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.
Official website / Live games / Live games with statistics/ Play online chess
The opening ceremony took place yesterday evening on The Rock. Special guest was Miss Gibraltar Shyanne Azzopardi. The 23 year old brunette, a teaching assistant and zumba instructor, conducted the drawing of lots. The top seeded Veselin Topalov will have the white pieces and will start against the FIDE Master from Spain Emilio Miguel Sanchez Jerez. The top US player Hikaru Nakamura will have black against WGM Jovana Vojinovic. Scroll down for the full pairings of round 1.
The tournament organizer Stuart Conquest helping Miss Gibraltar with the drawing of lots for Hikaru Nakamura (photo John Saunders)
I am surprised that Nakamura’s opponents even bother to show up. Well, I guess maybe they think that they can somehow get better by basking in his aura.
Rated 2300. This boy is in the wrong group. Naka will laughingly toy with him. Boring.
your naka would like to get his ratings up by playing weaker player
Ha ha ha. Nakamura vs WGM 2300. He chooses to play here to avoid facing Wesley So, the #1 US player. Whatta disgrace.