Gibraltar round 1

Gibraltar chess festival R1
photos, results, standings
Report by Chessdom.com

The 2010 Gibtelecom International Chess Festival got underway today at the Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar. At precisely 2.45pm (Gibraltar time) Charles Isola from Anglo Hispano Ltd, representing all sponsors, made the first move with Etienne Bacrot from France who is the highest rated player in the Gibtelecom Chess Masters. Play began at 3pm.

The draw for the pairings was held on Monday night at which the Minister for Sport, Heritage and Culture, Edwin Reyes was also present. The draw was carried out by Maxine de la Rosa, Miss Gibraltar 1st Princess. Master of Ceremonies was GM Stuart Conquest.

The First Princess wished everyone the best of luck, and Minister Edwin Reyes welcomed everyone to the Rock. “Gibraltar is very proud to hold this tournament and we thank you for travelling such long distances to be here. Good luck to you all,” he said.

This year there are 35 Grandmasters playing in the Open Masters with over 228 players, a record for this type of event and open tournament of this nature. The tournament itself is a 10 day festival which boasts an impressive field. The other competitions running simultaneously are the Challengers with 84 players and the Amateurs with 40.

Here are the top 24 board round 1 results:

1 FM Camus de Solliers, Guillau FRA – 2356 GM Bacrot, Etienne FRA 2713 ½-½
2 GM Movsesian, Sergei SVK – 2708 IM Peek, Marcel NED 2342 1-0
3 FM Lovik, Lasse Ostebo NOR – 2343 GM Vallejo Pons, Francisco ESP 2705 0-1
4 GM Adams, Michael ENG – 2694 WGM Reizniece, Dana LAT 2341 1-0
5 FM Dittmar, Peter GER – 2341 GM Kamsky, Gata USA 2693 0-1
6 GM Fressinet, Laurent FRA – 2670 IM Zozulia, Anna BEL 2321 1-0
7 FM Wantiez, Fabrice BEL – 2315 GM Fridman, Daniel GER 2654 0-1
8 GM Gustafsson, Jan GER – 2627 Andre, Gordon GER 2308 1-0
9 FM Forsaa, Espen NOR – 2301 GM Sandipan, Chanda IND 2622 0-1
10 WIM Schoene, Maria GER – 2251 GM Koneru, Humpy IND 2614 0-1
11 GM Edouard, Romain FRA – 2608 WFM Videnova, Iva BUL 2301 1-0
12 FM Perez Pardo, Juan Carlos ESP – 2297 GM Istratescu, Andrei ROU 2607 0-1
13 GM Lopez Martinez, Josep Manu ESP – 2593 Stebbings, Anthony J ENG 2290 ½-½
14 Getz, Nicolai NOR – 2280 GM Geetha Narayanan Gopal IND 2584 0-1
15 GM Felgaer, Ruben ARG – 2573 IM Kozlov, Oleg RUS 2279 ½-½
16 Royset, Paal NOR – 2279 GM Halkias, Stelios GRE 2566 0-1
17 IM Lenderman, Alex USA – 2560 Schuetze, Norman GER 2269 1-0
18 FM Nikolaidis, Konstantinos GRE – 2266 GM Lemos, Damian ARG 2556 ½-½
19 GM Malakhatko, Vadim BEL – 2549 Stephan, Axel GER 2252 1-0
20 GM Stefanova, Antoaneta BUL – 2545 FM Overeem, Marc NED 2245 1-0
21 Montero Melendez, Rafael ESP – 2248 GM Bhat, Vinay S. USA 2540 0-1
22 FM Hartvig, Ove Weiss DEN – 2245 GM Cramling, Pia SWE 2528 ½-½
23 GM Naumann, Alexander GER – 2525 FM Avalos Parra, Joao CHI 2245 ½-½
24 FM Marchand, Francois FRA – 2244 GM Speelman, Jon S ENG 2525 ½-½

Here are some of the top board round 2 pairings:

1 IM Cmilyte, Viktorija LTU – 2489 GM Movsesian, Sergei SVK 2708
2 GM Vallejo Pons, Francisco ESP – 2705 GM Carlsson, Pontus SWE 2476
3 IM Harika, Dronavalli IND – 2471 GM Adams, Michael ENG 2694
4 GM Kamsky, Gata USA – 2693 GM Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan SCO 2470
5 GM Siebrecht, Sebastian GER – 2468 GM Fressinet, Laurent FRA 2670
6 WGM Zhukova, Natalia UKR – 2462 GM Cheparinov, Ivan BUL 2660
7 GM Fridman, Daniel GER – 2654 IM Zatonskih, Anna USA 2466
8 IM Boskovic, Drasko SRB – 2454 GM Gustafsson, Jan GER 2627
9 GM Sandipan, Chanda IND – 2622 IM Krush, Irina USA 2455
10 GM Koneru, Humpy IND – 2614 IM Vernay, Clovis FRA 2442
11 GM Bellon Lopez, Juan Manuel ESP – 2440 GM Edouard, Romain FRA 2608
12 GM Istratescu, Andrei ROU – 2607 IM Hirneise, Tobias GER 2421
13 GM Geetha Narayanan Gopal IND – 2584 IM Nezad, Husein Aziz QAT 2408
14 GM Halkias, Stelios GRE – 2566 IM Houska, Jovanka w ENG 2401
15 Battaglini, Gabriel FRA – 2411 IM Lenderman, Alex USA 2560