Gibraltar Chess 2015
(click on the image for full view of the poster)
The Gibraltar Chess Festival 2015 is going to take place 26 January – 5 February in the Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar. The long traditions of the festival, the fantastic organization, and the hefty 175 000 pounds prize fund have attracted many of the top world grandmasters.
Veselin Topalov, whose current ELO is exactly 2800 (making him world number 3 on FIDE’s January list), will be the highest rated player ever to take part in Gibraltar. His main opponents from the 2700 club include Hikaru Nakamura, Peter Svidler, Nikita Vitiugov, Dmitry Jakovenko, Pentala Harikrishna, Yu Yangyi, and Richard Rapport.
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Last year’s winner Ivan Cheparinov is 10th seeded, right after Maxim Matlakov and ahead of Maxim Rodshtein.
Hou Yifan, the reigning Women’s World Chess Champion, the youngest ever to win the title, as well as the youngest female player ever to qualify for the title of Grandmaster, is seeded 13th in Gibraltar. She will be joined by several compatriots including Wey Yi (currently playing Tata Challengers), Ju Wenjun, Guo Qi, and Xu Jun.
England will be represented by Gawain Jones, David Howell, Nigel Short, Jovanka Houska, Robert Bellin, Lawrence Trent, andNigel Povah among many others in the Challengers and Amateur sections.
USA will be aiming for the top positions with a mix of young and experienced players. Besides the second seeded Nakamura, Gribraltar 2015 will have Varuzhan Akobian, Daniel Naroditsky, Alexandr Lenderman, Kayden Troff, Irina Krush, James Tarjan, and John Watson.
Here is the full list of participants
Gibraltar Chess Festival 2015 – participants Masters
Title
Country
Rating
1
Topalov, Veselin
g
BUL
2800
2
Nakamura, Hikaru
g
USA
2776
3
Svidler, Peter
g
RUS
2739
4
Vitiugov, Nikita
g
RUS
2735
5
Jakovenko, Dmitry
g
RUS
2733
6
Harikrishna, Pentala
g
IND
2727
7
Yu, Yangyi
g
CHN
2724
8
Rapport, Richard
g
HUN
2716
9
Matlakov, Maxim
g
RUS
2695
10
Cheparinov, Ivan
g
BUL
2681
11
Rodshtein, Maxim
g
ISR
2680
12
Wei, Yi
g
CHN
2675
13
Hou, Yifan
g
CHN
2673
14
Jones, Gawain C B
g
ENG
2671
15
Howell, David W L
g
ENG
2670
16
Motylev, Alexander
g
RUS
2665
17
Short, Nigel D
g
ENG
2660
18
Iturrizaga, Eduardo
g
VEN
2649
19
Edouard, Romain
g
FRA
2638
20
Akobian, Varuzhan
g
USA
2637
21
Sutovsky, Emil
g
ISR
2637
22
Bartel, Mateusz
g
POL
2631
23
Adhiban, B
g
IND
2630
24
Bachmann, Axel
g
PAR
2629
25
Salgado Lopez, Ivan
g
ESP
2628
26
Agdestein, Simen
g
NOR
2626
27
Sethuraman, S.P.
g
IND
2624
28
Naroditsky, Daniel
g
USA
2622
29
Anton Guijarro, David
g
ESP
2617
30
Lenderman, Aleksandr
g
USA
2614
31
Bologan, Viktor
g
MDA
2608
32
Salem, A.R. Saleh
g
UAE
2603
33
Grandelius, Nils
g
SWE
2602
34
Ganguly, Surya Shekhar
g
IND
2595
35
Roiz, Michael
g
ISR
2592
36
Vazquez Igarza, Renier
g
ESP
2592
37
Mareco, Sandro
g
ARG
2583
38
Nabaty, Tamir
g
ISR
2579
39
Felgaer, Ruben
g
ARG
2575
40
Hansen, Eric
g
CAN
2574
41
Sandipan, Chanda
g
IND
2574
42
Stefansson, Hannes
g
ISL
2573
43
Bok, Benjamin
g
NED
2572
44
Mikhalevski, Victor
g
ISR
2571
45
Sengupta, Deep
g
IND
2569
46
Bogner, Sebastian
g
SUI
2565
47
Oparin, Grigoriy
g
RUS
2551
48
Chirila, Ioan-Cristian
g
ROU
2548
49
Ju, Wenjun
g
CHN
2547
50
Muzychuk, Anna
g
UKR
2544
51
Troff, Kayden W
g
USA
2541
52
Spraggett, Kevin
g
CAN
2538
53
Arribas Lopez, Angel
g
ESP
2537
54
Lalith, Babu M.R.
g
IND
2537
55
Khotenashvili, Bela
g
GEO
2526
56
Rasmussen, Allan Stig
g
DEN
2526
57
Xu, Jun
g
CHN
2523
58
Popilski, Gil
g
ISR
2522
59
Blomqvist, Erik
g
SWE
2520
60
Muzychuk, Mariya
m
UKR
2520
61
Cramling, Pia
g
SWE
2518
62
Tarjan, James E
g
USA
2518
63
Boruchovsky, Avital
g
ISR
2517
64
Al-Sayed, Mohammed
g
QAT
2516
65
Stefanova, Antoaneta
g
BUL
2515
66
Donchenko, Alexander
m
GER
2511
67
Debashis, Das
g
IND
2503
68
Wagner, Dennis
m
GER
2501
69
Oral, Tomas
g
CZE
2498
70
Harika, Dronavalli
g
IND
2496
71
Svane, Rasmus
m
GER
2496
72
Raznikov, Danny
m
ISR
2494
73
Georgiadis, Nico
m
SUI
2490
74
Shyam, Sundar M.
g
IND
2489
75
Ducarmon, Quinten
m
NED
2488
76
Tari, Aryan
m
NOR
2487
77
Javakhishvili, Lela
m
GEO
2486
78
Smith, Axel
m
SWE
2483
79
Zhukova, Natalia
g
UKR
2482
80
Pichot, Alan
m
ARG
2480
81
Das, Arghyadip
m
IND
2476
82
Melia, Salome
m
GEO
2473
83
Trent, Lawrence
m
ENG
2470
84
Adla, Diego
m
ARG
2469
85
Almagro Llamas, Pablo
m
ESP
2469
86
Kjartansson, Gudmundur
m
ISL
2468
87
Krush, Irina
g
USA
2467
88
Carlsson, Pontus
g
SWE
2465
89
Vishnu Prasanna, V
g
IND
2463
90
Venkatesh, M.R.
g
IND
2460
91
Khurtsidze, Nino
m
GEO
2455
92
Docx, Stefan
m
BEL
2450
93
Mkrtchian, Lilit
m
ARM
2449
94
Guo, Qi
m
CHN
2439
95
Neelotpal, Das
g
IND
2437
96
Teran Alvarez, Ismael
m
ESP
2430
97
Nakar, Eylon
m
ISR
2419
98
Nagy, Gabor
m
HUN
2410
99
Martinez Martin, David
m
ESP
2407
100
Santiago, Yago De Moura
m
BRA
2406
101
Nezad, Husein
m
QAT
2404
102
Solomon, Kenny
m
RSA
2399
103
Karavade, Eesha
m
IND
2398
104
El Adnani, Mokliss
f
MAR
2394
105
Foisor, Cristina-Adela
m
ROU
2390
106
Kuipers, Stefan
m
NED
2390
107
Houska, Jovanka
m
ENG
2388
108
Padmini, Rout
wg
IND
2388
109
Zude, Arno
m
GER
2377
110
Codenotti, Marco
m
ITA
2374
111
Khademalsharieh, S
wg
IRI
2372
112
Bellon Lopez, Juan Manuel
g
ESP
2370
113
Ladron De Guevara, P
f
ESP
2367
114
Paehtz, Thomas
g
GER
2365
115
Christiansen, Johan
f
NOR
2354
116
Lejlic, Samir
m
SWE
2354
117
Zwahr, Paul
f
GER
2354
118
Wemmers, Xander
m
NED
2353
119
Bartel, Marta
wg
POL
2347
120
Soumya, Swaminathan
wg
IND
2346
121
Dragnev, Valentin
f
AUT
2344
122
Bellin, Robert
m
ENG
2338
123
Vuilleumier, Alexandre
m
SUI
2336
124
Holm, Kristian Stuvik
f
NOR
2330
125
Morchiashvili, Bachana
m
GEO
2326
126
Povah, Nigel E
m
ENG
2324
127
Guerrero Vargas, Andres
f
VEN
2320
128
Sorm, Daniel
f
CZE
2319
129
Watson, John L
m
USA
2319
130
Santos Ruiz, Miguel
f
ESP
2310
131
Plotkin, Victor
f
CAN
2306
132
Nuri, Kambez
f
SUI
2305
133
Vojinovic, Jovana
wg
SRB
2301
134
De Haan, Eric
f
NED
2299
135
Tate, Alan
f
SCO
2297
136
Rydstrom, Tom
f
SWE
2292
137
Lombaers, Peter
NED
2291
138
Olsarova, Tereza
wm
CZE
2288
139
Sanchez Jerez, Emilio
f
ESP
2282
140
Buchal, Stephan
f
GER
2273
141
Viana, Dirceu
f
BRA
2268
142
Frisk, Ellinor
wm
SWE
2266
143
Cordes, Hans-Joerg
f
GER
2262
144
Prosviriakov, Vladimir
m
USA
2257
145
Semprun Martinez, F
ESP
2253
146
Galmandakh, Badrakh
MGL
2240
147
Spence, David
ENG
2231
148
Hommerson, Paul
NED
2229
149
Barrenechea, Gustavo
ESP
2223
150
Urbina Perez, Juan
c
ESP
2221
151
Terron Elena, Francisco M.
f
ESP
2218
152
Al-Tamimi, Hamad
QAT
2214
153
Perez Garcia, Alejandro
ESP
2207
154
Hoffmann, Hendrik
f
GER
2206
155
Fawole, John Oyeyemi
c
NGR
2200
156
Dolzhikova, Olga
wg
NOR
2194
157
Balogun, Oluwafemi
c
NGR
2193
158
Byron, Alan M
ENG
2188
159
Veltkamp, Gerben
NED
2175
160
Hellwig, Tobias
GER
2172
161
Zimmermann, Rene
GER
2172
162
Heinemann, Josefine
GER
2160
163
Heer, Stephan
SUI
2157
164
Krockenberger, Martin
f
GER
2152
165
Schneider, German
GER
2150
166
Herman, Diego
ARG
2148
167
Seyfried, Claus
GER
2147
168
Tscharotschkin, Michael
GER
2144
169
Bar, Aviv
ISR
2142
170
Havik, Victor
NOR
2137
171
Burrows, Martin P
ENG
2136
172
Leite, Catarina
wm
POR
2136
173
Jurdao Perez, Marcos
ESP
2131
174
Kuhne, Detlev
GER
2131
175
Beltz, Franziska
wf
GER
2130
176
Walton, Alan J
c
ENG
2129
177
Weeramantry, Sunil
f
SRI
2127
178
Wiedersich, Jens
GER
2125
179
Daneri, Martin
c
ARG
2123
180
Rodriguez Alvarez, Vidal
VEN
2122
181
Danielsson, Robert
SWE
2121
182
Mehlhorn, Uwe
GER
2121
183
Amgalanbaatar, R
MGL
2117
184
Holleland, Sigve
NOR
2116
185
Baert, Andy
f
BEL
2114
186
Osuna Vega, Enrique
c
ESP
2108
187
Schaefer, Reyk
GER
2104
188
Mareckova, Martina
wf
CZE
2102
189
De Rosa, Mariagrazia
wf
ITA
2101
190
Amos, Frank
GER
2097
191
Verneuil, Pascal
FRA
2093
192
Hewson, Brian Wr
ENG
2084
193
Yu, Jonathan
CAN
2081
194
Freuler, Roman
SUI
2071
195
Cawley, Paul F
ENG
2070
196
Jameson, David
WLS
2068
197
Becham, Khalid
MAR
2059
198
Skutta, Bernd
GER
2059
199
Dasaolu, Rotimi
NGR
2053
200
Gieritz, Dietmar
GER
2048
201
Byrn, Carsten
DEN
2044
202
Fomani, Medhi
ESP
2033
203
Jacobsen, Fredrik Beer
NOR
2031
204
Henrichsen, Jens
DEN
2030
205
Suez-Panama, Gilles
FRA
2030
206
Michalowski, Peter
GER
2024
207
Lien, Kjell Hakon
NOR
2020
208
Nwoye, Nnamdi
NGR
2015
209
Hamer, Martyn
ENG
2014
210
Nilsen, Martin
NOR
2011
211
Tranter, Stephen
ENG
1997
212
Green, Per
SWE
1996
213
Moradi, Kimia
IRI
1984
214
Ferreira, Oscar Luiz
BRA
1980
215
Agbabishvili, Lali
CAN
1978
216
Klyszcz, Michael
GER
1975
217
Othman, Mustapha
NGR
1968
218
Spanton, Tim R
ENG
1963
219
Adebajo, Olufemi
ENG
1962
220
Boyer Censore, Giuseppe
VEN
1960
221
Lobersli, Henrik Oie
NOR
1957
222
Godinho Marques, Pedro
POR
1950
223
Whatley, Stephen A J
ENG
1949
224
Tortolero, Cesar
VEN
1937
225
Lochte, Szilvia
HUN
1934
226
Morais, Vitor
POR
1934
227
Machlik, Jon
NOR
1929
228
Burke, Mitchell R
ENG
1928
229
Downey, Keith
WLS
1919
230
Rygg, Snorre
NOR
1909
231
Weishaeutel, Moritz
GER
1905
232
Kim, Yongjoo
KOR
1903
233
Klug, Christian
GER
1884
234
Gravett, Alan D
ENG
1877
235
Curado, Manuel J
POR
1860
236
George, Lolomari
NGR
1857
237
Mahoney, Ian
CAN
1838
238
Nordstrom, Hakon N
NOR
1820
239
Bohman, Leif
SWE
1803
240
Kristinsson, Magnus
ISL
1744
241
Opasiak, Dustin
POL
1729
242
Bauer, Dieter
GER
1728
243
Homer, Neil S
ENG
1716
244
Bouxo, Luis
POR
1711
245
Lerider, Anny-Laure
FRA
1668
246
Tveten, Per
NOR
1601
247
Magnusdottir, Veronika
ISL
1566
News from Gibraltar 2015
Veselin Topalov to play on the Rock!
.
We are delighted to announce that Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov will be joining us for the 2015 Tradewise Gibraltar Masters! Veselin, whose current elo is exactly 2800 (making him world number 3 on FIDE’s November list), will be the highest rated player ever to take part in Gibraltar.
Veselin became the FIDE World Chess Champion in 2005, cruising to victory in the 8-player double round event in San Luis, Argentina, after a blistering start of 6,5/7. He went on to contest two world title matches: versus Kramnik, in Elista, 2006, and versus Anand, in Sofia, 2010. The latter match was tied 5,5-5,5 before Anand won the 12th game.
As a young talent Veselin was especially fond of playing in Spain, winning many Opens there. His long tenure amongst the world’s elite is documented by many impressive tournament victories, such as the first three editions of the M-Tel Masters (2005-7); Tata Steel (Wijk aan Zee) 2006 and 2007 (both 1st=); Linares 2005 (1st= with Kasparov) and 2010; and Nanjing, China, 2008, this last a Category XXI event, won by Topalov with 7/10. More recently Veselin won the 2012-13 FIDE Grand Prix, which included two first places: 1st= in London 2012, and 1st in Zug, 2013. In this way he qualified for the 2014 Candidates tournament. At the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø Veselin won the gold medal on board one, his tournament performance of 2872 the second best overall.
Veselin has been number one on the FIDE rating list a total of 27 months, which when compared to all others who have been so ranked, places Topalov in fifth place after Kasparov, Karpov, Fischer and Carlsen. He was ranked number one in the world from April 2006 to January 2007, during which his peak Elo rating was 2813, a level which until then had only been surpassed by Garry Kasparov.
Veselin regained the world No. 1 ranking in October 2008, and officially remained No. 1 until January 2010.
Topalov was born in Rousse, Bulgaria, and was taught chess by his father at the age of eight. In 1989 Veselin won the World Under-14 Championship in Puerto Rico, and in 1990 he won the silver medal at the World Under-16 Championship in Singapore.
Veselin became a Grandmaster in 1992 and has been the leader of the Bulgarian national team since 1994. It’s interesting that his friend and long-time training partner, Ivan Cheparinov, won the 2014 Tradewise Masters. Can Veselin make it two years running for Bulgaria?
Hikaru Nakamura and Hou Yifan return to the Rock!
We are delighted to announce that two of the World’s top players, GM Hikaru Nakamura and current Women’s World Champion GM Hou Yifan have joined the stellar 2015 Masters line-up.
Hikaru is ranked No. 9 in the world by FIDE on the October 2014 list and is a three-time United States Chess Champion. Resident in St Louis, the American number one is currently our top seed at 2764. In January 2014 he reached his peak FIDE rating of 2789, which ranked him 3rd in the world. In May 2014 when FIDE began publishing official rapid and blitz chess ratings, Hikaru was ranked number one in the world on both lists. .
Hikaru is a busy player and is taking part in the FIDE Grand Prix event in Baku, Azerbaijan.
He has also recently competed in the European Club Cup for Obiettivo Risarcimento in Bilbao, a tournament which took place alongside the Bilbao Masters.
Soon after Gibraltar next year, Hikaru will be playing in the Zürich Chess Challenge (February 13-19), with the World’s elite including Caruana, Aronian, Anand, Karjakin, and Kramnik.
In 2008 Hikaru won the 6th Gibtelecom Gibraltar Chess Festival, beating Bu Xiangzhi 2-0 in a play-off match, after both scored 8/10 in the Masters. It’s worth noting that after five rounds Hikaru only had 3/5, but then won five games in a row, to tie for first place.
In 2009, Hikaru returned to defend his title. He nearly repeated his earlier performance, since after nine rounds he was in a five-way tie for first on 7/9, but his last round game, against Vugar Gashimov, ended a draw. We give the game here. Vugar died in January of this year, aged only 27. In April a Gashimov Memorial was held in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, Hikaru Nakamura being one of the invited players.
Gibraltar champion in 2009 was Peter Svidler, who overcame Vadim Milov in a tiebreak match.
Hou Yifan is the reigning Women’s World Chess Champion, the youngest ever to win the title, as well as the youngest female player ever to qualify for the title of Grandmaster.
Like Hikaru, she has recently been playing in the European Club Cup, in Bilbao. Although her team, Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo, only finished second, Yifan’s 2749 performance was the best on top board.
At the age of 12, Yifan became the youngest player ever to take part in the FIDE Women’s World Championship (2006). In 2010, she became the youngest Women’s World Chess Champion in history by winning the World Championship in Hatay, Turkey at age 16. .
In her only previous visit to Gibraltar (2012) Yifan scored a sensational result, finishing equal first with England’s Nigel Short. Although Nigel won the blitz play-off 1½–½, Yifan’s score of 8/10 (+7 -1 =2) gave her a tournament performance of 2872.
In what some have called the greatest tournament result ever by a woman, Yifan scored 5/7 against the 7 GMs she played rated 2700 or higher. This included 4 wins against Zoltan Almasi (2717), Judit Polgar (2710), Le Quang Liem (2714) and Alexei Shirov (2710), 2 draws against Mickey Adams (2724) and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2747), whilst her only loss came against Krishnan Sasikiran (2700).
The big story of the Gibraltar 2012 Masters was her victory over Judit Polgar (see right). On the new October rating list, Yifan is just two points behind Polgar. However, to put that into perspective, at her peak rating (July, 2005) Judit was 2735 and ranked #8 in the world.
As reigning Women’s World Champion, and according to the regulations of the current FIDE cycle, Yifan was expected to have to defend her title in a Knock-Out format in October. However, FIDE has recently announced that the Women’s World Championship is postponed by “a few months”.
About Gibraltar
Enjoy the sights of Gibraltar by day and the entertainment at night! The destination is packed with history and natural heritage, but in addition it boasts all the modern amenities that you would expect in a bustling European City.
Despite its compact size, Gibraltar surprises thousands of visitors each year with its range of activities and attractions that appeal to all age groups. Situated at the point where the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean meet, it is no surprise that Gibraltarian life thrives on an abundance of water sports. These range from dolphin safaris in the bay to jet skiing, pleasure sailing and scuba diving.
If you are looking to maximise your time and experience a flavour of what’s on offer, why not book an official rock tour which takes about an hour and half. The sights visited are a fundamental part of the Gibraltar’s rich heritage and will give you a genuine insight into the city’s past and present. Attractions on the tour include the Nature Reserve, St. Michael’s Cave, the last resting place of Neanderthal man, the Medieval Castle, the world famous Barbary ape den, the Great Siege Tunnels which were dug out by the forerunners of the Royal Engineers to defend Gibraltar from attack, and The City Under Siege Exhibition.
Rock tours are available by taxi or coach at all points of entry. To experience some of the sights on foot, there are also a number of official walking tours, which will take you on historical and architectural trails through the main city centre.
A broad choice of restaurants, bars and cafes can be found along Main Street and in Casemates Square, along with high street shops and boutiques selling an excellent range of VAT free goods, including jewellery and time pieces, perfumery, electrical goods, alcohol and tobaccos.