Back to Hansen ... a tiny edge to Hansen, maybe, but he's at 13min to Toma's 33min with 17 moves to next time control.
Canadians at Gibraltar
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whynotplayagain wrote:
very nice game by GM Spraggett!
Yes, the chess cowboy of the 80's back in form !
Toma has been on move for a while, now his 26min to Hansen's 13min. Hansen has black-square holes around his king, but Black needs a lot of maneuvering before a true threat can be assembled.
FYI to prospective spectators - the main link is http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/ and then take the "Live Boards" arrow.
I do not like Hansen's 25.Re4, but Toma missed 25...Qf5 pinning and bringing the queen to the kingside.
Hansen still up a passed pawn, but mate threats by Black may paralyze him.
Hansen and Tomashevsky drew, a good result for Hansen against a 2700 player. I suppose Hansen saw no way to advance the pawn without risking his king.
perhaps also having only 3:09 for 9 moves helped his decision.
whynotplayagain wrote:
perhaps also having only 3:09 for 9 moves helped his decision.
Yes, good point.
Round 5 has just begun ... we don't get the luxury of two Canadians in the live feed today, but we do get Spraggett on board 4 against a world top-20 player, Nikita Vitiugov.
10 moves and Vitiugov hasn't castled yet. That didn't work out well for Short last round.
Spraggett is playing for a win. He has adopted the aggressive Milner-Barry line of the classical Nimzo-Indian. I have very little book on this, and they left it on White's move 11.
Black has a poor record in the 10...a5 line being played by Spraggett. Could he have something prepared?
Vitiugov castles on move 20. My small preference would be for White at this point, since Black is somewhat cramped.
Spraggett's position is looking bad. White has threats on both sides of the board, and Black's pieces are not fluid enough to meet them.
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funny how only 2 people post and yet they keep on going as if someone actually cared...
ajttja wrote:
funny how only 2 people post and yet they keep on going as if someone actually cared...
This thread is for anyone who wants to follow the Canadians at Gibraltar. No one needs to post to follow along.
I don't see any Peruvian players in the Gibraltar Masters section; feel free to adopt a Canadian.
very nice game by GM Spraggett!