Michael Adams started with a surprising defeat at the hands of the Spanish champion in the Ruy Lopez tournament at Zafra in Spain. The event is held in honour of the Spanish priest credited with the invention of the most popular chess opening also known as the Spanish Opening, or when you are playing black, the 'Spanish Torture'. There is an Open section where all the games begin with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5.

Adams' first round game was indeed a Ruy Lopez but his opponent played the Exchange Variation, taking the black knight on c6 and Adams was never able to neutralize his opponent's initiative, see below. Adams hit back with two wins and plays the tournament leader Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria who is Veselin Topalov's second.

D Larino Nieto - M Adams

III Ruy Lopez Zafra (1)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0 Qd6 6.Na3 b5 7.c3 c5 8.Qe2 Ne7

(8...Bb7 9.Rd1 0-0-0 10.d4 exd4 11.cxd4 Qg6 12.d5 Re8 13.e5 Nf6!)

9.Rd1 Nc6 10.Nc2 Bg4 11.a4 Rb8 12.axb5 axb5 13.h3 Bxf3

(Often in this line when Black surrenders the two bishops he has no compensation for the other deficiencies in his position so perhaps 13...h5!? 14.Na3!? Qg6)

14.Qxf3 g6 15.d4

(Black is two moves from castling and White plays very well from here

15...cxd4 16.cxd4 exd4 17.Bf4 Qd7 18.Ra6 Bg7 19.e5! Nd8

(19...Nxe5 20.Bxe5 Bxe5 21.Re1 wins)

20.Nxd4 Qc8

(20...0-0 21.Nc6)

21.Nc6 Qxa6 22.Nxb8 Qc8 23.Nc6! Ne6

(The black king is trapped 23...0-0 24.Ne7+)

24.Bh6! Bxh6 25.Qf6 Bf8

(25...Bg7 26.Qe7#)

26.Qxh8

(White won easily)

26...Qa8 27.Rc1 Qa2 28.Qf6 Qd5 29.Rc3 h6 30.h4 g5 31.Rf3 Qd7 32.Qf5 gxh4 33.b4 Bg7 34.Qc2 Kf8 35.Rd3 Qe8 36.Rd5 Kg8 37.f4 f5 38.Rxb5 Bf8 39.Rb8 Qd7 40.Qxf5 1-0

in view of

40.Qxf5 Qxc6 41.Qg6+ Kh8 42.Rxf8+ Nxf8 43.Qxc6

Humpy Koneru of Indian one of the world's highest rated female players finished with a back rank sacrificial combination. Black is never able to contest the centre and f2-f4 is a threat after the opening.

H Koneru - M Perez Candelario

III Ruy Lopez Zafra (2)

Slav Defence

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Be2 Bb7 11.e4 e5 12.Rd1 Qb8 13.g3 a6 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Nd4 Ned7

(15...Bc5!? 16.Bf4)

16.Nf5 Bc7 17.Bg5 Re8 18.Bf3 Be5 19.Bg2 c5 20.Qd2 b4 21.Nd5 Bxd5 22.exd5 c4 23.Rab1 c3 24.Qc2 cxb2 25.d6! Bc3

(25...Ra7 26.Ne7+-c6)

26.Ne7+ Kh8 27.Bd2 Qxd6 28.Bxc3 Qc5 29.Bxa8 Rxa8

(29...bxc3 30.Nd5 Rxa8 31.Nxc3 Rc8 32.Qxb2! see below)

30.Qxb2 bxc3

(30...Qxc3 31.Qxb4)

31.Qb8+ ! Ng8

(31...Rxb8 32.Rxb8+ Nxb8 33.Rd8+ Ng8 34.Rxg8#)

32.Qxa8 Qxe7 33.Rxd7! 1-0

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