Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival sees surprises at the start
Most top seeded players off to a good start
One of the top international open chess events, Gibraltar Festival 2011, is already underway. The opening ceremony (photos and report here) concluded with a draw of colors by the top seeded Vassily Ivanchuk and (Miss Gibraltar Larissa Dalli which determined the first board to start with black.
Follow the live games with analysis
This year there are 52 Grandmasters playing in the Open Masters with 298 players from 46 countries. The top five seeds in the men’s are: Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Michael Adams (England), Fabiano Caruana (Italy), Paco Vallejo (Spain) and Victor Bologan (Moldova). In the women they are: Tatiana Kosintseva (Russia), Nadezhda Kosintseva (Russia), Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia), Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria), Viktorija Cmilyte (Lithuania).
With such a large field present, surprises in the first rounds are always to be expected. The first 9 tables won their games convincingly and the first major shakeup came by IM Justin Sarkar (USA), who held to a draw the Indian top Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna.
Norwegian players FM Nicolai Getz and FM Espen Forsaa were also successful at the start of the campaign – FM Getz drew with one of the top Israel players GM Mikhalevski, while FM Forsaa won against GM Damian Lemos.
Other surprising results included:
IM Eesha Karavade (IND) – GM Gawain Jones (ENG) 1/2-1/2
FM Toms Kantans (LAT) – GM Ikonnikov (RUS) 1/2 – 1/2
IM Leon Piasetski (CAN) – GM Jean-Pierre Le Roux (FRA) 1-0
FM Tom Weber (LUX) – GM Alexandr Fier (BRA) 1-0
WGM Calzetta Ruiz Monica (ESP) – Ray Robson (USA) 1-0
GM Meelis Kanep (EST) – FM Konstantinos Nikolaidis (GRE) 1/2-1/2
GM Alexis Cabrera (ESP) – FM Joao Avalos Parra (CHI) 0-1
Jaunooby Ali R (ENG) – IM Irina Krush (USA) 1/2-1/2
Round 2 is today at 15:00 CET, follow the games live here
Round 2 top table pairings
1 GM Ivanchuk Vassily – GM Lafuente Pablo
2 GM Dzagnidze Nana – GM Adams Michael
3 GM Caruana Fabiano – GM Korchnoi Viktor
4 GM Stefanova Antoaneta – GM Vallejo Pons Francisco
5 GM Bologan Viktor – GM Sengupta Deep
6 GM Rapport Richard – GM Onischuk Alexander
7 GM Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter – GM Hoffmann Michael
8 GM Cmilyte Viktorija – GM Georgiev Kiril
9 GM Cramling Pia – GM Short Nigel
Round 1 all results
1 IM Mullon Jean-Baptiste 0 – 1 GM Ivanchuk Vassily
2 GM Adams Michael 1 – 0 IM Monroy Charles
3 IM Nezad Husein Aziz 0 – 1 GM Caruana Fabiano
4 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 1 – 0 IM Melia Salome
5 IM Vernay Clovis 0 – 1 GM Bologan Viktor
6 GM Onischuk Alexander 1 – 0 IM Gaponenko Inna
7 IM Fernandez Romero Ernesto 0 – 1 GM Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter
8 GM Georgiev Kiril 1 – 0 GM Zhukova Natalia
9 IM Sarkar Justin ½ – ½ GM Harikrishna Pentala
10 GM Short Nigel D 1 – 0 IM Slavin Alexei
11 FM Stokke Kjetil 0 – 1 GM Fridman Daniel
12 GM Roiz Michael 1 – 0 IM Boskovic Drasko
13 FM Andersen Mads 0 – 1 GM Sandipan Chanda
14 GM Edouard Romain 1 – 0 IM Wohl Aleksandar H
15 GM Bellon Lopez Juan Manuel ½ – ½ GM Iordachescu Viorel
16 GM Berg Emanuel 1 – 0 IM Thomassen Joachim
17 IM Karim Ismael 0 – 1 GM Akobian Varuzhan
18 GM Kotronias Vasilios 1 – 0 IM Bellin Robert
19 IM Cummings David H 0 – 1 GM Gopal Geetha Narayanan
20 GM Erdos Viktor 1 – 0 FM Jones Richard S
21 IM Karavade Eesha ½ – ½ GM Jones Gawain C B
22 GM Felgaer Ruben 1 – 0 IM Peek Marcel
23 FM Kantans Toms ½ – ½ GM Ikonnikov Vyacheslav
24 GM Andersson Ulf 1 – 0 FM Zaremba Andrie
25 FM Getz Nicolai ½ – ½ GM Mikhalevski Victor
26 GM Kulaots Kaido 1 – 0 IM Kolbus Dietmar
27 FM Dittmar Peter 0 – 1 GM Buhmann Rainer
28 GM Fier Alexandr 0 – 1 FM Weber Tom
29 IM Estrada Nieto Julian 0 – 1 GM Kosintseva Tatiana
30 GM Lafuente Pablo 1 – 0 FM Bergstrom Rolf
31 FM Forsaa Espen 1 – 0 GM Lemos Damian
32 IM Kosintseva Nadezhda 1 – 0 Wahlbom Magnus
33 IM Piasetski Leon 1 – 0 GM Le Roux Jean-Pierre
34 GM Dzagnidze Nana 1 – 0 Nuri Kambez
35 Tate Alan 0 – 1 GM Stefanova Antoaneta
36 GM Korchnoi Viktor 1 – 0 Stebbings Anthony J
37 WGM Calzetta Ruiz Monica 1 – 0 GM Robson Ray
38 GM Kanep Meelis ½ – ½ FM Nikolaidis Konstantinos
39 FM Garcia Jimenez Francisco Javie 0 – 1 GM Rapport Richard
40 GM Sengupta Deep 1 – 0 Malmdin Nils-Ake
41 Sipila Vilka 0 – 1 GM Cmilyte Viktorija
42 GM Speelman Jon S ½ – ½ Montero Melendez Rafael
43 FM Sanchez Louis ½ – ½ IM Harika Dronavalli
44 GM Cabrera Alexis 0 – 1 FM Avalos Parra Joao
45 Chapman Terry P D 0 – 1 GM Cramling Pia
46 GM Hoffmann Michael 1 – 0 Daurelle Herve
47 Henriksson Johan 0 – 1 GM Gallagher Joseph G
48 GM El Debs Felipe De Cresce 1 – 0 Meskovs Nikita
49 FM Andreasen Per 0 – 1 GM Zhu Chen
50 IM Zatonskih Anna 1 – 0 Spence David J
51 Zygouris Hristos 0 – 1 GM Al-Sayed Mohammed
52 GM Soffer Ram 1 – 0 FM Vogel Jaap
53 Jaunooby Ali R ½ – ½ IM Krush Irina
54 IM Das Arghyadip 1 – 0 Byron Alan M
55 Valgmae Toomas ½ – ½ WGM Pogonina Natalija
56 CM Urbina Perez Juan Antonio 1 – 0 Flores Chico Jorge
57 Shepherd Michael 0 – 1 FM Dougherty Michael
58 Aerni Andi 1 – 0 Cebada Benitez Fernando
59 Khachatourian Yerazik 0 – 1 FM Lacrosse Marc
60 Tscharotschkin Michael 1 – 0 Phillips Owen S
61 Sigamoney Cyril S ½ – ½ Arnott Jonathan W
62 Lochte Thomas 1 – 0 Costello Colin A
63 Lundback Karl 0 – 1 Seyfried Claus
64 Groffen Hans 1 – 0 De Lillo Michele
65 Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 0 – 1 Daoudi Kamal
66 Vaarala Eric 1 – 0 Valhondo Morales Ruben
67 Hauge Lars Oskar 0 – 1 Kandic Milan
68 CM Osuna Vega Enrique 1 – 0 Garcia de Lomas Guerrero Carlo
69 Bihi Mehdi 0 – 1 Tozer Philip A A
70 Daumen Michael 1 – 0 Henrichsen Jens
71 Brown David ½ – ½ Lipecki Alexander
72 FM Hvenekilde Jorgen 1 – 0 Helin Mikael
73 Georgieva Emilia 0 – 1 Vinas Guerrero Carlos A
74 WIM Steil-Antoni Fiona 1 – 0 Leimeister Winfried
75 Messam-Sparks Lateefah ½ – ½ Carlsten Peter
76 Collier David O 1 – 0 Moreno Cervera Jose Luis
77 Boesch Heinz 0 – 1 Dasaolu Adeoye
78 Havik Victor 1 – 0 Kuehnast Volker
79 Wright Jonathan 0 – 1 Wheldon Philip
80 Tari Aryan ½ – ½ Birkestrand Odd
81 Perez Reisler Jose 1 – 0 Suez-Panama Gilles
82 Navarrete Espi Samuel 1 – 0 Jorgensen Line Jin
83 Martinez Gonzalez Francisco Ii ½ – ½ Sreeves Clement
84 Freuler Roman 1 – 0 Winkler Stefan
85 Zaky Tamir ½ – ½ Bous Florian
86 WFM Itkis Hana ½ – ½ Gillespie Gary
87 WFM Reid Vaness 0 – 1 Schweizer Manfred
88 Montabord Manuel 1 – 0 Matto Manuel
89 Salomon Johan 0 – 1 Mckenna Jason P
90 Fairbairn Stephen 1 – 0 Lee Kai Jie Edward
91 Gonzalez Amaya Millan 0 – 1 Henderikse Bert
92 Scholzen Wolfgang 1 – 0 Hegvik Leif Trygve
93 Bishop Peter 0 – 1 Jameson David
94 Compton Alistair 1 – 0 Gholami Armin
95 Rough Robert E 0 – 1 Hamer Martyn
96 WFM Wilson Alexandra 1 – 0 Forsa Elise
97 Neumanova Monika 0 – 1 Becker Thomas
98 Becking Franz Josef 1 – 0 Kuenitz Klaus
99 Stene Vegard ½ – ½ Memarian Milad
100 Haga Halvor 1 – 0 Veiga Rodriguez Pablo
101 Berggren Klas 1 – 0 Zanetti Bruno
102 Lochte Szilvia 1 – 0 Kelly Paul
103 Fogg Martin ½ – ½ Obiamiwe Paul
104 Fomani Mehdi ½ – ½ Grainger Benjamin
105 Whatley Stephen 0 – 1 Spanton Tim R
106 Bauder Herbert ½ – ½ Eman Lennart
107 Ungureanu Sandu 0 – 1 Knudsen Jes West
108 IM Bellaiche Anthony 1 – 0 Tabatt Hendrik
109 Oberhofer Andre 0 – 1 IM Battaglini Gabriel
110 FM Jaime Montalvan Luis Felipe 0 – 1 Marder Simon
111 FM Illner Achim Dr 1 – 0 Sommerhalder Eric
112 Szuper Paul 0 – 1 FM Lasinskas Povilas
The girls are hot.
Ray Robson needs some help!