Opening move at amateurs and challengers section (photo Sophie Triay)
Press release day 1: Unbelievably 2014 is already the 12th edition of the Gibraltar International Chess Festival sponsored by Tradewise. The Tradewise Chess Festival 2014 is the biggest tournament yet with some 70 Grandmasters from all over the world. The number of entries in the Amateur and Challenger events has also risen with a record high of around 130. Perhaps the most impressive figure is the number of different federations represented this year numbering 60 (see full participants list here)
The oldest competitor is George Ellison from England who is attending the festival for the first time. He is 81. Our youngest, Viviana Galván Cipriani, from Spain, is only 9.
There are players from Mongolia who have made the journey: our first ever participants from this nation. Six Chinese are taking part, including 14-year old Wei Yi, already ranked number ten in his country, as well as last year’s top female, Zhao Xue.
The 2013 champion, Nikita Vitiugov, whose exceptionally cool nerves under pressure led Grandmaster commentator Simon Williams to dub him the ‘Iceman’, also returns to the Rock, as does Nigel Short, who so nearly won again last year.
Michael Adams, UK number one and world number 13, will have his own ideas about the destination of the £20,000 top prize, as will Vassily Ivanchuk, from the Ukraine, who holds the Gibraltar record score of 9/10, set in 2011.
Former Russian women’s champion Natalia Pogonina, who has over 100,000 Twitter followers, makes her second visit. She tweeted favourably about Gibraltar recently.
As always the week will be jam packed with surprises always in a friendly, family atmosphere which has made the tournament unique in the world.
For all information, as well as live commentaries, Masterclasses, and interviews, the dedicated festival website, powered by Gibtelecom, is www.gibraltarchesscongress.com – well worth checking out on a daily basis.
Official website / Participants / Live games with analysis / Live games with analyisis (alternative) / Play free chess vs titled players on Chessdom Arena
The festival venue is the Caleta Hotel. The festival closes on Thursday, February 6th, with a banquet and prizegiving ceremony.
Challengers event started in Gibraltar
The 12th edition of the Gibraltar Tradewise International Chess Festival got off to a great start today at the Caleta Hotel. Replay all games with analysis here
Chess Grandmasters have travelled from all over the world to participate in this year’s festival which is sure to be the best yet. This year there are players from countries including China and Mongolia.
The good news is that the competition not only keeps on getting stronger each year but the numbers also keep on increasing.
2014 has seen a record number of entries in the Amateur and Challenger tournaments played each morning throughout the festival. This year in both the first and second week of the festival entries stand at around 130 players. Many from Spain, Portugal, Norway and of course Gibraltar.
The first move in the Amateur and Challenger tournaments which began today was carried out by two of the youngest members of staff at Gibteleco. Rachel Holgado a regulatory officer and Craig Lima, an apprentice. The young chess player is Irene Nicolas Zapata from Spain who recently won the silver medal in the under 16 category at the World Youth Championships.
The Masters tournament running simultaneously over the 10-day festival starts tomorrow Tuesday at 3pm.
Results round 1 Challengers
| Bo. | Name | Rtg | Result | Name | Rtg | ||
| 1 | WIM | Nicolas Zapata Irene | 2249 | 1 – 0 | Omoifo Osemekhian I | 2076 | |
| 2 | Festa Samuele | 2075 | 1 – 0 | Gajic Mladen | 2246 | ||
| 3 | Martinez Reyes Pedro Ramon | 2246 | 1 – 0 | Kozarcanin Sead | 2073 | ||
| 4 | Suez-Panama Gilles | 2071 | ½ – ½ | Gandrud Vegar Koi | 2242 | ||
| 5 | FM | Sanchez Botella Luis Javier | 2241 | 1 – 0 | Verneuil Pascal | 2065 | |
| 6 | Nejanky Maisa | 2040 | 0 – 1 | WIM | Congiu Mathilde | 2226 | |
| 7 | Galmandakh Badrakh | 2225 | 1 – 0 | Danielsen Magnus | 2030 | ||
| 8 | Isherwood Paul | 2020 | 0 – 1 | IM | Sanchez Castillo Sarai Caroli | 2219 | |
| 9 | CM | Rowe Duane | 2218 | 0 – 1 | Perdomo Araujo Angel Eduardo | 2018 | |
| 10 | Hamer Martyn | 2017 | 0 – 1 | Vea Odin Blikra | 2217 | ||
| 11 | Zvarik Martin | 2216 | 1 – 0 | Ungureanu Sandu | 2014 | ||
| 12 | Ellison D George | 2013 | 0 – 1 | Barrenechea Bahamonde Gustavo | 2208 | ||
| 13 | WGM | Dolzhikova Olga | 2203 | 1 – 0 | WFM | Dotan Valeria | 2012 |
| 14 | Olsen Miriam F | 1997 | 0 – 1 | Janev Pavel | 2203 | ||
| 15 | FM | Nikolaidis Konstantinos | 2185 | 1 – 0 | Reppen Ellisiv | 1995 | |
| 16 | Jacobsen Fredrik Beer | 1991 | 0 – 1 | Mihajlov Sebastian | 2185 | ||
| 17 | CM | Urbina Perez Juan Antonio | 2183 | 1 – 0 | WCM | Oliveira Maria Ines | 1986 |
| 18 | Adebajo Olufemi | 1979 | 0 – 1 | Kvisla Johannes Luangtep | 2154 | ||
| 19 | Vinas Guerrero Carlos A. | 2153 | ½ – ½ | Wynarczyk Raymond | 1973 | ||
| 20 | Lochte Szilvia | 1951 | 0 – 1 | Lercel Michal | 2150 | ||
| 21 | Byron Alan M | 2147 | 1 – 0 | Bucknell Malcolm Gordon | 1947 | ||
| 22 | FM | Andersen Daniel | 1941 | 0 – 1 | Faika Michael | 2147 | |
| 23 | Karlsson Jorgen | 2140 | 1 – 0 | Mortensen Henrik | 1938 | ||
| 24 | Krokay Urszula | 1926 | 0 – 1 | Allor Chukwuka | 2138 | ||
| 25 | Amgalanbaatar Ravdanlkhumbuu | 2137 | 1 – 0 | Jorgensen Line Jin | 1925 | ||
| 26 | Othman Mustapha | 1905 | 0 – 1 | Samu Sorin-Mihai | 2131 | ||
| 27 | Burrows Martin P | 2126 | 1 – 0 | Perez Cameselle Francisco | 1847 | ||
| 28 | Musi Dietmar | 1762 | 0 – 1 | Nicolas Zapata Javier | 2123 | ||
| 29 | Mihajlov Svetoslav | 2112 | 1 – 0 | Tarr Steve F | 1728 | ||
| 30 | Haddock Paul | 1649 | 0 – 1 | Pabalan Rocky | 2103 | ||
| 31 | Bhopal Raj | 2093 | 1 – 0 | Nja John-Olav | 1600 | ||
| 32 | Ladokun Kolawole Akinyemi | 0 | 0 – 1 | Hornell Colin | 2085 | ||
| 33 | FM | Kandic Milan | 2080 | 1 – 0 | Mqami Ibrahim | 0 | |
| 34 | Schouten Freek | 2069 | 0 – 1 | Galvan Jesus | 2241 | ||
| 35 | FM | Scharrer Patrick | 2220 | 0 – 1 | Nyland Thomas | 2047 | |
| 36 | FM | Pena Riasco Alexander | 2154 | 1 – 0 | Tortolero Cesar | 1952 | |
| 37 | Georgieva Emilia | 1933 | ½ – ½ | Rodriguez Alvarez Vidal | 2166 | ||
| 38 | Severijnen Arjon | 2147 | 1 – 0 | Sevillano Garcia Joaquin | 1923 | ||
| 39 | Becking Franz Josef | 1969 | 0 – 1 | Perez Garcia Alejandro | 2070 | ||
| 40 | Becham Khalid | 2122 | 1 – 0 | Oliveira Maria Alice Ramos Ma | 1466 | ||
| 41 | Amos Frank | 2089 | 0 | not paired | |||
| 42 | Tveten Per | 1584 | 0 | not paired | |||
| 43 | Fawole John Oyeyemi | 0 | ½ | not paired |
