Wednesday, 25 January 2017

2017 Gibraltar Masters - Day 1

Day 1 of the 2017 Gibraltar Masters got underway with very few surprises. A couple of higher rated players were held to draws (Gelfand, Short, Ganguly among them) and there were a couple of GM's dropping the full point. Having said that, the very top players won in a way that showed the difference between 2700+ GM's and 2300+ players. Fabiano Caruana had a very nice win, and the commentators praised Nakamrua's play. There were a couple of quick wins on the top boards, including a 16 move win by Topalov.
I started on Board 91, and to show how strong this event is, I still ended up with a 2420 rated GM. Doing a bit of pre-grame prep, I settled on a line where I was a pawn up, but with an exposed king in the centre. Turns out my idea wasn't that great as GM Sundararajan just ripped open my position and I resigned on move 25. My next round's opponent is hardly any easier, as I get a 2260+ FM to try my best against. Nonetheless I'm finding the tournament very enjoyable, and if you are able to stay up for the start I highly recommend following the online coverage.


Topalov,Veselin - Paehtz,Thomas [A80]
2017 Gibraltar Masters (1), 19.01.2017


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3 comments:

  1. Mr Tomato25 January 2017 at 13:59

    It's not everyday I see a player locking up their own bishop, could you please explain what this opening is about, Shaun? I'm sure black has some reason to play this

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  2. Shaun Press26 January 2017 at 10:21

    To be honest I don't think Black intended to end up with that pawn structure, but when you face players significantly stronger than you, your mind can go into 'over-think' mode and you play moves that prevent imaginary threats. This may have been the case here, although Nd7 was the real lemon in this game.

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  3. Mr Tomato26 January 2017 at 18:22

    Ok, thanks

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