TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR MASTERS 2018 – ROUND 5

Defending champion Nakamura scored again with Black, Catching Duda with a “snap mate” out of a Dragon Sicilian.

David Howell won to book a place opposite the super motivated Nakamura in round 6. Besides Howell, it is only Antipov that is still within half a point of the lead.

The pairings on the top boards for round 5 were as follows, with tournament points in brackets:
Duda Jan-Krzysztof  (3,5) vs Nakamura Hikaru  (4)

Gledura Benjamin (3,5) vs Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (3,5)

Howell David W L (3,5) vs Svane Rasmus  (3,5)

Sutovsky Emil (3,5) vs Antipov Mikhail Al.  (3,5)

Moussard Jules (3,5) vs Saric Ivan  (3,5)

Navara David  (3) vs Esipenko Andrey (3,5)

Aronian Levon (3) vs Huzman Alexander  (3)

Harikrishna P. (3) vs Grigoriants Sergey   (3)

Le Quang Liem  (3) vs Deac Bogdan-Daniel (3)

Peralta Fernando  (3) vs Vitiugov Nikita  (3)

  

Here are some decisive games from round 5:

Duda,Jan-Krzysztof (2724) - Nakamura,Hikaru (2781)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (5), 27.01.2018

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0–0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0–0–0 d5 10.Qe1 e5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.exd5 Nxd5 13.Bc4 Be6 14.Kb1 B76: Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack, 9 g4 and 9 0–0–0 

14...Rb8 [14...Re8 15.h4 Qc7 16.Nxd5 cxd5 17.Bxd5 Bxd5 18.Rxd5 e4 19.fxe4 Rxe4 20.Qd2 Bxb2 21.Kxb2 Qb7+ 1/2–1/2 (54) Navara,D (2735) -Edouard,R (2641) Drancy 2016] 

15.Ne4 Qc7 16.Bc5 Rfd8 17.g4 h6 18.h4 f5 19.gxf5 gxf5 20.Ng3 Qf7 21.Bb3 Rd7 22.Ne2N Rbd8 23.h5 Kh7 24.Qa5 Nf4 25.Rxd7 Rxd7 [25...Qxd7² 26.Nc3 Bf6] 

26.Nxf4± exf4 27.Qe1 Bd5 28.Bb4 [28.Qh4²] 

28...c5= 29.Bxd5? [Better is 29.Bxc5= Qf6 30.c3 Bxf3 31.Rg1] 

29...Qxd5µ 30.Ba3 Qxf3 31.Bxc5 Rb7 32.b3 Qd5‚ White is in trouble. 

33.Ba3? [33.Bf2 was the crucial defense.] 

33...Qd4–+ 34.c3 Qd3+ 35.Kb2 f3 36.Bc5? [36.Rh2] 

36...f2! 37.Bxf2 37...Re7! ( -> ...Re2+) 

38.Qxe7 Qxc3+ 39.Ka3 Qa5#  0–1

Howell,David W L (2682) - Svane,Rasmus (2595)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (5), 27.01.2018

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bd3 Bd6 6.Qe2+ Be7 C01: French: Exchange Variation [6...Be6 7.c4 0–0 8.c5 Be7 9.0–0 Bg4 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Qxf3 Nc6 12.Be3 Nb4 13.Bf5 g6 14.a3 1/2–1/2 (109) Andreikin,D (2712)-Wang,H (2709) Huaian 2017] 

7.0–0 0–0 8.Re1 Nc6 The position is equal. 

9.c3 Re8 10.Bg5 Bg4 11.h3N [11.Nbd2 h6 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.Qf1 Qd6 14.Rxe8+ Rxe8 1/2–1/2 (40) Mchedlishvili,M (2609)-Peralta,F (2587) Linares 2016] 

11...Bh5 12.Nbd2 a6 13.Qf1 Bg6 14.Re3 Nh5 15.Rae1 Qd7 16.Bxe7 Rxe7 17.Rxe7 Nxe7 18.Ne5 Qd6 19.Ndf3 Nf4 20.Nxg6 hxg6 21.Bc2 Qf6 22.h4 Nf5 23.g3 Black must now prevent Bxf5. 

23...Ne6 24.Qd3 Nd6 25.Ne5 Nf8 26.Ng4 Qd8! 27.Kg2 Qd7 28.Qf3ƒ White is really pushing. 

28...Re8 [¹28...c6] 

29.Ne5!± Qb5 30.b3 [30.b4+-] 

30...Qa5!² 31.a4 c6! 32.h5 gxh5! 33.Qxh5 Strongly threatening Rh1. 

33...f6? [33...Re6!²] 

34.Nc4 Qc7 35.Rxe8 Nxe8 36.Qxe8 dxc4 37.bxc4 Qd7? [37...Qd6 38.Bf5 g6] 

38.Qxd7+- White is clearly winning. 

38...Nxd7 39.c5 b5 [¹39...a5 40.Bf5 Nb8] 

40.Bf5 Nb8 41.a5  1–0

Ivanchuk,Vassily (2726) - Baron,Tal (2548)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (5), 27.01.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 c5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bg2 cxd4 6.Nxd4 0–0 7.Nc2 Nc6 8.Nc3 d6 9.Bd2 A38: Symmetrical English vs ...g6: 4 Bg2 Bg7 5 Nf3 Nf6 

9...Rb8N [9...Be6 10.Ne3 Qd7 11.h3 Rab8 12.a4 a6 13.Rb1 Nd4 14.Ncd5 b5 15.cxb5 Nxd5 16.Nxd5 axb5 0–1 (49) Bartholomew,J (2451)-Stukopin,A (2558) Brownsville 2016] 

10.b3 Qd7 11.Rc1 White is slightly better. 

11...b6 12.0–0 Bb7 13.e4 a6 14.Qe2 Rfc8 15.Rfd1 Ba8 16.h3 Na7 [16...Qd8²] 

17.Nb4 a5 18.Nbd5 Re8 19.Be3 Qd8 20.f4 Nd7 21.Bf2 Bc6 22.Kh2 Nc5 [Black should play 22...e6 ] 

23.e5ƒ White is in control. 

23...dxe5 24.fxe5 Ba8? [#] [24...Qc8± is a better defense. 25.Nxb6 Rxb6] 

25.e6! Bxd5 [¹25...f5 26.Nf6+ Bxf6; 25...Nxe6 26.Nxb6] 

26.Rxd5 [Less strong is 26.Nxd5 Nxe6 27.Nf6+ Bxf6±] 

26...Qc7? [26...Qc8 27.exf7+ Kxf7 28.Bxc5 bxc5] 

27.Bxc5+- bxc5 28.Rd7 1–0