Between Rock and Breeze

The 17th Gibraltar Chess Festival has started yesterday quite suddenly. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So, Levon Grigori Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura, and 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī) are only some of the top players in the field. As usual, there is a numerous female presence as well: among others, 17th Women’s World Chess Champion 居文君 (Jū Wénjūn), Humpy Koneru, Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Lagno, Anna Olehivna Muzychuk, and Mariya Olehivna Muzychuk. Not strangely, Alejandro Tadeo Ramírez Álvarez, one of the directors of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, is also participating. Finally, among the surprises offered by the first round, there are at least two “phonetic doubles”: Indian FIDE Master Nadar Anand (who drew with Russian Grandmaster Maxim Sergeevich Matlakov) and Chinese Candidate Master 左一帆 (Zuǒ Yīfān) (who defeated Spanish Grandmaster Jaime Santos Latasa).

Jaime Santos Latasa – 左一帆 (Zuǒ Yīfān)
17th Gibraltar Chess Festival; Catalan Bay, January 22, 2019
8/1p1r4/5knp/p2q1ppQ/7P/P3R1P1/1P3PNK/8 b - - 2 40

Position after 40. Qe2-h5

40. ... f4 41. gxf4?? (41. Rf3 gxh4 42. Nxf4 Qxh5 43. Nxh5+ Kg5=) 41. ... Qxg2+! 0 : 1.

Rock Around the Clock

But before Agon’s water well, Caïssa called an emergency pit stop at Gibraltar, where the 16th Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival will take place in Catalan Bay (La Caleta) from 21 January to 1 February 2018. Grandmaster Stuart Conquest – Herr Direktor – is restlessly working in hunting down big names for his dynamic screenplay, and has already catched a host of eggheads, but undoubtedly still misses something. Perhaps Stuart could invite 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) up to verify if, in the meantime, she has exhausted all the subtleties of the Grob’s Attack, or maybe he doesn’t want her to play anymore on the Rock – but I’m sure it’s not the case. Whatever it will be, Stuart has vivid imagination, delicate sensibility of soul, and no need of any advice from mere amateurs such as me. Who knows, maybe his Swiss magic cube will pair Anna Olehivna only with Arabian male players, so as to test her constancy and self-control.

Catalan Bay, Gibraltar, 1861. Illustration: Edward William Cooke.

The Long and Winding Road

14th Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival (@GibraltarChess)

Yellow Submarine

Mariya Muzychuk – Richárd Rapport
14th Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival; Catalan Bay, February 2, 2016
Sicilian Defence B67

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 d6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. 0-0-0 Bd7 9. f4 b5 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. f5 Qb6 13. Bd3. For 13. Kb1 Qc5 14. Bd3 0-0-0 15. a4 bxa4 16. Bxa6+ Kc7 17. Qd4 Qxd4 18. Rxd4 Rg8 19. g3 Rb8 20. Rhd1 Be7 21. Rc4 Rb6 22. Bb5 Rgb8 23. Rxc6+ Rxc6 24. Bxc6 Kxc6 25. Rd4 a3 26. Rc4+ Kd7 27. b3 see Vachier-Lagrave – Timofeev, 5th Aeroflot Open, Moscow 2006. 13. ... b4 14. Ne2 h5!? Maybe a novelty. Anyway, it’s just what you could have expected from Richárd. For 14. ... e5 15. Ng3 h5 16. Qe2 h4 17. Nf1 a5 18. Kb1 Bh6 19. Nd2 Ke7 see Jansa – Tukmakov, 46th Czechoslovak Chess Championship & International Tournament, Děčín 1977. 15. fxe6 fxe6 16. Qe1 Bh6+ 17. Kb1 Ke7 18. Bc4 Qc5 19. b3 Bb5 20. Rd4. More promising seems to be 20. e5 Qxe5 21. Bxb5 axb5 22. Nd4 when White regains her Pawn with hopes of keeping a slight plus. 20. ... Rhg8 21. Qh4 Qe5. Not 21. ... Rxg2? 22. Qh3 Rg4 23. Rhd1 and White has more than enough for the Pawn. 22. Rhd1? Miss Muzychuk is too angry to be prudent, and too excited to be inspired. She should probably have played 22. Qf2 Bc6 23. Rhd1 with an unclear but balanced game. 22. ... Rxg2

23. Ng3? Maybe 23. Rxd6!? Bxc4 24. Nd4 Qxd6 (but 24. ... Kf8!? 25. bxc4 Qxd6 26. Qxf6+ Kg8 27. Qxh6 Qe5 might be better) 25. e5! gives White better chances to complicate matters. 23. ... Rc8 24. Qh3. Or 24. Rxd6 Rxc4 25. bxc4 Ba4 with consequences similar to those of the game. 24. ... Rf2 25. Rxd6 Rxc4 26. bxc4 Ba4. Objectively, White is on the brink of ruin. Furthermore, Miss Muzychuk is drowning in a terrifically short time. 27. Rxe6+. Desperately trying to stay alive. 27. ... Qxe6 28. Nf5+ Kf8 29. Rd8+ Be8 30. Qg3 Rf1+ 31. Kb2 Bc1+ 32. Kb3 Bg5 33. a3 Qe5. The best of all possible worlds for Miss Muzychuk – 33. ... Qxe4 would have been far more painful. After the text it’s always very difficult to survive, but a bit less impossible. 34. Qxe5 fxe5 35. Ra8 Be7. And here 35. ... Rxf5 36. exf5 bxa3 37. Rxa6 e4 would probably have been a much simpler way to capitalize. 36. Nxe7 Kxe7 37. axb4. Miss Muzychuk’s fierce resistance and desperate will to live will perplex Rapport more and more, till causing him losing the thread of the endgame. 37. ... Rf6 38. Ra7+ Kf8 39. Ra8 Kf7 40. Ra7+ Kg6 41. Re7 Bf7 42. Rxe5 h4 43. Kc3 Rf3+ 44. Kd4 Rf2 45. b5 axb5 46. cxb5 Rxc2 47. b6 Rb2 48. Kc5 Kf6 49. Rf5+ Ke7 50. Rf4 h3 51. Rh4 Be6 52. Rh7+ Kf6 ½ : ½. Bravo, Mariya Muzychuk! Never trust a doctor who tells you you’re dead.

Mariya Muzychuk vs. Richárd Rapport
Photo: Sophie Tray

Alone in a Crowd

Stuart Conquest (‏@stuthefox)

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Advertising break during the opening ceremony of the 14th Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival, with the tournament director, Grandmaster Stuart Conquest, welcoming 15th Women’s World Chess Champion Mariya Muzychuk who returned to the Rock after a year of living in a fairy tale (but-not-always-so). Photo: Sophie Tray. For more pictures of the opening ceremony see Sophie Tray’s Flickr gallery.

New Keynesian economics

Stuart Conquest (@stuthefox)