Start of the Gibraltar Masters

Swiss gambits sometimes pay off

The first round of big open Swiss tournaments typically sees large rating differentials on all boards as the first half of the starting list plays against those in the second half. The games themselves are not necessarily one-sided, but the results mostly match up to Elo expectations.

London System Powerbase 2019

The London System PowerBase 2019 contains 9105 games of which 113 are annotated.

In 2018, Levon Aronian drew in the first round and then went on to win the tournament. This year it was former Gib-champ Hikaru Nakamura who struggled with black against 2390-rated Vaso Blesic's London system, barely squeezing any advantage from the solid white structure.

Hikaru Nakamura

Nakamura sporting a St. Louis Rapid and Blitz jacket | Photo: John Saunders

Nakamura had to settle for a draw in the rook ending:

As a result, Nakamura was paired way down on board 52 for the second round (a board that was not broadcast live) and there he drew again! So the American has a bit of a hole to dig himself out of.

Yu Yangyi also could not gain an advantage against Ariel Erenburg and the latter even missed a golden opportunity:

Erenburg played 25...Qe5 here and the game later ended up in a balanced rook ending. Instead, 25...Qb6 -+ would have left White with too many weaknesses to survive.

The roller coaster ride of the day was provided by Hrant Melkumyan and Dina Belenkaya. In the exchange variation of the Caro-Kann Defence, the Russian WGM she won an exchange for a pawn. The position was objectively balanced but maybe a bit easier for Melkumyan to play with the knight. Belenkaya defended well and had a moment to leverage the power of her rook with a difficult-to-spot clearance sacrifice:

After 60...Kb7 the game began to tip in the Armenian's favour. The chance to strike was 60...Re2! followed by d4 to open up lines on the long diagonal for the queen.

Dina Belenkaya

Dina Belenkaya | Photo: David Llada

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Nevertheless, Belenkaya retained drawing chances until White spotted an easy conversion to a winning pawn ending:

Melkumyan calculated 109.Qg3+ out to a win as the g-pawn cannot be stopped.

This marathon of a game stood in stark contrast to the miniature between FM Peter Lombaers and GM Gawain Jones. The affable Englishman took control early on the black side of a symmetrical English opening, then dealt several massive blows in the ensuing middlegame.

18...Bb5+ 19.Kg1 Bd3 20.Qb2 Qh5! and the one-sided battle did not last long.

Gawain Jones

Gawain Jones | Photo: David Llada

Results of Round 1 (top 25)

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	125	IM	Kiik Kalle	2410	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2780	1
2	2	GM	Aronian Levon	2767	0	1 - 0	0	IM	Sukandar Irine Kharisma	2397	129
3	133	IM	Pigott John C	2387	0	0 - 1	0	GM	So Wesley	2765	3
4	4	GM	Yu Yangyi	2764	0	½ - ½	0	IM	Erenberg Ariel	2409	126
5	132	FM	Blesic Vaso	2390	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Nakamura Hikaru	2749	5
6	6	GM	Navara David	2738	0	1 - 0	0	IM	Shachar Ehud	2391	130
7	131	IM	Vega Gutierrez Sabrina	2390	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Naiditsch Arkadij	2734	7
8	8	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2720	0	1 - 0	0	IM	Shvayger Yuliya	2387	134
9	135	IM	Seeman Tarvo	2386	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Le Quang Liem	2714	9
10	10	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2713	0	1 - 0	0	WGM	Guichard Pauline	2378	136
11	137	FM	Hedman Erik	2378	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Artemiev Vladislav	2709	11
12	13	GM	Adams Michael	2701	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Zhukova Natalia	2377	138
13	139	FM	Anand Nadar	2373	0	½ - ½	0	GM	Matlakov Maxim	2700	14
14	15	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2691	0	1 - 0	0	GM	Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan	2372	140
15	141	FM	Lombaers Peter	2372	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Jones Gawain C B	2691	16
16	17	GM	Saric Ivan	2690	0	1 - 0	0	IM	Krishna Teja N	2371	142
17	143	IM	Rahul Srivatshav P	2370	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Adhiban B.	2689	18
18	19	GM	Howell David W L	2685	0	1 - 0	0	IM	Galinsky Timofey	2365	144
19	145	IM	Quillan Gary	2364	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Grandelius Nils	2682	20
20	21	GM	Eljanov Pavel	2680	0	1 - 0	0	IM	Lane Gary W	2358	146
21	147	WGM	Hoolt Sarah	2358	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2665	22
22	23	GM	Melkumyan Hrant	2660	0	1 - 0	0	WGM	Belenkaya Dina	2357	148
23	149	FM	Gavilan Diaz Mario	2357	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Short Nigel D	2648	24
24	25	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	2643	0	1 - 0	0	FM	Taboas Rodriguez Daniel	2357	150
25	151	FM	Taylor Adam C	2356	0	0 - 1	0	GM	Edouard Romain	2643	26

Wesley So tops early leaderboard

Wesley So, playing the white side of a Sveshnikov Sicilian in Round 2, mirrored his teammate Fabiano Caruana from Game 8 of the World Championship match. So's opponent, Polish GM Daniel Sadzikowski deviated from Magnus Carlsen (and others) on move 13 and So got a nice advantage in the resulting middlegame by giving up his queen for rook and bishop:

Retreating the queen and allowing the exchange of light-square bishops would be equal but, of course, So had planned 18.Qxf5! Rxf5 19.Bxf5 and now 19...Nf6 20.Be3 Qb8 21.c4 leaves white with a pleasant edge. Sadzikowski's 19...a6 let So grab an even bigger advantage with 20.Nxd6 Qxd6 21.Bxg4 Qxd5 22.Bc3. From there on it only increased.

My best games in the Sveshnikov

The Sveshnikov Variation of the Sicilian Defence is considered one of the most promising replies to 1.e4, often giving rise to sharp and complex positions which require precise and inventive play from both sides. Thus, an opening tailor-made for Alexei Shirov (FIDE World Cup finalist in 2007), who has included it into his repertoire with both White and Black and knows the mutual tricks and traps all too well.

So and Navara

So looks surprised by the opening choice of David Navara | Photo: John Saunders

Navara was content to play a Pirc Defence, weathering some opening pressure to emerge with an equal and dynamic middlegame — so far so good for a strategy with Black against a lower-rated player, GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen. Navara won a pawn, but White was keeping himself in the game until this moment:

34.Qa7 was a bit careless, overlooking that after 34...d4! The d-pawn simply cannot be stopped.

The Modern Pirc

The Modern Pirc is actually a mixture of the Caro-Kann and the Pirc. In many lines Black combines the ideas of the classical Pirc in which the fianchettoed bishop is important with the Caro-Kann idea to fight for the center with c6-d5.

Le Quang Liem and Vladislav Artemiev are two other 2700-players among the 33 in total who remain perfect with 2/2.

There's a lot of chess still to be played in Gibraltar, however!

Results of Round 2 (top 25)

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2780	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2536	63
2	62	GM	Muzychuk Mariya	2540	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Aronian Levon	2767	2
3	3	GM	So Wesley	2765	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Sadzikowski Daniel	2534	65
4	64	GM	Nguyen Thai Dai Van	2535	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Navara David	2738	6
5	7	GM	Naiditsch Arkadij	2734	1	½ - ½	1	IM	Zanan Evgeny	2528	67
6	66	GM	Hjartarson Johann	2530	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	2720	8
7	9	GM	Le Quang Liem	2714	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Demuth Adrien	2517	69
8	68	GM	Goryachkina Aleksandra	2518	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2713	10
9	11	GM	Artemiev Vladislav	2709	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Gallego Alcaraz Andres Felipe	2502	73
10	70	GM	Cuenca Jimenez Jose Fernando	2512	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Adams Michael	2701	13
11	75	GM	Gunina Valentina	2501	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2691	15
12	16	GM	Jones Gawain C B	2691	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Sprenger Jan Michael Dr.	2498	79
13	76	GM	Krysa Leandro	2499	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Saric Ivan	2690	17
14	18	GM	Adhiban B.	2689	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Ubilava Elizbar	2495	81
15	78	IM	Sosa Tomas	2499	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Howell David W L	2685	19
16	20	GM	Grandelius Nils	2682	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Chandra Akshat	2492	83
17	80	IM	Gukesh D	2497	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Eljanov Pavel	2680	21
18	22	GM	Sethuraman S.P.	2665	1	1 - 0	1	IM	Henderson De La Fuente Lance	2489	85
19	84	GM	Repka Christopher	2491	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Melkumyan Hrant	2660	23
20	24	GM	Short Nigel D	2648	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Libiszewski Fabien	2481	87
21	86	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2486	1		1	GM	Akobian Varuzhan	2643	25
22	26	GM	Edouard Romain	2643	1	1 - 0	1	FM	Gavrilescu David	2479	89
23	88	IM	Harsha Bharathakoti	2481	1	1 - 0	1	GM	Anton Guijarro David	2642	27
24	28	GM	Alekseenko Kirill	2637	1	½ - ½	1	GM	Harika Dronavalli	2471	91
25	93	IM	Krishna C R G	2469	1	0 - 1	1	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo	2637	29

All games

Correction Jan 24 — The colours in the game Yu vs Erenburg were incorrectly stated. Yu was white and Erenberg was black.

Andre Schulz contributed reporting

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ChessBase Magazine 227

Swiss gambits sometimes pay off

Results of Round 1 (top 25)

Wesley So tops early leaderboard

Results of Round 2 (top 25)

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