First round dangers

If you have enough players sitting down to play chess, there is a good chance that at least some games won't go according to rating. And when most of those players are rated above 2000, then the chances of this happening are obviously increased.
The first round of the Gibraltar Masters saw this in spades where lower rated players proved to be quite a handful for their higher rated opponents. Top seed Lev Aronian was held to a draw by Anita Gara, while a number of GM's ended up on the wrong end of the scoreboard against non-GM opponents.
From an Australian point of view the most outstanding result was WIM Heather Richards beating GM Alexandra Kosteniuk. Richards did not seem overawed by her opponent, taking the fight to her right out of the opening, and capitalising on a blunder by Kosteniuk to win the exchange. Then it was a matter of converting this advantage into the full point, which Richards did after 5 hours of play.


Kosteniuk,Alexandra (2561) - Richards,Heather S (2223) [A00]
Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2018 Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar (1.52), 23.01.2018

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Be3 Qb6 5. a3 Ng4 6. Bg5 e5 7. Nf3 h6 8. Bh4 Nd7 9. Be2 Ngf6 10. b4 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. Bc4 exd4 13. Qxd4 Qxd4 14. Nxd4 Ne5 15. Bb3 c5 16. Ndb5 Bd7 17. bxc5 dxc5 18. Bg3 Ng6 19. Nc7 Rac8 20. Rad1 Bc6 21. N7d5 c4 22. Nxe7+ Nxe7 23. Bxc4 Nxe4 24. Nxe4 Bxe4 25. Bb3 Nf5 26. Rd7 Bc6 27. Rd2 Nxg3 28. fxg3 Rce8 29. h4 g6 30. Rdf2 Re7 31. Rf6 Re2 32. Rxg6+ Kh7 33. Rxf7+ Rxf7 34. Bxf7 Re7 35. Rxc6 bxc6 36. Bb3 Re2 37. Kh2 h5 38. Ba4 c5 39. Bb5 Re3 40. Bd3+ Kg7 41. a4 Re1 42. g4 hxg4 43. Kg3 Ra1 44. Bb5 Ra2 45. c4 Rc2 46. Ba6 Kf6 47. Bb5 Rd2 48. Ba6 Rd4 49. a5 Rd2 50. Bb7 Rd4 51. Ba6 Kg6 52. Bc8 Rxc4 53. Bxg4 Ra4 54. Bd1 Rxa5 55. Kf4 Ra1 56. Be2 Ra4+ 57. Ke5 Rd4 58. Ba6 Kh5 59. g3 Kg4 60. Be2+ Kxg3 61. h5 a5 62. h6 a4 63. h7 Rh4 0-1