TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR MASTERS 2018 – ROUND 2

Day 2 of the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters and the carnage continues. There are 276 players in the Masters section and already only 35 players remain with a 100% score. What is more telling is that only 5 of those players are seeded within the top 20, and 2 of the top 10 seeds still have a perfect score.

To give you an idea of how hard the top seeds need to work for their points, the last game of the day to finish was on table 2 where 3 seed Hikaru Nakamura ground out a win against Valentina Gunina in 136 moves. And we are talking a rating difference of just short of 300.

A look ahead to the draw for round 3, I will be paying extra attention to table 23 where 12 year old Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa (2515) faces 52 year old Nigel Short (2681).  

The pairings on the top boards for round 2 were as follows, with tournament points in brackets:

Blomqvist Erik (1) vs Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (1)

Nakamura Hikaru  (1) vs Gunina Valentina  (1)

Debashis Das (1) vs Navara David  (1)

Vitiugov Nikita (1) vs Gagare Shardul  (1)

Goryachkina Aleksandra (1) vs Ivanchuk Vassily  (1)

Duda Jan-Krzysztof  (1) vs Christiansen Johan-Sebastian (1)

Stefanova Antoaneta (1) vs Wang Hao (1)       

Here are some decisive games from round 2:

Adams,Michael (2709) - Suarez Gomez,Julio (2486)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (2), 24.01.2018

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Ngf3 cxd4 6.Bc4 Qd7 C07: French Tarrasch: 3...c5, 4 Ngf3 and 4 exd5 Qxd5 [6...Qd8 7.0–0 Nc6 8.Nb3 a6 9.Nbxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Qc7 11.Bd3 Nf6 12.Re1 Bd6 13.h3 0–0 14.Bg5 Be5 15.c3 h6 16.Nf3 Bxc3 1–0 (51) Mamedov,R (2709)-Le,Q (2737) Huaian 2017] 

7.Nb3 Nc6 8.Nbxd4 Nxd4 9.Nxd4 a6 10.Bf4 Ne7N [10...Bc5 11.Nb3 Qxd1+ 12.Rxd1 Bb6 13.Be2 Bd7 14.Nd2 Rc8 15.Nc4 Bc7 16.Bxc7 1/2–1/2 (16) Palac,M (2591)-Tratar,M (2477) Bol 2011] 

11.Qd2 Ng6 ...e5 is the strong threat. 

12.0–0–0 Bc5 [12...Nxf4= keeps the balance. 13.Qxf4 Bd6] 

13.Bg3 And now Qc3 would win. 

13...b5 14.Be2 Strongly threatening Qc3. 

14...0–0 15.Qc3 Qa7 16.Bf3! Bb7 17.Nxe6! fxe6 18.Rd7‚ White is out for blood. 

18...Bd4 19.Rxd4 Bxf3 20.gxf3 Rac8 21.Qe3 Qf7 ...e5 would now be nice for Black. 

22.Rd6 e5 [22...Nf4± might work better.] 

23.Rxa6+- Ra8 24.Rxa8 Rxa8 25.a3 b4 26.Qe4 Rc8 [¹26...Qf8 27.a4 (27.Bxe5 bxa3 28.b3 Nxe5²) 27...Rxa4] 

27.axb4 Qa2 Hoping for ...Qa1+. 

28.c3 Qa1+ [28...Rd8 keeps fighting. 29.Rg1 Kh8] 

29.Qb1 Rxc3+? [29...Qa8 30.Rd1 Rf8] 

30.bxc3 White is clearly winning. 

30...Qxc3+ 31.Kd1 Qxf3+ 32.Kd2 Qd5+ 33.Ke2  1–0

Stefanova,Antoaneta (2489) - Wang,Hao (2711)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (2), 24.01.2018

1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Nd2 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.Bg3 D00: Damenbauernspiele [6.Ngf3 Bd6 7.Bg3 0–0 8.Bb5 Be7 9.Bd3 b6 10.0–0 Bb7 11.h3 Bd6 12.Bh4 Be7 13.Qb1 h6 14.a3 Nh5 15.Bxe7 Qxe7 1/2–1/2 (64) Carlsen,M (2837)-Wang,H (2709) Riadh 2017] 

6...Be7 7.Bd3 c4 8.Bc2 Die Stellung ist ausgeglichen. 

8...b5 9.e4N [Vorgänger: 9.Ngf3 0–0 10.a3 a5 11.e4 dxe4 12.Nxe4 1–0 (44) Nurmi,R (1651)-McLaughlin,E (1681) ICCF email 2013] 

9...Bb7 10.e5 Nd7 11.f4 g6 12.Ne2 Nb6 13.0–0 a5 14.Nf3 b4 15.Qe1 b3 [15...a4=] 

16.axb3± cxb3 17.Bxb3 Ba6 18.Nd2 0–0 19.Rf3 a4 20.Bd1 [Doch nicht 20.Bxa4?! Bxe2 21.Bxc6 Rxa1=] 

20...Bb5 21.Nc1 Na5 22.Bc2 Rc8 23.Bf2 Rb8 24.Rh3 Nbc4 25.Nxc4 Bxc4 26.Rb1 [Bitte nicht 26.Rxa4?! Rxb2 27.Qd1 Qc7=] 

26...Nb3 27.Nd3 Ra8 [27...h5±] 

28.Nb4 [Lieber 28.g4+- ] 

28...Qb6 [28...Bxb4!² 29.cxb4 f5] 

29.Nd3? [29.Qe3!+- h5 30.Qg3] 

29...Rfb8? [29...Qd8!= und Schwarz steht sicher.] 

30.Bh4 Qd8 [30...Bxd3± 31.Bxd3 (31.Rxd3 Qd8±) 31...Qd8] 

31.Bxe7+- Qxe7 32.Nf2! h5 33.g4! hxg4? [33...a3] 

34.Nxg4 zielt auf Sf6+ ab. 

34...Kg7 35.Nf6 Beabsichtigt Th7+ und Matt. 

35...Rh8 36.Rg3 Rh6 37.f5 exf5 38.Bxf5 Ra6 39.Bc2 Rxf6 40.exf6+ Qxf6 41.Qe3 Bb5 42.Bd3 [¹42.Rf3 Qe6 43.Qxe6 fxe6 44.Re1] 

42...Qh4 43.Rg2 Bxd3 44.Qxd3 Qe4 45.Qf1 Na5 [¹45...Qe3+ 46.Qf2 Qxf2+ 47.Rxf2 Rh4] 

46.Re1 Qh4 47.Rf2 Qg4+ 48.Qg2 Qxg2+ 49.Kxg2 Endspiel KTT-KTS 

49...Nc4 50.Re7 Nd6 51.Ra7 Rh8 52.Ra5 Ne4 53.Rc2 Rd8 54.Rxa4 Weiß steht klar auf Gewinn. 

54...g5 55.Ra7 Kg6 56.b4 Nd6 57.Ra6 Kf5 58.Rf2+ Ke4 59.Rf6 Nb5 60.Rac6 Rd7 61.Kg3 Ra7 62.Rc5  1–0

Khotenashvili,Bela (2486) - Rapport,Richard (2700)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (2), 24.01.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Be7 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 E00: Catalan Bogo-Indian (3 g3 Bb4+) 

6...Ne4  [6...0–0 7.0–0 Nbd7 8.Qc2 c6 9.Bf4 b6 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.Rc1 Bb7 12.Qb3 Rc8 13.Rxc8 Qxc8 14.Nc3 Nh5 15.Bg5 Bxg5 16.Nxg5 Nhf6 17.e3 Qb8 18.Bf1 Rc8 1/2–1/2 (56) So,W (2788) -Karjakin,S (2760) London 2017] 

7.Nc3 c6 8.0–0 White has an edge. 

8...f5 9.e3N [9.Ne5 Nxc3 10.Bxc3 Nd7 11.cxd5 Nxe5 12.d6 Qxd6 13.dxe5 Qxd1 14.Raxd1 Bd7 1/2–1/2 (38) Inkiov,V (2500)-Clery,N (2319) Le Touquet 2001] 

9...Nd7 10.Qc2 0–0 11.Rab1 Qe8 12.b4 Nd6 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.a4 Kh8 15.Rfc1 Nb6 16.Ne5 Bd7 17.b5 a5 [17...Nbc4=] 

18.Ne2 [18.bxa6!± Rxa6 19.Bf1 (19.Nxd7 Qxd7 20.Bf1 Nbc4=) ] 

18...Ndc4= 19.Nxc4 Nxc4 20.Qa2 Rc8 21.Nf4 b6 22.Nd3 Bd6 23.Rc2 Qh5 24.Rbc1 g5 25.Ne5 Bxe5 26.dxe5 Be8 27.Qa1 f4 28.exf4 Strongly threatening Qd4. 

28...Bg6 29.Rc3 Rcd8 [29...Rce8² 30.Rxc4 dxc4] 

30.Be1? [White has to play 30.Rd1!± ] 

30...gxf4³ 31.Rb3  [31.gxf4³ Rxf4 32.f3] 

31...Ne3!–+ 32.Rxe3 [32.fxe3 is a better defense. 32...f3 33.Bf1 f2+ 34.Bxf2] 

32...fxe3 33.Qd4 exf2+ 34.Bxf2 34...Be4! 35.Rc6? [35.Rf1 was worth a try.; 35.Bxe4 dxe4] 

35...Rf3 36.Rxe6 Rd3 37.Qxb6 Rd1+! 38.Bf1 Rg8 ( -> ...Qf3) [Not 38...Rf8 39.Rf6³] 

39.Re7  [39.Rh6–+ Qxe5 40.Qf6+ Qxf6 41.Rxf6] 

39...Rxf1+! Black mates. 

40.Kxf1 Qd1+ 41.Be1 Rf8+ 42.Qf6+ Rxf6+ 43.exf6 Qd3+  0–1