Tuesday 31 January 2012
Today the 17 year-old Chinese Women’s World Champion
Hou Yifan played against the highest rated woman
player of all time, Judit Polgar, from Hungary. They
had never played against each other before, indeed
not even taken part in the same section of a
tournament.
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Hou Yifan (CHN) meets Judit Polgar (HUN)
in an historic clash |
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Today there was a visit to the congress by His
Excellency, the Governor of Gibraltar, Sir Adrian
Johns. He has been other years, but this visit in
particular celebrates the 10th Gibraltar
Chess Festival.
Today, of the 8 players in the lead there were 6
from the British Commonwealth, 3 English and 3
Indian. Thus this could be the round that decides
the destination of the £5000 special prize being
awarded to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
Today, for the first time in 10 years I was
persuaded this evening to go for dinner to Spain.
When I returned to the Caleta Hotel, three games
were still in progress. In fact 4 games exceeded 100
moves. Should we really be subjecting people to such
exquisite torture? The alternatives are often even
less palatable; such as adjournments, quickplay
finishes or time controls that don’t give a player
time to think.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE v Parimarjan Negi IND
Although this game rapidly petered out into a draw,
it had a great deal of chess in its brief life.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nb6
6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Be3 0–0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0–0–0 Qd6 10.Nb5 Qd7
11.f4 Qe6 12.Nc3 Rd8 13.Nf3 Nc4 14.Qe2 (Instead,
after 14 d5 White would stand somewhat better.)
14...Nxe3 15.Qxe3 Nb4 16.b3 Qb6 17.a3 Nc6 18.Na4 Qa5
19.d5 Nb8 (Although Black is behind in
development, he is ahead in attacking potential.)
20.Qc5 Qxc5+ 21.Nxc5 c6 22.Bc4 b6 23.dxc6 Rxd1+
24.Rxd1 Nxc6 25.Bd5 Bg4 26.Bxc6 Rc8 (A most
ingenious series of moves to establish equality.)
27.Kb1 bxc5 28.Bd5 Bxf3 29.gxf3 Bh6 30.f5 gxf5 ½–½
Michael Adams ENG v David Howell ENG
A mere 115 moves, for much of which David had a
theoretically drawn position. But he was in time
trouble for what must have seemed like a lifetime.
Michael is a specialist at eking out small pluses.
110…Bb3 rather than 110...Be8 was the losing
blunder.
Krishnan Sasikiran IND v G N Gopal IND
Initially this was a quiet game without much going
on. It then erupted into a most unusual unbalanced
position where White had Queen and 2 Pawns for
Bishop, Knight and Rook. Both players said they
didn’t know what was going on. But Fritz initially
felt the position was equal and later that White had
about a one pawn advantage. Heterogeneous positions
are notoriously difficult to assess.
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7
6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 0–0 8.0–0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Bd3 Bb7
11.e4 e5 12.Rd1 Qc7 13.h3 a6 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Nxe5
Bxe5 16.a4 Rac8 17.Be3 Rfe8 18.Rac1 c5 19.axb5 c4
20.bxa6 cxd3 21.Qxd3 Ba8 22.Nd5
22...Nxd5 23.Rxc7 Nxc7 24.f3 Bxb2 25.a7 Ne6
26.Qb5 Bf6 27.Kh1 h6 28.Rc1 Rxc1+ 29.Bxc1 Rd8 30.Be3
Nd4 31.Qa6 Nc6 32.f4 Be7 33.Bb6 Re8 34.Qd3 Rf8
35.Qd7 Bb4 36.Kh2 h5 37.e5 h4 38.e6 fxe6 39.Qxe6+
Kh8 40.Qd5 Be1 41.Kg1 Bg3 ½–½
Nigel Short ENG v Nana Dzagnidze GEO
The game suddenly erupted into one that was hard to
evaluate, although White seemed to stand better.
Although White was a pawn up late in the game, this
was a negligible advantage in the bishops of
opposite colour endgame.
Zoltan Almasi HUN v Alberto David LUX
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7
6.Be3 a6 7.Qd2 Nf6 8.0–0–0 Bb4 9.f3 Ne5 10.Nb3 b5
11.Qe1 Rb8 12.Qg3 0–0 13.Bd4 Bd6 14.Qf2 Be7 15.g4 d6
16.g5 Nfd7 17.f4 Nc4 18.Rg1 b4
19.Rd3!? (Computers are notoriously
materialistic so Fritz thinks Black stood much
better after this sacrifice. This game wasn’t on the
live feed so Simon was unable to commentate on this
encounter. Thus I am left alone with this wonderful
game.) 19...bxc3 20.Rxc3 d5 21.exd5 (Is this
best? It lets the Bc8 cover kingside entry points.
21 f5, Qh4 or Rg4 can be considered.) 21...exd5
22.Rh3 Nc5 23.Rxh7! (Wow. This second sac has
the computer's blessing.) 23...Kxh7 24.Qh4+ Kg6
(24...Kg8 25 Bxg7 and White is better.)
25.Be2 (25 Bxg7 has the considerable merit of
ensuring at least equality.) 25...Rh8 26.Qxh8
Nxb3+ 27.axb3 Qxf4+ 28.Kb1 Nd2+ 29.Ka2 Qxd4 30.Qh5+
Kf5 31.Qxf7+ Bf6 32.gxf6
32...g5 (32... Qxg1 was better. The mate
threat on b1 gives Black hope. But over the board
could you bring yourself to allow the king to be so
exposed?) 33.Qh7+ Kf4 34.Rd1 (34 Qc7+ Qe5 35
Qxe5+ is OK.) 34...Ke3 (I doubt that would
have occurred to me. But anyway I would have been
mated long go. 34...Qc5 holds the position
together.) 35.Bd3 (35 Bh5 is better.)
35...Qb4 (35...Qc5 covering c7 and f8 is much
better.) 36.Re1+ Kf3 (I was hoping the king
would reach the other side.) 37.Qc7 Qh4 38.f7 Bf5
39.Rf1+ 1–0 (Worthy of a ‘Most Exciting Game'
Prize.)
Liem Le Quang VIE v Tamir Nabaty ISR
Black got himself in a tangle on the queenside and
never recovered.
Ruben Felgaer ARG Sergei Movsesian CZE
White went wrong in the early middlegame and never
recovered.
El Debs Felipe De Cresce BRA v Viktor Bologan MLD
Neither player seemed to play with much ambition
until late in the game which is well worthy of
inspection.
Saleh Salem UAE v Varuzhan Akobian USA
This
seemed a well-fought game where both sides played
accurately.
Thus
Michael Adams became the lone leader with 6/7 and is
the only person who can score as much as 9/10. Nigel
Short commented that last year Vassily Ivanchuk
scored 9/10 and he 8½/10. But we were aware then of
what extraordinary results these were.
Photos:
Zeljka Malobabic
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