Gibraltar Chess Festival Round 9

Four players sharing the lead, last round on Thursday

The 8th Gibtelecom Chess Festival Masters is reaching its climax on Thursday when the winners are to be decided in the games of the last, 10th round. The top-seeded Etienne Bacrot held the leader Jan Gustafsson to a draw in their 9th round encounter, allowing Sergei Movsesian, Francisco Vallejo Pons and Michael Adams to catch the German Grandmaster on the shared first place. The four players now have seven points each, followed by a bunch of 14 with 6.5 points.

The first prize of £15,000 may not be shared. All other prizes shall be shared where players have the same score or same relative rating performance as appropriate. Similarly, if there is a tie for the top women's prize, the tie is resolved in favour of the woman with the highest performance rating, who will receive the prize of £8,000. Currently, GM Humpy Koneru, WGM Natalia Zhukova, GM Antoaneta Stefanova, IM Lela Javakhishvili and GM Pia Cramling are in best position to fight for the prizes, all being on 6.5 points. Total prize fund is £112,500.

GM Francisco Vallejo Pons

IM Lela Javakhishvili

GM Alexandra Kosteniuk during the blitz event

IM Drasko Boskovic (all photos by John Saunders, official website)

Pairings round 9 (Wednesday 03 February 2010)

GM Gustafsson Jan GER 2627 - GM Bacrot Etienne FRA 2713 ½-½
GM Movsesian Sergei SVK 2708 - GM Halkias Stelios GRE 2566 1-0
GM Naumann Alexander GER 2525 - GM Vallejo Pons Francisco ESP 2705 0-1
GM Adams Michael ENG 2694 - GM Lemos Damian ARG 2556 1-0
GM Koneru Humpy IND 2614 - GM Kamsky Gata USA 2693 ½-½
GM Fressinet Laurent FRA 2670 - IM Javakhishvili Lela GEO 2493 ½-½
GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2622 - IM Boskovic Drasko SRB 2454 ½-½
GM Guliyev Namig AZE 2516 - GM Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2660 ½-½
GM Carlsson Pontus SWE 2476 - GM Fridman Daniel GER 2654 0-1
GM Edouard Romain FRA 2608 - GM Bindrich Falko GER 2512 0-1
GM Hoffmann Michael GER 2508 - GM Istratescu Andrei ROU 2607 ½-½
GM Felgaer Ruben ARG 2591 - IM Kapnisis Spyridon GRE 2510 ½-½
IM Harika Dronavalli IND 2471 - GM Geetha Narayanan Gopal IND 2584 0-1
IM Lenderman Alex USA 2560 - GM Dzagnidze Nana GEO 2506 1-0
IM Krush Irina USA 2455 - GM Malakhatko Vadim BEL 2549 ½-½
GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2545 - IM Shankland Samuel L USA 2491 1-0

Pairings round 10 (Thursday 04 February 2010)

GM Gustafsson Jan GER 2627 - GM Movsesian Sergei SVK 2708
GM Vallejo Pons Francisco ESP 2705 - GM Adams Michael ENG 2694
GM Bacrot Etienne FRA 2713 - GM Cramling Pia SWE 2528
GM Bindrich Falko GER 2512 - GM Kamsky Gata USA 2693
WGM Zhukova Natalia UKR 2462 - GM Fressinet Laurent FRA 2670
GM Fridman Daniel GER 2654 - IM Lenderman Alex USA 2560
IM Javakhishvili Lela GEO 2493 - GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2622
IM Boskovic Drasko SRB 2454 - GM Koneru Humpy IND 2614
GM Geetha Narayanan Gopal IND 2584 - GM Stefanova Antoaneta BUL 2545
IM Kapnisis Spyridon GRE 2510 - GM Cheparinov Ivan BUL 2660
GM Istratescu Andrei ROU 2607 - IM Krush Irina USA 2455
GM Hoffmann Michael GER 2508 - GM Felgaer Ruben ARG 2591

Video by Zeljka Malobabic of MonRoi.com