Gibraltar 04: Wenjun and Sutovsky lead

by Aditya Pai - 28/01/2017

The Gibraltar Masters 2017 started with a marvelous list of chess titans. In a 255 player field, 72 are grandmasters; and of those 72, twelve are rated above 2700. Eye-widening, isn’t it? But after four rounds of play, each one of these chess-gurus has been pushed behind. The tournament lead is currently shared by the women’s world championship challenger, GM Ju Wenjun and the President of the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP), GM Emil Sutovsky with a perfect score of 4.0/4.

Gibraltar 04: Wenjun and Sutovsky lead

Text by Aditya Pai; Pictures by John Saunders and Sophie Triay

Before the round began, nine players shared the lead with a score of 3.0/3. After the grueling battles of the round, only two were able to keep their lead. The Prime Minister of Gibraltar, Mr. Fabian Picardo, was there to witness the action.

Prime Minister Fabian with grandmaster Fabiano.

GM Ju Wenjun was the first to finish her game with a win against GM Sam Shankland and take the lead after the American GM blundered in a Benoni with 36…Rxe4.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.27"]
[Round "4.4"]
[White "Ju, Wenjun"]
[Black "Shankland, Samuel L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A62"]
[WhiteElo "2583"]
[BlackElo "2674"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:18:49"]
[BlackClock "0:02:03"]

1. d4 {555} Nf6 {585} 2. c4 {0} e6 {0} 3. g3 {0} c5 {0} 4. d5 {0} exd5 {0} 5.
cxd5 {0} d6 {0} 6. Nc3 {0} g6 {0} 7. Nf3 {0} Bg7 {0} 8. Bg2 {0} O-O {0} 9. O-O
{0} Re8 {0} 10. Re1 {143} Nbd7 {0} 11. Bf4 {128} Ng4 {0} 12. Rc1 {119} Nde5 {
617} 13. Ne4 {478} Bf5 {310} 14. Nfd2 {68} h6 {459} 15. h3 {20} Nf6 {43} 16.
Nc3 {584} Rb8 {835} 17. g4 {846} Bc8 {4} 18. Bg3 {0} b5 {469} 19. b3 {177} a6 {
810} 20. f4 {1027} Nexg4 {246} 21. hxg4 {125} Nxg4 {0} 22. Nf3 {329} Ne3 {157}
23. Qd2 {417} Bb7 {89} 24. Bf2 {0} Nxg2 {22} 25. Kxg2 {0} b4 {243} 26. Nd1 {89}
Qd7 {30} 27. Rc4 {634} a5 {112} 28. Ne3 {100} Ba6 {112} 29. Rcc1 {103} Re4 {18}
30. Nc4 {0} Bc3 {81} 31. Rxc3 {19} bxc3 {0} 32. Qxc3 {0} Bxc4 {0} 33. bxc4 {0}
Rxf4 {23} 34. Bg3 {6} Rg4 {65} 35. Kf2 {428} Qe7 {59} 36. e4 {4} Rxe4 {277} 37.
Bxd6 {36} Qxd6 {63} 38. Rxe4 {0} g5 {0} 39. Qe5 {175} Qf8 {76} 40. Re2 {35} Rd8
{127} 41. Nxg5 {283} hxg5 {0} 42. Qxg5+ {0} Kh7 {0} 43. Re4 {0} 1-0

GM Emil Sutovsky soon joined her by defeating GM Nikita Vitiugov in the Breyer variation of the Spanish.

On Board 1, the calm and composed English GM Michael Adams was held to a draw by…

…the Venezuelan grandmaster Eduardo Itturizaga Bonelli

Vadim Zvjaginsev drew the Frenchman Maxime Lagarde in a Petroff on board three.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave found his knight imprisoned on h3 against the World Puzzle Solving Champion, GM Kacper Piorun but managed to wriggle it out and win the game.

The top seed, GM Fabiano Caruana suffered yet another upset as he drew the Italian GM Daniel Vocaturo in a rook endgame that arose out of an advanced Caro-Kann.

The quickest game of the day was played by Hikaru Nakamura who caught his opponent Benjamin Gledura in an equal but uncomfortable position and won in merely 23 moves.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.27"]
[Round "4.7"]
[White "Gledura, Benjamin"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A06"]
[WhiteElo "2589"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:16:29"]
[BlackClock "0:01:01"]

1. Nf3 {555} d5 {668} 2. g3 {0} g6 {0} 3. c4 {6} dxc4 {0} 4. Na3 {0} Bg7 {0} 5.
Nxc4 {0} Nc6 {0} 6. d3 {5} e5 {0} 7. Bd2 {15} Nge7 {0} 8. Rc1 {99} Be6 {580} 9.
Bg2 {219} a5 {63} 10. O-O {368} O-O {0} 11. b3 {330} f6 {0} 12. Qc2 {1336} Qd7
{919} 13. Rfd1 {165} Rfd8 {100} 14. Bc3 {722} Nd5 {35} 15. Bb2 {498} Bh6 {327}
16. e3 {660} a4 {781} 17. a3 {969} axb3 {322} 18. Qb1 {44} Bf8 {960} 19. d4 {
142} exd4 {672} 20. Bxd4 {196} Qf7 {423} 21. Qxb3 {284} Nb6 {8} 22. Nfd2 {161}
Nxc4 {10} 23. Nxc4 {0} Na5 {0} 0-1

Naka explains how he caught his opponent in the opening

GM Nigel Short’s win against the Russian GM Sergey Grigoriants was probably the most entertaining game of the round.

Beginning with 1. Nf3, the opening soon transposed into a Semi-Slav wherein he sacrificed a piece right out of the opening and developed a strong attack against Gligoriant’s king. Short admitted after the game that he didn’t know the opening very well and had “made it up as he went along”.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.27"]
[Round "4.12"]
[White "Short, Nigel D"]
[Black "Grigoriants, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2675"]
[BlackElo "2564"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:00:38"]
[BlackClock "0:37:27"]

1. Nf3 {557} Nf6 {833} 2. c4 {0} c6 {331} 3. Nc3 {205} d5 {0} 4. e3 {0} e6 {609
} 5. d4 {262} Nbd7 {106} 6. Qc2 {0} Bd6 {17} 7. Bd3 {0} O-O {183} 8. O-O {0}
dxc4 {428} 9. Bxc4 {0} b5 {0} 10. Be2 {52} a6 {209} 11. e4 {311} e5 {174} 12.
Bg5 {236} h6 {1255} 13. Bh4 {157} exd4 {48} 14. Nxd4 {0} Qc7 {0} 15. Kh1 {334}
Re8 {832} 16. a3 {148} Be5 {385} 17. Rad1 {184} c5 {55} 18. Nf5 {6} Nb6 {39}
19. Nxg7 {533} Kxg7 {10} 20. f4 {0} Bd4 {372} 21. Nxb5 {368} axb5 {0} 22. Rxd4
{0} Ra7 {737} 23. e5 {187} Nfd5 {94} 24. Rd3 {76} Kh8 {0} 25. Qd2 {587} f5 {99}
26. Rxd5 {63} Nxd5 {0} 27. Qxd5 {4} Be6 {0} 28. Qf3 {0} Kh7 {22} 29. Bxb5 {35}
Rg8 {10} 30. Rd1 {221} Qa5 {20} 31. Qc6 {143} Bb3 {14} 32. Rd6 {4} 1-0

Short tells Tania Sachdev how delighted he was to have won in such a brilliant manner.

Natalia Zhukova was playing...

…Peter Svidler, who was hungry for a win after two straight draws. Peter won in 30 moves.

How Indians fared…

Indians GMs had a fairly good round in Gibraltar yesterday.

SP Sethuraman won against Nino Batsiashvili who blundered a piece in a Scotch Defence.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.27"]
[Round "4.18"]
[White "Sethuraman, S.P."]
[Black "Batsiashvili, Nino"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2637"]
[BlackElo "2492"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:11:48"]
[BlackClock "1:00:39"]

1. e4 {589} e5 {729} 2. Nf3 {0} Nc6 {0} 3. d4 {0} exd4 {0} 4. Nxd4 {0} Bc5 {0}
5. Nb3 {0} Bb6 {0} 6. Nc3 {0} Nf6 {0} 7. Bg5 {0} h6 {31} 8. Bh4 {0} g5 {75} 9.
Bg3 {0} d6 {58} 10. h4 {441} Bg4 {239} 11. Be2 {413} Bxe2 {795} 12. Qxe2 {0}
Rg8 {1449} 13. hxg5 {3} hxg5 {0} 14. Nd5 {172} Nxd5 {1273} 15. exd5+ {0} Ne5 {
19} 16. c4 {649} Qe7 {37} 17. Bxe5 {46} dxe5 {217} 18. c5 {19} Bxc5 {940} 19.
Qb5+ {0} c6 {0} 20. Qxc5 {74} Qxc5 {0} 21. Nxc5 {0} cxd5 {0} 22. Nxb7 {0} Rb8 {
6} 23. Rc1 {0} Kd7 {62} 24. Nc5+ {181} Kd6 {10} 25. Rh6+ {62} Rg6 {0} 26. Rxg6+
{0} fxg6 {0} 27. b3 {55} Rb5 {23} 28. Na4 {36} d4 {23} 29. Rc8 {1} Ke6 {55} 30.
Ke2 {398} g4 {70} 31. Kd3 {9} g3 {19} 32. fxg3 {4} Kf5 {0} 33. Nc5 {0} Rb6 {0}
34. Rf8+ {148} Kg4 {0} 35. Rf3 {1} Rc6 {122} 36. Nd7 {20} 1-0

Sethu speaks...

After holding Hikaru Nakamura to a draw in the last round, Indian GM GN Gopal made some errors against Boris Gelfand and lost in 45 moves.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.27"]
[Round "4.9"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Gopal G.N."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A34"]
[WhiteElo "2721"]
[BlackElo "2579"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:44:54"]
[BlackClock "0:47:32"]

1. Nf3 {552} c5 {673} 2. c4 {0} Nf6 {0} 3. Nc3 {0} d5 {0} 4. cxd5 {0} Nxd5 {0}
5. e3 {0} Nxc3 {0} 6. bxc3 {0} g6 {0} 7. Bb5+ {4} Bd7 {26} 8. Be2 {38} Bg7 {0}
9. O-O {13} O-O {0} 10. d4 {10} Qa5 {447} 11. Qb3 {116} Bc6 {0} 12. Bd2 {108}
e6 {742} 13. c4 {468} Qb6 {607} 14. Rfd1 {2029} Nd7 {802} 15. Bc3 {699} Rac8 {
777} 16. d5 {275} Qxb3 {1224} 17. axb3 {0} Bxc3 {0} 18. dxc6 {2} Nf6 {139} 19.
cxb7 {246} Rc7 {5} 20. Rxa7 {129} Rb8 {0} 21. Rd3 {670} Bb4 {69} 22. Ne5 {113}
Rbxb7 {28} 23. Rxb7 {239} Rxb7 {0} 24. g4 {48} Ra7 {553} 25. Bf3 {130} g5 {194}
26. Rd8+ {612} Kg7 {0} 27. Nd3 {35} Ra3 {489} 28. Rb8 {18} Rxb3 {57} 29. Nxc5 {
0} Rxe3 {5} 30. fxe3 {95} Bxc5 {0} 31. Kf2 {0} Nd7 {7} 32. Rc8 {88} Kf6 {35}
33. Ke2 {45} Bd6 {14} 34. Be4 {30} h6 {19} 35. h3 {14} Nc5 {9} 36. Bc2 {13} Nd7
{16} 37. Rd8 {37} Ke7 {0} 38. Rh8 {6} Ne5 {6} 39. Bd3 {12} Kf6 {21} 40. Rxh6+ {
9} Kg7 {0} 41. Rh7+ {27} Kg8 {0} 42. Rh5 {0} f6 {0} 43. Rh6 {0} Be7 {0} 44. Rh7
{0} Nxd3 {0} 45. Rxe7 {0} 1-0

Here’s what Gelfand had to say about the game.

Among other GMs in the Indian contingent, GM Abhijeet Gupta won his third game in a row after his opponent Bela Khotenashvili misplayed a drawish endgame; GM R Lalith Babu won a splendid game against FM Jesel Stephan with the pieces while GM Surya Ganguly had a quick draw against the German GM Jan-Christian Schroeder in a Giuco Piano.