Gibraltar round 1 report

2012 TRADEWISE GIBRALTAR CHESS FESTIVAL

Monday 23 January – Thursday 2 February 2012

PRESS RELEASE – 25 January 2012

Tuesday 24 January 2012 report by Stewart Reuben

Monday evening there was the usual very pleasant ceremony to start the congress fully. The Minister for Sports, Leisure, Culture and Heritage Steven Linares was introduced by Stuart Conquest and then made a short speech. Miss Gibraltar, Michelle Pedersen, then did the Drawing of Lots for the first round in the Masters. This is a somewhat more elaborate affair than in most other countries. There then followed a buffet laid on by the Caleta Hotel with their customary hospitality. The highlight of the subsequent evening in the bar was Maria Jose Rescaglio Yarur, who plays in the Amateur, singing, accompanying herself on a stringed instrument.

Continuing on that theme, Tuesday evening there was a dinner at the official residence – the Convent – of His Excellency, the Governor of Gibraltar to mark the 10th anniversary of the festival. It became clear why he is referred to as His Excellency, when he gave a most polished speech.

Tuesday morning I found myself in the not-unusual role as filler in the second round of the Challengers. This was the first time I had ever played in a rating restricted tournament. We believe people mostly come to the event to play chess, not to secure a win by default. You may have noticed one of our arbiters, Priscilla Morris, has already played two games in Amateur A.

Several people over the years have come to the congress despite being in very poor health. Daniel Yarur of Chile suffered an extremely bad skiing accident one year. He said one of the most important things that gave him the will to get better was that he couldn’t miss the Gibraltar Congress. One of the players this year had pneumonia. He said that he felt he had to come as he couldn’t let Brian Callaghan down. Eric Schiller is in very poor physical health. That he has come from California is a triumph of will.

This year there are 256 in the Masters. 59 people played in the first event in 2003 and 232 last year. There are 60 federations represented, including Gibraltar, which is regarded as part of England in FIDE. Thus more federations than there were players at the inaugural event.

Due to the Accelerated Pairings, many of the top players had to face opponents over 2400 in the first round. As Nigel Short said, ‘it is hardly surprising that we didn’t find it easy’. Tennis legend Pat Cash made an interesting comment concerning this very subject and the Australian Open. He said seeding 32 players out of 128 protects the stronger players too much and leads to uninteresting first rounds.

It is tempting to look only at the big upsets in the first round. I have been bribed by the Swedes to say that Alexei Shirov LAT 2710 was under siege in his game against Patrik Lyrberg 2435. Emil Sutovsky ISR 2703 played rather wildly against air-traffic controller Craig Hanley ENG 2421. Jovanka Houska ENG 2414 defended well against Peter Svidler RUS 2749. 17…Nc4 was a star move. But she eventually buckled under pressure.

Svidler, Peter (2749) – Houska, Jovanka (2414) [A00]
Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2012, 24.01.2012

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Nd7 6.0–0 Ne7 7.Nbd2 Nc8 8.c3 Be7 9.Ne1 Bg6 10.Nd3 c5 11.Nf4 cxd4 12.cxd4 Ncb6 13.Nxg6 hxg6 14.Bd3 Rc8 15.Qe2 Nb8 16.f4 Nc6 17.Nf3 [diagram] 17… Nc4 18.b3 Na3 19.Bb2 Qb6 20.Rac1 a6 21.g4 Kd7 22.Kh1 Nb5 23.f5 gxf5 24.gxf5 Nb4 25.Bb1 Rxc1 26.Rxc1 Rc8 27.Rxc8 Kxc8 28.Qg2 exf5 29.Bxf5+ Kb8 30.Qxg7 Nxa2 31.Qxf7 Qd8 32.Qh7 Nac3 33.h4 Ne2 34.h5 Bg5 35.Bd3 Nbc3 36.Bxc3 Nxc3 37.Qg7 Be7 38.h6 Bf8 39.Qg8 Qc8 40.h7 Qh3+ 41.Nh2 1–0