Gibraltar: Hou Yifan beats Polgar in historical clash, Adams in sole lead

Hou Yifan, reigning World Champion, defeated Judit Polgar, the best female chess player ever, in their first over-the-board encounter on Monday in Gibraltar. The two ladies faced each other in the 7th round of the Tradewise Chess Festival's Masters tournament and the Chinese grandmaster won an endgame that started from a Sicilian, Taimanov variation. Mickey Adams in leading the tournament with 6 points out of 7 games.

Hou Yifan and Judit Polgar meet in Gibraltar | Photos in this report by Ray Morris-Hill, more here

Last Friday we already reported on the first three rounds of the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival, which celebrates its 10th edition this year. At that point Nigel Short, Mickey Adams, Hou Yifan, Sabino Brunello and Ruben Felgaer were still on a 100% score, while top seeds Peter Svidler and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov were already a point behind.

In round 4 Hou Yifan of China drew quickly with Mickey Adams on board 1. In a Marshall Ruy Lopez, The Women's World Champion played white and quickly gave back the extra pawn, but her bishop pair offered no winning chances. Sabino Brunello and Nigel Short also drew quickly and so did Judit Polgar and Humpy Koneru. Viktor Laznicka's opponent fell into a trap he should have seen:

[Event "Gibraltar Open"]
[Site "Caleta ENG"]
[Date "2012.01.27"]
[Round "4.6"]
[White "Laznicka, Viktor"]
[Black "Kulaots, Kaido"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2704"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5r1k/pb4bp/3q2p1/3Ppp2/4P3/1B4BP/P1Q3P1/2R3K1 b - - 0 25"]
[PlyCount "6"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]

25... Rc8 $4 26. Qxc8+ $1 Bxc8 27. Rxc8+ Bf8 28. Rxf8+ $1 ({
Black resigned because of} 28. Rxf8+ Qxf8 29. Bxe5+ Kg8 30. d6+) 1-0

Sergei Movsesian handled Artur Jusspow's Petroff like a hot knife through butter:

[Event "Gibraltar Open"]
[Site "Caleta ENG"]
[Date "2012.01.27"]
[Round "4.7"]
[White "Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Black "Jussupow, Artur"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C43"]
[WhiteElo "2700"]
[BlackElo "2569"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r1k1r/ppp2p2/3qb2p/3p2pQ/3P4/2PB3P/P1P2PP1/4RRK1 w - - 0 20"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]

20. f4 $1 gxf4 21. Re5 Ke7 22. Rxf4 Kd7 23. Bf5 Kc8 24. Qxf7 Bxf5 25. Rfxf5 Qa3
26. Rxd5 Qxc3 27. Kh2 b6 28. Rc5 bxc5 29. Rxc5 Qxc5 30. dxc5 Kb7 31. Qf3+ c6
32. Qf7+ Kb8 33. a4 Rd5 34. Qf6 Rg8 35. Qxh6 Rd7 36. Qxc6 Rc7 37. Qd6 Rgc8 38.
a5 1-0

Traditionally the Gibraltar organizers invite many women to their tournament. Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia played a splendid game with Black against Brazil's Alexandr Fier:

[Event "Gibraltar Open"]
[Site "Caleta ENG"]
[Date "2012.01.27"]
[Round "4.11"]
[White "Fier, Alexandr"]
[Black "Dzagnidze, Nana"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2603"]
[BlackElo "2535"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 d5 6. Bg2 dxc4 7. Ne5 Bb4+ 8. Kf1
c6 9. Nxc6 Nxc6 10. Bxc6+ Ke7 11. Bxa8 Qxa8 12. f3 Rd8 13. Ba3 Bxa3 14. Nxa3 c3
15. Kf2 e5 16. Nc2 exd4 17. Nxd4 Ne4+ 18. fxe4 Qxe4 19. e3 Rd6 20. g4 g6 21.
Rg1 Rf6+ 22. Kg3 Qxe3+ 23. Nf3 Be2 24. Qc1 Rxf3+ 0-1

At the end of the round Hou Yifan, Adams, Short, Le Quang Liem, Laznicka, Sasikiran, Movsesian, Brunello, Gopal, Rapport and Dzagnidze were all on 3.5/4.

In round 5 Adams faced the Jaenisch/Schliemann and won an ending with rooks and opposite-coloured bishops, as he got the enemy king in a mating net. Two rounds later he would do exactly the same! (See below.)

[Event "Gibraltar Open"]
[Site "Caleta ENG"]
[Date "2012.01.28"]
[Round "5.1"]
[White "Adams, Michael"]
[Black "Brunello, Sabino"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C63"]
[WhiteElo "2724"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/2pr2pk/7p/3pRP2/3B1KP1/2P3P1/2b5/8 w - - 0 41"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]

41. g5 hxg5+ 42. Kxg5 Kg8 $2 (42... Ba4 43. g4 Rd8) 43. Re8+ Kf7 44. Rh8 $1 Ba4
(44... Re7 45. Rd8) 45. Bc5 1-0

Nigel Short played the Closed Sicilian and drew with Vietnam's Le Quang Liem. India's Gopal did something that not many manage these days: beat the solid Czech GM Viktor Laznicka in his Caro-Kann. Dzagnidze continued playing well:

[Event "Gibraltar Open"]
[Site "Caleta ENG"]
[Date "2012.01.28"]
[Round "5.4"]
[White "Dzagnidze, Nana"]
[Black "Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2535"]
[BlackElo "2700"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r1r1k1/1p3ppp/p7/P2P1b2/R3N2q/8/1P2BPP1/1Q1R2K1 b - - 0 24"]
[PlyCount "24"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]

24... Bxe4 $6 (24... Rxe4) 25. Bf3 $1 f5 26. d6 Rcd8 27. Qa2+ Kh8 28. d7 Re7
29. Rad4 Qf6 30. Qb3 h6 31. Bxe4 fxe4 32. Qxb7 e3 33. fxe3 Rxe3 34. Qb6 Qe7 35.
Qxa6 Re2 36. Qd3 {and White won.} 1-0

Sasikiran beat Hou Yifan in an instructive manner:

[Event "Gibraltar Open"]
[Site "Caleta ENG"]
[Date "2012.01.28"]
[Round "5.5"]
[White "Sasikiran, Krishnan"]
[Black "Hou, Yifan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2700"]
[BlackElo "2605"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6k1/5p2/p4Rp1/1p5p/1P5P/5RP1/q4PK1/8 w - - 0 49"]
[PlyCount "21"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]

49. Rxf7 $1 Qxf7 50. Rxf7 Kxf7 51. Kf3 Ke6 52. Ke4 Kd6 53. f3 Kc6 54. g4 Kc7
55. gxh5 gxh5 56. f4 Kd6 57. f5 Kd7 58. Ke5 Ke7 59. f6+ 1-0

In the same round, 2700+ players Zoltan Almasi and Peter Svidler dropped half points, playing white against Richard Rapport (Israel) and Nadezhda Kosintseva (Russia) respectively.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave tried an original way of handling the Hedgehog, but it backfired completely:

[Event "Gibraltar Open"]
[Site "Caleta ENG"]
[Date "2012.01.28"]
[Round "5.12"]
[White "El Debs, Felipe de Cresce"]
[Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A15"]
[WhiteElo "2497"]
[BlackElo "2699"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r2qk2r/pb1pppbp/1pn2np1/8/2P4Q/2N2NP1/PP2PPBP/R1B2RK1 b kq - 0 9"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]

9... h6 10. Nd4 g5 11. Nxc6 dxc6 12. Qh3 Qd4 13. Nb5 Qe5 14. Be3 Rd8 ({
So far it's fine, but here} 14... O-O {looks better.}) 15. Nxa7 $1 {
The knight won't be trapped.} Qc7 16. a4 Ra8 17. a5 bxa5 18. Qf5 e5 19. b4 axb4
20. Bc5 $1 {Black is busted.} b3 21. Rfd1 b2 22. Ra2 Nd7 23. Rxb2 Nxc5 24. Rxb7
Nxb7 25. Bxc6+ Kf8 26. Rd7 Qxd7 27. Qxd7 Rxa7 28. Qe8# 1-0

Gopal and Adams drew a somewhat boring game in round 6 and with some more excitement the same result was seen in Dzagnidze-Sasikiran. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had a narrow escape against Hungarian GM Viktor Erdos:

[Event "Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2012"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2012.01.29"]
[Round "6.3"]
[White "Erdos, Viktor"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E62"]
[WhiteElo "2634"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[Annotator "Alex Baburin (www.chesstoday.net)"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1n1Q1nk1/rq2pr1p/1N2B1p1/1Pp3B1/P2b4/6PP/5P2/5RK1 w - - 0 29"]
[PlyCount "18"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]
[Source "Chess Today"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.30"]

29. Bh6 $2 ({After} 29. Qe8 $1 {
Mamedyarov would probably have resigned in a few moves.}) 29... Nbd7 30. Nxd7
$2 ({After} 30. Qe8 {the following line is forced:} Qf3 31. Kh2 $1 Bxf2 32.
Qxf7+ Qxf7 33. Bxf7+ Kxf7 34. Rxf2+ Ke8 35. Nxd7 Nxd7 36. Ra2 {
and White keeps winning chances.}) 30... Ra8 31. Qb6 $2 (31. Bxf7+ Kxf7 32.
Nxc5 Bxc5 33. Qd3 {is unclear, but now White even loses the game.}) 31... Qf3
$1 32. Bxf7+ Kxf7 $1 33. Qc6 $6 Qxg3+ 34. Kh1 Qxh3+ 35. Kg1 Rxa4 36. Nxf8 Qxh6
37. Qf3+ Bf6 {and Black won.} 0-1

Nigel Short won a nice game with Black against Humpy Koneru:

[Event "Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2012"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2012.01.29"]
[Round "6.8"]
[White "Koneru, Humpy"]
[Black "Short, Nigel D"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A40"]
[WhiteElo "2589"]
[BlackElo "2677"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "q4rk1/1pp2ppp/3p1nn1/3Pp3/1pP3b1/rP2NNP1/P3PPBP/RQ3RK1 b - - 0 16"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]
[Source "Chess Today"]
[SourceDate "2012.01.30"]

16... Qa5 $1 {This move needed some deep calculation.} 17. Nc2 Bf5 18. Nfe1 Ra8
19. e4 Bxe4 20. Bxe4 Nxe4 21. Nxa3 Nd2 22. Qc2 bxa3 23. b4 Qxb4 24. Nd3 Qa5 25.
Rfd1 {
White has managed to "win" the exchange but Black's compensation is obvious.}
Nf3+ 26. Kg2 Nd4 27. Qd2 Qa6 28. Nb4 Qxc4 (28... Qa4 {might have been better.})
29. Rac1 Qb5 30. Rxc7 h6 31. Qc3 Ra4 32. Rxd4 exd4 33. Qf3 Qe8 34. Rxb7 Ne5 35.
Qb3 Ra8 36. Na6 Qd8 37. Nc7 Rc8 38. Nb5 d3 39. Nxa3 d2 40. Nb1 Nc4 41. Qd3 Qa5
42. Re7 Qb4 43. Qf5 Rf8 44. Qc2 Rb8 45. Nc3 Qb2 0-1

Sergey Movesian allowed Anna Zatonskih to get a second queen because he had found a nice checkmate:

[Event "Gibraltar Open"]
[Site "Caleta ENG"]
[Date "2012.01.29"]
[Round "6.14"]
[White "Movsesian, Sergei"]
[Black "Zatonskih, Anna"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2700"]
[BlackElo "2506"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r2nk1/2r3p1/4p3/3pP1NQ/pp1q1P2/8/P1p2N1P/5RRK w - - 0 37"]
[PlyCount "9"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]

37. Ng4 $1 c1=Q 38. Nf6+ gxf6 39. Rxc1 Rxc1 40. Qf7+ Kh8 41. Qh7+ (41. Qh7+
Nxh7 42. Nf7#) 1-0

In Monday's 7th round, Mickey Adams won in a similar manner as in round 5:

[Event "Gibraltar Open"]
[Site "Caleta ENG"]
[Date "2012.01.30"]
[Round "7.2"]
[White "Adams, Michael"]
[Black "Howell, David W L"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C63"]
[WhiteElo "2724"]
[BlackElo "2603"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/5b1k/3Rr2p/8/5B2/6KP/6P1/8 w - - 0 54"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]

54. Rd7 Kg7 55. Kg4 Kg6 56. Rc7 Ra6 57. Rc5 Rb6 58. Kh4 Rb4 59. Rc6+ Kg7 60.
Kg3 h5 61. Be5+ Kh7 62. Rd6 Re4 63. Bd4 Re6 64. Rd7 Kg6 65. Kf4 Ra6 66. Bc3 Rc6
67. Rd3 Kh6 68. Bd4 Ra6 69. Bb2 Rb6 70. Be5 Rb4+ 71. Bd4 Bg6 72. Rd2 Rb5 73.
Re2 Rf5+ 74. Kg3 Bf7 75. Rb2 Bd5 76. Be3+ Kg6 77. Kh4 Re5 78. Bf4 Rf5 79. Bc7
Bf7 80. Rc2 Bd5 81. Rd2 Bf7 82. Bh2 Rd5 83. Rf2 Rf5 84. Re2 Bc4 85. Rd2 Bf7 86.
Bc7 Rd5 87. Rf2 Rf5 88. Bf4 Ra5 89. Rd2 Rd5 90. Rb2 Rf5 91. Rb4 Rf6 92. Be5 Rc6
93. Bd4 Rd6 94. Be3 Re6 95. Bf4 Rf6 96. Rd4 Rc6 97. Rd3 Re6 98. Rc3 Re4 99.
Rc6+ Re6 100. Rc5 Kh7 101. Be5 Kg6 102. Kg3 Ra6 103. Bd4 Rd6 104. Bc3 Ra6 105.
Ba5 Rf6 106. Bc3 Ra6 107. Kh4 Ra4+ 108. g4 {Two moves before Howell could
claim a draw based on the 50-move rule!} hxg4 109. Rc6+ Kh7 110. Kg5 Bb3 $4 {
Howell collapses.} (110... Bd5 {or}) (110... Be8 {should lead to a draw.}) 111.
Rc8 Bg8 112. Rc7+ Bf7 113. Rxf7+ Kg8 114. Rg7+ Kf8 115. hxg4 1-0

Nigel Short kept playing originally with White, and Nana Dzagnidze kept playing strongly:

[Event "Gibraltar Open"]
[Site "Caleta ENG"]
[Date "2012.01.30"]
[Round "7.4"]
[White "Short, Nigel D"]
[Black "Dzagnidze, Nana"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2677"]
[BlackElo "2535"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nge2 e5 4. Nd5 d6 5. Nec3 Nge7 6. Bc4 a6 7. a4 Nb4 8. d3
Nbxd5 9. Nxd5 Be6 10. f4 Bxd5 11. exd5 exf4 12. Qe2 g5 13. h4 Bg7 14. hxg5 Be5
15. c3 Kf8 16. a5 Ng6 17. Rh5 Kg7 18. Kd1 h6 19. gxh6+ Rxh6 20. Rxh6 Kxh6 21.
Bd2 Kg7 22. Kc2 Qg5 23. Rh1 Rh8 24. Rxh8 Kxh8 25. Be1 Kg7 26. Qe4 Ne7 27. Bf2
Qg6 28. Qxg6+ fxg6 29. d4 cxd4 30. cxd4 Bf6 31. Kd3 Nf5 32. b4 Bd8 33. Ke4 Ne3
34. Bxe3 fxe3 35. Kxe3 Kf7 36. Bd3 Bg5+ 37. Ke2 Bf6 1/2-1/2

Nana Dzagnidze is having an excellent tournament thus far

The following game was arguably the most spectacular of the tournament so far:

[Event "Gibraltar Open"]
[Site "Caleta ENG"]
[Date "2012.01.30"]
[Round "7.5"]
[White "Almasi, Zoltan"]
[Black "David, Alberto"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2717"]
[BlackElo "2598"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1rb2rk1/2q1bppp/p7/2np2P1/2nB1P2/1N5R/PPP2Q1P/2K2BR1 w - - 0 23"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]

23. Rxh7 $1 Kxh7 24. Qh4+ Kg6 (24... Kg8 25. Bxg7 $1 Kxg7 26. Qh6+ Kg8 27. g6
$18) 25. Be2 Rh8 26. Qxh8 Nxb3+ 27. axb3 Qxf4+ 28. Kb1 Nd2+ $2 ({The immediate
} 28... Qxd4 $1 {should have been enough for a draw:} 29. Qh5+ Kf5 30. Qxf7+
Bf6 31. Rf1+ Ke4 32. c3 Nd2+ ({or the spectacular} 32... Qxc3 33. bxc3 Rxb3+
34. Ka1 Ra3+ 35. Kb1 Rb3+) 33. Kc2 Qb6 34. Qg6+ Ke5 35. Kxd2 Qxb3 36. gxf6
Qxb2+ 37. Kd3 Qb5+ 38. Kd2 Qb2+) 29. Ka2 Qxd4 30. Qh5+ Kf5 31. Qxf7+ Bf6 32.
gxf6 g5 33. Qh7+ Kf4 34. Rd1 Ke3 35. Bd3 Qb4 36. Re1+ Kf3 37. Qc7 Qh4 38. f7
Bf5 39. Rf1+ 1-0

Video Almasi-David

Macauley Peterson is producing live streaming commentary and videos in Gibraltar. Here are both Almasi and David looking at this marvelous game afterwards:

We finish this report with the game that made the headline: the first clash ever between Hou Yifan and Judit Polgar. The Hungarian used less time than her Chinese opponent, but miscalculated somewhere:

[Event "Gibraltar Open"]
[Site "Caleta ENG"]
[Date "2012.01.30"]
[Round "7.7"]
[White "Hou, Yifan"]
[Black "Polgar, Judit"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2605"]
[BlackElo "2710"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2b4r/5p1p/p1p1pkn1/3p2pB/1r2P3/2N3P1/PPPR1P1P/2K1R3 b - - 0 20"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2012.01.24"]

20... d4 $6 {This looks wrong because of White's next.} 21. e5+ $1 Nxe5 22.
Ne4+ Ke7 23. Nxg5 h6 ({Also after} 23... f6 {White is better, e.g.} 24. b3 $5)
24. Nxe6 $1 Bxe6 25. Rxe5 Rd8 26. f4 Rb5 27. Rde2 Kf6 28. Bf3 c5 29. a4 Rb4 30.
Rxc5 Rxa4 31. b3 Rb4 32. Be4 Bg4 33. Re1 Rd6 34. Bd3 Bd7 35. Ree5 Be6 36. Kd2
Rbb6 37. Ra5 Rbc6 38. Ra4 Rb6 39. Re4 Bf5 40. Rexd4 Re6 41. Bc4 Rec6 42. Ra5
Bc8 43. Bd3 Be6 44. Rd8 Bc8 45. Rad5 Be6 46. Rh5 Kg7 47. f5 1-0

Hou Yifan won her historical first clash with Judit Polgar

Video Hou Yifan-Polgar

Macauley Peterson is producing live streaming commentary and videos in Gibraltar. Here are highlights from the Hou Yifan-Polgar game with GM Simon Williams:

Viktor Korchnoi is again playing in Gibraltar. The living legend is on 4/7.

Tradewise Chess Festival | Masters | Round 7 standings (top 40)