Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2012 (1)
Gibraltar Chess Festival Round 1
IM Malcolm Pein - Thursday 26th January 2012
IM Malcolm Pein reports on the opening of the Gibraltar Chess Festival. Michael Adams was held to a draw by Natalia Zhukova in 2010 but he did not let the advantage slip this time.
Michael Adams against Natalia Zhukova in Round 1. Photo © | http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com
The Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival is underway at the Caleta Hotel. The tournament is celebrating its 10th anniversary. On Tuesday, the Governor of Gibraltar, Adrian Johns, hosted a dinner for players and sponsors at his official residence to celebrate the tournament's success. Gibraltar Chess has been masterminded by Brian Callaghan who was awarded the OBE for services to tourism and chess in the January honours List.
The tournament is under the stewardship of the new Tournament Director, GM Stuart Conquest who took over from Stewart Reuben last year. Reuben's role, in developing what has become a fabulous holiday for amateurs and a prestigious tournament for professionals, cannot be over-estimated.
The Open is very strong again with top seed Peter Svidler challenged by over 50 other GMs including England's finest, Michael Adams and Nigel Short. The Open has the strongest line up of female players in the history of the game.
Gibraltar has issued four stamps in honour of the tournament's anniversary and they feature positions from games between men and women at previous Gibraltar tournaments. One of the positions is from a game between Michael Adams and Natalia Zhukova and guess what pairing came out of the hat for round one? Adams was held to a draw by Zhukova in 2010 but he did not let the advantage slip this time.
M Adams - N Zhukova
Pirc Defence
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 a6 5.h3 Bg7 6.f4 0-0!
(6...b5 7.e5 Nfd7 8.Qf3 or8.h4!?)
7.Nf3 b5 8.e5 Nfd7
(8...Nh5 9.Kf2!)
9.Bd3 Nb6
(9...Bb7 10.e6 fxe6 11.Ng5 Rf6 12.Nce4)
10.Qe2 N8d7
10...Nc6)
11.0-0-0! e6 12.h4! Bb7
(12...h5 13.g4 hxg4 14.Ng5 wins)
13.h5 b4 14.Ne4 Bxe4 15.Bxe4 d5
Closing the centre deprives Black of counterplay. She is lost
16.Bd3 c5 17.hxg6 hxg6
(17...c4 18.gxf7+ Rxf7 19.Bxh7+)
18.g4 Re8 19.Qh2 cxd4 20.Bxd4 Qc7
Natalia Zhukova
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Michael Adams
Position after 20...Qc7
21.f5 exf5 22.gxf5 Nxe5 23.Nxe5 Rxe5
(23...Bxe5 24.Qh8+ Bxh8 25.Rxh8#)
24.fxg6 f6 25.Rdf1 Nd7 26.Bf5 Nf8 27.Bxe5 Qxe5 28.Qh3 a5 29.Re1 Qd6 30.Rhf1 a4 31.Be6+ Nxe6 32.Qh7+ Kf8
Natalia Zhukova
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Michael Adams
Position after 32...Kf8
Answer: 33.Rxf6+ 1-0
33...Bxf6 34.Qf7#
Judit Polgar was ruthless, accepting sacrificed pawns and denying all counterplay
A Lopez - J Polgar
Reti Opening
1.g3 Nf6 2.Bg2 d5 3.Nf3 c6 4.0-0 Bg4 5.c4 Nbd7 6.cxd5 cxd5 7.Nc3 e6 8.d3 Rc8 9.h3 Bh5 10.e4 dxe4 11.dxe4 Bb4 12.Qb3 Qa5 13.e5 Nc5 14.Qd1 Bxc3 15.bxc3 Nfe4 16.Qd4 Nxc3 17.Qh4 Ne2+ 18.Kh2 Bxf3 19.Bxf3 Nxc1 20.Raxc1 0-0 21.Rfd1 Qxa2 22.Qe7 Qxf2+ 23.Bg2 Rfe8 0-1
