The Gibraltar Chess Festival 2015 is going to take place 26 January – 5 February in the Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar. The long traditions of the festival, the fantastic organization, and the hefty 175 000 pounds prize fund have attracted many of the top world grandmasters.
Veselin Topalov, whose current ELO is exactly 2800 (making him world number 3 on FIDE’s January list), will be the highest rated player ever to take part in Gibraltar. His main opponents from the 2700 club include Hikaru Nakamura, Peter Svidler, Nikita Vitiugov, Dmitry Jakovenko, Pentala Harikrishna, Yu Yangyi, and Richard Rapport.
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Last year’s winner Ivan Cheparinov is 10th seeded, right after Maxim Matlakov and ahead of Maxim Rodshtein.
Hou Yifan, the reigning Women’s World Chess Champion, the youngest ever to win the title, as well as the youngest female player ever to qualify for the title of Grandmaster, is seeded 13th in Gibraltar. She will be joined by several compatriots including Wey Yi (currently playing Tata Challengers), Ju Wenjun, Guo Qi, and Xu Jun.
England will be represented by Gawain Jones, David Howell, Nigel Short, Jovanka Houska, Robert Bellin, Lawrence Trent, andNigel Povah among many others in the Challengers and Amateur sections.
USA will be aiming for the top positions with a mix of young and experienced players. Besides the second seeded Nakamura, Gribraltar 2015 will have Varuzhan Akobian, Daniel Naroditsky, Alexandr Lenderman, Kayden Troff, Irina Krush, James Tarjan, and John Watson.
Gibraltar Chess Festival 2015 – participants Masters (top seeds)
Title Country Rating
1 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2800
2 Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2776
3 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2739
4 Vitiugov, Nikita g RUS 2735
5 Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2733
6 Harikrishna, Pentala g IND 2727
7 Yu, Yangyi g CHN 2724
8 Rapport, Richard g HUN 2716
9 Matlakov, Maxim g RUS 2695
10 Cheparinov, Ivan g BUL 2681
11 Rodshtein, Maxim g ISR 2680
12 Wei, Yi g CHN 2675
13 Hou, Yifan g CHN 2673
14 Jones, Gawain C B g ENG 2671
15 Howell, David W L g ENG 2670
Nakamura is not afraid to play in Open tournament.
Nakamura surfaces in a not too very strong tourney. Have succeeded avoiding the likes of Carlsen, Caruana, So, Giri et al. Chicken.
Nakamura is the best player in this line up. Ignore Topalov’s rating. He will win this convincingly.
Naka will prove to the whole world that he is really the best player in the world by winning this tournament handily.
Wish Carlsen, Caruana, Giri and Wesley are playing here cause I want to see these patzies beg for mercy when they face the talented great GM Nakamura.
Naka has rested and ready to smashed all the great pretenders in chess. Do you copy that Wesley, Fabiano.
Nakamura will annihilate all these players here. He will just toy with these beggars.
Nakamura hasn’t had good results lately. He’s even been overtaken by So in the live ratings. He must make good in this tournament to somehow boost his sagging image.
Wow. No rest at all for Hou. Back-to-back tournaments. Burnout City ahead ?
This is what Nakamura’s strategy is. Play in a tournament with a so so players to boost his ratings. Remember the one on one games with Navarra?? He padded his rating by 7 points after that match. No balls.
Nakamura won’t win this, l would be surprised, if he comes in 3rd ! He better stick to playing bullet&blitz on the net, that even may come to an end. Maybe if he changes over to the Japanese chess federation, will be playing board #1, for at least next 50yrs without looking over his shoulder !