Friday 10 February 2012

Gibral-tastic!

I have just got back from the superb Tradewise Gibraltar chess tournament, sharing with my friend and Ginger GM Simon Williams who was doing the commentary. The Caleta Hotel where we were staying was also the venue for the chess, on the eastern side of Gibraltar with a beautiful view overlooking the sea. The event itself prides itself as one of the strongest open tournaments in the world(in fact this year probably THE strongest) with 11 players over the 2700 mark.

My own tournament was a bit of a yo-yo affair, playing 7 players 2300 or below, and 3 super strong GM's (Svidler, Vachier-Lagrave and Yifan Hou). I managed to score 6.5/10, losing to the big 3 and picking up a few rating points on the way. I would highly recommend the event to chess professsionals and amateurs alike, with many sections in the mornings for players Under 2250. In the evenings there were masterclasses from the likes of Judit Polgar, Michael Adams and Emil Sutovsky, along with pairs and team blitz.

I now have a break of a month or so before the next tournament, so plenty of hard work to do on my chess :)