Gibraltar 02: Draws, Drama and a Fallen Flag

by Aditya Pai - 26/01/2017

The top seeds came tumbling down to the ground from their high pedestal. Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Peter Svidler and more had to settle for draws against lower rated players. But the story of the round was the amazing end to Vassily Ivanchuck's game. He lost on time, but find out how! Illustrated Report.

Gibraltar 02: Draws, Drama and a Fallen Flag

Photos by Sophie Triay and official website

Another swarm of International Masters stormed at the top GMs in the second round of the Gibraltar Masters. And this time, the giants had a bad day at the office. Out of the top ten boards, four ended in a draw while Vassily Ivanchuk shockingly lost on time against the Israeli IM Ori Kobo. After two rounds of play, only three out of the twelve 2700+ rated grandmasters (Mickey Adams, Yu Yangyi, and Nikita Vitiugov) have managed to accomplish a perfect score.

Things went terribly wrong for Fabiano Caruana in his game against the Argentinian IM Leandro Krysa. It was only by a miraculous move that Fabiano was able to hold to a draw.

This draw, unfortunately, has cost Caruana 3 crucial rating points. Not only is he further away from bettering Magnus Carlsen’s rating now, but is also closer to conceding the world no. 2 spot to Wesley So, who smashed Radek Wojtaszek to pulp in Wijk aan Zee.

Black to play

White has just played 21. f6 with the threat of 22. Rg1+ followed by Qxf7 and mate. Can you find the brilliant defense Fabiano uncorked in this position?

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.25"]
[Round "2.1"]
[White "Krysa, Leandro"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2491"]
[BlackElo "2827"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1qr2k1/1p2pp1p/p1p2P1B/2P1b3/4p3/1Q5P/PP2P3/R4R1K b - - 0 21"]
[PlyCount "10"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:24:19"]
[BlackClock "0:07:11"]

{[#]} 21... Rd3 $3 {0} 22. Rg1+ {241} Kh8 {0} 23. Bg7+ {40} Kg8 {0} 24. Bh6+ {0
} Kh8 {0} 25. Bg7+ {0} Kg8 {0} 26. Bh6+ {0} 1/2-1/2

Sidestepping a mainline Sicilian with 3. Bb5, Vachier-Lagrave found himself in the realms of a complicated Spanish-like structure against IM Nitzan Steinberg. He had to concede a draw in the end.

Hikaru Nakamura, however, was hell-bent on scoring a full point in spite of being mildly surprised by his opponent IM Miguel Santos.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.25"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Santos Ruiz, Miguel"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B63"]
[WhiteElo "2484"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:30:52"]
[BlackClock "0:18:21"]

1. e4 {554} c5 {566} 2. Nf3 {0} d6 {0} 3. d4 {0} cxd4 {0} 4. Nxd4 {0} Nf6 {0}
5. Nc3 {0} Nc6 {0} 6. Bg5 {10} e6 {0} 7. Qd2 {0} Be7 {0} 8. O-O-O {0} O-O {167}
9. h4 {0} Nxd4 {625} 10. Qxd4 {0} Qa5 {0} 11. Kb1 {923} a6 {1264} 12. Qd2 {406}
b6 {452} 13. Rh3 {491} Bb7 {174} 14. a3 {1083} Qc5 {387} 15. h5 {133} Rfe8 {468
} 16. h6 {695} Rac8 {480} 17. Be3 {578} Qa5 {12} 18. hxg7 {212} Nxe4 {265} 19.
Nxe4 {0} Bxe4 {0} 20. Bd3 {101} Qxd2 {43} 21. Bxd2 {0} Bxd3 {430} 22. cxd3 {0}
Bf6 {14} 23. Rdh1 {14} Bxg7 {0} 24. Rxh7 {0} Rc5 {19} 25. Bc3 {81} Bxc3 {26}
26. bxc3 {40} Kf8 {0} 27. Rh8+ {128} Ke7 {56} 28. Rxe8+ {0} Kxe8 {0} 29. Kc2 {
30} Re5 {108} 30. Rd1 {248} Kd7 {104} 31. Rd2 {23} Kc6 {56} 32. c4 {110} Re1 {
13} 33. Kc3 {74} Rc1+ {71} 34. Kb2 {4} Rg1 {0} 35. g3 {26} Kc5 {54} 36. Kc3 {0}
Rc1+ {0} 37. Kb2 {0} Rf1 {0} 38. Kc3 {0} Rc1+ {259} 39. Kb2 {0} Rf1 {0} 40. Kc3
{0} d5 {72} 41. cxd5 {851} exd5 {418} 42. Re2 {0} a5 {0} 43. f4 {0} Ra1 {0} 44.
Kb2 {0} Rg1 {0} 45. Kc3 {0} Rxg3 {0} 46. Re7 {0} d4+ {0} 47. Kc2 {0} Kb5 {0}
48. Rxf7 {0} Ka4 {0} 49. Rd7 {0} Rg2+ {0} 50. Kc1 {0} Kxa3 {0} 51. Rxd4 {0} b5
{0} 52. Rd5 {0} Kb4 {0} 53. f5 {0} a4 {0} 0-1

Chucky’s Tragedy

Vassily Ivanchuk, playing white, is completely winning?

The World Rapid Champion, Vassily Ivanchuk, was one move away from reaching the time control when he let his flag fall. His opponent, IM Ori Kobo couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the clock. He gave his score-sheet another check to confirm and claimed a win. Unable to grasp what had happened, Ivanchuk showed his score-sheet to the arbiter to prove that he had completed 40 moves.

It was then that he received the shock of his life as the arbiter pointed out to Chucky that he had left the last line of the score-sheet empty and had therefore only completed 39 moves. Hopeless, he signed score-sheets and sat staring at the board for a while before leaving. This was truly a tragic way for the game to end.

Ivanchuk’s score-sheet. Notice that the last line (24th move) is left blank.

Even his opponent was visibly disappointed to have won this way.

The only Indian playing on one of the top tables was GM Debashish Das. He lost against GM Michael Adams who outclassed him in a rook endgame.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.25"]
[Round "2.5"]
[White "Debashis, Das"]
[Black "Adams, Michael"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D36"]
[WhiteElo "2472"]
[BlackElo "2751"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:21:12"]
[BlackClock "0:05:02"]

1. d4 {559} Nf6 {567} 2. c4 {0} e6 {0} 3. Nc3 {0} d5 {0} 4. cxd5 {0} exd5 {0}
5. Bg5 {0} c6 {0} 6. Qc2 {0} h6 {120} 7. Bh4 {0} g6 {104} 8. e3 {0} Bf5 {63} 9.
Qb3 {0} g5 {415} 10. Bg3 {0} Qb6 {0} 11. Nf3 {143} Nbd7 {51} 12. Nd2 {424} Nh5
{373} 13. Be2 {249} Nxg3 {48} 14. hxg3 {77} Nf6 {151} 15. a3 {64} Qxb3 {159}
16. Nxb3 {0} a5 {67} 17. Kd2 {747} Bd6 {440} 18. Bd3 {249} Bg6 {100} 19. Rae1 {
1779} Kd7 {981} 20. Re2 {165} h5 {151} 21. Kc2 {0} b5 {749} 22. Nd2 {217} Rhb8
{333} 23. Ra1 {435} b4 {212} 24. Bxg6 {869} fxg6 {0} 25. Na4 {0} Kc7 {450} 26.
axb4 {27} axb4 {14} 27. b3 {59} g4 {23} 28. Kd3 {522} Rf8 {42} 29. Rc1 {69} Rf7
{130} 30. e4 {54} dxe4+ {577} 31. Nxe4 {0} Nxe4 {48} 32. Kxe4 {0} Re8+ {65} 33.
Kd3 {0} Rxe2 {0} 34. Kxe2 {0} Rf5 {0} 35. Nb2 {51} Ra5 {145} 36. Nc4 {61} Ra2+
{29} 37. Kf1 {87} g5 {110} 38. Nxd6 {38} Kxd6 {0} 39. Rc4 {8} h4 {83} 40. gxh4
{0} gxh4 {0} 41. Kg1 {0} g3 {0} 42. fxg3 {0} hxg3 {0} 43. Kf1 {0} Rf2+ {0} 44.
Ke1 {0} Rxg2 {0} 45. Kf1 {0} Rf2+ {0} 46. Kg1 {0} Kd5 {0} 47. Rxb4 {0} Rc2 {0}
48. Rb8 {0} Kxd4 {0} 49. b4 {0} Rb2 {0} 50. Rb6 {0} Kd5 {0} 51. Rb8 {0} Ke6 {0}
52. Rb7 {0} Kd6 {0} 53. Kf1 {0} Rf2+ {0} 54. Kg1 {0} Re2 {0} 55. Kf1 {0} g2+ {0
} 56. Kg1 {0} Re7 {0} 57. Rb8 {0} Rg7 {0} 58. Rd8+ {148} Kc7 {0} 59. Rd4 {45}
Rg8 {0} 60. Rc4 {16} Kb6 {0} 61. Rf4 {14} Kb5 {0} 62. Re4 {0} Rg3 {0} 63. Rf4 {
0} Rb3 {0} 64. Kxg2 {0} Rxb4 {0} 65. Rf1 {0} Rb2+ {0} 66. Kf3 {0} c5 {0} 67.
Ke3 {0} Kb4 {0} 68. Rf8 {0} c4 {0} 0-1

Peter Svidler was also held to a draw by the 2470 rated Norwegian IM Johan Saloman. Do watch his interview below.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.25"]
[Round "2.6"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Salomon, Johan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2748"]
[BlackElo "2470"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:18:26"]
[BlackClock "0:17:20"]

1. c4 {560} e5 {579} 2. g3 {25} c6 {2} 3. Nf3 {123} e4 {12} 4. Nd4 {11} d5 {14}
5. cxd5 {0} Qxd5 {0} 6. Nc2 {338} Nf6 {3} 7. Nc3 {0} Qh5 {102} 8. h3 {227} Qg6
{210} 9. b4 {831} Bd6 {420} 10. Bg2 {93} O-O {497} 11. Rb1 {94} Nbd7 {280} 12.
b5 {752} Nb6 {652} 13. O-O {261} Nbd5 {579} 14. bxc6 {247} bxc6 {0} 15. Nxd5 {0
} cxd5 {60} 16. Rb3 {200} Qh5 {417} 17. Bb2 {732} Bxh3 {227} 18. Bxf6 {19} gxf6
{0} 19. d3 {190} Rad8 {378} 20. Bxh3 {242} Qxh3 {0} 21. dxe4 {0} dxe4 {10} 22.
Qd4 {0} Qe6 {609} 23. Qxa7 {456} Ra8 {0} 24. Qb6 {71} Rxa2 {242} 25. Nd4 {92}
Qd7 {73} 26. Re3 {230} Rb8 {169} 27. Qc6 {0} Qxc6 {0} 28. Nxc6 {0} Re8 {253}
29. Rd1 {20} Bf8 {6} 30. Kf1 {46} 1/2-1/2

“Didn’t expect to win or draw but I’m still happy with a draw."

Ex-FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov was also held to a draw by the 2468 rated IM Jean-Noel Riff. Towards the end, Topalov's position looked bust but it ended in a draw.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.25"]
[Round "2.7"]
[White "Riff, Jean-Noel"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B18"]
[WhiteElo "2468"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:14:44"]
[BlackClock "0:16:12"]

1. e4 {553} c6 {566} 2. d4 {68} d5 {2} 3. Nc3 {0} dxe4 {0} 4. Nxe4 {0} Bf5 {0}
5. Ng3 {0} Bg6 {0} 6. Nh3 {0} Nf6 {0} 7. Bc4 {0} e6 {258} 8. O-O {52} Nbd7 {298
} 9. f4 {190} Nb6 {215} 10. Be2 {305} Qd7 {401} 11. a4 {135} Nbd5 {403} 12. Ng5
{744} Bd6 {16} 13. c4 {561} Ne7 {77} 14. Nf3 {223} Rd8 {10} 15. Ne5 {347} Qc7 {
188} 16. Qb3 {107} c5 {100} 17. dxc5 {173} Bxc5+ {0} 18. Be3 {50} O-O {0} 19.
Bf3 {20} b6 {375} 20. Bxc5 {586} Qxc5+ {264} 21. Kh1 {15} Rd4 {13} 22. Ne2 {36}
Rd2 {8} 23. Qc3 {240} Rfd8 {179} 24. b4 {14} Qc7 {0} 25. Ng3 {12} a5 {1288} 26.
Rfc1 {605} Nf5 {359} 27. Nxf5 {127} Bxf5 {0} 28. c5 {9} axb4 {321} 29. Qxb4 {0}
bxc5 {0} 30. Qxc5 {37} Qxc5 {49} 31. Rxc5 {10} g5 {405} 32. fxg5 {449} Ne4 {8}
33. Rcc1 {6} Nxg5 {0} 34. Bc6 {90} f6 {274} 35. Nf3 {214} (35. Nc4 $1 R2d4 36.
a5 $16) 35... Nxf3 {0} 1/2-1/2

If the game between Elisabeth Paehtz and Nikita Vitiugov were to be described in one word, that word would be ‘insane’.

Paehtz started off with a seemingly quiet Italian opening. But Vitiugov clearly had other plans as he marched his kingside pawns forward as early as move 9! This audacious approach more than paid off as he went on to win a spectacular game.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.25"]
[Round "2.9"]
[White "Paehtz, Elisabeth"]
[Black "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2468"]
[BlackElo "2724"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:04:18"]
[BlackClock "0:02:48"]

1. e4 {555} e5 {696} 2. Nf3 {0} Nc6 {0} 3. Bc4 {53} Bc5 {0} 4. d3 {0} Nf6 {0}
5. O-O {0} d6 {296} 6. c3 {0} a6 {110} 7. Bb3 {0} Ba7 {106} 8. Re1 {0} h6 {102}
9. Nbd2 {0} g5 {254} 10. Nf1 {552} g4 {92} 11. N3d2 {1380} h5 {207} 12. Nc4 {91
} b5 {595} 13. Nce3 {0} Ne7 {469} 14. d4 {500} Bb7 {136} 15. Nd5 {814} Nxe4 {
474} 16. Rxe4 {122} Nxd5 {51} 17. Re2 {379} Kf8 {181} 18. dxe5 {355} dxe5 {30}
19. Rxe5 {339} Bxf2+ {1930} 20. Kh1 {0} Nf6 {268} 21. Qe2 {371} g3 {35} 22. Bg5
{164} h4 {57} 23. h3 {523} Qd7 {0} 24. Be6 {0} Qc6 {271} 25. Ne3 {0} Re8 {23}
26. Bxf6 {57} Rxe6 {0} 27. Rd1 {382} Rxe5 {69} 28. Bxe5 {0} Bxe3 {104} 29. Bxh8
{0} Qe6 {67} 30. Qg4 {131} Qxg4 {0} 31. hxg4 {0} h3 {0} 32. Rg1 {0} hxg2+ {17}
33. Rxg2 {0} c5 {20} 34. Be5 {50} Bf2 {0} 35. b4 {0} c4 {37} 36. Bd6+ {0} Kg7 {
20} 37. Bc5 {0} Kg6 {5} 0-1

In the clash between the Woman’s World Champion and the Women’s European Champion, Hou Yifan was able to keep Natalia Zhukova’s light-squared bishop imprisoned behind the black pawns and seal an impressive win.

[Event "Gibraltar Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.01.25"]
[Round "2.19"]
[White "Hou, Yifan"]
[Black "Zhukova, Natalia"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C19"]
[WhiteElo "2651"]
[BlackElo "2447"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "6600+10"]
[WhiteClock "0:31:30"]
[BlackClock "0:32:45"]

1. e4 {571} e6 {577} 2. d4 {4} d5 {0} 3. Nc3 {0} Bb4 {0} 4. e5 {129} Ne7 {1} 5.
a3 {0} Bxc3+ {0} 6. bxc3 {0} c5 {0} 7. Nf3 {113} Qa5 {532} 8. Bd2 {0} Qa4 {42}
9. Qb1 {894} c4 {454} 10. h4 {6} Nbc6 {21} 11. h5 {100} h6 {14} 12. g3 {122}
Bd7 {266} 13. Bh3 {1} O-O-O {12} 14. O-O {0} Rdf8 {1105} 15. Qb2 {651} b6 {385}
16. Rae1 {203} Kb7 {153} 17. Re2 {564} Nf5 {523} 18. Ne1 {435} g6 {1068} 19.
Ng2 {459} Nce7 {156} 20. Bg4 {645} Rh7 {606} 21. Qc1 {100} Rfh8 {77} 22. Nf4 {
140} Rg8 {49} 23. Kh2 {146} Bc8 {37} 24. Rh1 {8} Bd7 {163} 25. Kg1 {224} Bc8 {
47} 26. hxg6 {176} fxg6 {0} 27. Bf3 {0} Rf7 {358} 28. Bg2 {31} h5 {156} 29. Nh3
{55} Nc6 {0} 30. Kh2 {148} Rgf8 {1} 31. Bg5 {42} Rh7 {65} 32. Nf4 {33} Nce7 {0}
33. Bh3 {17} Rg8 {6} 34. Bxe7 {226} Rxe7 {0} 35. Bxf5 {0} gxf5 {0} 36. Kg2 {0}
Rh7 {55} 37. Rxh5 {9} Rgh8 {0} 38. Rxh7+ {7} Rxh7 {0} 39. Re1 {0} Qe8 {8} 40.
Rh1 {59} Qh8 {35} 41. Rh3 {602} Kc6 {12} 42. Ng6 {0} Qg7 {0} 43. Qg5 {0} Kb5 {0
} 44. Rxh7 {0} Qxh7 {0} 45. Qf6 {0} f4 {0} 46. g4 {0} f3+ {0} 47. Kg3 {0} a5 {0
} 48. g5 1-0

GM Abhijeet Gupta was able to bounce back and score a win with the black pieces against WFM Cecile Haussernot.

Among other Indians, GM G N Gopal got the better of the Spanish FM Ladron de Guevara Pinto in a closed Spanish. The all-Indian clash between Sethuraman and Kidambi ended in a win for the former in a Scotch game.

Improve your chess with Veselin Topalov!

-by learning the art of not taking moves for granted

Even after such an eventful round, the day didn’t end at Gibraltar. GM Veselin Topalov gave a Master Class on ‘Moves Chess Players Take for Granted’. We’ve made sure that you get every bit of it. Do watch it!

Games in PGN