TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR MASTERS 2018 – ROUND 1

In a Swiss format tournament you normally expect the results of the top boards to go the way of seedings. Not so at the Tradewise Gibraltar masters.  For starters , 2350 rated Anita Gara secured a draw against top seep Levon Aronian. The highest rated GM loss in the first round was the number 15 seeded Ivan Cheparinov (2699) who was taken down by Peter Lombaers (2345).

The pairings on the top boards for round 1 were as follows, with tournament points in brackets:

Gara Anita (0) vs Aronian Levon (0)

Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (0) vs Blohberger Felix (0)

Tate Alan (0) vs Nakamura Hikaru (0)

Navara David (0) vs Paehtz Thomas (0)

Hemant Sharma (Del) (0) vs Harikrishna P. (0)

Le Quang Liem (0) vs Prithu Gupta (0)

Devereaux Maxim L (0) vs Vitiugov Nikita (0)       

Here are some decisive games from round 1:

Vachier-Lagrave,Maxime (2793) - Blohberger,Felix (2367)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (1), 23.01.2018

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Ne2 C11: French: Classical System: 4 e5 and 4 Bg5 dxe4 

8...Qb6 [8...f5 9.c3 Be7 10.Rg1 c4 11.g4 g6 12.gxf5 exf5 13.Kf2 b5 14.b3 Nb6 15.Ng3 Be6 1/2–1/2 (49) Anand,V (2782) -Short,N (2678) Riadh 2017] 

9.Qc1 g5 10.fxg5 White is slightly better. 

10...cxd4 11.Nexd4 Ncxe5N [11...Ndxe5 12.c3 Qc7 13.Be2 Bd6 14.Nxe5 Nxe5 15.0–0 Bd7 1–0 (37) Salgado Lopez,I (2618)-Ali Marandi,C (2476) Gjakova 2016] 

12.Nxe5 Nxe5 13.c3 Ng4 14.Be2 Nxe3 15.Qxe3 Bg7 16.0–0 e5 17.Nf5 Qxe3+ 18.Nxe3 Be6 19.c4ƒ White has good play. 

19...d4 20.Nf5 Bf8  [20...0–0= keeps the balance.] 

21.Bd3!± h6 22.g6 [But not 22.gxh6 Bxh6 23.Rae1 Bf4=] 

22...fxg6 23.Nh4! g5 24.Ng6 Bg7 25.Nxh8 Bxh8 26.b3 Rd8 27.Be4 b6 28.Kf2 Ke7 29.Ke2 Kd6 30.Kd3 Bg7 31.Rac1 Rb8 32.Rc2 a5 33.Rfc1 [¹33.Rb1] 

33...Kc7 34.Rf1 Kd6! 35.a3 b5? [35...Rc8±] 

36.c5+? [36.cxb5+- And now Rc6+ would win. 36...Rxb5 37.b4 axb4 38.Rc6+ Kd7 39.axb4 Rxb4 40.Ra1 Rb3+ 41.Kc2] 

36...Kc7 37.b4 a4 38.Rcf2 Threatens to win with Rf7+! 

38...Bc4+ 39.Kd2 Rd8 40.Rc1 Rd7? [40...Bb3± 41.h3 h5] 

41.Rxc4!+- bxc4 42.b5 d3 43.b6+ Kd8 44.c6 Intending b7 and mate. 

44...c3+ 45.Kxc3 d2 46.Rxd2  1–0

Tate,Alan (2358) - Nakamura,Hikaru (2781)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (1), 23.01.2018

1.Nf3 g6 2.e4 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Bd3 Bg7 5.0–0 0–0 6.Re1 Nc6 B07: Pirc Defence: Miscellaneous Systems 

7.d5 Nb8 8.c4 [8.h3 Nbd7 9.c4 Nc5 10.Bc2 a5 11.Nc3 e5 12.Bg5 Qe8 13.Nb5 Qe7 14.b3 1–0 (46) Grischuk,A (2750)-Carlsen,M (2832) chess.com INT 2017] 

8...e5 White has an edge. 

9.Nc3N [9.dxe6 Bxe6 10.Nc3 Nc6 11.Nd5 h6 12.Bf4 Ng4 13.Qd2 Nce5 14.Be2 c6 15.Nc3 Qb6 16.Nd1 g5 17.Nxe5 dxe5 18.Bg3 1/2–1/2 (18) Meier,G (2647)-Chigaev,M (2546) Tallinn 2018] 

9...h6 10.c5 Ne8 11.b4 f5 12.Nd2 Nd7 13.c6 bxc6 14.dxc6 Ndf6 15.Bc4+ Kh8 16.Nf3 [16.h3²] 

16...fxe4 [16...Nxe4³ 17.Bb2 (17.Nxe4 fxe4 18.Rxe4 Nf6=) 17...N8f6] 

17.Nxe5!= Kh7 [17...dxe5 18.Qxd8] 

18.Nf7 [18.Qd2!= keeps the balance.] 

18...Qe7µ 19.Qb3 [19.Bxh6µ was necessary. 19...Bxh6 20.Nxh6 Kxh6 21.f3] 

19...d5!–+ 20.Nxd5 Qxf7 21.Nb6? [21.Nxf6+ is a better defense. 21...Qxf6 22.Be3] 

21...Nd5 0–1

Ivanchuk,Vassily (2726) - Bjerre,Jonas Buhl (2367)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (1), 23.01.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 a5 5.g3 d6 6.Bg2 Nbd7 7.0–0 e5 8.e3 Bxd2 9.Qxd2 0–0 10.Nc3 Re8 E11: Bogo-Indian [10...c6 11.Qc2 Qe7 12.e4 Re8 13.b3 Nf8 14.h3 Ng6 15.Rad1 h5 16.c5 dxc5 17.dxe5 Nd7 18.e6 Qxe6 1–0 (37) Melkumyan,H (2619)-Andreev,E (2438) Karlsruhe 2017] 

11.Rad1 Qe7 12.e4N 12.Qc2 Nb6 13.b3 e4 14.Nd2 Bf5 15.Rde1 Qe6 16.Qd1 d5 17.f3 exf3 18.Qxf3 1–0 (73) Gonzalez Perez,A (2474)-Dauletova,G (2283) Zaragoza 2011] 

12...Nb6 White has an edge. 

13.b3 Bg4 14.h3 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 exd4 16.Qxd4 Qe5 17.Qe3 Nbd7 18.Rfe1 Re7 19.Qd2 Rae8 20.Nd5 Nxd5 21.cxd5 f5 [21...Qf6= 22.Bg2 b6] 

22.exf5!± [Don't play 22.Qxa5?! f4²] 

22...Qxe1+ [22...Qxf5± 23.Rxe7 Rxe7] 

23.Rxe1+- Rxe1+ 24.Kg2 Ra1 [24...b6 was necessary. 25.Qc3 Nc5] 

25.Qxa5 Ree1? [25...Rc1 26.Qb5 Nf6 27.Qxb7 Kf7] 

26.Qxc7 Ne5 [¹26...Nf6 27.a4 h6 28.Qxd6 Rg1+ 29.Kh2 Rgb1 30.Qe6+ Kh7] 

27.Qc8+ Kf7 28.Qe6+ Kf8 29.Qxd6+ Kg8 30.Qb8+ Kf7 31.Qxb7+ Kf6 32.d6 Intending Qe7+ and mate. 

32...Rh1 33.Qe7+ White mates. 

33...Kxf5 34.g4+ Kf4 35.Qf8+ Kg5 36.Qf5+ Kh4 37.Qh5# 1–0