Short and Kosintseva analyze their match
Gibraltar chess tournament continues with full power. It is a great joy to see such an important event maintaining its presence and continuing growing on the international chess market and at the same time increasing in strength and participation.
Three rounds into the tournament Nigel Short (England), Nadezhda Kosintseva (Russia), Victoria Cmilyte (Lithuania), and Deep Sengupta (India) are leaders with 3,0/3. The latest round did not see many decisive games, but still the fighting spirit was present on the boards.
Nigel Short came into the commentary room after his game to give a blow by blow account of what happened. Tatiana Kosintseva also joined. Replay the game with computer analysis and their own annotations below.
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1.d4 “I’m old enough to play 1 d4! When I was a teenager, I told myself I would start playing 1 d4 when I was thirty but it didn’t happen. It has now happened in my forties.” (Nigel Short, in the commentary room) 1…Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Qb3 “What Capablanca used to play,” said Nigel after the game. “It reduces Black’s options. I’ve actually done a lot of work on this. I’m not really an amateur as I claim!” 7…c5 8.a3 Bxc3+ 9.Qxc3 c4 10.Qe3+ Qe7 11.Qxe7+ Kxe7 12.a4 Nigel told us he had written in his opening preparation notes that this was not the most precise move. 13.Bc1! This move tournament commentator Simon Williams craftily made use of in one of his key encounters in the team blitz event later the same evening! 13…a5 Black hopes to target the a4 pawn with Nb6 and Bd7. 14.b3 A novelty by Nigel, who told us his ‘Greek neighbour’ Stelios Halkias had played it. 14…cxb3 15.Nd2 b6 15…Nb6 is better here, was Nigel’s verdict. 16.Ba3+ Kd8 17.e3 Ba6 18.Bxa6 Rxa6 19.Rb1 “I thought I played very well in this game, he said immodestly,” joked Nigel. The problem is Black’s queenside pawn structure and the weak d-pawn. 19…Ra8 20.Rxb3 Rc8 21.f3 Re8 22.Ke2 Rc6 23.Rc1 Rxc1 24.Bxc1 Re6 24…Nh5!? might be better, thought Nigel, with the idea of …f5. 25.Kd3 Ne8 26.e4 26.Nb1 f5 again restrains the e4 push. 26…Nc7 27.Ba3 Rc6 27…b5 28.axb5 Rb6 and simply 29.exd5 Rxb5 30.Rxb5 Nxb5 31.Bc5 is much better for White. 28.Nb1 On its way to b5. 28…dxe4+ 29.fxe4 Rf6 30.Rb2
30.Nc3 Rf2 31.Rb2 Rxb2 32.Bxb2 is an unpleasant endgame for Black but Nigel thought he had the better rook in the position, so kept it on. 30…Rf1 31.Nc3 Ne6 32.Bd6 f6 33.Rc2 Protecting the knight and preparing to enter with the king. 33…Re1 34.Bg3 Ra1 35.Kc4
Nigel thought Black was just lost here. 35…Nc7 36.Bxc7+ Kxc7 37.Kd5 Nf8 38.Nb5 Kd8 39.Rc7 Rxa4 40.Rxg7 Ra2 40…Rb4 might have been better, to tempt White into the blunder 41.Na7?? Rxd4+! but Nigel was ready for that. 41.Kd6 Re2 42.Rb7 Kc8 43.Rxb6 1–0
Replay all games with computer analysis here
Emanuel Berg versus Victoria Cmilyte was an engrossing game. The consensus in the commentary room was that 22 Qe4 was much better than Rxf8ch. After that the Swede’s position slowly went downhill and eventually the strong female grandmaster from Lithuania joined Nigel in the lead with 3/3. Though he lost, Emanuel sportingly visited the commentary room to share some thoughts about the game.
Two others have reached maximum points, Nadezhda Kosintseva, sister of Tatiana, and Deep Sengupta of India. Deep tied for first place in the Hastings Masters very recently. Whilst musing on topics for this bulletin, I asked co-reporter Stewart Reuben whether he thought the Indian grandmaster might perhaps have been named in honour of the IBM computer which famously defeated Garry Kasparov in a match some years. Stewart refuted my fanciful notion by pointing out that Deep Sengupta would have been eight years old at the time of the match. I fear he is right though I confess to being a trifle disappointed.
Anyway, returning to the subject, there are two men and two women in the lead. The Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Congress has the deliberate policy of encouraging leading women to take part here. There is no doubt this has had a positive effect on the number of strong women players worldwide. Incidentally, those of us Brits who have been away from our newspapers and TV screens for a few days have only just become aware that there has been a big scandal in the UK about well-known TV football commentators who have made disparaging remarks about female officials involved in their sport, resulting in them being sacked. Of course, we chess commentators would never do such a thoughtless and insensitive thing (he wrote, fingering his one-year contract nervously). Perhaps the muddied oafs and blinkered pundits of the round-ball game can learn something from the world of chess, where women have acted as chief arbiters at Olympiads and nobody thinks it remotely unusual.
Women to the fore
It was a particularly good day for the women players. As well as Victoria Cmilyte’s and Nadezhda Kosintseva’s wins against higher-rated GMs, Irina Krush beat former world championship finalist Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Nana Dzagnidze beat Juan-Manuel Bellón and Monica Calzetta beat Jean-Pierre Le Roux – which was incidentally Monica’s second GM scalp and Jean-Pierre’s second disaster against a lower-rated opponent. It wasn’t all one-way traffic, however, with former women’s world champion Antoaneta Stefanova falling victim to a much lower rated amateur player, Francisco Javier García Jiménez of Spain. Regrettably most of the women’s wins were rather long and technical, whereas this Spanish amateur’s win against Antoaneta was brisk and entertaining. We cannot resist appending the moves.
1.e4 g6 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.d3 Rb8 6.Be3 d6 7.Qd2 b5 8.Nge2 b4 9.Nd1 Qb6 10.0–0 e6 11.a3 a5 12.axb4 axb4 13.h3 h6 14.c3 Nge7 15.Re1 Na5 16.Nc1 Nec6 17.f4 0–0 18.f5 Risky but the big plus point is that White is attacking the place where the black king lives. 18…exf5 19.Bxh6 c4+ 20.d4 bxc3 21.bxc3 Bxh6 22.Qxh6 Nxd4 Who could resist? 23.cxd4 Qxd4+ 24.Ne3 Qxa1?? There was still a chance for Black to see the error of her ways and play 24…f4! when 25.Rxa5 Qd2! 26.Rh5! Qxe1+ 27.Nf1 gxh5 leads to a draw by perpetual check. 25.Nd5! Threatening mate with Ne7. 25…Qe5
25…Re8 fails to 26.e5! and suddenly the unstoppable threat is Nf6 mate. 26.exf5!! Having just given up one rook, White now gives up a second rook, this time with check. 26…Qxe1+ 27.Kh2 f6 27…Qe5 28.f6! wins. 28.Qxg6+ Kh8 29.Nxf6 Rxf6 There is nothing else. 30.Qxf6+ Kh7 31.Qg6+ Kh8 32.Qh6+ 1–0
Tonight the teams of four blitz championship took place. Congress Director GM Stuart Conquest said that he could not remember any event elsewhere that attracts so many leading players in the evening after a hard day’s chess. The winners (sporting a bizarre team name of interest only to themselves) were GMs Berg, Jones, Williams and IM Jack Rudd. They were not the strongest team on paper (which was GMs Bologan, Onischuk, Zhukova and IM Gaponenko). So the English contingent can already celebrate a triumph at the congress – well, very nearly – I make it 2.25 cheers for England and of course 0.75 of a cheer for Sweden. Check that on a calculator if you don’t believe me.
Report and annotations by John Saunders and Alice Mascarenhas
Official website: www.gibraltarchesscongress.com
Results round 3
1 GM Felgaer Ruben ½ – ½ GM Ivanchuk Vassily
2 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco ½ – ½ GM Buhmann Rainer
3 GM Short Nigel D 1 – 0 GM Kosintseva Tatiana
4 GM Kulaots Kaido ½ – ½ GM Fridman Daniel
5 GM Roiz Michael ½ – ½ GM Rapport Richard
6 IM Kosintseva Nadezhda 1 – 0 GM Sandipan Chanda
7 GM Berg Emanuel 0 – 1 GM Cmilyte Viktorija
8 GM Korchnoi Viktor ½ – ½ GM Akobian Varuzhan
9 GM Kotronias Vasilios ½ – ½ GM Zhu Chen
10 GM Sengupta Deep 1 – 0 GM Gopal Geetha Narayanan
11 GM Erdos Viktor ½ – ½ FM Weber Tom
12 GM Adams Michael 1 – 0 IM Harika Dronavalli
13 GM Speelman Jon S 0 – 1 GM Sasikiran Krishnan
14 IM Krush Irina 1 – 0 GM Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter
15 GM Hoffmann Michael 0 – 1 GM Harikrishna Pentala
16 IM Sarkar Justin ½ – ½ GM Ikonnikov Vyacheslav
17 GM Bellon Lopez Juan Manuel 0 – 1 GM Dzagnidze Nana
18 GM Kanep Meelis ½ – ½ WGM Pogonina Natalija
19 Tabatt Hendrik 0 – 1 GM Caruana Fabiano
20 FM Zaremba Andrie 0 – 1 GM Bologan Viktor
21 GM Onischuk Alexander 1 – 0 FM Bergstrom Rolf
22 GM Georgiev Kiril 1 – 0 FM Forsaa Espen
23 GM Edouard Romain ½ – ½ Wahlbom Magnus
24 IM Estrada Nieto Julian 0 – 1 GM Kacheishvili Giorgi
25 IM Piasetski Leon 0 – 1 GM Mikhalevski Victor
26 Nuri Kambez 0 – 1 GM Lemos Damian
27 GM Lafuente Pablo 1 – 0 Stebbings Anthony J
28 WGM Calzetta Ruiz Monica 1 – 0 GM Le Roux Jean-Pierre
29 FM Garcia Jimenez Francisco Javie 1 – 0 GM Stefanova Antoaneta
30 Malmdin Nils-Ake 0 – 1 GM Robson Ray
31 Oberhofer Andre 1 – 0 GM Cramling Pia
32 Sipila Vilka ½ – ½ GM Gallagher Joseph G
33 GM El Debs Felipe De Cresce 1 – 0 FM Avalos Parra Joao
34 IM Zatonskih Anna 1 – 0 Daurelle Herve
35 Henriksson Johan 0 – 1 GM Al-Sayed Mohammed
36 GM Soffer Ram 1 – 0 Meskovs Nikita
37 FM Andreasen Per ½ – ½ IM Das Arghyadip
38 IM Bellaiche Anthony ½ – ½ Spence David J
39 IM Fernandez Romero Ernesto 1 – 0 FM Dougherty Michael
40 Zygouris Hristos 0 – 1 IM Melia Salome
41 CM Urbina Perez Juan Antonio ½ – ½ GM Zhukova Natalia
42 Tscharotschkin Michael ½ – ½ IM Battaglini Gabriel
43 IM Mullon Jean-Baptiste 1 – 0 Arnott Jonathan W
44 IM Nezad Husein Aziz 1 – 0 Seyfried Claus
45 Vaarala Eric 1 – 0 IM Slavin Alexei
46 FM Stokke Kjetil ½ – ½ Lipecki Alexander
47 Carlsten Peter 0 – 1 IM Boskovic Drasko
48 FM Andersen Mads 1 – 0 Dasaolu Adeoye
49 Tari Aryan 0 – 1 IM Wohl Aleksandar H
50 Navarrete Espi Samuel 0 – 1 IM Thomassen Joachim
51 IM Karim Ismael ½ – ½ Sreeves Clement
52 Bous Florian 0 – 1 IM Bellin Robert
53 IM Cummings David H 1 – 0 Schweizer Manfred
54 WFM Itkis Hana 0 – 1 FM Jones Richard S
55 IM Karavade Eesha 1 – 0 Hamer Martyn
56 Fairbairn Stephen 0 – 1 FM Illner Achim Dr
57 FM Kantans Toms 1 – 0 Obiamiwe Paul
58 Freuler Roman 0 – 1 GM Iordachescu Viorel
59 Montabord Manuel 0 – 1 GM Jones Gawain C B
60 GM Fier Alexandr 1 – 0 Suez-Panama Gilles
61 GM Cabrera Alexis 1 – 0 Mckenna Jason P
62 Scholzen Wolfgang 0 – 1 IM Gaponenko Inna
63 IM Vernay Clovis 1 – 0 Henderikse Bert
64 Compton Alistair ½ – ½ IM Monroy Charles
65 IM Vaibhav Suri 1 – 0 Jameson David
66 WFM Wilson Alexandra 0 – 1 IM Peek Marcel
67 FM Getz Nicolai 1 – 0 Becking Franz Josef
68 Haga Halvor 0 – 1 IM Kolbus Dietmar
69 FM Dittmar Peter 1 – 0 Memarian Milad
70 Tate Alan 1 – 0 Zanetti Bruno
71 Lochte Szilvia 0 – 1 FM Nikolaidis Konstantinos
72 Fomani Mehdi 1 – 0 Montero Melendez Rafael
73 FM Sanchez Louis 1 – 0 Spanton Tim R
74 Chapman Terry P D ½ – ½ Knudsen Jes West
75 Vea Odin Blikra ½ – ½ Sommerhalder Eric
76 Bauder Herbert 0 – 1 FM Vogel Jaap
77 Jaunooby Ali R 1 – 0 Cebada Benitez Fernando
78 Valgmae Toomas 1 – 0 Marder Simon
79 Aerni Andi 1 – 0 Costello Colin A
80 Shepherd Michael 0 – 1 FM Lacrosse Marc
81 Szuper Paul 1 – 0 De Lillo Michele
82 Lochte Thomas ½ – ½ Valhondo Morales Ruben
83 Groffen Hans ½ – ½ Henrichsen Jens
84 Khachatourian Yerazik 0 – 1 FM Lasinskas Povilas
85 Hauge Lars Oskar ½ – ½ Becker Thomas
86 Kuehnast Volker 0 – 1 Daoudi Kamal
87 Perez Reisler Jose 0 – 1 Kandic Milan
88 CM Osuna Vega Enrique ½ – ½ Leimeister Winfried
89 Zaky Tamir 0 – 1 Tozer Philip A A
90 Daumen Michael 1 – 0 Hegvik Leif Trygve
91 FM Hvenekilde Jorgen ½ – ½ Gholami Armin
92 WIM Steil-Antoni Fiona 0 – 1 Kelly Paul
93 Collier David O 1 – 0 Grainger Benjamin
94 Havik Victor 1 – 0 Eman Lennart
95 Berggren Klas 0 – 1 Wheldon Philip
96 Byron Alan M 1 – 0 Neumanova Monika
97 Martinez Gonzalez Francisco Ii 0 – 1 Flores Chico Jorge
98 Winkler Stefan 0 – 1 Phillips Owen S
99 Sigamoney Cyril S 0 – 1 Gillespie Gary
100 Bihi Mehdi ½ – ½ Salomon Johan
101 Siddiqui Nida ½ – ½ Brown David
102 Stene Vegard 1 – 0 Helin Mikael
103 Messam-Sparks Lateefah 1 – 0 Kuenitz Klaus
104 Fogg Martin ½ – ½ Moreno Cervera Jose Luis
105 Ungureanu Sandu 1 – 0 Birkestrand Odd
106 Lundback Karl 1 – 0 Matto Manuel
107 Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 0 – 1 Lee Kai Jie Edward
108 Gonzalez Amaya Millan 0 – 1 Garcia de Lomas Guerrero Carlo
109 Georgieva Emilia 1 – 0 Bishop Peter
110 Boesch Heinz 1 – 0 Rough Robert E
111 Wright Jonathan ½ – ½ Forsa Elise
112 Veiga Rodriguez Pablo 0 – 1 Jorgensen Line Jin
113 WFM Reid Vaness 1 – 0 Whatley Stephen
Standings
1 GM Cmilyte Viktorija LTU 3
2 GM Sengupta Deep IND 3
3 GM Short Nigel D ENG 3
4 IM Kosintseva Nadezhda RUS 3
5 GM Korchnoi Viktor SUI 2.5
6 GM Rapport Richard HUN 2.5
7 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco ESP 2.5
8 GM Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2.5
9 GM Adams Michael ENG 2.5
10 GM Fridman Daniel GER 2.5
11 GM Zhu Chen QAT 2.5
12 FM Weber Tom LUX 2.5
13 GM Felgaer Ruben ARG 2.5
14 GM Roiz Michael ISR 2.5
15 GM Dzagnidze Nana GEO 2.5
16 GM Akobian Varuzhan USA 2.5
17 GM Harikrishna Pentala IND 2.5
18 GM Kotronias Vasilios GRE 2.5
19 GM Buhmann Rainer GER 2.5
20 GM Kulaots Kaido EST 2.5
21 IM Krush Irina USA 2.5
22 GM Erdos Viktor HUN 2.5
23 Vaarala Eric SWE 2.5
24 GM Sasikiran Krishnan IND 2.5
25 IM Sarkar Justin USA 2
26 WGM Calzetta Ruiz Monica ESP 2
27 GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2
28 GM Berg Emanuel SWE 2
29 GM Lafuente Pablo ARG 2
30 GM Gopal Geetha Narayanan IND 2
31 GM Bologan Viktor MDA 2
32 GM Caruana Fabiano ITA 2
33 GM Onischuk Alexander USA 2
34 GM Georgiev Kiril BUL 2
35 IM Karavade Eesha IND 2
36 FM Kantans Toms LAT 2
37 GM Kosintseva Tatiana RUS 2
38 GM El Debs Felipe De Cresce BRA 2
39 FM Garcia Jimenez Francisco Javie ESP 2
40 IM Zatonskih Anna USA 2
41 IM Mullon Jean-Baptiste FRA 2
42 GM Ikonnikov Vyacheslav RUS 2
43 GM Al-Sayed Mohammed QAT 2
44 IM Melia Salome GEO 2
45 GM Soffer Ram ISR 2
46 IM Nezad Husein Aziz QAT 2
47 IM Fernandez Romero Ernesto ESP 2
48 GM Kanep Meelis EST 2
49 Oberhofer Andre GER 2
50 GM Mikhalevski Victor ISR 2
51 WGM Pogonina Natalija RUS 2
52 Tscharotschkin Michael GER 2
53 FM Andersen Mads DEN 2
54 IM Boskovic Drasko SRB 2
55 IM Wohl Aleksandar H AUS 2
56 IM Thomassen Joachim NOR 2
57 GM Lemos Damian ARG 2
58 IM Bellin Robert ENG 2
59 IM Cummings David H CAN 2
60 FM Jones Richard S WLS 2
61 GM Robson Ray USA 2
62 FM Illner Achim Dr GER 2
63 FM Lasinskas Povilas LTU 2
64 Aerni Andi SUI 2
65 FM Lacrosse Marc BEL 2
66 Lipecki Alexander SUI 2
67 Daoudi Kamal MAR 2
68 Kandic Milan SRB 2
69 Tozer Philip A A ENG 2
70 Daumen Michael GER 2
71 Sreeves Clement SCO 2
72 Collier David O ENG 2
73 Kelly Paul WLS 2
74 Szuper Paul USA 2
75 Wheldon Philip ENG 2
76 Havik Victor NOR 2
77 Fomani Mehdi ESP 2
78 GM Kacheishvili Giorgi GEO 2
79 GM Bellon Lopez Juan Manuel ESP 1.5
80 GM Hoffmann Michael GER 1.5
81 GM Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter ROU 1.5
82 GM Speelman Jon S ENG 1.5
83 Wahlbom Magnus SWE 1.5
84 GM Edouard Romain FRA 1.5
85 IM Harika Dronavalli IND 1.5
86 FM Getz Nicolai NOR 1.5
87 IM Bellaiche Anthony FRA 1.5
88 GM Gallagher Joseph G SUI 1.5
89 Sipila Vilka FIN 1.5
90 FM Nikolaidis Konstantinos GRE 1.5
91 FM Vogel Jaap NED 1.5
92 IM Battaglini Gabriel FRA 1.5
93 IM Das Arghyadip IND 1.5
94 GM Zhukova Natalia UKR 1.5
95 Valgmae Toomas EST 1.5
96 FM Sanchez Louis FRA 1.5
97 CM Urbina Perez Juan Antonio ESP 1.5
98 FM Andreasen Per DEN 1.5
99 FM Dougherty Michael CAN 1.5
100 Jaunooby Ali R ENG 1.5
101 FM Stokke Kjetil NOR 1.5
102 IM Gaponenko Inna UKR 1.5
103 IM Vernay Clovis FRA 1.5
104 GM Iordachescu Viorel MDA 1.5
105 IM Karim Ismael MAR 1.5
106 Seyfried Claus GER 1.5
107 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 1.5
108 IM Peek Marcel NED 1.5
109 FM Dittmar Peter GER 1.5
110 IM Kolbus Dietmar GER 1.5
111 Tate Alan SCO 1.5
112 Navarrete Espi Samuel ESP 1.5
113 Dasaolu Adeoye ENG 1.5
114 GM Fier Alexandr BRA 1.5
115 Fairbairn Stephen CAN 1.5
116 Compton Alistair NZL 1.5
117 GM Cabrera Alexis ESP 1.5
118 Schweizer Manfred GER 1.5
119 Knudsen Jes West DEN 1.5
120 Sommerhalder Eric SUI 1.5
121 Spence David J ENG 1.5
122 Lochte Thomas GER 1.5
123 Hamer Martyn ENG 1.5
124 Groffen Hans NED 1.5
125 Arnott Jonathan W ENG 1.5
126 CM Osuna Vega Enrique ESP 1.5
127 Carlsten Peter SWE 1.5
128 Gillespie Gary SCO 1.5
129 Tari Aryan NOR 1.5
130 Gholami Armin NOR 1.5
131 FM Hvenekilde Jorgen DEN 1.5
132 WFM Itkis Hana USA 1.5
133 Becker Thomas GER 1.5
134 Valhondo Morales Ruben ESP 1.5
135 Hauge Lars Oskar NOR 1.5
136 Bous Florian GER 1.5
137 Stene Vegard NOR 1.5
138 Flores Chico Jorge ESP 1.5
139 Messam-Sparks Lateefah ENG 1.5
140 Phillips Owen S ENG 1.5
141 Obiamiwe Paul NGR 1.5
142 Leimeister Winfried GER 1.5
143 Henrichsen Jens DEN 1.5
144 Ungureanu Sandu ROU 1.5
145 IM Vaibhav Suri IND 1.5
146 Vinas Guerrero Carlos A ESP 1.5
147 FM Forsaa Espen NOR 1
148 IM Piasetski Leon CAN 1
149 FM Avalos Parra Joao CHI 1
150 FM Zaremba Andrie USA 1
