TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR MASTERS 2018 – ROUND 6

The top 5 boards all drew in round 6, so Nakamura maintains his lead going into round 7. Aronian won and once again starts getting back up to the top tables.

The last game to finish of round 6 was the epic battle between GM Danyyil Dvirnyy and GM Kenny Solomon. By move 51 when Solomon erred with h4 the Italian GM has a clear winning position. What’s more, the South African GM was down to only a minute on his clock by move 60.  However,  GM Danyyil Dvirnyy couldn’t find the killer blow in a R+B+P vs R+P ending, even with Kenny Solomon’s severe time trouble. In the end it was Solomon that forced an exchange of pawns on move 74 and securing the draw by the 50 move rule. Unsurprisingly Kenny Solomon asked not to be paired for round 7 immediately after the game. I would have too. Defending over 60 moves with a single minute on the clock.

The pairings on the top boards for round 5 were as follows, with tournament points in brackets:
Nakamura Hikaru  (5) vs Howell David W L (4,5)

Antipov Mikhail Al.  (4,5) vs Harikrishna P. (4)

Gupta Abhijeet (4) vs Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (4)

Gledura Benjamin (4) vs Navara David  (4)

Vitiugov Nikita  (4) vs Vocaturo Daniele (4)

Sandipan Chanda (4) vs Ivanchuk Vassily (4)

Narayanan S. L. (4) vs Wang Hao (4)

Henderson De La Fuente L  (4) vs Rapport Richard  (4)

Cheparinov Ivan (4) vs Ju Wenjun (4)

Dubov Daniil  (4) vs Moussard Jules  (4)

Saric Ivan  (4) vs Batsiashvili Nino  (4)

Gagare Shardul  (4) vs Aronian Levon  (3.5)

  

Here are some decisive games from round 6:

Sandipan,Chanda (2579) - Ivanchuk,Vassily (2726)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (6), 28.01.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 c5 5.Nge2 cxd4 6.exd4 d5 7.c5 Ne4 8.Bd2 Nxd2 9.Qxd2 a5 10.a3 Bxc3 11.Nxc3 a4  E42: Nimzo-Indian: Rubinstein: 4...c5 5 Ne2 

12.Nxa4N [12.Bb5+= keeps the balance. 12...Bd7 13.Bd3; 12.Rc1 0–0 13.Be2 Bd7 14.0–0 Nc6 15.Bd1 Ne7 16.Na2 Qa5 17.Qxa5 Rxa5 18.Bc2 Bb5 19.Rfe1 1/2–1/2 (31) Le,Q (2697)-Vitiugov,N (2725) Baku 2015] 

12...Rxa4µ 13.Bb5+ Bd7 Black is better. 

14.Bxa4 Bxa4 15.Qb4 Qd7 16.0–0 Qb5 [Black should try 16...0–0µ 17.Qc3 Nc6] 

17.b3!= Qxb4 18.axb4 Bb5! 19.Ra7! Bxf1 20.Rxb7 Nc6 21.Kxf1 And now b5 would win. 

21...0–0? [21...Rf8!= and Black has nothing to worry.] 

22.b5+- Na5  [Reject 22...Nxd4?! 23.c6±] 23.Rc7! 1–0

Gagare,Shardul (2494) - Aronian,Levon (2797)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (6), 28.01.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 0–0 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 d6 E11: Bogo-Indian 

7.Qc2 [7.Be2 c5 8.d5 e5 9.Qc2 Nbd7 10.Nf1 a6 11.Bd2 Nh5 12.g3 g6 13.Ne3 Ng7 14.Bd3 1/2–1/2 (35) Ding,L (2774)-Carlsen,M (2837) Saint Louis 2017] 

7...Nfd7 

8.Be2 e5 The position is equal. 

9.b3N [9.Nb1 Nc6 10.Be3 exd4 11.Nxd4 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 Bf6 13.Bxf6 Nxf6 14.Nc3 0–1 (44) Sumets,A (2583)-Riff,J (2499) Berlin 2015] 

9...exd4 10.Nxd4 Ne5 11.f4 Nbc6 12.Nxc6 [12.Bb2!? Nxd4 13.Bxd4=] 

12...Nxc6 13.Nf3 Bf6 14.Ra2 Nd4 15.Qd3 Ne6 16.Be3 b6 17.0–0 Bb7 18.Qb1 Nc5 19.e5 dxe5 20.fxe5 Be7 21.Rd2 Qe8 22.Rd5 f5 23.b4 Ne6 24.Rfd1 Qg6 25.Qb3 Rae8 26.Kh1 Kh8 27.Qd3 h6 28.Bf1 Bg5 29.Qd2 Re7 30.Qf2 Bxe3 31.Qxe3 Bxd5 32.cxd5 Ng5 33.Nxg5 Qxg5 34.Qxg5 [¹34.Qc3] 

34...hxg5µ Endgame KRR-KRB 

35.d6 Rxe5 [Much less strong is 35...cxd6 36.exd6 Re3 37.Bb5–+] 

36.d7 [36.dxc7 keeps fighting. 36...Rc8 37.Rd8+ Re8 38.Rd7] 

36...Rd8–+ 37.Kg1 c6 38.Ba6 Rd5 39.Rc1 [¹39.Rxd5 cxd5 40.Bb5] 

39...R8xd7 Black is clearly winning. 

40.Rxc6 Kh7 41.h3 g6 42.a4 Rd4 43.Bc4 g4 44.hxg4 Rxg4 45.a5 Rd2 46.Bf1 Rd1 47.Rc7+ Kh6  0–1

Saric,Ivan (2664) - Batsiashvili,Nino (2504)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (6), 28.01.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.0–0 Bd7 6.c4 Nf6 7.Nc3 Bg4 C72: Ruy Lopez: Deferred Steinitz: 5 0–0 [7...Be7 8.Bxc6 Bxc6 9.Qc2 0–0 10.d4 exd4 11.Nxd4 Nd7 12.b3 Bf6 13.Nxc6 bxc6 14.Bb2 Re8 15.Rad1 1–0 (80) Areshchenko,A (2652)-Demchenko,A (2645) Tbilisi 2017] 

8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Nd7 The position is equal. 

10.Qg3 Nd4N [10...g5 11.d3 Be7 12.Nd5 h6 13.Be3 Nf6 14.d4 Nh5 15.Qf3 Nf4 16.dxe5 dxe5 17.Rfd1 Qc8 18.Bxf4 gxf4 19.Qh5 1–0 (19) Schreiber,K-Sutkus,R ICCF corr 1980] 

11.f4 White wants to play fxe5. 

11...c6 12.d3 Qb6 Hoping for ...Ne2+. 

13.Be3 [13.Kh1±] 

13...0–0–0 [13...Qxb2= 14.Rac1  14...Qxc3! 15.Rxc3 Ne2+ 16.Kf2 Nxg3 17.Kxg3 Be7] 

14.Rab1ƒ White has strong initiative. 

14...Nc5 [14...g6± might work better.] 

15.b4+- Nxd3? [15...Nxa4 16.Nxa4 Qc7] 

16.fxe5 dxe5 17.Rxf7 h5? [17...c5 18.Nd5 Rxd5 19.Qg4+ Qe6] 

18.Kh1 Bxb4 19.a3 a5 20.axb4 axb4 21.Bc2! Nf4 [21...Nxc2 22.Bxb6] 

22.Ra1  1–0

Adams,Michael (2709) - Christiansen,Johan-Sebastian (2492)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (6), 28.01.2018

1.c4 e5 2.g3 c6 3.Nf3 e4 4.Nd4 d5 5.cxd5 Qxd5 6.Nc2 A20: English Opening: 1...e5 

6...Nf6 7.Nc3 Qe5 [7...Qh5 8.Ne3 Bc5 9.Qc2 Qe5 10.Bg2 Bxe3 11.fxe3 Bf5 12.b4 0–0 13.Bb2 1–0 (41) Aronian,L (2801)-Papaioannou,I (2652) Heraklio 2017] 

8.Bg2 White has an edge. 

8...Bc5 9.b4N [9.Ne3 0–0 10.Qc2 Bxe3 11.fxe3 Bf5 12.0–0 Nbd7 13.b3 1/2–1/2 (20) Sebastian, D (2441)-Naumann,A (2563) Germany 2017] 

9...Bd6 10.Bb2 aiming for Nxe4. 

10...Qe7 11.0–0 Bf5 12.d3 exd3 13.exd3 0–0 14.Re1 Qd8 15.Ne4ƒ White is pushing. 

15...Be7 16.Qf3 Bg6 [16...Bd7²] 

17.Nxf6+± Bxf6 18.Bxf6 Qxf6 19.Qxf6 gxf6 20.Re7! Bxd3 21.Ne1 Bc4 [¹21...Bf5] 

22.Rxb7 a5 23.a3 axb4 24.Rxb4 Bd5 25.Bxd5 cxd5 26.Rb6 Rd8 27.Rxf6 Kg7 28.Rb6 Nd7 29.Rb5 Ne5 30.a4 Ra7 31.Nc2 Nc4 32.Nd4 Rda8 33.Rb4 Ra6 34.Nb5 Rb6 [34...Rc8± was necessary. 35.Rd1 Rc5] 

35.Rd1+- Rba6 36.Nc3 [Don't play 36.Rxd5?! Rxa4 37.Rxa4 Rxa4±] 

36...Nb6 37.Rdd4 h6 38.Kg2 R8a7 39.Rg4+ Kf8 40.Rh4 Kg7 41.Rbg4+ Kh7 42.Rf4  Threatens to win with Rf6. 

42...Kg7 43.Rhg4+ Kh7 44.Rf6 h5 45.Rb4  1–0