It’s a rest day at the FIDE Grand Prix Series opening leg in Berlin, so we’ll be reporting instead on an interesting, recently-concluded event.
The Battle of the Sexes, the main feature of this year’s Gibraltar International Chess Festival in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, ended February 3rd. The event features two teams of a male and female players playing a Scheveningen match with 10 men and 10 women playing one game against each other. The distaff squad, dubbed the PIA Team, boasts of 6 GMs and 4 IMs led by Ukraine’s Mariya Muzychuk. The men, dubbed the SABINO Team, have the same number of GMs and IMs and are led by Bobby Cheng of Australia.
The men started rather slowly, losing the opening round and the second round via similar 6½-3½ results, before buckling down to business and sweeping six of the last 8 rounds. The final score: 53-47.
Houska,J (2365)-Gallagher,JG (2447) [A49]
Gibraltar (9.5) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.0-0 d6 6.b3 c5 7.c4 d5 8.Bb2 Nc6 9.dxc5 dxc4 10.Ne5 Qa5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Nd2 cxb3 13.Nxb3 Qc7 14.Nd4 Rb8 15.Rb1 Bf5 16.Nxf5 gxf5 17.Bc3 e6 18.Qd6 Qxd6 19.cxd6 Ne4 20.Bxe4 fxe4 21.Ba5 Bd4 22.Bc7 Rbc8 23.Rfc1 Be5 24.Rb7 f5 25.Rxa7 Rf7 26.Ra5 Bf6 27.Rxc6 Rd7 28.a4 Kf7 29.Kg2 Be7 30.dxe7 Rdxc7 31.e8Q+ Kxe8 32.Rxe6+ 1-0
Stefanova,A (2469)-Haria,R (2490) [E06]
Gibraltar (9.6) 2022
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Qd3 c5 7.0-0 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Na6 9.cxd5 Nb4 10.Qb3 e5 11.Nb5 Nbxd5 12.Rd1 Qa5 13.Bxd5 Nxd5 14.Qxd5 Be6 15.Qxb7 Rad8 16.Bd2 Bb4 17.N5c3 Rd7 18.Qe4 Rfd8 19.Qc2 h6 20.a3 Be7 21.e4 Bg4 22.Re1 Rc8 23.Kg2 Qa6 24.h3 Be6 25.Be3 f5 26.exf5 Bd5+ 27.Kh2 Ba8 28.Nd2 1-0
Abdumalik,Z (2491)-Rosen,E (2356) [B75]
Gibraltar (9.8) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 h5 9.0-0-0 b5 10.Kb1 Bb7 11.h4 Nbd7 12.a3 Qc7 13.Be2 Rb8 14.Rc1 Ba8 15.Na2 d5 16.Nb4 Qd6 17.Nb3 0-0 18.Rhd1 Nb6 19.Bc5 Qh2 20.Nxa6 Nc4 21.Qe1 Rbc8 22.Qg1 Qe5 23.Bd4 Qd6 24.Nb4 dxe4 25.fxe4 Bxe4 26.g4 Qe6 27.Bxc4 bxc4 28.Nc5 Rxc5 29.Bxc5 Nxg4 30.Ka2 Ra8 31.Bb6 Bh6 32.Rb1 c3+ 33.b3 Bd2 34.Bc5 Qf6 35.Rf1 Qxh4 36.Qd4 f5 37.Qc4+ Kf8 38.Qxe4 Ra5 39.Qd4 Qf6 40.Qd8+ Kf7 41.Qxa5 Qe5 42.Qa7 Qe4 43.Qd7 h4 44.Rbd1 h3 45.Rxd2 cxd2 46.Qxd2 h2 47.Qd5+ Qxd5 48.Nxd5 e5 49.a4 Ke6 50.c4 1-0
Cheng,B (2550)-Houska,J (2365) [D30]
Gibraltar (10.8) 2022
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bd6 6.Bg2 c6 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.b3 Ne4 9.Bc1 0-0 10.Qc2 Qe7 11.Bb2 f5 12.Nc3 b6 13.Rfd1 Bb7 14.e3 Nxc3 15.Qxc3 a5 16.Qc2 Rac8 17.Rac1 Ba6 18.Qb1 Rfd8 19.Rc2 h6 20.Rdc1 Qe8 21.Qa1 Bf8 22.Ne1 Kh7 23.Nd3 g5 24.f3 dxc4 25.bxc4 c5 26.f4 cxd4 27.Bxd4 b5 28.c5 b4 29.Nf2 e5 30.fxe5 Bg7 31.e6 Bxd4 32.exd7 Qxe3 33.dxc8Q Rxc8 34.Re1 Qd3 35.Qd1 a4 36.Qxd3 Bxd3 37.Rd2 Rd8 38.c6 Ba6 39.Red1 1-0
Bellahcene,B (2512)-Sebag,M (2460) [B90]
Gibraltar (10.9) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.h3 Nbd7 9.g4 h6 10.Qd2 b5 11.Bg2 Rc8 12.Nd5 Bxd5 13.exd5 Nb6 14.Bxb6 Qxb6 15.Na5 Be7 16.Nc6 Bd8 17.Qb4 Qc5 18.Qxc5 dxc5 19.0-0-0 Nd7 20.d6 Bh4 21.Rhf1 Kf8 22.Kb1 g6 23.a4 Kg7 24.Na7 Rb8 25.axb5 axb5 26.Bc6 Nf8 27.Bd5 Nd7 28.f4 exf4 29.Rxf4 Nf6 30.Bg2 Rb6 31.Nc6 Ra6 32.c3 Rha8 33.Kc2 Bg5 34.Rf2 Ra1 35.Rff1 Rxd1 36.Rxd1 Re8 37.Bf1 Nd7 38.Bxb5 Re3 39.Na5 Nf8 40.d7 Ne6 41.Nb7 Nd8 42.Nxd8 Bxd8 43.Bf1 Kf6 44.Kb3 Re4 45.Bg2 Re2 46.Bc6 Ke6 47.Bb5 Re3 48.Kc4 Re5 49.Bc6 h5 50.Kb5 hxg4 51.hxg4 f5 52.gxf5+ gxf5 53.Ka6 Re2 54.b4 Rc2 55.b5 Rxc3 56.Kb7 f4 57.Kc8 Ke7 58.Rh1 Rg3 59.Rh8 1-0
******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qe7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nc5/b4 2.Q(x)c5#; 1…Re4 2.Qxe4#; 1…Rd4 2.Nxa5#; 1…Rxg2 2.Qxh4#; 1…Nc3 2.Ne3#.
