bf1 {387} Bf8 {176} 17. Qg4 {328} g6 {304} 18. Rd1 {54} Rc8 {407} 19.
Rh3 {260} f6 {289} 20. Qh4 {403} Qe7 {85} 21. f5 {231} exf5 {66} 22. Nd5 {590}
Qf7 {0} 23. exf5 {0} Nce5 {108} 24. Bg2 {52} Rxc2 {384} 25. Be4 {0} Rc4 {40}
26. Nd4 {310} fxg5 {1334} 27. Bxg5 {10} gxf5 {0} 28. Bxf5 {190} Ng6 {0} 29.
Bxg6 {64} Qxg6 {0} 30. Rg3 {58} Bxd5 {20} 31. b3 {302} Rc3 {611} 32. Rxc3 {57}
Re4 {15} 33. Rg3 {90} Kh8 {228} 34. Qh3 {91} Bg7 {73} 35. Qxd7 {35} Rxd4 {0}
36. Qd8+ {101} Bg8 {0} 37. Rf1 {0} Rd3 {0} 38. Rg2 {16} Bd4+ {0} 39. Kh1 {0}
Rf3 {0} 40. Rd1 {68} Qf7 {9} 41. Rdg1 {0} Bxg1 {0} 42. Bf6+ {0} Rxf6 {0} 43.
Rxg8+ {0} Qxg8 {0} 44. Qxf6+ {0} Qg7 {0} 1/2-1/2

Even Chucky and Topalov couldn’t resist analyzing the game.

After three rounds of play, nine players including Mickey Adams, Vadim Zvjaginsev, Ju Wenjun and Sam Shankland lead the tournament with a perfect 3/3 score. It will be interesting to see how things turn out as the tournament progresses.

Round 4 on 2017/01/27 at 15.00

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	21	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo	2652	3		3	GM	Adams Michael	2751	5
2	28	GM	Sutovsky Emil	2628	3		3	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2724	9
3	34	GM	Lagarde Maxime	2594	3		3	GM	Zvjaginsev Vadim	2679	15
4	38	GM	Ju Wenjun	2583	3		3	GM	Shankland Samuel L	2674	17
5	2	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2796	2½		3	GM	Piorun Kacper	2651	23
6	32	GM	Vocaturo Daniele	2606	2½		2½	GM	Caruana Fabiano	2827	1
7	36	GM	Gledura Benjamin	2589	2½		2½	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2785	3
8	8	GM	Yu Yangyi	2738	2½		2½	GM	Maze Sebastien	2613	31
9	10	GM	Gelfand Boris	2721	2½		2½	GM	Gopal G.N.	2579	40
10	12	GM	Matlakov Maxim	2701	2½		2½	GM	Blomqvist Erik	2574	41

Complete Standings

Games in PGN