TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR MASTERS 2018 – ROUND 9

On the top boards it was only Aronian that won in an interesting game where he moved his queen 6 times in the opening. This created even greater congestion at the top of the leader board.

Five players have 7/9 while an additional 14 are a half point back on 6.5. So, in theory 19 players have a shot at winning the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters in the final round.

All eyes will be on table 1 where Aronian will have White against Nakamura. In the past, Aronian has had White against Nakamura 21 times in classical games. Aronian leads that match up with 11 wins 8 draws and 2 losses.

Young Spanish talent Lance Henderson de la Fuente scored his first GM norm in round 9.

Nigel Short walked into a massive removing defender / king and knight fork against Valentina Gunina. See the annotated game at the end of the blog post and see 28.Rb8+! from Valentina Gunina forcing Nigel Short’s immediate resignation to save the blushes of his f4-knight!

Nino Batsiashvili secured her 3rd GM norm simply by turning up to Round 9! She was also poised to win the women only prize of GBP15000, but so much can still happen. She has 6/9 and a tiebreak score exactly equal to Pia Cramling. Valentina, Gunina who beat Nigel Short in round 9 is also on 6/9 but a lower tiebreak score. All three women are drawn to play stronger rated opponents in the final round.

The pairings on the top boards for round 9 were as follows, with tournament points in brackets:
Dubov Daniil (6.5) vs Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (6.5)

Nakamura Hikaru (6.5) vs Rapport Richard (6.5)

Aronian Levon (6) vs Sethuraman S.P. (6)

Howell David W L (6) vs Vitiugov Nikita (6)

Grandelius Nils (6) vs Wang Hao (6)

Gelfand Boris (6) vs Gupta Abhijeet (6)

Navara David (5.5) vs Oparin Grigoriy (6)

Le Quang Liem (5.5) vs Esipenko Andrey (5.5)

Duda Jan-Krzysztof (5.5) vs Grigoriants Sergey (5.5)

Moussard Jules (5.5) vs Adams Michael (5.5)

Michalik Peter (5.5) vs Cheparinov Ivan (5.5)

Perez Ponsa Federico (5.5) vs Sutovsky Emil (5.5)

  

Here are some decisive games from round 9:

Aronian,Levon (2797) - Sethuraman,S.P (2646)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (9), 31.01.2018

1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Bd7 6.Qxc4 A13: English Opening: 1...e6 

6...c5 7.Ne5 Qc8 8.Qd3 Nc6 9.Nxd7 Nxd7 10.Nc3N [10.Qb3 Be7 11.Nc3 0–0 12.0–0 Rd8 13.d3 Nb6 1/2–1/2 (31) Aronian,L (2799)-Ding, L (2777) Tbilisi 2017] 

10...Be7 11.Qb5 a6 12.Qa4 Nd4 13.0–0 [13.e3!? Nc6 14.Bxc6 bxc6 15.b3=] 

13...0–0 14.d3 Nb6 15.Qd1 Rd8 16.Bd2 Qd7 17.Rc1 Rac8 18.b3 h6 19.Kh1 Nd5 20.Nxd5 exd5 21.e3 Nc6 22.Qh5 Qd6 23.f4 a5 24.a4 Rb8 [24...b6=] 25.e4ƒ White is pushing. 

25...dxe4 26.Bxe4 b6 27.g4 Nd4 28.Bc3 f5 29.gxf5 Bf6 30.Rg1 And now Qxh6 would win. 

30...Re8? [30...Kh8²] 

31.Qxh6!+-  Hoping for Rxg7+! 

31...Rbd8 32.Rce1 Re7 [32...Qf8 was worth a try. 33.Qh5 Qf7] 

33.Re3  1–0

Harikrishna,P (2745) - Cawdery,Daniel (2446)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (9), 31.01.2018

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e3 Nc6 4.a3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Qc2 A25: English Opening vs King's Indian with ...Nc6 but without early d3 

6...Be6 [6...Be7 7.Nf3 0–0 8.b4 Nxc3 9.dxc3 Qd6 10.Bd3 f5 11.e4 f4 12.h3 a5 13.Bb2 Bf6 14.Rd1 Qe7 15.0–0 Be6 0–1 (38) Carlsen,M (2837)-Bu,X (2730) Riadh 2017] 

7.Nf3 a6 8.b4 Nxc3 9.dxc3 Be7 10.Bb2 Bf6N [10...0–0 11.c4 Bf6 12.Bd3 g6 13.Be4 Re8 14.0–0 1/2–1/2 (64) Shabalov,A (2534)-Bartholomew,J (2445) Wheeling 2012] 

11.Rd1 Qe7 12.Be2 0–0 13.0–0 g6 14.Nd2 Bg7 15.Ne4 Rad8 16.Nc5ƒ White fights for an advantage. 

16...Bc8 17.Bf3 Rd6 18.c4 Nd8 19.Rxd6 cxd6 20.Na4 Ne6 21.Nb6 White is better. 

21...Ng5 22.Bd5 Ne6 23.Rd1 Qc7 24.Nxc8 Qxc8 25.h3 Rd8 26.Rd2 Bf6 27.Qe4 Ng5 28.Qg4 1–0

Gunina,Valentina (2502) - Short,Nigel D (2681)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (9), 31.01.2018

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 g6 5.Be2 Bg7 6.c4 Nb6 7.exd6 cxd6 8.0–0 0–0 9.Bg5 Nc6 10.h3 Bf5 11.Nc3 h6 12.Be3 d5 13.c5 Nc4 14.Bc1 b6 B04: Alekhine's Defence: 4 Nf3 

15.b3 bxc5 16.bxc4  Be3 is the strong threat. 

16...cxd4 White has an edge. 

17.Nxd5 Hoping for Ba3. 

17...e6 18.Ba3 exd5 [18...Re8!= remains equal.] 

19.Bxf8± Kxf8 20.cxd5N [20.Rc1 Kg8 21.Bd3 Be6 22.Qa4 Ne5 23.Nxe5 Bxe5 24.f4 Bc7 25.c5 Qf6 26.Qc6 Qd8 27.Rce1 1–0 (27) Sermek,D (2565) -Reznicek,T (2315) Pardubice 1997] 

20...Qxd5  aiming for ...d3. 

21.Bd3! Nb4 [Black should try 21...Bd7 ] 

22.Bxf5 Qxf5 23.Rb1ƒ White has strong initiative. [23.Nxd4?! Qe4²] 

23...Nd3 24.Rb7 And now Qb1 would win. 

24...Kg8 [24...Nc5± 25.Rb5 (25.Nxd4 Qd5µ) 25...Rc8] 

25.Qb1+- Qd5 26.Rb5 [Resist 26.Rd1?! Nf4±] 

26...Qc4 [¹26...Nc5 27.Rc1 Bf8] 

27.Rd1 Nf4? [27...a6] 

28.Rb8+ 1–0

Ivanchuk,Vassily (2726) - Lei,Tingjie (2531)

Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2018 Caleta (9), 31.01.2018

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.exd5 Qxd5 7.N2f3 Be7  C07: French Tarrasch: 3...c5, 4 Ngf3 and 4 exd5 Qxd5 [7...Nc6 8.Nxc6 Qxc6 9.Bd3 a6 10.0–0 Bd6 11.b3 b5 12.a4 b4 13.Bb5 axb5 14.axb5 Bxh2+ 15.Nxh2 1–0 (27) Efimenko,Z (2682)-Ivanov,S (2551) Dagomys 2009] 

8.Bd3N [ 8.Be2 0–0 9.0–0 Rd8 10.Nb5 Qc5 11.Bd3 Nc6 12.Be3 Qh5 13.Nfd4 Qxd1 14.Rfxd1 Nd5 15.Nxc6 bxc6 1/2–1/2 (63) Ebeling,D (2350)-Illingworth,M (2360) Istanbul 2012] 

8...e5 9.Nb5! 0–0 The position is equal. 

10.0–0 e4! 11.Nc3! Qc6 12.Nd4 Qb6 13.Bxe4 Rd8 14.Be3 Qxb2 15.Qd3 Na6 16.Rab1 Qa3 With the idea ...Nc5. 

17.Bf3 [17.Bxb7? Bxb7 18.Rxb7 Nc5–+] 

17...Nb4 18.Qc4 aiming for Ndb5. 

18...Bd7 19.Ncb5 Qa5 20.Bf4  Hoping for Bc7. 

20...Bxb5 [20...Rac8!? 21.Bc7 Bxb5 22.Nxb5 b6=] 

21.Nxb5 Bc7 is the strong threat. 

21...Nbd5 22.Bg3ƒ Black is under pressure. 

22...Rac8 23.Qb3 a6 24.Na7 Rc3 25.Qxb7  Strongly threatening Nc6. 

25...Qc5 26.a4 h6 [26...Rd7!= remains equal. 27.Qa8+ Rd8] 

27.Qxa6± Rxc2 28.Nb5 Nb4 [28...Qc4!²] 

29.Qb7 Rd7 30.Qb8+ Rd8 31.Qc7 Rc8 [31...Rdd2± was necessary.] 

32.Qxc5+- Bxc5 33.Nd6 Rf8 34.Rfc1 White has a decisive advantage. 

34...Rxc1+ 35.Rxc1 Bb6 36.h3 Rd8  1–0