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Gibraltar 10: Naka clinches the title amid Protests and Playoffs

by Aditya Pai - 03/02/2017

The 2017 edition of the best Open in the world was all set for a mouth-watering finale, with as many as 9 contenders for the 23000 pounds first prize. Young David Anton Guijarro is the greatest of Spanish hopes these days and was leading the tournament. But among the players pursuing him, there was one particular face who has made winning at the Rock a habit. Hikaru Nakamura!

Photos by John Saunders and Sophie Triay

 

 

Gibraltar 10: Naka clinches the title amid Protests and Playoffs

The final round of the Gibraltar Masters 2017 witnessed some hair-raising drama. Going into the final round, the 21-year-old Spaniard, David Anton Guijarro was leading a star-studded field and was paired to play against Mickey Adams with the white pieces on board one. Half a point behind was not only his English opponent but also a strong league of Grandmasters that included the likes of, Nakamura, Yu Yangyi, Boris Gelfand and so forth. Battles were bound to be bloody.

 

But before the contenders could cut and thrust their way to glory, an appeal was lodged by Hikaru’s father, Sunil Weeramantry who stated that the tournament leader, David Anton, had got six whites in the ten-round event. The arbiters soon explained that if David wasn’t given white in the last round, it would have messed up the average of whites and blacks for the 8 player group which was tied for the second place. The issue was quickly resolved and rounds were underway.

Hikaru with his step-father, Sunil Weeramantry.

But as the rounds began, it was noticed that the Women’s World Champion, Hou Yifan, who had arrived roughly 25 minutes late, was playing a weird opening against the Indian GM R Lalith Babu. Merely 5 moves later, shocking everybody, the Women’s World Champion resigned! It was also speculated that she was seen walking around with a smile while her game was on. Everyone wanted to know what had happened, and for quite a while, there was no official news. 

Yifan, after breaking Vishy Anand’s world record for the shortest game by a grandmaster.

You can read our detailed report on the incident here with video interviews and the officials' statements.

 

While Yifan protested in the most novel manner, players on the top boards fought vigorously for the top spots. David Anton, the surprise leader of the event, had an equal game all the way through against Mickey Adams and agreed to a draw in 32 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined. 

The big board one encounter

Anton’s draw sent a wave of motivation among players trailing within a striking distance. Hikaru Nakamura and Yu Yangyi made the most of this opportunity and won their spots in the playoffs for a fat £23000 worth purse. 

Hikaru Nakamura got the better of… 

 

…GM Edouard Romain in a sharp Nimzo-Indian
[Event "Gibraltar Masters 2017"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.02"]
[Round "10.3"]
[White "Edouard, Romain"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E21"]
[WhiteElo "2613"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:03:16"]
[BlackClock "0:09:00"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bg5 c5 6. Rc1 h6 7. Bh4 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 d5 9. e3 e5 10. Nf3 d4 11. exd4 exd4 12. Nxd4 Qb6 13. Nf3 Rd8 14. Qc2 g5
15. Bg3 Nc6 16. Bd3 g4 17. Nh4 Bf8 18. Qb1 Re8+ 19. Kf1 Be6 20. h3 Nh5 21. Ne4
Nxg3+ 22. Nxg3 Rad8 23. hxg4 Ne5 24. Be2 Bxg4 25. Bxg4 Nxg4 26. Qc2 Bb4 27. c5
Qa6+ 28. Kg1 Be1 29. Rh3 Bxf2+ 30. Kh1 Re1+ 31. Rxe1 Bxe1 32. Nf3 Nf2+ 33. Kh2
Nxh3 34. Nxe1 Ng5 35. Qc3 Qg6 0-1

 

Yu Yangyi pulled out all the stops to seal a win against Ju Wenjun in an Advanced French.
[Event "Gibraltar Masters 2017"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.02"]
[Round "10.4"]
[White "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Black "Ju, Wenjun"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2583"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:16:30"]
[BlackClock "0:15:55"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. a3 Bd7 7. Be2 Nge7 8. dxc5
Qxc5 9. b4 Qb6 10. c4 Qc7 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. Bb2 Nf4 13. O-O Ne7 14. Nc3 Neg6
15. Rc1 Nxe2+ 16. Qxe2 Qb6 17. Rfd1 Be7 18. g3 Bc6 19. Nd4 O-O 20. Nxc6 bxc6
21. h4 Rfd8 22. h5 Nf8 23. h6 g6 24. Ne4 Rd5 25. Qf3 Nd7 26. Nd6 Rf8 27. Rxd5
exd5 28. Qg4 Qc7 29. Qd4 Nb6 30. b5 Nc4 31. e6 f6 32. Nxc4 dxc4 33. Qxc4 c5 34.
Rd1 Rd8 35. Rd7 Rxd7 36. exd7+ Kf8 37. Qd5 Qb6 38. a4 1-0

 

The Playoffs

Having tied with David Anton with their wins in the final round, Nakamura and Yu Yangyi earned their right into the speed play-offs. Since it was a three-way tie, the player with the highest performance rating – David Anton – was given a direct ticket into the finals while Nakamura and  Yu Yangyi roughed out. 

David Anton was seen enjoying some wine and elite company while…

 

…Naka and Yu Yangyi crossed swords.

Unable to break through Yu Yangyi’s heroic defence in the rapid games, Nakamura had to fight his way through a blitz play-off with his Chinese opponent.

With jackets off and sleeves rolled up, the players began to blitz.

In blitz, Naka, as is characteristic of him, left his opponent no chance. And although Yu Yangyi did his best to maintain equality, Hikaru was able to provoke mistakes in time trouble and swept his opponent off with a 2-0 victory. 

Playing the well-rested Anton in the final playoffs, Hikaru was able to hold comfortably for a draw in game one and thrashed his opponent with the white pieces by creating a bind on his position in game two.

White to move. Practice more tactics with your CB Account's Tactics Trainer.

Thus after 10 rounds of nerve-wracking chess and 6 tenacious play-offs, Hikaru Nakamura, without conceding a single loss, emerged victorious at the Gibraltar Masters for the fourth time!

[Event "Gibraltar Masters Playoff"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.02"]
[Round "?.2"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E18"]
[WhiteElo "2785"]
[BlackElo "2650"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]
[TimeControl "180+2"]
[WhiteClock "0:01:47"]
[BlackClock "0:00:08"]
1. Nf3 {0} Nf6 {0} 2. d4 {0} e6 {0} 3. c4 {0} b6 {0} 4. g3 {0} Bb7 {0} 5. Bg2 {
0} Be7 {0} 6. O-O {0} O-O {0} 7. Nc3 {0} Ne4 {0} 8. Bd2 {0} Bf6 {0} 9. Rc1 {0}
d6 {0} 10. d5 {0} Nxc3 {0} 11. Bxc3 {0} Bxc3 {0} 12. Rxc3 {0} e5 {0} 13. e4 {0}
a5 {0} 14. Nd2 {0} Nd7 {0} 15. f4 {0} Qe7 {0} 16. Nf3 {0} f6 {0} 17. Re1 {0}
Nc5 {0} 18. Rce3 {0} Bc8 {0} 19. Qc2 {0} Bd7 {0} 20. b3 {0} Rfb8 {0} 21. a3 {0}
b5 {0} 22. cxb5 {0} Rxb5 {0} 23. Nd2 {0} Rb7 {0} 24. Rb1 {0} Be8 {0} 25. b4 {0}
axb4 {0} 26. axb4 {0} Nd7 {0} 27. Nc4 {0} Nf8 {0} 28. Na5 {0} Rba7 {0} 29. f5 {
0} g6 {0} 30. g4 {0} h5 {8} 31. Bf3 {0} Qh7 {71} 32. Kh1 {0} Qh6 {4} 33. Rc3 {0
} Nh7 {23} 34. fxg6 {0} Bxg6 {28} 35. gxh5 {0} Bxh5 {5} 36. Qf2 {0} Bxf3+ {9}
37. Rxf3 {0} Kh8 {69} 38. Rg1 Ra6 39. Qf1 {56} R6a7 {26} 40. Rh3 {16} Qf4 {8}
41. Qe2 {39} Rg8 {5} 42. Rxh7+ {5} Kxh7 {0} 43. Qh5+ {0} Qh6 {0} 44. Qxh6+ {0}
Kxh6 {0} 45. Rxg8 {0} Ra6 {0} 46. Kg2 {19} Rb6 {0} 47. Nc6 {0} Ra6 {0} 48. Ne7
{1} Ra4 {0} 49. Nf5+ {21} Kh5 {0} 50. h4 {11} Rxb4 {3} 51. Kh3 {0} Rc4 {17} 52.
Rh8+ {2} Kg6 {0} 53. h5+ {17} Kg5 {2} 54. Ng3 {0} Rc3 {4} 55. Rg8+ {0} 1-0

 

Here’s what he had to say about his victory

In our final report, we will have an in-depth look at the Indian performance in the tournament.

Final Ranking after 10 Rounds

Rk. SNo   Name FED Rtg Pts.  TB1  w-we
1 24 GM Anton Guijarro David ESP 2650 8,0 2859 2,69
2 3 GM Nakamura Hikaru USA 2785 8,0 2847 0,87
3 8 GM Yu Yangyi CHN 2738 8,0 2830 1,17
4 2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2796 7,5 2804 0,33
5 5 GM Adams Michael ENG 2751 7,5 2797 0,67
6 28 GM Sutovsky Emil ISR 2628 7,5 2759 1,78
7 13 GM Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2689 7,5 2755 0,91
8 7 GM Topalov Veselin BUL 2739 7,5 2749 0,23
9 10 GM Gelfand Boris ISR 2721 7,5 2729 0,30
10 20 GM Howell David W L ENG 2655 7,0 2732 1,13
11 38 GM Ju Wenjun CHN 2583 7,0 2731 2,07
12 16 GM Short Nigel D ENG 2675 7,0 2722 0,79
13 1 GM Caruana Fabiano USA 2827 7,0 2709 -0,98
  27 GM Akobian Varuzhan USA 2633 7,0 2709 1,16
15 12 GM Matlakov Maxim RUS 2701 7,0 2699 0,13
16 11 GM Naiditsch Arkadij AZE 2702 7,0 2696 0,04
17 9 GM Vitiugov Nikita RUS 2724 7,0 2679 -0,44
18 18 GM Fressinet Laurent FRA 2660 7,0 2677 0,33
19 21 GM Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo VEN 2652 7,0 2675 0,42
20 26 GM Sethuraman S.P. IND 2637 7,0 2673 0,63

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