THE NINTH FILE
A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
By Round 7, the higher-rated players began seriously jockeying to secure positions in the money circle. Most of the top boards hurdled their lesser counterparts, while it was in the middle boards that the plays got intense and interesting, as many of the higher-ranked GMs fell with an enormous thud – the most prominent of them being GMs Vassily Ivanchuk, Krishnan Sasikiran and Maxim Chigaev.
Yuffa,D (2566)-Sasikiran,K (2648) [D12]
Caleta (7.9) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.g3 Nbd7 9.Bg2 Be7 10.0-0 Nb6 11.c5 Nbd7 12.b4 e5 13.b5 0-0 14.Qa4 Qc8 15.Bd2 Re8 16.Bh3 Bf8 17.f3 g5 18.Rab1 g6 19.Nd1 g4 20.fxg4 Ne4 21.Be1 Bh6 22.Bg2 exd4 23.exd4 Ndf6 24.h3 Re6 25.Rb3 Qe8 26.bxc6 bxc6 27.Kh2 Bd2 28.Rbf3 Bxe1 29.Rxe1 Rb8 30.Ref1 Qe7 31.Rf4 Kg7 32.Bxe4 g5 33.Ne3 Kh8 34.R4f2 dxe4 35.d5 Nxd5 36.Rxf7 Qc5 37.Nd5 cd5 38.Qd7 Rh6 39.R1f2 e3 40.Qf5 Qd6 41.Qg5 1-0
Abdumalik,Z (2471)-Vaibhav,S (2593) [B90]
Caleta (7.22) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 e5 7.Nde2 h5 8.g3 Be6 9.Bg2 b5 10.a4 b4 11.Nd5 a5 12.0-0 Be7 13.c3 Na6 14.Be3 0-0 15.Bb6 Qd7 16.Bxa5 Bxd5 17.exd5 Rfb8 18.b3 Qb7 19.Rb1 Nd7 20.Nc1 bxc3 21.Bxc3 Rc8 22.Na2 Nf6 23.b4 Nc7 24.Bxe5 dxe5 25.d6 e4 26.dxe7 Ncd5 27.Re1 Nxe7 28.a5 Nc6 29.Nc3 Rd8 30.Qa4 Rd2 31.Nxe4 Nxe4 32.Rxe4 Qa7 33.Re3 1-0
Tan,Zhongyi (2493) – Chigaev,Maksim (2616) [E71]
Gibraltar Masters 2020 Caleta ENG (8.23), 28.01.2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 0-0 6.Be3 Na6 7.Nf3 c6 8.Be2 e5 9.d5 Nh5 10.0-0 c5 11.Re1 Bd7 12.a3 Kh8 13.Nb5 Qe7 14.Rb1 Nf6 15.Bd3 Ng8 16.b4 b6 17.Bc2 Bh6 18.Ba4 Rfc8 19.Nd2 Kg7 20.Nc3 Nb8 21.Qe2 f6 22.Nb3 Bxe3 23.fxe3 Bxa4 24.Nxa4 Nh6 25.bxc5 dxc5 26.Nc3 Nf7 27.Nd2 Na6 28.Rf1 Nc7 29.a4 Nd6 30.a5 Rab8 31.axb6 axb6 32.Rb2 Na6 33.Nb5 Nb4 34.Nxd6 Qxd6 35.Nb1 Ra8 36.Nc3 Qe7 37.Nb5 Rf8 38.Qg4 h5 39.Qg3 Ra5 40.Rd2 Rxb5 41.cxb5 c4 42.Rc1 Qc5 43.Qe1 c3 44.Qe2 Rc8 45.Kh2 Qd6 46.Rdd1 c2 47.Rd2 Qc5 48.h4 Qc3 49.d6 Qa3 50.Qf1 Qxe3 51.d7 Rd8 52.Rd6 f5 53.Rxg6+ Kxg6 54.Qxf5+ Kh6 55.Qf6+ Kh7 56.Qe7+ Kh6 57.Rf1 Rg8 58.Rf6+ Rg6 59.Qf8+ Kh7 60.Rf7+ 1-0
Buckels,V (2459)-Ivanchuk,V (2698) [A45]
Caleta (8.32) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 d6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 Qa5 5.e5 dxe5 6.dxe5 Ne4 7.Nge2 g5 8.Bd2 Nxd2 9.Qxd2 Qxe5 10.0-0-0 Nd7 11.g3 Bg7 12.Bh3 0-0 13.Rhe1 Nc5 14.Bxc8 Raxc8 15.Nf4 Qd6 16.Qe3 gxf4 17.gxf4 Qf6 18.Qxc5 Qxf4+ 19.Kb1 e6 20.Re4 Qf3 21.Rg1 Kh8 22.Reg4 Rg8 23.Qxa7 c5 24.R4g3 Qxf2 25.Qxb7 Rb8 26.Qe7 Rge8 27.Qh4 c4 28.Qh3 Rxb2+ 29.Kxb2 Rb8+ 30.Kc1 Qf4+ 31.Kd1 Rd8+ 32.Ke1 Qc1+ 33.Kf2 Bd4+ 34.Re3 Qd2+ 35.Ne2 Rd5 36.Rgg3 Re5 37.Rgf3 c3 38.Qh6 Bc5 39.Qf6+ 1-0
Panjwani,R (2444)-Kaidanov,G (2546) [D45]
Caleta (8.37) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 b6 7.b3 Bb7 8.Bb2 Be7 9.Bd3 0-0 10.0-0 h6 11.Rad1 Qc7 12.h3 Rad8 13.Qe2 Rfe8 14.Bb1 Bd6 15.e4 dxe4 16.Nxe4 Nxe4 17.Qxe4 Nf8 18.Qe2 c5 19.dxc5 Bxc5 20.Be4 Bxe4 21.Qxe4 Ng6 22.Ne5 Nxe5 23.Bxe5 Qe7 24.g3 Rxd1 25.Rxd1 Rd8 26.Qg4 Rxd1+ 27.Qxd1 Qg5 28.Qe2 f6 29.Bd6 Qf5 30.Bxc5 bxc5 31.g4 Qb1+ 32.Kg2 e5 33.Qe3 Qxa2 34.Qxc5 Qxb3 35.Qc8+ Kh7 36.c5 Qd5+ 37.Kh2 a5 38.c6 Qc5 39.Kg1 Qc1+ 40.Kg2 Qc4 1-0
We will conclude this tomorrow.
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ne2!, intending 2.Nf6#. Black’s futile options are: 1…Be6 2.Sc3#; 1…Rb6 2.Sxc5#; 1…Kxf5 2.Qxd5#; 1…Sg4 2.Qxd3#./PN
