 We'll start with you, thanks. Hello and welcome to the 10th and final round of this 2020 International Givolted Chess Festival, David. I'm excited Fiona, it's the money round, everything's happening, everything's still to play for. I mean yesterday was the most dramatic day of chess that I have ever witnessed and today with one round to go, everything is still to play for. I don't think I've ever heard of more players that could potentially still win a tournament. No, that's right. I think up to 19 players can win our first prize. Up to a dozen women can still win the women's top prize. So much money to play for and hopefully lots of fighting chess. Absolutely incredible. So here, quick recap. After the quiet of round eight yesterday, we had such a storm here in Gibraltar. The top two boards between our four leaders were drawn, but not after some incredible drama. Yeah, a huge turnaround, especially on board two. Well, Andrzej Sopenko as Black was simply a queen for two pieces up. I think a winning advantage, nine times out of the ten, he'd win that without any trouble and he couldn't quite make it. He would have been the sole leader going into today. Instead, we have five leaders after on board three. Mustafa Yilmaz joined them by beating Ivan Cheparinov. Yeah, a bit of a Swiss gambit by the Turkish player. But yesterday, when it counts, he was there, he beat our early leader, Cheparinov. Then we had two draws between Pragnananda and Kobalyar and between the two Russians, Yufa and Alexenko. Now for the standings, David. I mean, this is perfect. That you see on the right of us. We do see the five leaders out there on seven points out of nine. There's a huge group, though, behind them, only half a point behind them between sixth place and 21st place. If anyone wins from that group, they could jump up and join the leaders. We'll be talking about the tiebreak, the playoff rules as we go along. I think there's chances of seeing a playoff quite high. We could see a massive playoff of up to four players even. Four players is the maximum limit. I think we'll have plenty of time to talk about it. And I think it's time to look at the pairings now for today's all-important final round. So on board one, and it's even more heartbreaking for Andrey Yassipenko because, as you said, most likely he would have gotten the same pairing even with a win. He will be white. Hopefully he will have been able to recover overnight and he's playing against Wang Hao. That's right, and a huge pairing there. Wang Hao did manage to beat him a few months ago in the Isle of Man, so hopefully our young star, Yassipenko, can bounce back on board two. Another battle between the leaders, David Paravian and Mustafa Yulmaz. Huge opportunity for both of them. Biggest game of their careers by a mile, I think. I think if you had told either of these two players that they would go into the last round as a co-leader and no offense again to none of the two players, but they're both, you know, like low 2600. So I expect a big slugfest there with chances for both sides, I think. And then on board three, our co-top seed, MVL is back on the top board. Yeah, I saw him yesterday. He was looking for this kind of pairing. He needs to win now and hope that results go his way in order to jump into the top four. He still needs a few swings to get into top four on performance, but... I think for Max Zulu it's interesting. Like, there might be an element of tiredness. He played an extremely long game, but he will have such a boost, I think, from saving that game. So that's another very interesting one. Then Topalov with the black pieces and against Bogdan Deyac should be another interesting game. No, that's right. Again, Topalov is in the same situation as MVL. He needs to win now. And as we see with David Navarra on board five. He's playing against Mr Dejan. He's his number one fan. He's not in the chat with us yet, but surely won't be long. Dennis Kadridge yesterday. I mean, if you haven't seen it and you're a fan of... If you through those games as we go along, we'll be keeping an eye mostly today on the potential prize winners. Absolutely. Both male and female. Let's bring up the top board, David. Andrea Sipenko against Wang Hao. That's right. And it looks like there have been a few moves here. Currently, we do have Sipenko deep in thought, but he did get the memo. White shirt from White Game. He's looking very slick. And I think biggest game of his career as well. No more Arsenal. Wang Hao is staying true to his favorite jacket. And let's look at the opening moves here. That's right. So we did see the Catalan. Maybe in honor of Catalan Bay, just down the road here from the Coletta Hotel. And I mean, it's been so popular this tournament. And Wang Hao decided to choose the line with C6 in this position. A6 is by far the most popular move. There's also move B6. Lots of options here for Black. What kind of approach, David, you have played here, you know, on the very, very top boards in the final round. What sort of approach do you expect from not just these two, but maybe from our five leaders? Yeah, I mean, for the five leaders, especially those with the best performance ratings, I would say don't go out and take too many risks, especially in the early stages. The games will be decided toward move 30-40 when the nerves really kick in. I mean, I've never been a specialist at last rounds, but especially with White, you don't want to go all in, burn your bridges, and look back and think, oh, I could have just been solid and held my own destiny in my own hands. Because, of course, I think they would all love to add Gibraltar to their CV, but there was also a lot of money at stake and a last round loss. I mean, yeah, first prize, £30,000, and that will not be shared. That will be taken by the winner, either on points or after the playoff. I think the strategy with Black is to mostly keep things solid if you can survive the opening. Maybe your opponent will start pressing too much, and then a bit of a counter-attacking strategy. I think that's Wang Hao's style, either way. He doesn't like to go all out and crazy tactics. I was thinking this as well. He will sit and wait, build up a solid position, but if he gets any chance at all, he will bounce. Yeah, and if Espenko goes on tilt, which isn't impossible after yesterday's game, Wang Hao might well get his chances, but maybe not the most ambitious opening for Wang Hao so far. This C6 line is supposed to equalise, but no more than that. And I guess we'll see how Espenko does, what kind of approach he chooses. Yeah, I think it will be... I don't know if we'll be able to see how he has recovered yesterday. Actually, after the round, I was so tired, I called a bus back to our hotel immediately, and Espenko was on the same bus, and he was by himself. He might actually be playing here by himself. I remember I said, I talked to last night, I'm sure, even if he is by himself, he can phone someone, but it was very sad to see him on the bus by himself. Maybe he'll go and watch some Arsenal highlights on YouTube, take his mind off the chess, and completely reset. I mean, here we see him have a little think about the opening. I'm just hoping that he's not dwelling on yesterday's game too much. And Quinn takes C4. So we come back to this one. Let's move on to board 2, where we've had a few more moves between David Paravian and Mustafa Yilmaz. That's right. This one looks like another Sicilian, a very competitive opening. I think Yilmaz has been playing this as long as I've known him. We used to play in these World Junior events occasionally, and he's been playing the Sicilian Naidov specifically for at least, I think, 10, 15 years, and he's stuck true to his guns. That's another good thing to do in the last round. You don't want to prepare too much, especially in the morning. I mean, we're starting four hours earlier than normal here. Just stick to your normal stuff and trust that you'll know better than your opponents. You know, I think Mustafa Yilmaz is slightly, the slight underdog waiting-wise, but I think in these last rounds, David Paravian is a player I don't know too well. He's, you know, a few, maybe almost 10 years younger. I think he's five years younger than Yilmaz. But Mustafa Yilmaz has played, you know, at the top level these top events. He's represented Turkey so many times. Still only 27, still a youngster. Yeah, I didn't realize that. I thought he was close to being my age. He's not that ancient. Nobody's that old for you. But I think experience in such a crucial round like today plays a massive role, and I kind of favor Mustafa Dayn, especially, you know, playing these positions that, as you said, he has a wealth of experience. That's right. And we saw Paravian actually yawning there. I think the first half hour, we'll see a lot of that from players. I know from experience, if a game normally starts 3pm every day, which it has been doing, you don't want to wake up too early. You don't want to burn out too early in the day. You want to peak a bit later in the afternoon. But suddenly players are playing in the morning here, and they will be readjusting over the first few minutes of the game. Absolutely. Early days. White has... I mean, if we just check back in just quickly, White has gone for the line with Bishop d3, which is kind of all the rage nowadays. It used to be not seen at all. Bishop d3 is such a rare move. But after a few more developments, I think this is quite standard stuff. I think this one will burst into life a bit later. But promising signs. Absolutely. Let's check in with board 3. MVL against Magsoud Lou, I think. Magsoud Lou arrived eight minutes late to the game, so we've only seen a couple of moves here. d4, d5, c4. Wow, and he's shocked. Magsoud Lou not playing one e4. I am even more shocked that Magsoud Lou has... He's suited up. given up on his lucky rest to suit up. I think it suits him. We saw him like that because the dress code was enforcing it in the Isle of Man. And his lucky puffer jacket. I know, I know. That's why I'm very impressed. He didn't have to. But very, very impressive stuff. And also, I like the fact that then, hopefully that means he's not too superstitious. If he can give up on his rest, good on him. And yeah, MVL I don't recall when the last time was he didn't play e4. No, that's right. Actually, two rounds ago. He played the English opening two rounds ago. But now he is back to his old favorite. Or was it yesterday, maybe? I think actually Magsoud Lou is doing a great thing here. I got this tip from Nigel Short a few years ago. Especially for the important rounds, especially morning rounds if the routine is changing. The thing to do, dress smart. Get showered, get clean, dress smart. And actually it makes you feel more professional. It makes you feel ready for the big challenge ahead. I mean, this is just a one-off game for him as well. He's still in joint lead. Magsoud Lou, half a point above his opponent. He knows that Maxime's going all out for the win. And if he can counterattack and win himself, it might be one of the biggest days of his career. Absolutely. You are right. He's still finishing with a double white. He had the white pieces yesterday to beat Emre Can. So he could actually. He hasn't won a single game at this Gibraltar with the black pieces. Yeah, it looks like six whites and four blacks. A lucky draw for MBL. That's right. So we'll see what he can make of this extra white. We have a Nimzo on the board. It's kind of a hybrid. It's not quite the Nimzo Indian. It's a mix between the Nimzo and the Queens gambit declined. So black is delaying putting this knight on f6. I mean, it could well become a Ragozin system. Knight f3, knight to f6. I think the reason this is less popular for black is the move a3. And it transposes, it forces black into a line of the Nimzo that he might not be so familiar with. Either way, I mean, Maxime taking risks here. I think he's going to be out of book already. Parham is more flexible with his openings. Everything under the sun. As we know from yesterday, he studies 20 hours a day on chess. So he's going to be well versed in whatever opening comes on the board. MBL was my pick to win the tournament. Also, one of the two players who I wanted to see it win. Your pick is on board one. We've done quite well also in the women's standings. But let's continue for now. I think we'll check in with maybe, or shall we go to the top two women players? We have seen all the top men. So we have seen the top three board. So David, talk us through the women's standings. Who can still fight for that huge first prize of 20,000 parents? That's right, actually. There is a sole leader for the women right now. Former world champion Tan Zong Yi. She's the current title holder here in Gibraltar. Sorry. She's on six points out of nine, but there's a huge group chasing her on five and a half. There's four players, half a point back. And the women's prize, we should remind you, there's no playoff, unfortunately. So that if there is a tie, first prize will be decided by performance and they won't share that 20,000-pound first prize. So let's go to her board. And she's playing funny enough against Maxime Lagarde who yesterday got away in the end with a draw against the other Chinese, Lei Ting Jing. That's right. And Maxime Lagarde, could he crush the China's hopes? It looks like not much has happened here. I think Maxime, so on board 19, Maxime does tend to arrive a bit late for his games. We've seen that on a couple of days. Both Maxime. I know Maxime, it was Parham who... Sorry. Yeah, so Maxime Lagarde, not to be confused with Maxime Vashi-Lagarde, the fellow countrymen though, and early days. So Tanzong Yu, I think it's a big favourite here to clinch the women's title. I think a draw with White might be enough. Her performance rating isn't as high as some of the players half a point behind her, but some of her rivals are playing very strong opponents too. Absolutely. But Maxime Lagarde is a very fighting player. He hasn't had the best event, and I think he will try. Yes. He will try and win with the black pieces. We will come back to this one. Shall we go back to the top boards now before we look at checking with some more of the women's players or do you want to continue with the women? Maybe we can check in on her rivals just quickly. She does have four players chasing her. We have Abdou Malik who unfortunately went down in a long-end game yesterday. I think she was drawing for most of the game, but couldn't quite hold on at the end. So just a few boards down, on board 23. David Jocelyn, I thought there were five players chasing her. I think it's just the four... Isn't it Leitinger, Abdou Malik, and the three Georgians? I think it's two Georgians. No, I think it's two Georgians. I think she lost again yesterday, unfortunately. Yes, you are correct. Sorry, David. I've done my homework for you. Check out if you want to see a close-up of David's prep notes. You can find them on my Twitter and on my Facebook. It's very, very, very impressive stuff. I was up late last night. This is the crunch time. I'm not playing. I should at least have the... I mean, I feel duty-bound to prepare anyway. As a chess player, we often prepare two, three hours for a game. I thought, why not throw that in on preparation for the commentary? So let's look at my pick for the women's prize, Leitinger. She's playing against Vasif Durabayli on board... 22. And here we go, Leitinger. Just half a point behind her compatriots. And she's sitting next to Abdou Malik, so that will be an easy switch to go to. That's right. No, that's a great camera angle. Let's see the women's side-by-side. David, sorry. My fashion, radar. Can we go to the left, the tiniest bit? I have just spotted an incredible shirt there. That's Pierre-Louis G. Basso. Can we zoom in on that? I'm getting at the lepsis. I know what the hell is going on there. I mean, I like it bold, but this is very bold. Disturbingly bold. And I recognize the opening as well on their board. It's funny how you get drawn to the fashion. I get drawn to the chess position on board. I mean, how could you not get drawn to this shirt? It actually looks like, I don't know, I'll have to go upstairs and... too bold in the morning, cruel in the chat. Yeah, this time I'll have to agree with you. I like it bold, but it's too early. It's too early in the day. Actually, on both of these boards, I think we're going to see very sharp chess. Both women with the white pieces, they know that winning will most likely jump up into... I mean, first prize, £20,000 for the women. Second prize, £10,000. It's a lot of money, and they need to win, essentially. So let's look at the opening here in Leitinger. We see the... Gary, the G-Pon is already on G5. That's right. How did we get here? We do have this Moscow variation of the semi-slav with H6 and Bishop H4 taking on C4. We do not see the Botvinnik line, the old Botvinnik line with B5, E5. I mean, I used to watch videos of this when I was young, and it was super sharp, these lines. I mean, often 30, 35 moves a theory, so I'm glad we're avoiding that. But instead, G5. It's the modern trendy move. Not a Bishop E2. Looks like Black is having a little think. Dura Baile. Nosey's entering into a super sharp line. To be honest, I quite like White's chances in these lines. Check out the game, Magnus Carlsen against Maxi Matlikov from the Isle of Man. A couple of months ago. Yeah, I mean, so much recent developments here, especially with the aid of AlphaZero and all these AI, I mean, LaylaZero, these kind of engines are just providing so many new ideas, rich ideas in these complicated positions. But aggressive start. White has sacrificed a pawn. And sooner or later, we'll see White push with H4, maybe push with E5, maybe even A4 as well. Both are ex-pawns, up the board. And, yeah, short stuff coming, short stuff. Yeah, this one will keep a very close eye on. Let's zoom over to Shanzaiya Abdul Malik on board 23. She's also so playing with White pieces and she's playing against Mr. Alain Pichot. Yeah. I still don't know how to. I've always pronounced it Pichot and then yesterday I was told, why do you pronounce it the French way? I still don't know how I should pronounce it. I was about to say how impressed I was by your pronunciation. I'll just say Pichot until I get corrected. I know for the best. No, that's right. And actually another very sharp line here, but many moves have been played. They'll move 15 already and I think on some other boards we're only on move four or five. Incredible. And if we just catch up with the current play, it is the Spanish Abdul Malik's very loyal to her 1, E4. And we see a bit of a hybrid system with Bishop E7 and Bishop B7, which is rare nowadays. And Bishop takes F7, check. Wow. Sharp stuff already. This is good to see. White gives a check. If King takes Bishop, Knight takes E5 and this knight on D4 falls. White is a pawn up and Black will never be able to castle anymore. His king has moved already. I don't know if this is theoretical, yeah? Kind of. I think I've seen it, but I have never looked in depth. It's very rare. It's very rare. I think it's supposed to be a bit dodgy for Black, but I mean maybe that's what Pichot wants. He wants to provoke his opponent early on and it does imbalance things. So Black does get the Bishop here. White's Bishop does end up having to retreat. Yes, today Pichot was on the other side. He was the material up, but his king against that. I think Olympia treated, for example. It was a great, great game to see, you know, this imbalance between material imbalance, but King saved you. That's right. And I mean, that King much alone for White, marching that King all the way up to E7, kind of dancing through the battlefield was very exciting to watch. One of the games of the tournament, I think. Absolutely. And this one, yeah, it is the equal material, but Black's King is never going to be entirely safe and White does have a nice clamp, a nice bind in the centre early days, but promising, I think, for Abdomalic in terms of getting a fight and, I mean, in a kind of muscle-in situation. I think she's got what she wants. Absolutely. Absolutely. Quick look at the two Georgian ladies. Oh, one game has ended in a draw already. Oh, dear. Wow. Board 31, Sébastien Mazé with the White pieces and Léla Yavakishvili have drawn their game. So I guess that means that Léla must be out of contention. I guess her performance was not... That's right. Léla had the worst performance out of the chasing group on five and a half out of nine. So she jumps up to the joint need now with the women, but there's no chance she can get the £20,000 first prize. She will miss out on that by performance. But she will probably still... I mean, Six is a very decent score. She was Black against Sébastien Mazé. She was the rating underdog. So on paper, still not too bad a result for her. No, that's right. Not too bad a result. I mean, we can just check that one out. It's exciting stuff, but somehow, I mean, this is a well-known draw. Unfortunately, it was the modern defence and, well, the perk defence, and Black plays the C5 move. White has lots of options, but instead, Mazé decided to force a draw with the C6 line. Black gives up a queen temporarily, but does force this perpetual check. So disappointing, but for Léla, a good result on paper. Just it means she will miss out on first prize for the women. So last women player on five and a half is Nino Batya-Svili on board 29, and she's playing against Vahap Sanal from Turkey, who's had a great event here. Nino herself is also gaining 11 rating points, also a great tournament for her. So let's see this one. So we're just going to zoom over, and there we see Vahap with the glasses and the Black pieces. That's right. So actually, the three remaining chasing, of the chasing pack for the women's prize, they all have White, and they're all playing high rated opponents, but having the White pieces is such a bonus in the final round. Here we do see the London system, I believe. We can just trace our steps back. Everyone plays the London system nowadays. Actually, B6, a bit of opening knowledge, B6 is supposed to be bad here in this exact position, although so many grandmasters play it. It's kind of an autopilot move. It looks like it's developing, but actually, White can now play the move, Nc3, and this is very annoying for Black, because the standard, Bb7, is going to be met by Nb5, jumping into either D6 or c7, and Black can't prevent it. And if D6, I'll take on c5, opening up the queen, and White is already crushing here. And if Black stops, Nb5 ideas like a6, then D5 for White, and White is supposed to have an advantage. Even in kind of slower systems, even in kind of tepid openings like the London system, there are some tricks, some traps, and it looks like neither player was aware of that one, Bd3, and it helps reading books. I found that one in a book on the London system. Okay, a very standard game so far, and after a5, B5, White decides to press ahead, c4. It looks like she's quite well prepared in this game. Yeah, we can't actually see her clock times on screen or on camera, but I think she's been playing every move pretty much instantly. She had a quick thing after B6, funnily enough. Maybe she record there was something or she's trying to remember what position it was. But there was an event trick on camera with his cap. It's a Gibraltar cap. I saw him in town yesterday. If we get another angle on him, it reads Gibraltar. He loves it here, in Gibraltar. He does. Unfortunately, it's not been a great event for him, but I'm sure he'll be back. He's always back. He's ageless. He's the legend of the game. David, let's come back to the top boards. Let's do it. Let's very quickly have one through the top three boards, which will be our main focus to see if we've had any developments there. And I think we'll check in briefly with all the group on 6.5 who all have an outside chance still of winning this tournament. That's right, a massive group on 6.5. These two top two, they are on 7 points. And it looks like Espencos have been having a bit of a think. If we check in on that game, it looks like Wang Hao has spent no time at all. Actually gained time on the clock and Espencos been the only one thinking. So we're about to see Knight Bd2. That's right. We last left it after Qc4, Black played B5. The idea behind his last move, C6. And after Qc2, Bb7, we saw Bg5. I was looking at a game recently. I wrote a newspaper column on it and it started with rook d1. Okay, I'll put it on the board. Rook d1, knight d7. Knight d5, I believe. Oh, knight c3 first. I know, it was knight d5. I'm trying to remember. And it was Fabiano. It's early in the morning. It's early in the morning. You can check out that game, Karawana against Duda from Vaikanzai just last week. And Karawana won a very nice game with white. He made it look like Black's system was a bit dodgy. But maybe Espenko thought that Wanghao had an improvement there. So Bg5 instead. Swapping off that bishop. But now after knight bd2, he's going to try and clamp down on Black's queen side. He's going to try and control the c5 square. That's the important one in the position. And Black has reacted immediately, c5. If white had time to clamp down on that square, then Black's bishop would be bad forever on b7. Look at Wanghao. It's up three minutes on the clock. There we see the angle. So for once actually, I think it's one of the first time that we had the Black clock that the video matches the digital clock. He's up three minutes. He's come extremely well prepared. And he is going to put that pressure on Andre Espenko. That's right. I mean, if I remember correctly, I think this is supposed to end in equalish type of position after d take c5 and just rook c8. I think white is unable to hold onto the c pawn too long. And chances will be balanced a bit later on, but hopefully we see some tension in the position. I'm just worried we might see lots of exchanges and a draw. David, don't be such a... I'm a pessimist. What do you call a bringer of that news? A doomsayer. Let's move on to word two, Paravian and Mustafa Yilmaz. Yes, and this one's exciting. The duel of the stripy shirts. That's right. He was wearing a shirt like that someday, and it was very psychedelic. Even here it kind of hurts. Nervous, right? And Paravian, I mean, this is his favorite jacket as well. His favorite suit jacket is... I've played him before, I think, a few years ago, he was wearing it too, so maybe a lucky jacket. Lucky jacket. Let's go back to where we left it off. Knight takes f4, knight c6. Only a couple more moves. Yeah, only a couple more moves. A bit of a thing here by Paravian. He actually captured this bishop on e6 and queen to f3. I mean, he's trying to give checkmate. He's hoping for the move knight to d7, and queen f7 would be checkmate. I don't think we'll see that today. I doubt it. But white has an idea. So, for example, if black castles, which is natural, he'll play queen h3, eyeing up e6, and possibly trying something on h7 as well. I like it. You like it? I love my open f files. I like my sneaky attacks on the king side. Good on David Paravian, and I expect... I think, for me, this is the one game where both players will feel like this is the chance of a lifetime. Exactly. And they will both be going for it. No, that's right. Especially Yulmans as well with black. He knows his performance rating is much lower than the other four leaders at the moment. He's in a must-win situation pretty much. For those of you just joining us, a playoff will have a maximum of four players. If all the top few boards are drawn, Yulmans will have no chance of getting into that playoff because the top four are chosen on performance rating. So, yeah, chance of a lifetime. £30,000 possibly waiting for the winner here. And likewise, Paravian, he'll be going all out with white for the win. So, let's move on to board 3. MVL and Magzolou. MVL has opened with a queen's gambit, which is very uncharacteristic. Yes. And let's catch up here. Yeah, we did leave it after bishop e4. It did transpose into the Rogozin. The Rogozin defense. And after knight f6, cxd5. I mean, this is all very standard stuff. Actually, I was just looking at the clock times again. So, after d4, actually I was saying that Parham was late to the game, but only because I was judging by the clock times. But I think it's actually very likely he wasn't late to the game at all, so I retract what I said earlier. Apologies to Parham. It's very likely there. We see Dennis's jump. That must be him just behind Parham. David, don't say anything. It'll be fine. The tournament is almost over. I like Parham's suit and booted. The kind of paint splashed hoodie is not my style. But yeah, I think Parham actually, so I revise what I said. I think after d4, he took eight minutes to decide how to react. But then interestingly enough, he blitzed out every other move after that even. After knight c3, bishop b4, and it took him six seconds. That's right. I mean, he would have just been thinking, oh, Maxime's playing something he normally never plays anymore. There must be a reason. And he thought, OK, do I use my normal repertoire? Do I play something a bit tricky? Catch him off guard. I'm sure Maxime's looked at this. He did play d4. There was a period in his life for about a year or two. He was switching a bit to d4 before heading back to his favorite e4. But Parham's playing something very topical. d5 has been played by players like Magnus Garson, Alexander Grisha, Mamadi Arov, lots of top-level games in this position. By the way, MVL today is also sporting a sponsored shirt. That is Colliers. You can't see it right now, but Colliers, he has been sponsored by them for a few years. They also are supporting chess in France. They are part of the sponsors of the Grand Chess Tour Tournament in Paris. So, good stuff. Is it time to do a tour of all the players on six and a half? Yes, it's going to be a long day. Six and a half, I think 15 players on six and a half points. And here we go. So, it's actually quite easy today, but it's because it's all the top 10 boards, and then only 11 Ariane Chopra as well, but only him, Ivan Chopra-Runov, has been up-floated. Unfortunately, after his great start, he's had a tough second half to his tournament. So, let's start with board four, Bogdan Derg against Wesson and Topalov. That's right. Actually, yeah, I was mistaken. There are 16 players on six and a half, not 15, because of that down-float as well. And everyone in a must-win situation. Actually, MVL and Topalov are some of the highest-performing players on six and a half. So, they know that if they do win, there's a small chance they might jump up into the playoff. Very competitive opening in this one as well. So, knight f3, it does transpose into the slav, and knight h4. This does invite a well-known repetition with bishop c8, knight f3 and bishop f5. Luckily, Topalov's not in the mood for that. Topalov is very rarely in the mood for quick repetition, and thankfully, we have a full-fledged fight here on our hands. I mean, I slightly prefer white just because of the bishop pair, especially this bishop on c4 looks very nice and strong at the moment. And white's last move does prepare e4 as well, so white is aiming to get the pawn center. Where does black's play come from? I think black has to counter in the center soon or later. Black usually tries to play c5 as soon as possible. If you play c5, either you'll open up some lines. Actually, when you're facing the bishop pair, especially in the middle game, the way to react is to accelerate the play often. You can't let the bishop pair gain time to get organized. You want to speed things up. So c5 would make sense, and if d5, you get the knight e5 jump, you get this square, beautiful square for the knight. So I would expect c5, but there are some tricks. Sometimes white can play this move knight a2 with ideas that d takes c5 now might be impossible. Oh, okay, bishop takes is a good move, but if rook takes now, then b4 would be annoying. So you do have to be slightly careful with black. I'm pretty sure I've seen this position. I'm just trying to remember the exact move order. Maybe as is Topalov. Shall we leave him to it, David? Yes. Let's move on to board 5, where I expect the splashy jumper to make an appearance, the splashy hoodie. He's away from the board right now. There couldn't be any more too contrasting players. A lot of the players are suited in Brutus today, but I think David Navarra has literally worn a suit and tie every single. We saw him actually with the polo of his, with the chest piece polo, but David Navarra always very well dressed at the politest and most friendly and most humble person you could ever meet. I've been a fan of Denis's chest, but I'm rooting for David today because he's just the best. I mean, he's a classy guy. I'm not sure Denis fans in the chat will be too happy to hear you say that. Okay, I mean, I've known David since I was 10 years old, and as I said before, I've said it many times throughout the tournament. I really think he is the friendliest person on the planet, so I'm going to have to be a little bit biased today. No, for enough. So Denis is using a weapon that some strong players use, but it's normally reserved for kind of situations where you just want to completely avoid any opening theory. I mean, maybe he knows as well. This is his moment. If he wins with Black, he has a chance. And there he is on our bottom camera. Yawning away. And okay, this has been used by Fabriano Caruana amongst others, push by five, so it can't be a bad move. It's quite rare though, and we see David well prepared with H3. A pair of knights come off the board, but after Ng5, Black's forced to retreat, and White does have the pawn center. So it looks like a kind of King's Indian now, except with a pair of knights off the board. David has also castled, and Denis is probably going to come back to the board momentarily. So what does Black, I guess Black still has a lot of options here, or does he play with c5 immediately, c5, e5? I think it's the kind of typical King's Indian dilemma. Do you play for c5, aiming for more Bernoni-type structures, or do you head for e5? You can also start with Nc6. So if White doesn't do too much, then you can play e5, and you might get this great square for the knights on d4. A very flexible position for Black. I would be tempted to start with e5 sooner or later, maybe prepared by h6, but I'm sure we'll see Denis make a quick decision here. Maybe after Nc6 he will be committed to e5, but either way, I slightly prefer White. Just a bit more space. Let's move on. Board 6, Mikhail Kobalyah has had a great turner and very solid turner. Is he actually on the... I don't know, he lost in round 3, but then after that made a big push, and today he's playing for an outside chance at the title of his big, big money prize, Likhok Kwanglyam. Yesterday he was interviewed by Tanya, so you can check that out on our YouTube channel. You'll find a lot of interviews. A video, did you see it? Of the quiz night as well from a couple of nights ago. Not our finest moment. So Likhoklyam, he lost quite a bad game against Fahab Sanal in round 6, but then he won 3 in a row, and he'll be looking to make it forward today. That's right, he's really caught fire in the last few rounds. He started off fantastically well, a bit of a dry spell in the middle, lots of draws and then this loss. Now he's fighting back in Kobalyah in the same jumper. Again, 10 days in a row I think. And we do see the Italian game, which Likhok Kwanglyam has played with both colours. He played against me back in the summer last year. A bit of a slow setup, but the game will burst into life a bit later on. That being said, White has just taken on E5. So it might not burst into life. The one thing I was going to say is that both of these players will struggle to get into a playoff, even if they win, because their performance ratings are so low they would need a specific set of results. A miracle. They would need a miracle. They would need everything to go in their favour. So even if they won, they would likely come 5th or 6th on performance rating in the tie and be eliminated. Do you think Mihail Kobalyah is happy to keep it safe? A draw will still guarantee a very decent chunk of money? Yeah, possibly. There are 15 prizes here. The top 15 prizes, between £30,000 and £1,000. He'll get something in between and maybe he'd be happy. But the game's not over. If we do see a capture on E5, White can still try. Normally White is a tiny, tiny bit better in these positions. But maybe he just wants to play without risk. Which makes sense. Yeah, and it's not great for Le Coinglien, unfortunately. Let's move on. On the next board, you pick for who you want to win the tournament. Actually, well, two Englishmen next up on board 7. First up, Mickey Adams against Kartikeyan. And board 8 will look at it in a short while. Gawain Jones against Jan Verler. That's right. And every game is so familiar at this point. Adam's did play the system against me in the London chess classic recently in one of our rapid games. So we did see the Berlin defence. Kartikeyan did come second here last year in Gibraltar. But he chooses a more solid approach today. Again, he's one whose performance rating just isn't high enough to hope for tournament victory, even if he wins. So he stays solid. And after Bishop takes C6, see a few more moves. And H3. Deciding whether to drop back with the Bishop for a safe square or whether to keep the PIN with Bishop H5. In that game against Adams, I kept the PIN. And Adams in the end played 94, 93, 95. And it was roughly level. But it's an Adams type of position. Slow and steady. Yeah, I think we're in for a long one here. Now in for the long hole, let's move on to Gawain Jones just across the alleyway. I keep calling it the alleyway. That's right. You know, the Caleta way. There we see Lawrence Trent. He needs a win today to reach the magical five and half. Unfortunately, I think he's not on the live board. But I'm sure we'll find out out of the way. By the way, my first big shout out, it won't be the last shout out to a fantastic team behind the scenes. That coffee will be very much needed today. They have been a joy to work with. And they have. They are the reason you are seeing this broadcast. Shout out to Hammons and our fantastic team here in Gibraltar. That's right. Hammons are the best. Yeah, we do see a Grunfeld. Another Grunfeld. Gawain has gone to this in recent years. He's moved away from his beloved Kings Indian. And yeah, I mean, we've seen it so much this week, so much this tournament. Actually, we see the exact same line that Ivan Chaparinov had earlier. He won a very quick game against Gigaev. I have to say for me, Jan Verle is one of the main surprises of this tournament. I think at 25-45, he's one of the lowest-rated players in that group, if not the lowest-rated. Actually, now that I say that. It's either him or Ariane Chopra. No, it is him. Ariane Chopra has 17 points. Mighty 70 points. So he is the lowest-rated player on the group on six and a half. He's undefeated. And he has the highest performance out of the group on six and a half. Incredible. So if he wins, and if the top three boards are all drawn. Yeah, he has a chance. That's right. Well, I think he'll be in the playoffs. Well, if the top two boards are drawn at least, and if Maxime Vashilygrav doesn't lose, then Jan Verle, if he wins, will be up there. And I think we've said it for a lot of people, but here it's definitely true. I think for Jan Verle, I wouldn't go that far, but for Jan Verle, I would say for sure the biggest game of his life. He did win the EU championship in 2008. Was that in Liverpool? Yes, in Liverpool. And we're just going to have to make sure that we'll get the board back. Will for now stick to the camera view, or do you want to... Let's just look at the games on camera here for Jan Verle to start with. OK. Yeah, so this one is actually the exact same opening as the game that we saw earlier in the tournament with Ceparinov in that game. Ceparinov won very nicely. He's white, but he used to move Queen D2 rather than Rooksy won on the last turn. We see he's also having a coffee. Everyone is bracing their selves for a long day. Maybe now is a good time. We're just fixing, working on getting the boards back. Maybe now is a good time to talk everyone through what is going to happen today. We've done it a bit before, but let's remind everyone about what's at stake, who's in the run for a play of what's going to happen with the player, et cetera, et cetera. All the info. All the info. Let's get your notes. I'm going to try and do it off my heart rather than sit here just recalling and reading my notes. Actually, let me just put... I will plug my own treat, but with your notes because it's one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. So the link I'm about to put into the Twitch chat, that is the link to David's notes. Very impressive. Remember to follow me because I need more followers than Fiona by the end of this tournament. 2,000 less at the moment. You need a big final day, David. I'm hoping for a late surge. Yes. So first prize for the open tournament for everyone is 30,000 pounds. Second prize, 20,000 pounds, 15, 10. I mean, 15 big prizes. There are currently five leaders, but there's a group of 16 players. Only half a point behind them hoping to jump up into that leading group. And in case of a tie, we will have a playoff. The way it works is four players max for the playoff. So if there is more than four, if there's more than a four-way tie for first place, the four players with the highest rating performance will qualify. That's right. So it will be a huge shame for the players who tie for first if that happens and if they come fifth or sixth on performance. There's a few quirks of the system if they're three players tied for first. I read it up as well. If there's three, the highest performance gets seated into the final playoff. That's right. And the other two have to battle it out. What I couldn't find is the time control for the playoffs. Did you? No. I'll pretend I knew that one. No, but I think they're not out there, maybe. I heard someone saying it was 15 minutes plus 10 seconds and two games, white and black, and then immediately an Armageddon if it's drawn, at least in the semi-finals of that playoff. For the final, I'm not quite sure. We will get back to you on that one. And for the women's prices, so the women's price is the first place, is 20,000 pounds. Actually, maybe while we talk about this, maybe let's put back board one, either one or two, back on camera. So yeah, we'll stay with André Yesipenko for now while we talk you through it. By the way, in the chat, people are very impressed, David, with your notes. Stop it, guys. So for the women's prices, there will be no playoff, and they will also, in the overall and in the women's, the first prize is not shared. Everything else is, but not the first prize. Huge money and death or glory at the stage. Absolutely. And for the women, there will be no playoff, but if there is a tie, it will be decided on Heinz's performance, which I often find is the fairest criteria. I think it makes sense as well. There are some tie-break systems that you can't use because some players have taken buys, and performance rating is the fairest. It makes sense. It does favor maybe the lower-rated players, who, I mean, for example, if André Yesipenko draws this game against Wang Hao, he's a lot lower-rated, so it will help his rating performance, it will damage Wang Hao's rating performance, but it is the fairest overall. David, now let me put you on the spot. We see our top two boards there, side-by-side. What is your prediction for the two games? Draw on board one, unfortunately. Partly because I've seen this position before and I've seen it fizzle out. I've seen Peter Lekko defend this as black. On board two, there we see on the right-hand side. I think that's going to be decisive somehow. I'm not sure which way, but it's a very complex position. Early on, both players are going to go for it for sure. Yulmer, as we mentioned, has the lowest tiebreak of the leaders, so he needs to win, despite having black. Do you think... Did you actually predict something? No. Because I was just looking at your treat and then I was half-listening, and then I was like, did he actually predict something? I predicted a decisive result. I'm sitting on the fence, though. I'm not sure which way. Before the game, if I had to bet my life on it, I would have said a white win. Paravian might just be a big breakthrough event for him, but... David, I think let's actually go back two board two. I think the boards are back, because Mr. Erdo in the chat thinks that Yulmers might have missed this move, knight fg4, so let's bring back the board and see it. That's right. So the current position we do see there, just next to Fiona, queen d7 has been played to defend e6, and the question is, how about knight fg4 lost move? So knight fg4 would have been very ambitious, threatening this queen b6 check idea. That would be a nasty check. I mean, it looks quite good, to be honest. Very strange. I mean, this tournament, we've seen a few people, right? I think the most incredible of which was Josefina Verli against Dennis Cadridge, and he's really made the most of that gift by crushing Matlakoff the next day. But here it's very strange to see black discard a move like knight to g4 after only two minutes of thought. No, that's right. I mean, it's not an obvious move. It feels like you're moving another, you're moving a developed piece again, and you're not going to castle anytime soon, because now white's rook controls the f8 square. That being said, you're immediately asking white some questions. And it's clear the queen doesn't want to be on d7. Queens are very bad when they're passive, just defending pawns. So, queen d7 is the kind of move you play when, OK, you think, ah, nothing else. Yeah. Maybe he just didn't see it. Yeah. Phenomenon only thinks that knight fg4 wasn't that strong. I mean, it's definitely not winning. It's not as if queen d7 is a blunder. Queen d7 is a good move, but maybe knight fg4 would have asked some questions and put white on the back foot. Maybe white would need to lose time, for example, king h1, and now you need to defend against knight f2, so you have to play a move like either knight d1, which is ugly, or queen g3, moving another, this queen again. And yeah, not a huge miss, I think, but strange to play queen d7 so quickly. You're right. Shall we go back to finish our tour of the players on six and a half? Three boards to go. We're continuing with board nine. Fragnan and Da, who's had a fantastic event, and a tough last game he's playing against former European champion, Ivan Sarich, who at 26.55 he was for a long time, 27 plus player. That's right. And he will surely be a tough nut to crack. No, indeed, indeed. Yeah, former youth champion, former European champion, he's got the knack for the last rounds, Ivan Sarich. His nerves are extremely good. And we do see a bit of a, I think this one shows that both sides are going for it, a bit of a rare opening line, but one that's kind of in fashion when you have to go for a win, when you have to kind of throw your opponent off early on. So it was the retty opening, knight c6, allowing a chigorin, and bishop to f5. I had this myself recently at the European club cup as white, and my opponent played knight b4 there as well. It looks like a beginner kind of... Who was that against and how did the game end? That was against Ivan Ivanovich, I think Serbia's top player, and I managed to win as white, but I knew after many adventures maybe I had a tiny advantage with white out of the opening, but nothing special. The idea is obviously knight takes c2. White has to defend that, but although black loses time with this knight, white is stuck with a bad piece on a3, which has to be rerouted, and it's harder to play c4 now. If c4 ever, then, for example, in this position, then black will just chop on a3 and steal a pawn on c4, and black's doing very well. A greedy approach, but it works here. Yeah, especially if black can put the bishop on e4, kind of balancing out white's cat-land bishop on g2. So, queen b3, would be 8, knight h4, and it looks like, I mean, pregnant and must have at least seen this position before, because he's played quicker than he normally does in the opening. Normally he dies to take his time, and actually white has got e4 in, which I didn't manage to do in that game until about move 30. So, I was trying to get it in the whole game. Clearly pregnant and under is better prepared. We see pregnant and under thinking here. So, what are your options if you don't recapture the pawn? This question. I don't really have an answer. Maybe you could flick an h3. H3. H5. I'm not sure what this really changes. You can't play g4 now because this knight in h4 is hanging. Now you could take, but then knight f6 and it might be the same thing. Bishop f5 is another option for white, for black, but it feels like it's asking for some trouble. And now with pawn takes, then knight takes f5. I don't know what he's thinking about. Just take that pawn retreat. We'll come back to it. We'll leave him to it. Prague, we don't have time. We don't have time for these kind of things today. He likes the adrenaline of the time scramble. Let's check in with board 10. Daniel Ljufa against the Bs, Adiban. That's right. And these players, yeah, Adiban is making his late charge towards the top. Yeah, both players had had good events. Adiban, he's undefeated, another undefeated player on just plus two rating points, but any plus gain you will take. Daniel Ljufas had an excellent, an excellent event. He's gaining 21 points. Incredible. Let's check in with him. That's right. And Adiban did have a long game yesterday. I think they played over seven hours. And with this being a morning round, let's hope it doesn't affect him too much. But Adiban always strikes me as having unlimited energy reserves. I have never, never seen Adiban be either sad or tired or, you know, like Adiban always has this massive smile on his face. And that energy is contagious. And yeah. And like, I mean, we saw him, you know, at the quiz night. He was, our team had some friendly, our teams had some friendly events going on. He was making fun of us getting some very easy answers wrong. No, exactly. I think you're right. And it tells him his chess is always full of energy. And as we do see in this game, I mean, you have to be full of energy to play B6 in this position, allowing White to take the pawn center if he wants with E4. I like how White was like, no center for me. A3. There's a clear logic behind that move. I've played it myself. You stop Bb4, check, or any Bb4 pins later on. And after Bb7, Nc3, Bb4 is impossible. So Nf6 and D5. Yeah, Bd6 was played. As Black, I'm slightly surprised Adiban didn't play f5. This is maybe the more competitive approach. But instead, he simply develops and the bit odd, Black does have much less space, but it's impossible for White to play E4 at the moment. And I think Black's fine. He will, at some point, sooner or later play Rg8, capture on D5, or maybe play Bb6. Maybe he'll play A4 as well, clamped down on the White Queen side. Black's doing OK. Nothing special, and this game will liven up a bit later. David, let's skip 4-11. We'll come back to it in one second. Can we go to board 12? I've just spotted something from the corner of my eye, and I want to see. It is now almost the midday. OK. I want to test you. Oh, dear. I'm still waking up, Fiona. Because I was like, what is going on here? So... This position? No. Sorry. I got my board wrong. Sorry. Don't look at my screen. OK. I'm not looking, Fiona. Let's go to... Sorry. Board 17. Ah, OK. So it's quite a big jump. Board 17. And All-Indian clashed between Vibe have Suri and... Raunach said Wani. And Raunach said Wani. So I have spotted something here. Is it this move? No. You tricked me. You tricked me, Fiona. It's an even clash here. Maybe we can also people in the chat our phenomenon early. Don't look at the chat. Is it this move? Yeah, it's this move. I wanted to do it in the other order, but I think the other order didn't quite work. I wanted to play Bishop takes H6 with the idea of, if you take, then to play Qg6 check. And White will win just everything. But maybe after Bishop takes H6, there's this Bishop f5 idea. This must be what Santewani is preparing. But the other way round, if tactics don't work one way, switch the order. Yeah. Qg6. What a move that is. Yeah. It's taking advantage of the fact that the f-pawn is pinned so Black cannot take the queen. And you cannot unpin because f7 would be hanging. Yeah. The Bishop is attacked. The Bishop is attacked. Bishop takes H6. 6 is threatened. Is this winning for White? I think it's completely winning. We'll have to see if White finds it. But I think if he finds Qg6, it's game over here. Yeah. Actually, Santewani, a fantastic player. He played in the Isle of Man. He did so well. He's unbeaten for so long. And then he fell to an opening trap, I think, against one of the Indian players. I feel like I should have lost. One of the Egyptian players. Sorry. Against Ahmed Adli. No. Again. Oh, was it against? No, against Amin Bassem. Against Amin Bassem. Yeah. So, Santewani fell to an opening trap. He was lost after 10, 15 moves as Black. And it looks like here, after 13 moves he's lost again. And Vaipa Sui, he's had a great event. We've seen him on our top boards quite a bit. These players, so they are not in contention, you know, for tournament victory. But they are on 6 out of 9. And I'll keep an eye on it. We're not going to stick around. But I think if Vaipa Sui finds Queen G6, it is game over, unfortunately, for Raurina, who I'm a big fan of. Yeah. I mean, he's young. He's 14. He'll cut these kind of opening disasters out of his game as he gets a bit older, with experience. It's an easy move to miss Queen G6. No, no. I mean, how long did he spend on his last move? You tell me. Less than one minute on Queen A5. I mean, Queen A5 requires some calculation. Even if Queen G6 doesn't work, you have to calculate this Bishop H6 idea. It's a capture. It always happens in these systems. Okay, he sees maybe that Bishop F5 works and he plays it quickly and confidently, but he just didn't switch the order. Queen G6. Even Bishop H6 actually would give White quite a serious advantage. So, very strange to see Queen A5. Maybe he didn't smell the danger, but when you have two Bishops looking at your king, take some time and make sure you're safe. David, I will keep an eye on this one and let you know if White Puff plays Queen G6. Let's finish our tour just very quickly with board 11, even Cheparinov against Ariant Chopra, and then we'll come back to the top board and the top ladies. That's right. So, in this pairing, we do have an up-float for Ivan Cheparinov. He is on 6 out of 9, so even if he wins, he'll be unable to win the tournament, but it'll be a huge cash prize if he does win. On the other hand, for Ariant Chopra, it could be life-changing. Absolutely life-changing. He is one of the highest performing players actually on 6.5 out of 9. If he wins and if the top few boards are drawn, he'll get into that playoff most likely. So, we're already in an ending here. A lot of pieces have come off. And... And White is slightly better. Well, I was thinking, so Ivan has just castled. White has the bishop pair and he has two pawn islands versus three. Black also has the isolated pawn. So, I was thinking, oh, I would like White quite a bit, actually. Where does Black's compensation lie, if any? Yeah, I think Black has to try and get rid of... I mean, try and liquidate some of these pawn islands as quickly as possible. I would guess the move C4 is high on his list. If he can somehow, as Black, exchange off these pawns, suddenly the pawn structure is completely symmetrical. Maybe he can hold on here by exchanging off all the rooks and just hanging tight, staying solid. But it's going to be a long, long defense. The two bishops are going to really turn the screw a bit later on. If he doesn't play C4, then White, like you said, has a simple plan, ganging up on the C-pawn. And for Ivan Sheparino, who's had a very tough second half of the tournament, a last round win would at least be some consolation. I mean, it's always nice to end on a high. And he would still probably be in the prices very likely. He must have a great performance. Pick up a couple of thousand pounds, it'll be fine. Life goes on. A draw for Ivan Sheparino, though, and it will be minimal prize money. Actually, if any, I don't think any. You really need 7 out of 10 here. I found, from my own experience playing in Gibraltar, you need 7 out of 10 to make any kind of profit. But, yeah, he'll want to end on a high no matter what the price situation. So, David, let's go back to the very top. Let's quickly check in with Wang Hao and Yesi Panko. That's right. And not too many developments here. We left a position after C5, D-take C5, Rook C8, Knight B3, Bishop D5, all very standard stuff. And now Knight to E1, which I haven't seen before. Yesi Panko spent 20 minutes on that one. And Wang Hao spent a bit of time thinking about his reply. He took on B3, and now he's just considering how to take on C5. I think I would even be tempted to take with the Knight here as Black, sacrifice a pawn temporarily, and then just go for really active. I mean, I like the look of a move like Qd2, maybe Qd4, just attack the B2 pawn. I can't imagine White clinging on to this one much longer. We also have opposite-color Bishop, so at the very least, if everything gets exchanged, Black will have great drawing chances. I would take with the Knight purely because I don't want to allow White to knight to D3. I've seen many games of players like Ulf Andersen just win these Catalan positions. It looks completely equal, but this knight in D3 controls so many squares. It's just a monster on that square. Nice and safe, protected by this E2 pawn. So I would want to prevent that idea. I think Wang Hao is just having a think. The only issue with Knight to D5 is this is likely to fizzle out to a draw, and that might not be enough even for a playoff if one of the players wins on board 2 or 3. Well, for sure it won't be enough. Yeah, it won't be enough if someone wins on board 2. Oh, yeah, we keep a close eye on it. We're joined in the chat by Devan Patel with one last set of H-perfects. David, are you ready? Thank you, Devan. I'm ready. Hit me with them. So, so, so far, 38.8% of games have seen White play H4, so that's 397 games out of 1024. Five of those times with Jack. One of those games was Jones Gukesh. That's true. I remember. The H-perfect has promoted twice. That's not very much. No, I'm surprised. No, very little. And White has scored 56% when H4 has been played. Those are some great stats. Devan, thank you so very much. It's been a pleasure reading all your stats. A big shout out already to all of you who've been watching us for the past 10 days. Kruna is saying that he has the most relaxing work day ever. Chess and tennis on both screens. Let's hope your boss doesn't catch you. Living the dream? But it does sound like quite a dream setup. That's right. I did get tweeted that someone was taking a day off work to watch us, so shout out to all of you there in the chat. I think the moral of the story is just play H4 in any position. Just hurrying the H-perfect. 56% chance of winning. It's not too bad. Go, Harry. David, let's go back to board two. Kruna is safe. Everyone's out for the conference. Good stuff. He can feel free to keep us updated with the tennis as he goes along. Big day today. I'm not interested anymore that Nadal is out. It's the greatest players of all time playing today. Federer and Djokovic. Big chess fan, he played many pictures of him with Boris Becker. Boris Becker, who actually opened one of the rounds this year at the Grand Chess Tour tournament in Zagreb. That's right. If it's good enough for some of the best tennis players in the world, then it's good enough for us. Where were some of the guys, though, who played with something wrong on their board on one of the pictures? The Grand Corner might have been a dark square. It's actually shocking. I find even in movies, even when they don't have a clue, they seem to somehow always get it wrong. I mean, there's a 50% chance, right? I always think it's a 50-50 chance. How can they all get it bloody wrong? Anyway, nothing about that. I recently discovered an amazing Twitter account. I think it's called the Chess Police or something. And they always get alerted. People tag them. They go around tweeting like fines, like Twitter fines, and people who get it wrong set up wrong this or that, and they always, like, you can donate your fine to your local chess club, and they point out who the local chess club is. Great account. Actually, I must admit, I think I've seen one feature where chess, I mean, the chess board was actually set up correctly out of all the movies, all adverts, all TV shows, just everything. They should hire us. I mean, we're open to offers. Very low offers would still take them. Actually, it's not like, sometimes they do get it right. For example, in France, there was a movie about chess. It came out maybe two or three years ago, and one of our players in the tournament had the main role in that tournament in that movie. The movie was called Le Tournois. Fabian Libisiewski, he was playing here in Japan. He had the main role there. Did MVL make a cameo? And MVL made a cameo, absolutely. Let's get to the game. Final note, I knew once of a movie that had a chess advisor, a professional player, but they still got it wrong in the movie. Who was that? I can't name names. I feel too guilty. Anyway, so yes, should we move on? Let's move on. Sorry, guys. Not too much has changed here. We've seen one more move after Qd7. White spent a bit of time before Bb3, castles and Bd4. Just putting pressure on e5, but I'm not sure that that pawn will be taken yet. For example, if Black plays b5, if White ever takes, then suddenly this knight on c3 is not great either, and Black's bishop becomes active. Just a posturing move. It just wants to put the bishop on a slightly better square. I wouldn't be surprised to see Black play b5 here. To be honest, it looks very active. It controls the c4 square. I don't want to allow White's bishop to ever get to c4. If Black wants to be super safe, super solid, he can maybe take on d3, but I quite like keeping that kind of, yeah, keeping that strong knight, and White's bishop isn't too impressive at the moment, so b5 or maybe rook ac8 would be my choice. I guess Knight's c4 now will be just be met by bishop e2. Very tense, and I expect to see actually a lot of time consumption over the next 5-6 moves from both players as the nerves start to kick in. Dejan has just come home from school, and he's asking if he's missed anything. We have looked at that this once so far, but we will come back to it. It's going to have him as high up as board 5 for the final round, and Dejan must be very happy. Let's check in with board 3, MVL and Max Zulu. This one's changed a lot since we left. Max Zulu is half a point ahead of MVL, so MVL is in a must win situation. I saw him in the lobby yesterday, we were chatting. He was actually working out the mats, how his performance might improve if he wins, and he was hoping to play anyone other than Yilmaz of the top group. He said he needed a nut float, he needed to win, so he could knock one of them out of the top. He will be trying to do just that with Max Zulu, but Max Zulu is also taking no prisoners with Cg5 has just appeared on the board. Let's go back and see how we got here. We left after Bx5, a very theoretical position. Qb3. This has all been played before. I sat next to the game Mamajorov against Carlsson at the European Club Cup in 2018, and it went straight down this line. Bx4 though, it's a bit of a different one. I think several options now for both sides, but Nx4 giving up a pawn, temporarily, and black is a pawn down, Cg5, slightly surprising. I thought he might gain this pawn back somehow, but no, not yet. I think the idea is up. We do see Parham shaking his head there though. Bx3 has been played. I thought somehow he managed to get root to C2 quickly, or odd, odd. This is quite a big development if this is just a pawn with no... Black needs something quick now. I think we've both lost for words. I think this is the most silent we've been in the last 10 days. We're both trying to understand what happened. Let's go back a few moves. That pawn gets lost exactly. So I played Bf4. I think H6 is not supposed to be that great. I think Nbd7 is a bit... H6 was played immediately within 20 seconds. I'm trying to recall. I mean, usually black flicks in H6 a bit earlier, but Nbd7 now would have been my choice. Just a bit more flexible. You could often play C5. And you're ready to defend or move to C4 if Bf4 later. Black played Nxb4. Black played Nxb4 after 5 minutes. I'm so confused. Why would you not defend this pawn? If in doubt, you should at least move it or defend it. Nxb4. There are very similar ideas in the Nimzo all over the place where you can sacrifice C7 and get quick development. But maybe he's confused something. It does look like white is organised. Because it looks like one idea maybe was based on Nb4 and trying to get it. I mean, he could try Nb4 now. Black could try G4 maybe. But then the knight on the rim isn't great. Nxb5 would allow black to jump into the C2 square. At least black has some activity for the pawn. But white still has the two bishops, so at the very least white would be a bit better. My best guess is that Parham has maybe mixed something up. He hasn't played quickly, but he's played relatively fast for such a big decision. Maybe too fast? Maybe too fast. David, let's check it back with the sole leader for the women's prize, Tan Zhongyi, and then we'll take a very short break. That's right. So she's on board 19 and she's white against Maxime Lagarde. I think, again, no offence to Maxime Lagarde, but I think it's quite a good pairing for her. She's a very strong red master, 26-50, but he can be very irregular. He can be pretty much anyone, but he can also have a complete after yesterday Tan Zhongyi's compatriot and also competitor for the women's prize, Leiting, that had him against the ropes. He was lucky to escape with the draw. But I think it's quite a nice pairing also because he had that very long game as well. I don't know if that's right. I mean, there would have been harder pairings on paper at least, but that being said, Maxime can be anyone on this day and it looks like he's trying to do just that. We checked in on this one much earlier. I don't think we saw that many opening moves. We do see the Vienna on the board and this B5 move, which has become quite trendy in the last few years. The idea is if white takes that pawn so white instead plays E5 and then takes the pawn, but after the knight B6, black is arguing that white has committed in the center. This D5 is a nice outpost. C4 is not so easy to win for white and black has a nice development so Bb2, B3, okay. I mean, there's many moves here. White can play ideas such as A4 a bit earlier on. There's also the idea of playing Qd2 to F4 to G3 and trying to attack on the king side when black castles instead white plays and maybe a more solid approach. It does look like perhaps Tanzongi was slightly surprised. I mean, this is still quite a resistance for black. A few moves later, current position, white is having a think and I don't really like the way she's set up to be nice. This queen doesn't make much sense on C1 anymore unless it can somehow jump out to G5 later. I would rather have my queen out already in front of the bishop. I'm just trying to think of plans for white. Checkmate. I was actually funny enough I wasn't looking at that for the knight H4 and I thought maybe to try and bring my bishop to F3 but I don't like that I give up the defense of d4. I was thinking, can I maybe get enough time to play F4 or F5? Possibly, possibly. I would be thinking about similar things. I was actually thinking, this is how you want to go forward. I always want to go back because I'm so negative. Oh, by the way, after 17 minutes of thought, Vaipap Suri did not play Qg6 but he did take on H6 which is strong but not quite as crushing. Just bizarre stuff from Ranax at Wani there. He's young but he's relatively experienced and a very strong player just to miss some simple tactics. This one that we have on Kamuel Tanjongyi, she's the defending women's champ and she's the sole leader will come back to her game former women's world champion absolutely will come back to her game and all the remaining action and all of it, all of it is still ongoing, don't go anywhere we'll be back in just 5-10 minutes. See you soon. Or not. And welcome to Gibraltar home to the biggest chess festival in the world. We're at the Kalata Hotel where all the magic happens. The morning events and the Gibraltar Masters. Master classes simultaneous displays and seminars by the best in the world. Blitz events for some fast and furious chess and of course our most awaited evening the battle of the sexes. The action never stops and we want you with us. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and on social media. See you there. Hello and welcome back to the 10th and final round here at Gibraltar. David. Yes, Fiona. Things are heating up. They are heating up. We're now into the second hour of play. Yes. We're halfway into the second hour of play and we still haven't seen any results up there on the top few boards yet which is a good sign. We're going to see times of grambles. We're going to see nerves. And potentially a playoff at the end of the day. And potentially a playoff possibly. It does look like we're edging nearer there. Maybe we can check back in on board one. Let's go back to board one. So, Andre Yassi Penko who yesterday suffered a heart-breaking draw. Yes. Heart-breaking even draws can be can be painful. He had a power hem maxidlou beat. And then it slipped out of his hand at the last possible moment. Today against Wang Hao a solid approach. You think this one might fizzle out? I think very shortly as well. We have seen a few developments. We left it after Queen takes B3. I was kind of an advocate of Knight takes C5 which was played. And Queen B6 was also played. So, Black has sacrificed a pawn. And more importantly, B2 is hard to defend. I can guarantee you almost a draw at this point on Wang Hao. We had a couple more moves. Just for C1. Yeah, just for C1. If White had defended this B pawn with B1 and I think Black could simply play D8 and if you compare the activity of the pieces Black's rook's coming to D2 the Knight's coming to A4 I think it's at least equal for Black now despite his lack of a pawn. So instead, Espenko just gave back that pawn and we see Wang Hao shaking his head. He's not happy. He knows that his fate will no longer be in his hands. After Bishop takes B2 I expect to move maybe rook B1 but rook C2, bishop retreats and Knight f3. Yeah, it's just completely equal material. Opposite color bishops, everything's equal and a draw is likely. So let's remind everyone in case this one ends in a draw as you just mentioned it will be out of his hands. In that case, David Paravian and Mustafa Yilmaz on board 2 they are both on 7. In case of a win they will overtake him but there's still one final player on 7 points and that's Parahemak Zulu who's playing Black against MVL we'll come back to that in a second we saw him lose a pawn we're still not quite sure if that was part of the plan or not let's first go to board to Paravian against Mustafa. That's right it's hard enough keeping an eye on one other board when you know that will affect your destiny but keeping an eye on another board as well is hard enough many, many years ago I think 12 years ago now when I played in the final round of the World Junior Championship I was joint leading with two others I was leading on tie break and I didn't know, do I play for a win or a draw and it turns out often you just have to focus on your own game you can't worry too much about the others okay, if you play your best if it does turn out to be a draw you try everything if they win, you know, you can't do anything about it so I'm sure White House experienced enough to just play the game, play the position but for these guys it's going to be hard to fully focus yeah, we've had one request in the chat for Captain Barvosa he's down on board 24 maybe a bit later if we get an off maybe a bit of time off from the top boards we will check in he's playing against Mr. Bolsheet he's looking promising for Barvosa but I'm not sure we'll see if the top boards have a take a time out if there's a lull we might but for now we'll focus on the top boards and also the top ladies that's right, so many prizes at stake unfortunately for Barvosa and Basso, I think prize is unlikely at this point although maybe rating bands there are a couple of thousand pounds I think at stake for rating bands especially for Basso but he might just because he's 26 oh I don't know where did the there might be one until 2600 I think it's up to 2549 if I remember then okay, he's out I think he might be out maybe you can check that as we go along I mean huge amount of money at stake there's also the best game prize which we will be judging later on there are senior prizes for over 60 year olds actually we could even check in on that maybe later I think the leading players for that will be Beliavsky maybe who else let's go to board 2 I will tell you all about it in just one second that's right, so Rook 88 was played when we last left the position and White played Rook 81 Black just retreated the Queen as I explained a bit earlier keeping an eye on the C4 square White is unable to play Bishop C4 Black is very solid it may be easier to improve the position as Black but White has no weaknesses at the moment I guess this is around equal not too much action going on not too much to calculate which is good for us at least so David, there is one more prize there is one more prize the rating band goes all the way there's one for 2550 to 2649 which is quite the high rating band and Basel had a good tournament so with a win he could potentially Captain Barbosa is in the middle of that rating band so I don't know if he's a favorite for that one probably not but yeah there's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 7 different rating prices so a lot to play for there as well of course as you mentioned 15 prizes for the overall standing and also 15 prizes for women that's right a senior 2 senior prizes if I understand this correctly 2 junior prizes so over 60 for the seniors and under 18 for the juniors I think no player can win they've changed the rules so no player can win more than one prize now I remember one year where I was playing who you found in the last round if she'd beaten me she would have come joint first she would have got first prize or second prize for the men and she would have won the top women's prize she would have gone home with an absolute fortune I mean she did go home with an absolute fortune in the end but they have changed that this year I think and I think Grassman Deschan is right that Dennis Kaddrich for sure is a big favorite for one of those rating prizes but let's check in with board 2 for now the players can't worry too much about that so many other games will affect their results often they want some of their rivals to do well so their rivals get one of the main prizes and leave the rating prizes for them but yes board 2 around equal I would say I think white will be maybe making a slow move King H1 maybe A4 just asking black what he's doing next it's kind of it's all in the balance it's not clear what the plans are for either side at the moment maybe Bishop E2 as well just to preserve the bishop yeah we'll come back to this one I was also I was just looking at the clock times to see but they have already they already on move 16 still no pressure on the clock but you know in one, two hours from now we'll see it's going to get spicy let's move on to board 3 and see if Parham found any counter player compensation for the pawn he lost on C7 I think he did find a move that we maybe underestimated we left it after Bishop G3 and we thought maybe black's struggling a bit but H5 is a very important move aiming to trap this bishop with H4 Maxime played H3 which I mean isn't ideal usually you want to play H4 and force the issue on the king side but G4 would have been very annoying 4 white so H3 instead and Knight to E7 I think no I was just thinking because our cameras which have been so great effort MPL is so so bright but actually that's why usually we start at 3 p.m. today we start at 11 p.m. so I guess the sun is shining bright onto MPL it's been a beautiful day here in Gibraltar for the last few days now that's another reason to wear white when you have the white pieces you blind your opponents that's maybe that's why Maxime had to leave the board he was just I see someone dressed very sharply, who is that is that is he? Noel Stude that's Noel Stude yes you know that you've commentated too much on the tournament when you can recognize player by the suits by the jackets and that's pregnant and on the left yeah so let's see this one yeah so after H3 black played 97 which I'm actually a bit shocked by I thought Knight before was the idea you mentioned this earlier forward not backward exactly jumping into C2 so I mean if white doesn't do too much of white plays and move like A3 black can jump into C2 attacking this rook attacking the pawn on E3 as well 97 feels like it's the wrong direction somehow I would have also been tempted to just force this bishop to take me because I can often jump to B6 or jump to C2 and I think no matter what white does now rook C1 black will take control of the C file and that's a very important file the only open file on the board so Knight E7 is slightly strange final shout out to another very sharply dressed player Volodarmorzin from Russia with the chess belt on the right hand corner of our camera and he was sporting his Russia at top for the first I think 8-9 days but yesterday and today looking very sharp at such a young age Star of the future 13 year old Volodarmorzin so do we think after the last couple of moves especially this Knight E7 move not going the direction that we wanted and Vial by the way that they rook Fc1 I mean this is why I want the Knight on B4 if Knight B4 if rook Fc1 then just Knight C2 B1 I mean white's walking into some nasty stuff so very strange Knight E7 it looks like the kind of move you play when you're not very confident and Parham doesn't look too happy I think we leave him to ponder it something feels like it has gone slightly wrong he goes a pawn down so we'll have to see if he can come up with anything good here I mean he needs compensation now if he lets it drag on two moves if I can consolidate then I think Vial will just win with the extra pawn so Maizulu needs a plan 97 not good though quick look at boards 4 and 5 we see David Navara Sharda David at the top right corner we'll get to his game in the second Veselin Topalov on the black side against Bogdan Derch wow lots of moves here we'll move 17 and this has changed enormously so we left it after F3 I'll move 12 Black just played Queen E7 maybe C5 was less attractive because of this Knight A2 move that I mentioned earlier Queen E7 E4 and white has got the center white's got everything it looks like white is very close to two bishops if white's got one move to bring the rook to the center then white's doing very well so Veselin played H6 which is not a move you want to be playing weakening your king it's a move we've got to figure out as well oh wait the pawn is not the pawn the pawn's not defended I thought I wouldn't want a weak knight king like that I mean this is a calculation but he didn't take so if white takes let's figure this one out it must be knight to E5 it must be but knight to E5 I mean there's something hanging here chat a light or not no no no I'm going to figure this out for you chatting is cheating let's figure this one out if bishop takes H6 it looks like a pawn what could be happening here unless black's just sacrificing the exchange but surely not surely not I mean it's not just exchange like you're not even winning it I mean yeah 95 if white takes on F8 attacking black's queen if black takes I mean queen E2 looks like it still defends this bishop on C4 white wouldn't take on E5 because of rook takes D3 and the queen falls but queen E2 rook takes D4 I mean it's still sharp but somehow this feels good for white queen takes F8 though yeah I mean super sharp stuff and actually maybe vintage Topalov yeah he does love an exchange sacrifice that's one thing about Topalov so maybe H6 would have led some complications after knight E5 or knight C5 David I cannot believe this after H6 H4 immediately played in 27 seconds I mean I would spend like 45 minutes there I would spend at least 45 minutes and still not know what's going on but these guys know everything clearly and could this all be a problem I have a feeling it might be I have a feeling I mean they spend a bit of time earlier on but maybe they're just considering which variation to go for Topalov has played I've seen him play some decent games against the slav less on the black side but yeah incredible stuff G5 I'm going to do my research on this one later I'm going to learn some theory bishop F2 the bishop retreats but black has weakened himself look at this king so open now if a queen could end up on G6 bishop takes C3 queen takes I mean they're playing relatively quickly although G5 was happened after 20 minutes so current position after F8 C4 it looks like white is having a think how to justify that pawn sacrifice rook A1 surely surely just a rook to the center and hope that these two bishops will be able to get a black's weakened king later on I mean that this one is a mess and black is playing very provocatively which he needs to do Sandrafrik was just making that same point in the chat that Topalov has to take some risks these guys the whole group on on 6.5 they are all in a must win situation for any chance even for the big prices a draw will get some price most likely but if you want the glory the money they have to go all out I mean at the moment these guys are 16 of them out of 9 if they all draw more players will join them I mean I say only there's a lot of prices there's 15 prices but for example if they share 6th place or 5th place till place number 30 I mean that will be diluted and that will be far less money I mean it's worth going all in I liked the look of this for white but as pointed out again by Sandrafrik a pawn is a pawn so that's right a pawn is a pawn I suggest that we leave there to figure it out we'll come back to this when this one is going to be one of the most exciting games of the round I feel let's check in with the board next to them David Navarra and Dennis Cadridge so one of the fan favourites well actually they are both fan favourites and the hoodie has come off a super smart David Navarra against Dennis Cadridge the Superbold the Enigma himself so this one has changed a fair amount it turns out actually I was correct Black did play this move E5 I mean Black has to fight for space seems a simplistic thing but you can't allow your opponent to just push and manoeuvre behind that extra space in the centre so D5 and A5 Navarra decided to play C5 here which looks like a pawn sacrifice white wants to get traditionally in these openings with white just playing the queen side because your central pawns do point towards the side of the board and C5 is a good way to open up lines but here it is indeed a sacrifice now if Bishop takes pawn Queen takes knight and white would be I think almost lost these two pieces will definitely be superior to white's one rook a bit later on in the game so white would be down in material so instead just Queen D2 accepting being a pawn down and ambitious by white extremely ambitious David Navarra is another player who has to take some risks today for the win but of course risk always involves risk you might get punished exactly but also more more more tears more potential tears taking risks can backfire your opponent can counter attack and I think actually I kind of like it's not a bad pairing for someone like Dennis Cadridge who is extremely tricky who seems to be extremely confident to be on the black side against someone like David who is pretty much in a must win situation is not a bad pairing at all because you can sort of sit and if he presses too much then you get your chance to counter exactly he's already taken the pawn he's a pawn up he's got something to hold on to now and white is the one who has to justify that sacrifice white is the one who has to keep pedaling in order to not fall off his bike yeah I mean I think he's going to go F5 I just have a feeling just to try and attack I mean it's what we want to see as well but as you say for Cadridge he's still super solid, a pawn up and if he can hold off he has an hour on the clock as well no risk, no fun that's for us here I mean that's true we have all the fun we can sack all the risks okay David let's go back to the ladies let's check in first of all of course with our leader in the women's standings Tan Zhongyi from China and she's white against Maxime Lagarde on board 19 we've seen a few moves being played in this game after Bishop to B4 you were saying Knight H4 which looks like a decent idea because I'm a negative pessimistic kind of guy I thought the idea of Knight E1 instead she found Knight B1 another backward move which I didn't even consider backward knight moves are the hardest ones to see in chess they're the least instinctive moves and indeed I really have contemplated that one but okay white wants to get a pair of bishops off white felt she was being slightly cramped here the Queen of C1 especially lack space black is nice and active so why not exchange a pair of pieces Knight B1 the bishops did come off the board Knight D2 attacking C4 and black reacted with Knight D3 looks like we've got a couple more moves though Queen C3 attacking this Knight on A5 and Queen to B6 somehow I'm starting to like white I mean white can snap off this pawn at any moment why don't we snap it off now yep I have to take you white's one upon can I consider taking on D3 instead or no I missed that one but I don't think with the bishop I don't know maybe yeah I mean now if black takes on F3 we don't take that one back we take on C4 I mean is black really going to take on B2 surely not okay what could be one and what do you do nah I mean you're just and take and take on B7 well it's just winning so maybe why not Knight AC4 I mean I was also tempted by ideas such as B4 just because it's counter-intuitive and if you take on B4 I will try and do something nasty on this B file I think it's I agree with you I like it for white a lot but there is so much at stake so I think it's normal that we see her take some time I don't think any woman player has ever defended her title here or have they I don't think so we can check that one I should have done it on my stats to win 20k two years in a row and if she wins that game she is one of the players who does not need to concern herself with any other game if she wins her game she will be the winner of the women's prize I think she's the only one who can say that in the whole tournament other than maybe Espenko who if he wins will win oh no still possibly a playoff he'll be the highest performer no you're right Tan Song Yi she's the only one 20,000 pounds do you think she'd lend me a fiver after that if she wins in quick research nobody has ever actually won the women's prize in 2004 and in 2005 she shared but it's good but not quite as good as Tan Song Yi outright winning if she wins it here I mean she's an extremely strong player she managed to win this knockout the 64 player knockout a few years ago I think in 2017 the women's world championship kind of high pressure tournament like that then open tournaments are a doddle in comparison so we like her chances after Quincy 3 she's oil for choice she can also take on D3 she can maybe play this B4 move take on C4 lots to think about we'll check back in on her later but looks like she's done well the last few moves we were just talking about this thing about looking around how the others are doing and it's an interesting question in the chat by Dutch Courage will that change the tactics of all the other contenders mid-match I'm not sure it will change that much maybe slightly I think ever so slightly maybe a bit more risk-taking but still the problem is that it's not just first place but all the money and if you lose you snooze the first prize of £30,000 won't be shared anyway so actually if there is just one winner in the end I mean it doesn't change that much to share the rest of the prizes that's very true I think everyone wants to win at this point they're all professional players I mean I've been there their living does depend on picking up prize money at big tournaments so yeah I mean they will all be going for it on the top dozen or so boards David actually let's just before we go to the other women players quickly come back to board 3 the MVL game there has been a change in the structure and dynamics so board 3 we left it after rook fc1 black decided it was time to get rid of white's bishop pair and a few exchanges and knight to d2 white's just a pawn up it looks like I mean it's not the best pawn in the world these double g pawns don't make a great impression but I think it's a pawn for now and that pawn counts later on you could definitely imagine white's knight maybe getting to the outpost on f4 beautiful square white's bishop is long term going to be a bad one it is going to be tied down to these pawns on it's same colour on the light squares yeah I think it's going to be two result game white is playing for the win and no losing chances I'm getting all excited I just spotted a game I wanted to come back to the ladies let's go to board 22 because I like what I'm seeing I don't understand it but I like it okay board 22 leitinger against Vasiv de Ravalli board there we go and yeah we predicted crazy stuff on this board and it looks like we're getting our wish we are getting our little wish let's bring it up this is just showing the strategy of all the players in the chasing pack for the women they're all going for it they all have the white pieces those players half a point behind Tanzang Yi let's rewind a bit to understand how we got here yeah so we left it a long long time ago after bishop e2 rook g8 was played which I'm not so familiar with usually black plays bishop b7 bishop g7 lots of other moves rook g8 that was met by e5 and knight h5 a4 I mean I'm not sure what this rook is doing on g8 it normally wants to land there only if white plays h4 but white hasn't played that and queen b6 a few more moves d5 blowing over in the position quickly she does this and knight d4 another well it's not really a pawn sacrifice this time white can now take on b5 maybe even e6 first check and black's king is not so happy but a6 and crazy our black has just captured but I mean this allows a big check yeah I would I mean if it was a blitz game I would play it without without thinking if it's a blitz game I would be terrified I was going to say something a bit rude there I would be terrified just because look at that king I mean black's king has to just is it going to step forward into the danger zone does it want to sneak over to the queen side looks so dangerous so dangerous black has the bishop pair and an extra pawn but actually king d8 go lating jay my pick for the tournament and actually lating jay what's her waiting performance her performance is 2544 Tan Song Yi's is 2548 that's insane so if she wins and Tan Song Yi draws I think lating jay will overtake her that's right because she'll gain more points by winning than lating jay will by drawing and we're hearing Thea saying that after king d8 bishop f7 actually looks deadly that is very true yeah so king e7 is forced that looks dangerous I mean she will play bishop h5 surely yeah I mean if black gets time to castle queen side I think it's more likely she's figuring out what am I going to do after king e7 I'll keep a very very close eye on this one let's check in on the board right next to them on board 23 actually sitting right next to lating jay is Shanzayah Abdul Malik who's also in contention and she's playing against Alan Pichot that's right your pronunciation of Pichot is getting even more perfect I'm rolling with it until I get told otherwise so this one we did see Pichot following Kramnik's no castling chess he kind of castled by hand he used his king he went to e8 from e8 to f7 yesterday he never castled and he went all the way up to e7 yesterday he went on a king walk that's something a bit a king marathon maybe it's just forgotten the rules of chess we left this not that long ago the king was just going to h7 a few more moves I think white's just trying to get organized with her knights whoops let's get rid of my king arrows and black's played a5 so David you like the bishop pair I like to look on that knight on f5 yeah I mean this bishop pair is so impressive because the center is mostly blocked and this bishop on f8 is passive black's last move does sacrifice a pawn white could take it but I think that bishop would get locked in by b4 and might not get out again I think that's why a lamb spent 22 minutes on a5 because you have to make sure before you give up a pawn like that white cannot just take it actually as white I would be ignoring that pawn for sure I would want to gang up on black's d6 pawn now it looks a bit backwards and maybe a move like rook ad1 or rook ad1 I'm not sure where the a1 rook wants to be rook ad1 move this bishop and then start ganging up on this d6 pawn which would be a vulnerable target I mean I quite like white's position it's very flexible that being said long term black does have a nice structure and the bishop pair I was just going to say let's look over all the positions of the women players quick look at the final one who's still in contention Nino Batziashvili also with the white pieces on board 29 and she's playing against Vahab Sanal that's right let me just pull that game up there we go so Nino I think out of the remaining leading players actually her performance is very good as well 25-58 so if she wins and Tanzong Yi draws that's a great chance to overtake her her opponent is slightly lower rated than the other two ladies opponents but I mean you can get your calculators out at home a win here will be huge even if it's not for the first place like a win for any of these four women players whose games we just looked at will guarantee a huge huge payday that's right great angle there I mean 20,000 pounds first prize 10,000 pounds second prize I mean neither of them too shabby and a win today would be massive and at first sight I love that look of that rook on b6 the look of the rook tying down black's pieces keeping an eye on a6 well attacking a6 keeping an eye on d6 I love this I really like it as well I think black needs something desperate here some tactics passive as well there's no real weaknesses in white's position maybe g2 is only defended by the king but I can't see how to get at it for black you know I actually I was just thinking all our four women so I was so leader Tanjongri but also the three players who are chasing her one of them has already drawn her game let's remind everyone Lela Yabakishvili made a quick draw against Sebastian Masi with the black pieces which on paper is a good result but the four players who are still in contention for the women's prize they all have so much experience but they also I find all have nerves of steel I would not like to be any of those men facing them today me neither me neither I've been on the wrong side of some of these women in the past I mean very strong players nerves of steel as you say you need those nerves of steel to get to the top David let's come back to this one we love the look of it let's go back to Lei Tingxiu I know we've just come from there bursting into life let's go back to board 22 my pick and I'm loving the way she's playing today I'm so excited I just closed that game Fiona let's bring it right back up and never close it again David if you insist Knight takes E6 wow bang we didn't that was not on our radar we saw a check they say Patsas see a check we're like what is she thinking about Knight E6 it's a peace sacrifice Black has to take it I would love to when we get the camera to see the look on Vasif's face I mean he's just going to be shocked either way I need to compose myself I'm trying to figure out what's happening here Vasif we just saw him there with a shake of the head he looks quite red maybe it's the sun we have to figure out if it works for now it's just a peace sacrifice but if this works this move which was not on our radar at all it could just be a miniature we're still only on move 18 we haven't decided the best game of the tournament yet either so maybe she knows this maybe she's going all out okay so what's the idea Bishop G4 I'm wondering whether throwing in a check would have worked we could have had the same position with the king in E7 I'm not sure that changes anything we'll try and figure that out but Bishop G4 looks logical attacking the queen which has to defend what has to move and defend this knight on D7 first move I would think about is Queen C6 with a sneaky threat with XG2 would be a checkmate so now White needs something big apparently yeah it's just saying E6 might also be a big threat I don't know if in that I mean definitely not in this position because E6 would fail to a checkmate that's true I saw that one coming Fiona Bishop F3 I guess would be the idea just because you need to gain time again it's hard to know when to throw in a check or not Bishop F3 I would be tempted to throw in a check in most lines because the last thing I want is that king escaping to C8 yeah this is true this is true and not only would the king escape but the rook would land on the 8 knight looking at my queen you're right actually you're very right here if the king goes to D8 for example at the very least we can play Bishop F3 when the queen moves there might be better but we can take and we can go E6 we win our piece back Black's king will be forever open and White will all the cost of a pawn huge attack if the king goes to E7 Bishop F3 looks huge he's fiddling that pawn very nervously actually the directors of the Avengers Age of Ultron movie years ago should have checked this out this footage because there was this character one of the superheros Vision twiddling with a rook but it was the slowest twiddling I've ever seen and like the most awkward mechanical twiddling and I mean he could have picked up something from D'Rabali and also Gelfand who twiddles his pieces and Anish Giri as well it shows nerves normally but some players it's part of the routine here I mean White can win back the piece in several ways I mean even Queen D6 check I mean I'd be tempted to throw it actually 95, check this out the rooks are forked but Bishop G7 maybe so Bishop G7 that wouldn't be quite enough we can pick up the rook on A8 I mean I still quite like White's chances but not so clear you say that I'm about to swap the queens off Fiona I'm about to go here swap the queens and just take on B7 and your whole queenside is falling because if rook A7 now I will even take on B5, check and pick up your rook and if you move to any other square I will take on A6 and everything's falling for Black White's actually equal material now and about to go up in material with a continuing attack incredible what a game but I think you deserve a big prize if you play a game like this absolutely and she will absolutely if this works she's absolutely in contention for the best game prize which we still have to talk about later on we're gonna go through all 1200 plus games all of them David I'll keep a very close eye on this one so if anything happens we'll come right back to it for now let's go back to the top boards we're out with board 1 Andrea Sipenko and Wang Hao yes let's do it this one see Wang Hao just walking away there yeah he's seen enough he knows what's happening in this position we've seen a few moves since we left we left it after rook c1 bishop takes b2, rook went to b1 and knight a4 knight d3 and couple more moves bishop went back to f6 can't believe try to figure this out we haven't had the live moves bishop f6, rook to b4 attacking the knight bishop b3, defending the e2 pawn and b5 for black yeah it looks very tense suddenly I prefer black actually just very slightly because black is attacking a2 that knight on c3 is so strong David we cannot see the clock times for now but I see them here Andrea Sipenko is down to 26 minutes yesterday his downfall oh and we see a result there in the background that's Cheper Winoff's game and that has ended in a draw yes Ariane Chopra will not be joining the potential massive pile up on 7.5 he's had a fantastic tournament he's gaining over 20 rating points undefeated 7 out of 10 massive congratulations to Ariane Chopra who's had a brilliant tournament he's still only 18, what a player fantastic if he can beat Alex Astana Lopez he can beat anyone fantastic tournament for the youngster especially with black holding a play like Cheper Winoff it's amazing absolutely so that means we're now down to 10 games we have to focus on only 10 games easy peasy it's going to get even more exciting on the remaining 10 boards so you think in board 1 still in the balance you're starting to I was just saying that Andrea needs to keep a close eye on his clock because yesterday it was the reason he didn't win the game nerves and clock handling so that's one thing to watch out for position should still be equal but you know little by little and Wang Hao will sense these things and he will try to make the most of it just one night on C3 is controlling everything in a moment and if anyone's for choice Wang Hao is and he knows that and he thrives in these kind of situations these kind of positions so absolutely David we've just had a a bombshell move on board 2 after 20 minutes over 20 minutes David Paoavian has sent his knight into the battlefield on to D5 yes that's right it isn't a sacrifice because black cannot take this knight his queen is undefended on C8 LPDO loose pieces drop off and that queen is not defended the last moves we did see were King H1, Bishop D8 and Knight D5 Knight D5 is a fancy move it looks like a good move but there's no threat at the moment so black doesn't really have to react he definitely doesn't want to play Knight D5 either because after Knight he takes D5 checkmate is threatened on H7 this bishop is suddenly open so yeah black needs a good move though does black swap everything off does black start exchanging pieces Knight D3 maybe so what happens let's have a look at this how do we recapture first off we cannot take with the queen otherwise the knight would be hanging so that leaves us with well we could capture actually potentially first on F6 and that would be a mass liquidation check I will take back I can either take on F6 or take on D3 let's take on I don't even know the problem with this game is I don't know who's playing this is sharp stuff who's playing for what I mean if you take back on D3 for example not that way yeah but also queen takes ah but queen takes I mean could we see some huge simplifications but I think black's doing well here for example I can take on E4 and be a pawn up I couldn't take on F8 first and make something work I don't think so white's back rank is a bit tender as well I don't want to allow any of black's rooks to come down and checkmate you eventually D9 takes F6 isn't quite working unless I've written this variation off too soon queen takes C2 maybe queen g3 here queen g3 doesn't quite work because white's rook would be hanging at the very end sharp stuff so much calculation to be done 90s D3 maybe white just recaptures with so sharp I'm trying to get my head around this one we see Mustafa as deep in thought and this one also I mean that one the clock times earlier were very evenly matched but after Paravian spent 22 minutes on his move 95 he's now down to under half an hour still only on move 18 I think Mustafa will take his dear time here so much to figure out take a sweet time for sure that's the one I was looking for sweet time yeah I think it's roughly level but a lot of calculation D needs to be done David yes Can I take you back to board 5 we see the hoodie there Dennis is away from the board we've had a result on board 1 we see the kings actually Wang Hao doesn't look too happy I think I'm happy that Andrei Sipenko didn't go on to lose that game because that would have been heartbreaking Wang Hao was your pick to win the tournament Wang Hao has a chance this means that these two players are the first two players to reach a 7 and a half out of 10 what that means is that if either Paravian or Yilmaz win most likely they will win the tournament Max Zulu is a pond down against M.V.L. fighting for a draw his winning chances are unfortunately almost nil that means this board 2 clash has just 30,000 pounds of riding on one game incredible so that's the one we will be focusing on the most of course but we have just come from it I would like to go very quickly to board 5 David Navarra against Dennis Kadric was looking very exciting when we last checked in there that's right and this one's lightening up for sure Dennis is feeling greedy today he wants to snack on pawns if he can't win a prize he'll win some pawns so after the move Q7 I was correct F5 was played just getting a bit of space on the king side trying to open up some lines maybe some threats later on H6 and I dropped back and Dennis took on F5 Fiona it looks like he's on the opposite side of a Grand Prix attack this time I know and I think he won't be happy to be the one who's being attacked I think he loves his attacking chances and especially to have an excellent calculator like David Navarra attacking you must be quite scary we see David has just taken on F5 he recaptured immediately can I take on H6 yes you can and I think he you should probably you can play a kind of positional type of chess where you accept that your two pawns down but you can seize complete domination of the light squares, knight H4 might be tempting allowing a sequence I know you want to go to another game quick in a moment and we will jump there but White might be able to just exchange off the knight for the bishop play two pawns down but with complete domination of the light squares rook Fv1, rook AF1 coming and a big attack rook H5 is also on the cards but a long way to go I love David's chances for now let's go back to board 22 again Lei Tingzhe is on fire I love how the way Fia put it in the chat what in blazes has happened to Dura Baile's queen I mean Lei Tingzhe is on fire Vasif Dura Baile's no it doesn't quite have a ring to him almost yeah this one has gone crazy the queen is gone off the board, queen takes E6 was played after White's incredible knight takes E6 sacrifice queen c4 queen c6 checkmate here on g2 White didn't play bishop h5 we thought that might be decent but instead bishop f3 and Black just took it she must have seen something that we missed yeah I mean maybe now queen b6 would be met strongly by 95 and both rooks are attacked queen c8 looked harder to refute for me but maybe just 95 anyway maybe this king is not surviving bishop h5 is still coming I mean also both bishop f3 and queen f3 were played instant no but this clock time cannot be correct surely they are not just blitzing out every single move here possibly unbelievable they have literally just been blitzing out the last few moves so let's see it so after Black took on f3 giving up the queen White recaptured and he got his king into safety finally but it is just like yesterday just like the game espenko maizulu it's queen for two pieces queen for two bishops here it should not be enough it should not be enough I mean I can't see why the white king is not even in any immediate danger at all you just have to be a bit careful there is one plan for Black and Nxf3 check but if you can stop that plan White is just winning and I don't see why a move such as queen e2 maybe even queen d4 queen e2 just looks to me very strong why allow any Nxc5 nonsense and I think if anyone it's Black's king who is still in a bit more danger Black has one very strong bishop on b7 defending that piece is not quite enough in this position they say one bad piece makes a position bad but one good piece isn't normally enough that begs the question of how is Tanjong Yi getting on because Lei Tingzhe has a winning position as we saw yesterday whether she wins it or not I believe in her I think she will win and she will reach the massive score of 6.5 let's see how Tanjong Yi is getting on on board 19 so Tanjong Yi knows her fate is in her hands but if she does get nervous if she does think her game is hedging towards a draw she might have to look at her rivals games her rival of course these two I think they are very close friends they are probably sharing a room here and they are actually sitting back to back I hadn't noticed that before not back to back per se but on back to back board and I think she will know that actually if she draws and if Lei Tingzhe wins it won't be enough for her the difference between half a point maybe Lei Tingzhe will buy her a drink I don't know I don't know let's check in with her position so this one has changed a little bit after Quincy 3 Knight f4 some pieces got exchanged Knight b6 Knight to e4 Knight to c4 maybe was less attractive because bishop a6 at the end is a bit nasty so I couldn't win a pawn bishop g5 Knight fg5 Knight to h3 Knight to b1 earlier Knight to tangos this one has gone round this way this one came out to b1 back and we're still only on move 22 me and my arrows came out to d2 so 8 moves with the knights after 22 that's quite the stat stat man David Howell I'm confusing myself with all these arrows but it looks like Knight h3 let me put a move on the board just to get rid of my arrows now Knight f4 is coming David I'm going to make a very bold prediction nothing to do with this game whatsoever I just suddenly got a feeling I think Mustafa Yelmaz is going to become the outright winner of this tournament why did you say that Fiona? I just saw in the chat that he has a huge time advantage and I think that might just be that I mentioned before that I see him as the more experienced and vastly more experienced player on that top international level he's played so many olympians for Turkey he's played in your age groups and all these Paravyan again he's a player I actually know very little of but I think the experience and the time advantage might be crucial so that's my prediction. No that's right and Yelmaz he's won two Turkish championships he's achieved a lot at the young age and Paravyan is also very strong he did very well in the Isle of Man tournament a couple of months ago but he won two tournament victories to his name and first for him he's really kind of thrown in at the deep end here imagine if Mustafa Yelmaz wins I think we never even saw any of his games until yesterday like he was completely off our radar but we were talking about it before in these big open tournaments how you start of course like you can't lose all your games but how you finish is really where it's at you know three four games if you pick up some momentum that keeps building and building and he'll be full of confidence now he's won a few games in a row he won a very nice game yesterday against Ceparinov and time and again we see this I mean last year I started terribly here in Gibraltar and I managed to win a few towards the end and likewise World Junior Championship a few years ago Abadjip got to one five in a row to catch up and win we just saw some pieces get exchanged Maxim took on a four rookie four castles nice arrows I saw someone in the chat say that Hikaru was not impressed about the arrows because I think he can draw more it was the Ionicle I think that's right and actually we did see Black took on E4 immediately and then castled Queen's side incredible does it look that safe here I mean Black wants another pawn back on this piece all I want to do is get all my pieces to gang up on the C file play B3 and get on with it I mean a simple plan if Fiona had this position it would be guaranteed where did Tan Zhongyu play Tan Zhongyu played Knight F4 and Black played rook D7 just aiming to double up against this backward deep pawn I need to give some thought to how I'm going to defend this deep pawn can't have that drop her knight is it going to go back to E2 eventually or I think it might have to drop back to defend this pawn meanwhile Black's knight is also passive stuck out there on the side of the board knight on the rimmer dim it is defending C4 but it's hard to get rid of that knight I mean this one feels like it's in the balance somehow I mean it's so paradoxical for Black to castle Queen's side so counterintuitive but maybe maybe Maxime has found a way to stay in the game David back to how we had another result on the top 10 it is Gawain Jones and Jan Verler they have drawn their game on board 8 and those two are also officially out of any potential tie breaks a great result for Jan Verler who's gaining 25 rating points here undefeated congratulations to him both those players will be going home with some cash we'll have to find out to see where exactly they end up so yeah congratulations to Jan Verler for Gawain also a decent result yeah huge congratulations to Jan a great tournament especially for someone who doesn't play so often these days but a bit disappointing if he won and if board 2 was a draw he would be in a playoff David let's go back to the top boards again because we've had some developments actually on board 2 so let's go there okay and board 2 between a players we were just talking about David Paravian and Mustafa Yulmaz there have been a couple of developments we left it after night to D5 Queen C6 just calmly moving the queen out of this pin along the H3 to C8 diagonal and some pieces came off the board I think your prediction is less likely now I was just getting so excited but again if my prediction is wrong if this game I'm not mistaken right if this game ends in a draw we'll definitely have a playoff if Magzulu doesn't win I will bet I will eat a hat live on camera you will eat a house I'll eat a house if Magzulu wins as black especially the graph because it looks like he has no hope not only does it guarantee a playoff but it guarantees a playoff with 4 players yes oh this is true so we'll be here for even longer today you'll be listening to us for a good 7-8 hours minimum even more possibly if it goes to further playoffs in an Armageddon but that does mean if there's 4 players a semi-final and a final so let's look at it we left after the night jumped to D5 mm-hmm yep oh you did sorry I was I was getting so I think we're all getting ahead of ourselves here over excited Queen C6 was played for a calm move we saw some exchanges in 1976 Mustafa Yulmaz is just thinking how to capture that night I would probably just capture with the rook just purely to get rid of white's most active rook and we could see some exchanges here yes white's pawn structures slightly better but the opposite color bishops will balance each other out black's double pawns do control the center after all and if the rooks and the queens disappear from the board this is a guaranteed draw it's important that white can't get this bishop to C4 otherwise white would have a small advantage but I can't see much to play for here by the way Erdo in the chat who's watching us from Turkey he's saying that if Mustafa wins they'll have a national holiday in Turkey in his honor and he should I mean that's a joke but they really should yeah they will I remember going to the airport once in Turkey I think it was Istanbul and I came out and there were I think there were hundreds of people there was some big sporting event he should get a parade if he wins it should roll the chairs when he flies home there were hundreds of people just gathering like literally singing and chanting and celebrating their sports stars so I'm sure he would be one of them David the clock situation can it be an issue for Peravian? I think he's out of danger I mean what black has no real targets no real activity and why it's king is super safe I would be amazed if time became an issue in this game it will be such a simple position after some exchanges on F6 so let's go in one game we haven't seen in a long time is board 3 MVL we have been telling you guys that Magzulu is unfortunately very unlikely to win his game so I guess the main question is can he hold on to the draw more likely now than it was a few weeks ago black has completely closed the king side so black has a pawn down on this side of the board now we see with King E6 black is defending the F5 pawn suddenly it's going to be very hard for white to make use of this extra pawn we should also mention that we were talking about Yomaz if he draws he will be out of the playoff for sure his performance is so low that because he crept up from the back he hasn't been up on the top boards whereas his rivals have so he will be trying so Yomaz needs to win if he wants first place I mean a draw he'll still get some great money and MVL also needs to win to join the playoff it's not clear whether he will get in or is it so MVL before this game he's performing at 27-20 Yomaz is performing at 27-14 so if he wins his performance will definitely be enough to jump up but he needs to rely on Yuffa not winning I think Yuffa is performing ahead of MVL Verla who is the best performing player on six and a half has already drawn so MVL win and he's got great chances to get into that playoff David a very quick look at board 5 I think we're going to be joined by a special guest shortly but before we do let's have a quick look at board 5 again David Navara has just played a very mysterious move that's right so I was correct Knight H4 I'm on fire today with the guessing game I'm sorry to disappoint you David but apparently judging by the chat it was not a great move though apparently Bishop takes H6 the most obvious move the most obvious was the best move sometimes the natural move the one you think or first is the best I was just trying to be a bit flashy with Knight H4 I was kind of a fun suggestion rather than a serious one but Bishop takes H6 does indeed look strong and I think White will just exchange some pieces bring another to the game all of White's pieces will be ready to attack and I'm reading something else after Knight H4 apparently Bishop takes H3 might be very strong for Black so the idea is this I mentioned earlier if Queen takes Knight will take Bishop White has ideas such as rook A, F1, rook H5 and despite being two pawns down White controls the light squares but because that Knight is loose on H4 instead Black can throw in the kind of intermezzo the intermediate move Bishop takes H3 and if White takes we get the same thing except Black's got an extra pawn so Black's three pawns out now and I think that would be too much not enough compensation for David Navarro so wow and Dennis is looking over that side of the board we see him locked onto the king side Bishop takes H3 what else could Navarro be aiming to play Knight F5 and play three pawns down surely not I still think he has great compensation in terms of practical play complete domination of the light squares but three pawns is three pawns very quickly look at Leitingje again your favorite game of the round my favorite game maybe of the tournament board 22 is she any closer? I love White's position I think it's a two or three accurate moves and I think this game will be in the bag with Leitingje down on board 22 after Castle's queen side we saw her having a think Queen C2 was played in the end my Queen E2 was clearly too simple Queen C2 a nice flashy tactic if Knight takes E5 Queen F5 check will be very annoying her opponent would have to retreat and White would be crushing White is not only firmly in control she's probably winning it's not this is Tanjong Yi by the way they're related can't bring the cameras back to Leitingje but for now we're going to take a short break and be back with a very special guest so don't go anywhere Adam scores a critical win against Mikhail Antipov going into round 10 Miki has six and a half points he joins us in our studio Miki a very interesting win today a good result for a very up and down game yeah I was just incredibly lucky really I didn't know this Knight G4 at all and well okay it's not such a strong move but I sort of played this Rook E2 and it just got more and more awkward I somehow I was never some good moment to play H3 I thought he was going to play H5 and then he came up with this very strong move Queen H5 was a very good move but she had to Bishop C2 I didn't think things were so bad and then Queen H5 and he threatened to take on D4 and take on H2 and H3 Knight F6 he's from Bishop H3 Bishop G2 okay Bishop E3 I was already desperate and probably not a very good idea it looks like things have already gone wrong for me well Bishop E3 I thought okay I was thinking the game is not going to last very long but somehow the only hope that I sort of had was somehow around here that when he was going F5 I mean I can see I was going to lose a piece but I thought if I can kind of get this wall of pawns at least then my king is safe I don't know if E4 was the best move maybe it was maybe there were other possibilities but after this kind of Rf2 D5 Knight D2 at least I straightened out my structure and the Bishop on A7 is not playing for a very long time here is this kind of weak pawn on H7 so you lose a piece by force because Bishop E4 runs into D5 you don't want that I mean it's difficult because I have to be a bit careful he doesn't go from D6 to H6 and just made me that was the other he can drive with D6 pawns and it's not made immediately so I mean okay Black was still doing very well but okay I don't think it was so straightforward to win and then somehow I tricked him around the time control with this F4 idea we're going to ask you to come a little forward yes thank you yeah because I mean I think the problem is Rxg4 Rxg4 I know this Rxh5 and if he takes he can take on g4 he has to play Rf5 and I think I can play Rxh6 and the Bishop on B6 is hanging and he's still pinned so yeah I mean it's just a kind of tactical thing so I mean he then he went for this then he went for this Nxh4 but then I'm getting these two pass pawns I mean it's clear he could have defended better I think Rxh6 was a mistake for sure but okay I mean it's of course Black should be doing well here but it's not so easy because it's easy for me to play King f2, Qd3, Rh1 and I'm pushing pressing the h-port and he has to he's in his awkward pin and he has to try and decide how to untangle I mean Miki for me it's amazing to hear that because here you are you're down a piece your King looks relatively not very safe you know you've got these pawns but they look weak and then you just start your King march to the not so weak because okay I have like seven pawns to protect I mean I have a lot of pawns so it's you know an f2 I mean there I came to d1 it's not you know on d1 it's quite safe the knight on d2 is protecting almost all the checking squares around King on d1 Queen on d3 so it's not I think my King is quite safe but of course it's practical chances I mean normally I would be very happy to save a draw but you know sometimes I would lose I mean to win the game is totally unexpected also in the kind of tournament situation that you're in you have to take a little bit of chances both of you have to take chances both of us probably wanted to win so yeah obviously that was maybe a factor but I think by the time control we just got very random yes as it does lots of things happened I had a bit more times and maybe that helped right and Miki at this moment you said that you know even though you knew probably slightly worse your evaluation was that practically you still have chances here well okay I mean I just knew that I had a kind of clear plan and that's I know what I was doing and I can make quick moves and that's always important in a practical game it's a different you know the theoretical assessment is not so important when you're playing right and where do you think he made the final mistake because suddenly it just looked like well I wasn't sure I thought rook h7 instead of rook h6 because well I don't know that was that was his 40th move I don't know it seemed more logical to me just because okay well he's at least attacking the pawn on g7 just to play rook h6 where he doesn't even attack the pawn which seemed a bit strange I mean I wasn't sure I thought maybe queen f3 was good queen f3 to f8 looked quite quite promising because rook g7 queen f8 changed the rook and you know maybe it's just maybe it's just very good in this pawn on g7 I wasn't really sure what was happening I knew I was doing I knew I was doing really well so that pawn got got from g3 to g7 9g8 well I don't know 9g8 he played rook f8 well I guess he could try king d7 I mean that obviously doesn't look good with this I don't know I was thinking maybe knight f3 to come 9g5 looked quite I mean he could play rook h5 9g5 take take but I think that's probably lost for him I don't know it looks bishop c7 knight g5 it looks pretty bad looks really bad but it doesn't really look like somehow I had the feeling that it was probably winning and obviously I don't have to play knight f3 immediately I could look for some other move would you realize that you actually had winning chances in the game well okay no no once I got the three pawns and these two pass pawns there's also practically now I mean he's obviously very unhappy that he messed up psychologically as well and also he didn't have much time for his he was down to three seconds on a couple of moves so it's not such an easy position to hold with the pawns coming down and some checks with rook f1 and some tactical ideas so it's not an easy position to defend short of time I have to say that this game is very fascinating but also not a very usual Mickey Adams win yeah I don't know I mean I had a lot of games I was just better doing very well and I just didn't win I think three or four games I was just you know grinding some endings and very nice positions and just not winning and making a mess of them maybe this is how I didn't really deserve to win but you know maybe maybe I got some of the points I dropped there back in this game going into the last round feelings approach about approach for tomorrow are you thinking about it not too much I probably have black so I mean I just have to play normally and see what happens I mean it's not so easy to have with black but I don't know I mean the pairings aren't it's not completely certain of course but it's very difficult to do much with black in the last round so I don't know I'll just wait and see what the pairings are right well that was a fascinating game a very interesting one for the audience thank you for your time and good luck for tomorrow hello welcome back it is an absolute honour and a pleasure to be joined by His Excellency the Governor of Gibraltar Lieutenant General Davis welcome to the studio it's a great honour having you here first question you've just been upstairs you've had a walk around a playing hall what did you make of all those players competing for the top prizes everything at stake today well I'm always very inspired and proud when I come and visit the chess championship this is my fifth one and I suppose my reflections having walked around this year to last year are probably mainly predicated on the number of women female players because it's gone up 26 percent and I think that that is the first reflection and the other reflection I don't have statistics on this but it felt that there was a lot more young people which again is a great thing so as ever always inspired love coming here this is my fifth tournament that I've actually had the privilege of coming to view so it's a great visit and it's a great competition about the women players Gibraltar is known all over the world it is the home of women's chess the highest prizes that have found anywhere the first prize the women are currently competing is £20,000 which is unrivaled and Gibraltar really it has done a lot you have been the governor of Gibraltar for four years so and you've been here five times what do you make of where the tournament has gone in the last few years well I think in many ways the tournament is a microcosm of Gibraltar in terms of its ambition its innovation and its boldness to put itself and in this case the game of chess into the international arena and the success it has enjoyed has been remarkable and as I say very very proud and very impressed and inspired by that so it's it does so much good on so many levels I mean we talked about going in there and seeing women taking an increasingly large part in the tournament but 55 nations across the world coming together young and old you know that's just a wonderful thing to see in today's world not just the chess community coming together but the world community coming Gibraltar is one of those places which actually is a real force for good in terms of bringing people together it's geographically placed on the world map in a place where it is ideally suited for bringing people from different continents together I also think that it's history in terms of how the population and the people of Gibraltar have grown and the people coming from around the world to make this wonderful Gibraltaran community so they embrace and reach out to the world community and show that community here in Gibraltar is a great thing but more widely we can all get together and we can be a global community in this context through chess and what a wonderful game chess is and I think it's absolutely amazing that Gibraltar really is a big big point on the global map for chess and last me let me ask you another question you are a senior officer of the Royal Marines the chess game the chess board is often compared to a battlefield with the respective pieces being compared to armies do you see any similarities at all yes I do because I think it's a game of strategy and tactics and the military art the martial art is a game of strategy and tactics linked by very resilient committed professional dedicated people which have got the intellect and the imagination and the ingenuity in lots of regards to generate strategy and then they've got the practical skills to deliver that strategy and I think I'm right in saying chess players will think 20 maybe 30 moves ahead which if you are planning a military campaign that's exactly what you've got to do if you're going to be successful the human resilience that is then needed to deliver that strategy whether it's on a chess board or whether it's in a military campaign I think there's a lot of very appersite comparisons made so yes you could do a lot better sorry you could do a lot worse than using the chess board as a means of practicing your military strategy absolutely speaking of which I have asked all my guests do you play chess yourself I used to a very long time ago and every year I've been here I've made a commitment to play chess more often and I've failed every year there's always next year I will start because I've been I've joined one of the online chess platforms so it's all there ready to go I just need to have a little bit more time to do it but I will get there will you get more time I have just heard that your term as the governor is coming to an end very shortly I think this event might be one of your last official appearances and I believe four years ago it was one of the first it was so do you have any emotional memories or something you would like to highlight maybe well I think sadly my tenure is coming to an end next month and I suppose you remember certain bits of any part of your career but because the chess championship was my first and one of my last and because also I've got to know Brian Callahan very well as a friend who's actually been as you well know and I'm sure your audience knows was the founder of this 18 years ago that you know the festival and chess will be one of my big memories of as I say a manifestation of what Gibraltar is all about and what it can deliver and the great people that are here so it is and will remain a very special memory for me I think for all of us I would like to thank you personally and on behalf of everyone here the team the players thank you very much well first of all for taking the time to come and join us here but also for everything Gibraltar has done to put the chess tournament on the global map it's been another and a pleasure having you thank you very much for your time we will be back with David on all the action from the final round here in Gibraltar in just a minute his excellency the governor of Gibraltar thank you very much thank you can I just say well done to you and your team because we can have a great competition here in Gibraltar but you are the people who put it out there for the world and well done and thank you for that thank you very much I always like to say if people see me and David but a big shout out to the team that's working so hard behind the teams led by Hammons who are producing this great show Brian is in the room with us this tournament wouldn't be taking place if it wasn't for him a big shout out to tournament director and the whole team thank you very much that was perfect thank you and welcome to Gibraltar home to the biggest chess festival in the world we are at the Caleta Hotel where all the magic happens the morning events and the Gibraltar Masters master classes, simultaneous displays and seminars by the best in the world Blitz events for some fast and furious chess and of course our most awaited evening the battle of the sexes the action never stops and we want you with us subscribe to our youtube channel and join us on our social media see you there board one has ended in a draw between Yassi Panko and Wang Hao also before we go to this one Lei Tingjie what a game she played today while we were away she has won her game against Vasif Durabayli to get to six and a half out of ten she's at the moment a favorite well our only leader will get to Tanjong Ji's game in a second but first let's check in with boards two and three that's right so board two if either of these players win now they know that they're nearly guaranteed to be first on their own out on eight out of ten thirty thousand pounds will be theirs board three we do have Maizulu on the same points as them now but there's no chance he's going to win that game so they know victory will be everything here last time we checked you thought it was going to return it is going down the way you thought it might yeah that's right opposite color bishops white pawn structure is slightly better so I would choose white if I had to gonna get to my head but I don't think it will be enough the only thing that might become a factor well nerves goes without saying but also clock times David is down to five minutes and they are only on move 22 so 18 moves to go well yeah I mean he was getting so long time that is I mean that's a difficult situation to handle luckily for him the position on the board isn't too complicated and at the moment white is threatening the spawn on e5 so a little question for your master deal with he can't defend it with his queen because this rook on e8 would fall so it looks like he might be forced sooner or later to exchange a pair of rooks maybe put his bishop on f6 still very solid for black but white is the one trying to create something David let's skip the MVL game for now because things are happening in the Navarra game so let's quickly check in with actually no things are happening so let's go there quickly and then we'll come back to MVL that's right so these two players on 6 and a half points if either of them win they might be up there in the playoffs if they're lucky if they banking on a draw on board 2 now and yeah I mean this is this is getting very crazy right now so we left it off after the knight jumped to h4 which looked flashy but apparently the simple logical bishop h6 was stronger and danis did not take on h3 which would have been strong it looks like white would be forced to play a position 3 pawns down ok he has some compensation on the light squares but 3 pawns is a lot of material a lot of pawns I mean it's a huge amount of pawns and pawns on the soul of chess so instead it looks like danis went into a similar position and after rook h5, queen b4 black is still 2 pawns up if he can get the queens off he's doing well so navara tried to trap that queen after queen c2, knight f6 ignoring his attacked rook on h5 and blocking in black's queen bishop to c4 one more move b5 if knight takes rook then this queen is indeed trapped it runs out of squares and black loses some material instead rook h4 I mean it's hard to understand what is happening in this one so first things first pawn count but also black can grab a piece I think black has to pretty much take that one white is again threatening to trap the queen I'm so confused where is white's counter play if I grab the piece top question is white really going for checkmate what are we missing Fiona I mean it looks far fetched that this might be an attack but possibly I really want to block out the white queen on c2 but maybe the queen does sneak over to g3 and maybe there is some attack here it's incredible that navara sacrificing a whole piece just to gain a move or two for his attack I mean I'm trying to do some quick calculation I think bishop takes h6 it doesn't quite cut the mustard as they say because queen c1 and white has some deadly threats now it's quite already trying to at least is maybe the most he can look for to bail out and get away with a perpetual possibly that's right I mean maybe there's queen c1 in this position but for example if queen f5 turned out to be played it looks like indeed we would see a perpetual check on the board and a type of perpetual check by the way Devin is informing us that we are not using engines here but if the piece is taken that the computer evaluation gives the infamous 0000 yeah I wouldn't be that surprised to see white's attack be enough for a perpetual but at this point it does look unlikely that Devin Navara is the one I mean it looks unlikely he'll be able to be checkmate that's his great defender around his king this night Dennis Cadridge I mean two days ago was such a close shave against Josefine Verler but other than that what a tournament it has been for the Bosnian grandmaster and if he can hold or win here it will most likely be the biggest result of his career and decent cash prize as well and so we're just hearing that one move that we haven't looked at yet is to start with e4 yeah that's not obvious at all now that I guess the difference is after bishop takes h6 black can take on c4 with the queen gaining a bit of time because any queen exchange will win for black just with the extra material and maybe the queen can sneak back and defend gain time with a check and defend everything so e4 would be very sneaky it's not at all obvious though and it does allow white to move the bishop back if he wants it does look like e4 is strong maybe now for example but not obvious at all David let's go back to board 3 MVL against Max Zulu and after that we'll show you the end of late tainted games and we'll check in with the remaining top lady players that's right a lot of action going on there for the women's prizes as well this game hasn't burst into life unfortunately but white is still a pawn up so we did see more moves we left this quite a long time ago black played bishop c2 blocking the c-file white played knight b1 trying to get the knight to c3 black took that and black is arguing that the position is quite blocked and the knight is better than the bishop I was just saying maybe we can show it again once we bring the analysis board up because we have the players at the moment so if you can play us through it again sorry I was in my own little world there Fjällä we did leave this a while ago black had just played bishop c2 to block the c-file white played knight b1 trying to sneak that knight into c3 black decided to take it and the argument is that for example fast-forwarding to the current position because it's so blocked in the center especially black's knight does dominate the white bishop and that is his compensation for being a pawn down so we'll come back to this one as you can see the times are taking down we have entered the fourth hour of play exciting, yeah, the time scramble is coming it is coming, the players will be reaching the first time control 50 minutes from now although some might not reach it one player who hasn't who's been far off the mark reaching the first time control is unfortunately for him Vasif Durabali who had a bit of a nightmare of a game but go lay tinge and take before the tournament for top women player and she has played an attacking masterpiece today that's right, I mean incredible game I definitely recommend those who are just joining us to go back to play through it from the start we left it a while ago she had won a queen queen c2 was a nice touch so knight takes e5 would run into queen f5 check bishop g7 instead e6, I mean no messing about just straight for the kill try and just slowly consolidate but here she thought it was enough to just keep pumping forward knight e5, I mean this is not obvious at all giving back some material and just like, well unlike Esipenko yesterday in his game this time giving back the material is deadly so bishop takes queen f5 now it's a queen for a rook and a bishop but more importantly this pawn is just a beast, bishop d6 check, discover check back has to block with the rook knight d5 and queen to f7 and that's if had seen enough this rook cannot be defended this pawn is just too strong if black had taken on d5 simple queen takes d5 that's just too many threats now look at the poor black king what a game by the Chinese grandmaster and she is currently she has overtaken the other Chinese Tan Zhongji so let's check in with her on board 19 she is white against lagarde and this one has changed a lot David yes and not for the better it looks like for Tan Zhongji we left this a while ago black had castled queen side and was about to double rooks on the d file b4 was played a move that I quite liked in a different position but here maybe it just allowed black to re-root the knight that knight was bad on the a5 square now it's back in the action hitting this d4 pawn hitting b4 maybe she just forgot the simple retreat queen takes c4 we saw an exchange queen takes d4 for a clever move because now this rook is unprotected and that was checkmate that would have been checkmate that's right and instead black did win a pawn I mean it looks a bit hairy this king on b8 doesn't look too safe but queen b5 is always met by queen b6 and it looks like white's attack did fizzle out black was able to get organized white's knight has to go passive black's having a bit of a think he has time these guys are already on move 32 so only 8 moves to go and he has almost half an hour on the clock he is a pawn up the only question is can he get his king into some safety I think white just doesn't have any attacking pieces at the moment queen b5 check is always met by queen b6 and it's just very difficult I mean this knight is so passive now on g2 likely tan zheng jie will win if she draws even then as you pointed out they will be on an equal score the two chinese I mean they are great friends I think either way they will be happy for one another if tan zheng jie draws most likely lei ting jie will win the women's prize because she will have the higher performance that's right they were neck and neck almost by performance before today but in winning that game lei ting jie will boost her performance enormously go to board 23 I believe she is playing on shanzaiya abdu malik against alain pilchaud and after that will go to nino baziash fili so those are now the only two players that remain that can still catch lei ting jie but they are now in a must win situation that's right if they want to have a chance at that big money prize and you said they were good friends and tan zheng jie and lei ting jie despite us being good friends if you won ten thousand pounds more than me I would not be happy huge money on the line huge stakes here abdu malik against alain pilchaud let's they have also we left this one a while ago shall we click back just a few moves yes I think we left it not that long before five moves ago also black had played a5 that pawn was poisoned because if white ever captures then b4 and this bishop is eternally trapped the knight came back to e3 white persuaded black to block up the queen side but it's just hard for white to find a plan hard to find targets and rook f1 is a bit of a vague move okay I guess f4 is an idea later but I don't know it's unlikely and it looks like it was not able to get that pawn break in and d5 came black with the break I mean usually I would love this for white now this transformation because now white can get rid of black's bishop pair and black's left with this isolated e pawn but there's one big problem b3 we can't defend it now and I'm reading in the chat that cadridge has found e4 that one will be very tense I mean to find that move is excellent we'll have a look at the look of black I think it's white still may be okay but it's moving in black's direction in the moment it's with black for sure so quick look at Nino Bazziashvili on board 29 and then we come back to this very exciting cadridge against Navarro or Navarro against Cadridge again yeah that's right unfortunately for Nino Bazziashvili fans I think her advantage is disappearing earlier we loved her position I mean quite a long time ago it was about ten minutes ago we checked in and white was about to win a pawn we thought black was looking for some desperate counter play but black did find counter play and now we see an opposite color bishop position where I think a draw is most likely but white has this long term problem d4 is always going to be weak it's always going to be a target for black's bishop white has too many pawn islands now and okay Nino will be hoping for a queen exchange so that the a pawn might become strong Vahap ignores that maybe a move like queen b8 yeah I'd slightly prefer black I think in any case unlike there is a big big blunder Nino should not win this game it's extremely unlikely and she won't be able to catch up with late hinger still I mean 15 women's prices should win one of them most likely but yeah not first place like 2 board 5 david navara and danis kadrich and e4 is indeed on the board and david navara look at his clock situation he is down to just 12 minutes with still 16 moves to go and he's in some serious trouble it looks like yeah I mean we're going to see a massive time scrambled in this game David where have your notes gone I rely on them so badly for everything because I'm wondering danis kadrich with a win is likely to tie for first place how high is his performance unfortunately denis is one of the lowest performances on six and a half out of nine at the moment so even if he wins a shot at the playoffs is very unlikely but a big big big payday huge money yes so just a reminder for those just joining us first place 30,000 pounds will not be shared that will go to the winner either on points or after a playoff but the rest of the money will be shared so 20,000 pounds 15,000 pounds 10,000 pounds etc a huge amount of money and I mean this will be a huge payday if denis does win okay we have seen one more move bishop f1 that bishop was attacked and bishop takes h6 we mentioned quintet c4 and black I think will be defending the attack very easily piece up as well so david thought okay I can't move forward to sacrifice a piece any longer bishop f1 I would now expect to see knight takes d5 I mean I can't really imagine what else in this position black's queen is still in danger a3 is a threat this queen is running out of squares so knight takes d5 would cure this problem purely because a3 would be met by knight takes e3 attacking white's queen and white has an issue how to deal with this if bishop takes h6 is the most likely move I think but black is he's played bishop a1 so I think knight takes d5 guaranteed here denis just double checking some variations if bishop takes h6 black can give a check to bring the queen back to the defense but I'm wondering can he also play quintet b2 and be a bit greedy let's have a look at it quintet b2 take on e4 I'm going to be boring Fiona I'm going to get these queens off the board before you check mate me maybe I can also take on a1 as well but as soon as the queens disappear black will be doing very well okay well I'll keep a close eye on that let's go maybe just to the board right next to them which is topalov topalov and dehach bokdan we liked white's position last time we saw it but that was a long time ago that's right and I don't think we'll go the whole way back because a lot of moves have been played maybe we can even just focus on this position that we see on the board and white has just played queen h7 and left the board looking confident both pieces look nice but the bishop especially is controlling so many squares it's going to be very hard for black to challenge that bishop that's right normally a knight the queen in the knight pairing especially would be greater than the queen of bishop this knight on d5 looks wonderful but it's on an outpost it can't be challenged this bishop is just too powerful at the moment not only is it powerful going forward but also it does a great job once the king let's say runs to h2 after some checks the bishop also controls that h2 the diagonal I mean this king is super safe at the moment white is the one creating threats I mean Topolov it's looking not so easy at the moment I mean white has got so many threats actually, queen to b7 bishop to d6 check and we could see some I mean if they are in Spokane and then as cartridge those would be two major major upsets if they can keep their nerves and I don't think either of them are winning but they are in the driving seat no for sure and actually it's important if 93 black can finally create a threat this is met by queen h6 and a fork so yeah I mean the two underdogs doing very well there and Topolov not looking happy from his body language I'm trying to find trying to decide where to go back let's have a very quick look at all the top 10 boards we haven't seen maybe so starting with board 6 we have seen them but we haven't seen them in a while so we'll have a look now at board 6, 7, 9 and 10 to see who is trying to position themselves to join the big group on 7 and a half 7 and a half seems to be the magical number but there are still a couple of players fighting to get to 8 we'll come back to that very shortly that's right and actually I think some drama happening and which could really really affect our leaderboards a bit lower down so okay let's check out this board 6 game between Kabalia and Laquangliam we thought it might fizzle out a bit but there's still life in the position we joined it a long long time ago I think for all those games we'll just focus on the current position I quite I slightly, slightly prefer white but not by a huge amount oh we've seen a result a draw that's very surprising I find that but possibly it was just equal all along so in the end it looks like Topalov did find a nice way to force the draw here we go he doesn't look too happy though Topalov his chance at first place is gone okay it looks like black did give a check okay white did have a threat of picking up a board but after queen h4 check looks like white king was slightly too open and he couldn't find a way to win force draw then force perpetual check so seven points for both players but they are out of the running for a potential playoff and for shared first place decent money but not the big bucks let's remind everyone all those games we're about to look at boards 5 that's still on the way David Navarra 6, 7, 9, 10 all these guys they need a win to share first place draw will be enough for a price but not the big ones I've played here so many times and 7 out of 10 is always decent but it's not 7.5 and higher is where it's at 7.5 and 8 is where you really need to be so let's go back to Kovalje that's right so board 6 Kovalje a lake against Laquangliam and Laquangliam has just played bishop c8 fighting an exchange of rooks so rook takes a rook, bishop takes and I think it's in the balance here black has this backward c-pawn which can't really move but white has this backward a4 pawn which has to be defended by the bishop I'm just slightly worried about black's knight on q6 it has no good squares so it will have to re-root itself via f8 to e6 to the d4 square black's doing very well but it still takes time and I would expect this one to be roughly equal but still a lot of play actually I think this one we're going to pretty much leave until after the time control these guys are very close to making move 40 already so let's move on to the board next to the Micky Adams against Kajtikeyan that's right so Michael Adams the British champion I mean every time he plays in Gibraltar he always seems to win his last few games I don't know how he does it just I mean it's those nerves those very strong nerves so this one is a pure rook ending that's right equal material but white has an extra pawn on the king side while black has two doubled pawns on the c-file how much of a factor is it David I think it's a decent enough factor for now white's playing as if just a pawn up on that king side black needs to find counter play quickly black's done well his rook is active and is keeping white's rook passive but I'm a bit afraid for black I would already start thinking of creating a passport for white especially against tricky Micky yeah yeah I mean tricky Micky this is his perfect type of position yes he's a positional genius but I mean it's underestimated he does find tricks especially in end games he does find ways to outwit his opponents and he takes down with this extra central pawn I expect him to start creating some big threats and actually I think he's a not a huge advantage but he's a favorite for this game let's come back to the bit later let's go to board 9 Pragana Nanda and Ivan Sharich yeah so one of the stars of the tournament Pragana Nanda beat Topalov earlier on this one as well has changed a lot I slightly prefer white how about you Fiona yeah I like the look of that bishop three not too concerned about the black knights for now white's pawn structure is nice and solid the rook's perfect on the e-file I like the look of it for white I think we'll come back to this one I mean not too much action I expect black to try and get a knight to c4 and try and go active but yeah for a nice position for Pragana Nanda not what Sharich wanted with this chick or an opening and let's conclude our tour of the Top 10 Boards where to look at Daniel Yuffa and Adiban and actually despite this being a bit lower down I think that this might be Daniel Yuffa yeah Daniel Yuffa if he wins and if MVL no matter what MVL does as long as MVL doesn't lose if Daniel Yuffa wins and board 2 as a draw he will be in the playoff incredible his performance is actually higher than MVL at the moment and he's a pawn up David let's get to it yes so we won't backtrack too much but white is indeed a pawn up so there's been a couple more moves here black has captured on c3 rook takes and knight d2 mm-hmm so black needs some counter play and quickly Adiban is attacking the rook so if the rook moves to d1 attacking the black knight he has to play rook e2 I think if knight back to e4 black drops another pawn on c7 and if knight to c4 trying to block I was gonna say I missed that one Fiona I saw something David didn't see I guess I'll play b3 I force you to take on a3 and take on c7 I mean white's better but black's knights if it can get I mean it's bad at the moment if it can get to e4 then it'll be doing a great job and black should hold but what's the clock situation 10 minutes actually you're right knight c4 I think will be played because rook e2 I did blunder rook c2 maybe there's a pin and the knight will fall so knight c4 would be forced this is quite likely actually I think I'll spot it I like to block you like to I mean yeah you're very agile because also okay one of the black's only charms is the rooks on the open files on the e file and on the a file does making any pawns like at the b pawn pushes more difficult so okay we'll come back white's bishop is bad for now to be fair so yeah Daniel you've got a huge game for him if he wins but still in the balance let's go back to board 3 where Parha Maxoulou has just played quite a committal move because pawns don't move backward I would never have dreamed of playing that move to be honest b6 that is a big big hole on c6 that's right it does give white this very nice launching pad what do you ever get this rook out of there? I have no idea I mean now white has a very simple plan white can eventually play for a5 and it's the theory of two weaknesses white is a pawn up on the king side that counts as one weakness for black but also now white can create some targets on the queen side so I think Maxoulou will be very happy to see that move I think Parha maybe just lost patience I don't see anything wrong immediately with just waiting waiting with the rook yes white can eventually play a5 and b6 but the b7 pawn is very well defended by black's knight on d6 there's no need to do anything there's no need to touch I mean it's actually said if you're weak on one side you shouldn't touch any pawns there and b6 looks like a big weakness a big weakening move David, big developments in Tan Zhongji's game so let's head back there before we come back to board 2 to board 19 Tan Zhongji against Maxime Lagarde and that is a big pin that is a pin and I've said it too many times this week a pin, you pin and you win but indeed let's go back to where we left it off we thought Maxime Lagarde was out of the woods out of the woods, that's right into the forest yeah we just thought his king was the only issue so it's nice to keep that safe I would have been tempted to possibly plonk my knight into d3 if not at the very least put my knight on b6 to keep the king nice and safe instead he went out to the e pawn and after 93 he won a second pawn so black is 2 pawns up but after rook d1 queen e4 and queen b2 maybe black's in a bit of trouble white has a big big threat, rook d4 winning a piece I mean that's not the only threat to win a piece a3 as well I mean Maxime I think has blundered so where was the blunder queen e4 even before that I think this whole idea with taking on e5 is just too greedy there's no need to go after that pawn you've won a pawn, you've done hard work incredible can we find any move here for black let's think, so rook d1 and queen b2 but look at Maxime actually we don't even need to look at the board so much I don't think he's looking out of the window unless the window is on the other side he's trying not to look at his position and not think about what he's done king c8 gets out of the pin but rook d4 just wins a piece as far as I can see I was getting to I mean if Tanjong Yi seems to be back in the driving seat now and it looks like with the win she will overtake with the win we talked about this all day she came into the final round as the sole a women leader so she always had her fate in her hand and it looks like she's going to win this game and get to a fantastic 7 out of 10 score if she will come back to it but for Maxime Lagarde's body language it seems like this one has gone probably wrong for him actually for players like Topolov who have already finished on 7 out of 10 I think they're hoping that she wins because she will take the women's prize she won't share their prize on 7 out of 10 a little bit of extra pocket money but yeah I mean huge huge turnaround there I mean fantastic resourcefulness to even find some tricks and traps there because Maxime Lagarde's fallen right into it David I'll keep an eye on it and I think our producers should also keep an eye on it in case we get a result because she is now maybe a few moves away or maybe just a handshake away from winning the first women's prize 20,000 pounds and even when you look at Tan look at her like I think both players body language it's clear Black has blundered and Tan is like yep I'm ready for you to hold out your hand any time you want and to defend we talked about that before she is the defending women's champion she looks well on her way she looks actually within you know maybe minutes of defending that and what an incredible accomplishment that would be no nerves at all I've never seen her nervous actually from the many times I've seen her play so no incredible absolutely incredible let's go back to board 2 how Mr. Paravian and Yilmaz getting on that's right so a few more developments here I think we're racing towards a possible result even we've seen more exchanges just a few moves back White played C4 and C5 aiming to create this beautiful square on C4 for White's bishop that's what you have to do with opposite color bishops when there are major pieces on the board you have to play for the initiative and forget about pawns it does help that this pawn in A6 was hanging but after some exchanges Black took on C5 and White's played Bc4 I mean that being said there is one do you see some more tricks? I was going to say if Black's careless and puts the Queen on the wrong square for example E7 or C6 then that's this beautiful move Queen F5 winning a pawn very nice but even then that's definitely still not enough I mean Black could for example play G6 and most likely White will have to go and control an endgame I just realized Paravian is down to one minute that's enough I was going to say Queen C6 would be a careless square but he's chosen a better square Queen D6 and now Queen F5 could be met simply by Queen D1 check and that would lead to a draw so instead Paravian plays G3 I expect to see G6 here and a handshake very shortly I think we can stick with this one see a few more moves I mean the speed he's playing he's confident he's going to make a draw here but as you said he is out of any playoff chances we're going to actually we're going to have to sit down or we'll have to let our arbiter sit down let's remind everyone I'll calculate this out there will be a playoff today unless a miracle happens either here or in the NBL game it's very unlikely the playoff is a maximum of four players it's very likely we will have a big, big tie and then what happens is the four players with the best performance out of that group will qualify and earn the right to contest the playoff we'll be giving you more details about the time control, the format and the playoffs are drawn for example I think one game with each kind if they're drawn, whether it goes to Armageddon we'll have more details a bit later on I think half an hour from now we'll take a breather once we've made move 40 let's very quickly go back to maybe the Navara game I think let's keep these guys on camera because we might have a handshake so we'll keep them on camera we can take a camera break and we'll put David Navara it seems much of us already so we'll keep an eye on the players and we'll be seeing plenty more later today that's right and let's look at Navara and Cadridge and Cadridge is leaning forward looking for the kill a few moves ago, I think we have to go back with this one, it's so exciting we did see Bf1, c4 was played I think my Nxd5 move I underestimated the effect of Bxc5 I thought that Bd4 would be very strong for black but after this exchange maybe it's just hard to defend both e4 and h6 would have some counter play instead c4 and Rd1 the idea is Bxh6 black could at the very least bring the queen back into the defense with a check actually have we just no I thought we saw a handshake I'm hallucinating now again the head of myself so c4, Rd1, Rd8 Bxh6, finally check, the king moved Rxd5 I mean white I think is fishing for compensation here there are some threats Qg3, so it's still 2 pawns still you're the resident counter here, the pawn counter here in Gibraltar, Fiona, it is 2 pawns for black but the king is not entirely safe the king is not entirely safe the time situation, both players down to 8 minutes roughly and they still have to the Qc3 was moved 30 so 10 moves to go for white 11 moves for black in that kind of situation that's a lot of moves David that is indeed especially when you're on the defending side so Dennis despite being 2 pawns up I'm not sure I would enjoy playing his position the moves that come to mind for me would be an attack, Qf5 gaining time and also being able to drop back to g6 if necessary I can't really see any other moves for black here Qxh8 is possible just exchanging off some pieces and it's lucky that after rook g4 black has f6 yeah I mean it's difficult for Dennis to play this position I think Qf5 you just play a move attacking and defending and then you think a bit later on you try and think in your opponent's time because he still has a lot of moves to make 10 moves now in 7 minutes let's go back maybe again to MvL see if we've had any developments there on board 3 let's remind everyone here the players in a must-win situation to tie for potential first place in case the other game between Paravian and Ylmasens in a draw and Parham needs to hold desperately but we were surprised by his move to b6 that's right it just feels like it gives white an extra avenue of attack the c6 square is now permanently white we see him play the move rook c1 that rook is rushing over to h1 I was actually just going to go back there we just missed the handshake because actually we only had one more move here congratulations to Tanjong Yi she has beaten Maxime Lagarde she is now on 7 out of 10 what a massive amazing score amazing score and she is the winner of this year's first woman prize here in Gibraltar 20,000 pounds she defended her title we see her walking away there what an incredible accomplishment this is for the grandmaster from China she could buy hundreds of coats with that 20,000 pounds and two years in a row 2019 and 2020 stunning performance and you're picked to win it David I picked Wang Hao as well so we'll see him in a playoff later most likely I could be 2 for 2 let's just show so we have the position only one more move I mean it did look like a one move blunder apparently according to the chat Queenie 4 was the mistake Queenie 3 would have held for black but after Queenie 4, Queenie 2 we just thought this pin was deadly and as Rakesh is pointing out in the chat welcome Rakesh, it is a tax fee 20,000 because we are in Gibraltar that's right, it's not pocket change it's not like the US when I steal all your money okay, sorry I'm lost let's show the end of this one and then we'll come back to MVL yeah, that's right we did see just one final move we thought this pin was unbreakable why it's threatening simply A3 and route D4, this knight is lost my pin it's already that point of the day it's only 240 it's going to be a long, long, long day we are heading right for a playoff exciting times we'll be here many more hours we'll first have a playoff for you and we've had another result, sorry David Abdul Malik has unfortunately just resigned her game against Alain Pichot she had a great event of course it's always tough finishing with a loss finishing with two losses here with two losses, yes such a great tournament she had she was on course for that Grandmaster title, 2500 but she did go down in the last two rounds she'll bounce back, she's very young absolutely just to finish off the Tanzong Yi game we keep getting distracted I mean there's 20 minutes to go until the time comes yes, we should check in on more games route D4 did force resignation purely because White can now unleash an attack against the E5 rook I think actually route D8 would be even more deadly check and this rook on E5 will fall you simply cannot find a square for the queen where E5 will be defended so wherever the queen goes, route D8 check and this rook drops very nice nice geometry there from Tanzong Yi congratulations once again to the Chinese Grandmaster let's go back to MVL on board 3 and also let's bring back I think the camera, the double cameras with one camera on board 2 and one camera on board 3 so that we don't miss any of the action there so you want the MVL game there's been one move since we left, route H8 was played Black couldn't use the other rook to go to the H file because of a nice tactic Fiona, tactics time I mean there's two ways to win here but one of them is stronger than the other Bishop F5 and now did I pick the less strong of the two and White would win a few pawns here but route D6 also wins check and check and Black's king has no good squares, king D7 this is a fork, check and king E7, rook C7 picks up the rook very nice David I'm just showing off, sorry I'm a trickster so rook H8 instead to cover this H file and it looks like Maxime has played one more move maybe he's played A5 and action is happening things are hotting up Maxime's going for it now and we've had a handshake White would win David Paravian and Mustafa Yilmaz have agreed on a draw they both tried but it was a balanced game I don't think any player really missed any chances today and I think that pretty much guarantees a player here today unless MVL has a heart attack or something like that well don't tempt fate there Fiona his phone no I think we will have a player I think barring some dramatic scenes on board 3 we will have a playoff guaranteed with 4 players and Paravian there with White by making the draw I think he's guaranteed his place in that playoff unfortunately for Turkish fans out there Mustafa Yilmaz will not qualify for the playoff his performance is just too low he will be overtaken David Mickey Adams game has ended in a draw this will probably come as a slight surprise we thought he had some chances in the work ending I don't think we need to go there now but so Mickey Adams is out of the running he's not going to share first place here this year still a great result for both players Mickey Adams and Kartikyan both and on 7 out of 10 so let's go back one more time to David Navara and Dennis Kadridge Dennis and David they could I don't think they will be in line for a playoff they could possibly put themselves in contention with a win here especially Dennis actually if he beats a 2700 his performance will be boosted massively and looks like developments happening all over the shop so let's go back we had a few more moves Quincy 3, Black just took on H6 Rook takes H6 and Knight H7 and one more move A4 White is trying to undermine this queen side if White can Black is 2 pawns up still if White can get rid of some of these pawns White will be right back in the game also he will be able to activate this bishop on F1 I mean I'd be scared for White though now it looks like his attack is drying up so let's quick look at the clock situation 6 minutes for David Navara 3 minutes for Dennis Kadridge and they are on move 32 so still 8 moves to go Dennis Kadridge I think this is the most nervous we have seen him Grassman Number 1, Dennis Spann in the chat he was saying earlier John Ludwig Hammers said once that you're feeling about the tournament depends mostly depends on the last game I couldn't agree more even when you've had a terrible tournament you win the last game you kind of feel good you've had a brilliant event but you lose the final round selective memory 5 as a chess player, as a professional chess player you have to blank out some of those losses and if you end on a high, that's all you remember but I'm not sure we're getting the live updates of the moves unfortunately I can give you the moves that have been played so after 8, 4, rook d8 and that's all yeah and that's all so stuff is happening everywhere these guys are going to be down to the last few minutes shortly there's still almost 10 moves to make 8 moves to make I think let's bring the camera as well let's have both camera views MVL on board 3 which is of course the all important one right now because if there is a miracle here, Parham is at the moment in theory the only player who can still win the tournament I would try what's happening though is he's suffering and he's trying for the alive to hold on for a draw if he draws what are his chances to make the playoff if Max Zulu draws he will be in the playoff in the playoff okay so this is really a huge huge game MVL in a must win situation and Parham in a must hold at this point I think actually whoever if Maxine wins he'll be in the playoff if Max Zulu draws he'll be in the playoff unless Daniel Eufer can win a bit lower down actually shall we go there yeah let's do it let's check in quickly with Daniel Eufer on board 10 I mean it's incredible someone down on board 10 could still win the tournament I mean that's how tight things are at the top unbelievable so quick look we'll put their cams instead of David Navarra's camera let's bring Daniel Eufer on yeah and actually I'm starting like his chances what he's giving the pawn back but suddenly this Bishop and this Rook they're both getting active and Adeban needs something clever here he needs something special if Knight I mean if Knight takes B3 grabbing a pawn, White can at the very least capture on G7 maybe even capture on B6 first and then go after this G7 pawn White is in the driver's seat if Knight back to F well if Knight back to E6 White just wins a pawn, if Knight back to F5 okay maybe Knight F5 is a good move but White always has ideas such as G4 this one's in the balance but I prefer White and it's for Daniel Eufer what a massive game I think until the end now we're only 13 minutes away for making the time control let's bring back David Navarra again onto the top cam these guys are only on move 32 so 8 moves to go MVL who we see on the lower cam I don't think I think it's unlikely we'll have a major development in the next two games I think after MVL makes move 40 he will take some time to think of his plans also MVL still has almost 12 minutes on the clock so let's maybe focus on the David Navarra game at least for the next few minutes because there the clock times I think David Navarra is down to 3 minutes Dennis Cadridge has around 3 minutes as well to make 8 moves each to make 8 moves each and David what's he gonna play he's still 2 pawns down but that black king we need some play against that king David no you're right unfortunately the immediate Queen G3 check the first move that I would look at it's met by Queen G5 trying to swap queens and attacking this rook White could play Queen take C7 Rook D1 doing the attacking now after Rook to D1 attacking F1 and attacking this rook on H6 I mean I can't imagine Queen G3 doing any damage there if A takes B5 Dennis must have an idea in mind maybe just the simple Queen D2 to exchange off some queens maybe he's looking to attack with Queen F5 followed by Rook D1 this looks pretty dangerous for White suddenly David yes sorry I'm just looking at Parham has just gotten up from his board but as far as I can tell he's only on move 39 oh no and he has under a minute on the clock Matthew is looking at the score sheet as well I hope Parham hasn't is Parham about to walk away oh my god he's only on move 39 or maybe I mean he wouldn't be getting up with under a minute on the clock you make move 40 now he's double checking his score sheet what is going on here let's try oh I think he's suddenly realized maybe he made a mistake that would have been amazing that would have been incredible I hope okay we'll keep the camera on Max Zulu he still has to make one more move they have both made move 39 and hopefully Parham does realize that he has to make one more move before making the first time control yeah I mean actually if Maxime hadn't looked at his score sheet Parham would have walked away Parham would never have gotten up if he knew that he still had one more move to make unless he was just checking the results but now he's looking at Maxime's score sheet so I think he realizes he must have miscounted look at this it's clear I think he's made a mistake is there any way of getting a camera on Parham's score sheet there look at he's just correcting it oh he's made that would have been dramatic that would have been so dramatic Parham I think and he is just giving it a slight shake of the head he's going to have to recompose because he still has to make one more move Parham clearly and I think even later if we get the camera to zoom in on that look he's just can we zoom yeah I think even if we don't we see that he what do you call this he's tripled out something he had clear I think it's clear from what happened that he had made a mistake I mean it was a tell as they say in poker him getting up at move 39 was a clear tell he thought he had made move 40 so let's see oh yeah there's a mistake there you see he had already 40 moves oh that would have been so so heartbreaking MVL didn't keep the poker phrase he checked his score sheet but I'm so glad that Parham realized because that would literally heartbreaking the most horrible way to end the tournament ever in the history of chess yeah I mean you're right there was a very well there's an incredible incident with Magnus Carlsen just letting his time run out because he thought that there was more time given at move 60 when there wasn't and MVL has played King E2 Parham is down to under 30 seconds he now needs a last move and there we see A4 desperation I think he barely thought about that move just because he was so flustered imagine losing potentially up to 20,000 pounds because you didn't write things correctly on your score sheet incredible let's go back they have made move 40 we'll come back to it let's focus for now on David Navarra that's the main one we'll be looking at for the next couple of minutes these guys on move 34 move 34 so still 6 moves to be made Dennis has just played Knight f6 yes Knight to f6 has been played we see so many quick moves coming now oh no okay I thought Dennis had blundered Queen g3 check has to be met now I think by King f8 because if you block with the Queen Queen g6 I mean this looks a bit scary and suddenly A6 B5 is coming you can't move your rook off the back rank because of checkmate Queen c8 check and this would be checkmate but actually this is a big decision for Dennis it looks more natural to block with the Queen you're right there Fiona big decision with our MVL camp can we try and get the clock times I know it's probably difficult I imagine there must be a huge crowd around that board I think Dennis is under a minute so if we get clock time there's four boards five I think it's probably very difficult there must be such a huge crowd but Dennis okay he only has a few candidate moves two candidate moves yeah a couple I mean you have to block with the Queen or yeah a big crowd around that board unfortunately but you have to block with the Queen or you have to run your King and he's lost complete control and he's not looking happy he's made a mistake you have to keep your composure even if you know things have gone wrong and David immediately takes on actually let's get the bottom camp on to that view that we had with the people around the board because I think this one is where the action is right now we'll come back to MVL once these guys have made the time control one of the players who's checking in on this one is Michael Kobalia one of our players he was on the top board 7 out of 10 and look at David David now is looking a lot Colmar David has so much experience in these high pressure situations we see Dennis just shake his head and what a tough moment it is for him he's down to 30 seconds again he has 5 moves to make still and it's such a tough spot now and yeah he had to keep his rook on the back rank as mentioned if the rook moves away this is checkmate so yeah rook e8 sad necessity and now I would just take on b5 for sure I mean he was 2 pawns up suddenly I mean you count the material it's equal and there it goes David has taken on b5 I think Dennis is in shock I think it's gonna be over actually in a few moves I think he might even just self-destruct very quickly look at him he's devastated it's gonna be so difficult may even getting to move 40 now I mean look at this b-pawn the difference in this game he was very close to winning it wasn't easy he needed to find a lot of accurate moves but to go from winning to losing you know without even this transition of an equal position I mean it might be the difference between up to I don't know close to 20k for Dennis I mean the chance of getting into a playoff if you win the playoff 30,000 pounds I mean losing he'll get barely anything now even a draw would have been enough a decent price but so let's see he has played e3 e3 I mean still okay both players are low on low on the clock 3 moves to go for either side I mean it's so easy to play with white you have a passport and you push it and the issue is that you can't really play 94 I mean actually you're not threatening anything just b7 I think and yeah I mean there we see David I mean he's so good with calculation his talent since he was young his his main talent has been calculating and the pawn has been pushed to be 6 and it's so horrible I really feel I mean I've said it before around this one I was a bit biased towards Dave it was simply the nicest person I have ever met I'm very happy David Navarro obviously no David Navarro you know the friendliest person on IF I adopt him so nice he's so humble so I'll be very happy to see him win but at the same time I feel heartbroken for Dennis Cadre too I was not too familiar with him before his tournament I've become a big fan of his jazz he's played the Grand Prix twice he's had so many you know so many fascinating games and it's very tough to see him I mean he looks heartbroken there you can see him just rubbing his eyes and he knows I mean they're about to make move 40 two more moves to go but as soon as they get there I think it's game over he needs one last trick now but David Navarro won't fall for that trick I mean he'll just move his rook away rook to c4 looks natural rook to any square any safe square and white will win this one rook to f4 yeah now 95 is impossible looks like a fork but queen takes f7 check will win Dennis is stuck and this b-pawn is going to win the day sad times what are David Navarro's chances of making a playoff how high is his performance yeah very low so of the players on six and a half points before today he was the seventh highest rated player so if MVL wins for example MVL will jump up before David Navarro and he has resigned Dennis Cadre has resigned this is going to be a very tough pill to swallow we saw a heart broken yes he panked her yesterday this one is very sad for Dennis but congratulations to David Navarro who managed to keep his cool and reverse as soon as he got a chance he bounced it was never I think the position was never and there a classy touch Dennis still is sticking around they had a little chat about their briefing they had a little chat it's going to be very tough for Dennis but you know he's still I think at the end of the day once he once he gets over the disappointment I think it will take a while it might take days, weeks once he gets over the disappointment and there I think he might stay at the board for a while because the problem is once you get up you go into this mass of people David while I chat have you made time control everywhere let's go to board 10 let's keep maybe one camera on these guys the bottom one and let's go to Daniel you from board 10 it's very strange why only has one force move here and it hasn't been played as far as I can tell oh it has been made, move 40 has just been played so okay so I think it is now I think we've made the time control we have to keep an eye on this one because if you for wins you might not MVL even if MVL wins he won't get in a tie break so if you for wins this one as white we see you for there we see Daniel I feel very sad for Daniel but as I said once he's you know gets once he's able to take a step back it will take a while it might take days it might take weeks but he's had a fantastic event and hopefully that's something he can build on yeah I mean David Navarro has been there done it all I mean he's had those moments as well where he's lost to critical games in final rounds of European Championships for example when the title was on so he's been there he's learned from it and likewise with Dennis I'm a huge fan if he plays anything like he has done this tournament where he's beaten Matt Ligov almost beat Alexenko if he plays like this he'll go far and he should take the possibilities No it's taken so many with such enterprising chance I've become a fan and a heart breaking into the tournament but I'm sure I will be seeing plenty more of him I think there's a couple games which haven't got to move 40 yet Pregnananda against Sarich also looks like it's yet to reach move 40 No actually I think they have Just to reach move 40 a moment ago we'll check back in on that one So let's start with this one we'll do a roundup of all the boards that remain on the top ten before we take go for a breather and try and so just to let you know four games remain out of the top ten the only important one is of course on board 3 MVL where we can see quite a big crowd has gathered around the board MVL is in a must win situation Paham in a must hold he is struggling we'll come back to evaluate in a second what else is still going on Kobalya is still going on against Lukwang Liam on board 6 on board 9 Pregnananda against Ivan Sarich and finally board 10 the one we're going to start with So board 10 Let's take it in reverse order we'll go from Daniel Eufa to Prague then we'll go to Kobalya and then we go to MVL and then we'll go to a break we're teasing our producers here we're keeping them guessing so let's start with Daniel Eufa that's right so we've had a couple moves here Rook takes H2 check King G3 and H takes G4 and White is to move so Black is temporarily a pawn up but White's F pawn could potentially become very strong it does promote on the same colour I would pretend to push that pawn immediately or just capture on G4 and ask Black what he's doing with his knight the reason I wasn't so sure about King takes G4 is because Rook to G2 check and Rook takes G7 and White would have to evaluate the same game to me it looks close to winning but it's not clear at all Rook end games do have a draw tendency if Black doesn't head for this Rook end game then he's going to have to put his knight on some very odd squares maybe knight d2 ok maybe knight d2 is possible here so King takes G4 under consideration by Dan and Eufa I mean there's no commitment he doesn't have to take that one he could start with F5 for example I expect him to take he's going to take his sweet sweet time here he knows what his situation is a win is guaranteeing him a win is almost guaranteeing him a place in the playoffs right now I think it does actually guarantee a place and yeah find a reminder Rakesh has pointed it out in the chat we've mentioned it before David Navarro had no chance to reach at the playoffs but he will most likely share first place and that is a very decent chunk of money yeah that's right so he'll share second to sixth maybe second to seventh, eighth he won't share first prize of £30,000 so that does go to the winner of the playoffs but yeah very decent money not bad for ten days of work by Yuffa we still like his chances this one's going to go on for a long time I think it's two results White's playing for a win or a draw but it will go a long time exactly so let's take a step to the left let's check in with Pragnan and and Ivan Sharich yes and this one has just made move 40 as well so Pragnan and I is just taking a moment to reassess to compose himself there we see the young Indian wonder kid Knight H7 has been played I'm hoping there won't be a repetition of moves it does look like there are some possible sacrifices in the position but if White wants to be safe he can move his rook away the knight was attacking the rook on G5 White is in control here I mean what a win this would be for Pragnan and David I just realized that because someone was asking how does the tie break work I just realized the easier way for me to do this is find the regulations on the website and just post them in the chat oh it's too long okay I'll just post the link instead Fiona she's always paid great attention to detail and she wants to help all you guys out there but the regulations are on the official website and you'll see the link in the chat in a moment I mean Pragnan is in control here even if he moves his rook away I mean I'm not really sure what he's thinking about maybe some tactics on the G6 square combined with the E6 square I can't see them working right now but if rook G5 oh wow lots of moves have been played actually okay it looks like we're slightly behind the live position if you could maybe help me catch up Fiona rook G5 on move 37 and then Black played a knight F6 queen F3 okay so not repeating moves with rook G5 and knight H7 White played queen F3 knight B7 was played then the knight, the white knight did not want to exchange itself it jumped back to D3 it's allowed A3 and it's not clear that this is such a great transition for White so B takes A3 and queen takes C3 we probably missed a big time scramble here as well judging by the moves that we are seeing now I mean that's the only thing that if it was just Pragnan under display he was a world champion but he does tend to get in big time scambles I know I was the same when I was 14 and it doesn't bode well for the future hopefully he can cure that over the next few years but yeah I mean it looks like the last few moves have not gone well for him he was in complete control suddenly Black has some counter play D4 is weak, A3 is weak and Yvan Sarich right back in the game David let's come back to this one a little bit later let's go to board 6 Mechal Kobalia and Le Quang Lyem that's right and this one hasn't changed as much as some of the others we do see this endgame still with a few pieces on the board White's knight on A6 makes a strange impression oh whoops the knight on A6 but it does a great job of blocking the rook out of joining the party I think Mechal Kobalia I mean I'm not surprised he's classically trained the Russian school of chess I think he's done a great job today of you know playing a game where he's solid he doesn't have much risk of losing the game and he's going to take his three-time eye predictors is going to be unless there is some draw I predict this will be the longest game possibly the top ten we saw Kobalia checking out his rivals game so he's very aware that he needs to wrestling in Topalo is still around his game finished like an hour ago maybe he's still there taking a keen interest in the action I mean he's always in the lobby in the bar he's always around he just loves the atmosphere here and the chess I mean I'm slightly concerned actually for Kobalia that 96 is coming for Black and Black's just going to be super solid that 96 might dominate this knight on A6 but yeah I think draws a big favourite here well a long game is the favourite for sure let's go back to board three and after that we will take a breather reminder for everyone we will have a big win with a big win against £20,000 big win against Maxim Lagarde absolutely so let's go to board three and then we'll take a small break re-compose so we have just seen the move Rook B7 and both players away from the board we did see a bit of drama just before the time scramble well just before the time control during the time scramble where he took the moves down wrong on his score sheet and nearly lost on time because of it but he realised and he made a couple more moves it looks like he's defending just about but it's scary for Black it's kind of clinging on at this point there we see a bit of a mess on the score sheet he realised Maxim did give it away by looking at his score sheet counting the moves but it looks like Maxim he has played one more move Rook A6 has been played completely tied down that's right I mean I can't see my Zulu saving this game I mean it's all down to this move B6 actually I mean okay it was difficult before that but he lost patience he gave White a target on the Queen side he played a move on the side where he was weakest which you should never do and now White's Rooks have both entered the position Black has to go passive again if this Rook jumps to D7 then White always has ideas such as Bishop takes F5 check maybe even immediately distracting the King and then picking up this Knight on D6 so it looks like the other Rook might have to go to D7 and Black is just waiting has to wait passively and slowly White will bring the King and I think once that King joins the action all of White's four pieces working very well Black's I mean no fortress for Black Black cannot hold a fortress anymore it will be over we'll keep this one on screen for you guys we go on a short break before there was a question in the chat does just commentating improve your own playing strength as well do you reckon? for me unfortunately I'm still waiting still waiting for it to show for David it was his debut so time will tell guys thank you very much for sticking with us there's plenty more action to come we are I think we can say guarantee the play of Parham will not win this game we'll take a quick break now that's right it's going to be so exciting we're guaranteed at least a few matches of playoffs as well we'll start with the semifinals there will be four players in that playoffs definitely don't leave us I'm so excited to commentate on this it's going to be Fiona's first playoff and a lot of money to be decided we'll be back very shortly don't go anywhere see you soon hello and welcome back to round 10 the final round of the 2020 David that's right we're all getting excited we're all trying to hurry around trying to find out details about the playoff that is imminent we think it looks likely at this point it will be a four player playoff I think it's nearly guaranteed unless MVL falls asleep let's bring back the MVL game actually while we talk about it so what has happened is that we have going into the round we had five leaders that have drawn their games in between themselves so unless Max Zulu can win but he looks like he's unfortunately probably losing but he's still fighting he's not playing for a win miracles do happen yesterday he did save this game where he was just a queen down but this one would be more miraculous to win this one would be more miraculous black might hold if he's lucky if Maxime miscalculates something and goes for the breakthrough or the win at the wrong moment but it's looking difficult especially just after the time control when Maxime has all the time in the world so what's likely to happen is a massive pile up right at the top currently we have on 7.5 which is likely going to be the winning score this year we have we have we're going to have one of these two players so that's going to be five we have Navara and that's also at the moment five are there already one of these two is going to join them with a possible three more to join them so it could be eight players well on 7.5 absolutely so let's check in on this one first and then we'll go down to board six, nine and ten where the three remaining games that are in the balance are that's right actually David no sorry let's start with board ten actually no I mean I was looking at this one in the break board ten between Daniel Lufa and Baskaran Adiban and it looks like the beast has made a mistake it was such a difficult position I think he was in trouble anyway at first it looks like black is a pawn down but there's a big issue and that is that this bishop and the rook combine so well and black's king is in a mating net and white found after only 35 minutes after only 35 seconds after only 35 seconds he played king to f6 and that black king and we see him I think he has it all figured out the idea is white will play rook b8 check and king f7 so for example if knight c5 yeah here we're going to get a result any moment if knight c5 white would have given a check and gone king f7 with a checkmate imminent on h8 black's king can't escape Adiban played rook to a2 this must have been his saving grace his final hope but after rook check and king f5 black's king is facing checkmate and impossible to stop it and as you informed us before the break Daniel Lufa has an excellent rating performance so more people are going to share well more people are already there that are allowed into the play of only four players will contest the Gibraltar masters title and those four players are decided on rating performance and Daniel Lufa has an excellent one yeah actually it looks like Vashi Le Grave he's going to be forlorn now he's just got no chances I think if my maths are correct before this game Daniel Lufa was performing at 27.39 and Maxime was performing at 27.20 so 20 performance points and by beating a 26.54 player that's only going to be boosted Addiban is going to have to resign there is no way to stop the mate on h8 you can throw in a check on d4 the knight will be captured the only way to stop it is rook a8 it's only going to delay it for one move further that's right and this is why we study our end games this checkmating pattern is so common in rook and bishop versus rook end games there the knight was irrelevant but that's where he picked it up from that's how he was able to find this checkmating pattern so quickly he got a tournament by Daniel Lufa it looks like it could still get better shout out to our friend another shout out to our friend Vova who just joined us in the chat to see Lufa the pianist he is going to win this game and I think he's booked his place in the playoff they've just shaken hands incredible stuff sad for Addiban who seemed to be picking up steam at the end of this tournament yesterday though he did play over 7 hours and maybe he was just exhausted for today's morning game so David once again if you hadn't seen David's notes coming into this round let me find my tweet again because it's a thing of absolute beauty let me find the tweet and copy the link to the chat I don't know why my twitter is always so sorry David's notes have been so incredibly coming into today's game he has 70 likes David already on twitter it's very impressive there you go go and follow him on twitter he deserves all the love he can get and there we see that's is that Addiban who's standing behind his board still no no I think that's Sasa Kiran if I know players fashion sense and Addiban is just picking up his bag I was right it's Sasa Kiran you know them well David I've played all these players many times before some incredible homework coming into the final round you said Yufa is going to make the playoff almost guaranteed I think so who do you think the other three players are? I mean I think Rakesh is correct in the in the chat it looks like Wang Hao versus Russia it will be Andre Espenko who's guaranteed in the playoffs his performance is incredibly high he was the top performer before today then Wang Hao the Chinese player will likely be there and now Yufa look at Rakesh is just telling us that MVL is apparently out by one rating point one performance point as well one performance point that is so sick so if MVL wins and I think MVL he's a very gifted mathematician himself he will probably have done all the calculations he was in the bars last night I was watching him you know who worked things out so Power of Yan has a rating performance all his games are over 27.60 and MVL if he wins which he looks like he's the favorite to do we'll get to rating performance of 27.59 that is absolutely sick I mean it's incredible I think how close was he when the candidates two years ago how close was he in the candidates this year I mean he missed out in the World Cup just missed out in the Grand Prix just missed out by rating just and now it's heartbreaking I'm such an MVL fan but I think he's doing a big break this year all the players are in the playoff I think actually at this stage I think it's pretty much confirmed Rakesh I trust I would if it came down to numbers and statistics I would trust Rakesh with my life I think the only way that that wouldn't be the case is if Max Zulu does hold if he holds or wins then okay if he wins he's first on his own if he holds I think his performance would be higher than Eufis if I've done my homework correctly but yeah it's right in the chat Maxime Vesheligrav always the groomsman never the groom I know the feeling but from life not just David let's so let's go back there let's go to board 3 and see if Parham has any chances at all to hold unfortunately I think the chances are drifting away Maxime seems to be focused fully focused and playing very accurately the last couple of moves since we left the time control okay we saw that drama just before move 40 White played Rook A6, Rook D7 allowing Bishop takes F5 check but the same game wouldn't be sorry it wouldn't be so clear at all I've got the hiccups yeah the same game wouldn't be so clear at all Rook Ngames do have a drawer's tendency and also Black has this trump card the aporn while White's king is cut off so Maxime decided no rush King D2 we discussed just before the break this plan Black is going to c5 eventually King e7 attacking this b5 pawn White just defended it Black I think will be forced to play King e6 a very sad move and after King c3 that King is just creeping, creeping closer and it's a matter of time now Yeah and Viel seems furly in charge unfortunately it's not going to be enough just it doesn't get any closer than that I'm curious what would have happened if they had the same rating performance but I don't think that our regulations we could have an extra playoff were quite ready for that scenario actually we could have a playoff for the playoff no it's unlucky for Vashilagrav and actually if his rating was one point lower maybe or two points lower I mean having a high rating really punishes you with TPR performances especially if you played to move your direct rivals I mean he would have played players lower rated than him and by drawing against them he loses on the performance and they gain on the performance so yeah incredibly close David let's check in with the other two games that are still going on the other four players who still have a chance of joining, sharing first no chance for a playoff but a big chunk of money if they can win and even a draw will give them a nice price decent ish price yeah that's right by the way I just to let you know while we had our break I went to the to the bar we both had took our chance to have some lunch I didn't go to the bar I'm a professional well you had your lunch like standing standing up in the corridor so I'm not sure what's matter anyway I saw in the the hotel bar lobby Dennis Kadridge and sitting down with David Navarra analyzing their game which was very nice to see let's go to board six Michael Kobalia and Le Quang Lyem yeah so this game we left not that long ago just after the time control we'll try and get that analysis board up in a moment it hasn't changed too much you can see on my on that side the current position why it's night on a six makes a strange impression but it's quite strong there for now and I expect to see some exchanges and a likely draw well yeah I think quite a likely draw yeah we'll try and get that analysis board working in a moment but I mean we see Kobalia thinking how he can improve the pieces I would maybe start by thinking how I can improve my King Bishop to E3, King F2 for example meanwhile by the way David we've gotten some information about the playoff so we will have a four player playoff and we knew that already they are going to I believe it's going to be semifinals and finals so we'll have two matches going on parallel and parallel to each other and we've now received the information about the time control so they will be playing two games with ten minutes and five second increment per move one with each color if they are still tied after two games they will play Blitz three minutes plus two second increment and if they are still tied after that there will be an Armageddon so we could see a lot of games Fiona we could be here all night I mean if we see five games in each of the semifinals and five games in the final I mean we might miss the cleaning ceremony I know I mean that's going to be so exciting I'm personally hoping for some dramatic stuff going on there I mean Blitz games aren't always the ideal way especially not Armageddon games they aren't the ideal way to decide a big big tournament like this it all comes down to one kind of rush of blood in the end after ten days of hard work but it's exciting for you chess fans and definitely stick with us I mean it's going to be such an exciting afternoon I don't even know what time what is your guess around what time because I guess we'll have to wait at least for all the top games at least the ones in the top ten to conclude I don't know what has been done in recent years if there are still some games do they get banned to the basement or what is being done? they get expelled, they have to go and play on the beach down here in Gibraltar Rakesh knows more than us he's all the way in India how would you know that Rakesh? I mean we need to employ him as a full-time stats guy maybe it has been announced maybe the world has been told but we haven't maybe a tentative starting time we're reading is 5pm he must have read it somewhere let us know where Rakesh I mean that is possible and it's quite likely but if the game does go beyond that time I mean the board we have on at the moment on the screen against Kabaliya I mean that one I can see going for at least another hour or two if that one continues it still has some bearing on the first place I mean I can't imagine them moving that board out of the room and we could well be on 6 o'clock at the earliest I think before the playoff I agree I think we'll start some time let's say split the difference 5.30 actually two years ago here I was still playing my game against Wang Hao in the final round and I was close to winning at some point and if I'd won I would have jumped up into the top four for the playoffs I was the only one who could jump up into the playoffs and the arbiters were already looking at me trying to like I think they were going to ask me to move because they hadn't done the calculations correctly and there was some kind of fuss around the board and then I think they realised actually you can't move this game because if I'd won I would have jumped up but ok unfortunately I didn't and the playoff took place literally five minutes after I'd finished unbelievable Rakesh actually played here himself a few years ago when he saw the play between Levon, Aronian and Hikawa Nakamura and he said back then apparently they started to play while one board was still playing in the background when was that two years ago a few yeah I mean quite it's quite possible I know that last year literally the moment I finished I saw them setting up ready to go and Rakesh in the chat is right if it wasn't for Wang Hao I would be I don't know how many tens of thousands of pounds for it sure Wang Hao again I know my nemesis but also my pick for this tournament and he I think might be the big favourite in that playoff the most experienced for sure yeah but he's fighting against an army of young and hungry Russians I will be cheering for Wang Hao, I will remain as partial as I can he wasn't my pick, my pick was MVL who's sadly got apparently miss out by the smallest of margins but I also have a bit of a hmm how do I put this yes he panko yeah a bit of a soft spot because I think if he had drawn his if he had won his game yesterday it's very likely he would have been maybe Wang Hao would have taken a bit more whisks this we will never know but so yeah hopefully I'm hoping that they meet in the final to play it out between themselves actually that's another thing I don't know how the pairings you know for the semi-final I don't know if they will be drawn what is often done I think is number one against number four I will ask Matt the man who knows it all the man with the plan so one of our arbiters here he will tell us everything meanwhile I mean I think you're right every playoff that I've played it has been one versus four the top performer against the fourth best performer and the second against the third as far as I can tell that might be that might be Wang Hao against oh no that would be Espenko of course against Yufa so Espenko is the top performer yes Espenko I think is guaranteed the top performer he was best performer before today and his opponent Wang Hao was the highest rated and what did you say in number two who do you think number two I think it would be Wang Hao okay so I would get my wish meaning that you could get your wish Fiona we could see Espenko against Wang Hao in the final a rematch of today's classical game so what do you think Fiona whose body language is more positive here ah we are joined in the chat by another very gifted actually statistician he is my very good friend Yuakim and he says he doesn't get why MVL would be out he thinks that MVL would be joining would be joining would be taking Yufa's place but I think he forgot about Yufa and Yuakim it's very sad but Rakesh has informed us that MVL's performance will actually just be one point below Power of Yand so the smallest the smallest of margins another heartbreaking end of a tournament for MVL and he really deserves a lucky break he's always been there he's doing a big breakthrough you're right luckily I did my maths correctly for once and I think Yufa was the top performer on six and a half other than Jan Verla of course absolutely I mean great performance by Yufa and he's going to be full of confidence going into that playoff let's bring the camera on to Prague's game so Pragnan and on board nine that is the third game that is still ongoing on the top ten our giant slayer against the former European champion and this one unfortunately around move 40 or just before move 40 I felt Praig was in control but he did lose that control and we'll try and get a camera on that board in a moment we'll try and bring the board up there we go Black is currently up upon and white I mean Pragnan and I is looking desperately for some counter play and I think we also just about ready to bring back Pragnan and us a game let's pull it up and we'll be there in just a second so let's pull up Mr Prag's game against Ivan Sharich a hugely experienced opponent yes that's right shout out to our producers for doing some fantastic on the fly work here they've had to deal with some issues today it's been a long day already but it's a long day still to come we're not even halfway there I think they're working so hard behind the scenes I think are we ready we don't know we can see the boards ourselves so we can't be too far too far off and here we go yes we are there so maybe shout out to Isra and Mark who are working so so hard behind the scenes to bring you this amazing show yeah that's right and maybe we can get the cameras back on Vasily Grav against my Zulu just to see if anything has happened there what should we stick with this game this is a perfect camera angle we'll keep an eye on Vasily Grav my Zulu because that is the money game that's where we think the action is about to happen but the game pregnant and against Sharich we do see there on the analysis board I'm starting to like black more than ever I think white's just playing for tricks now mm-hmm I think white has run out of ideas blacks knights are surprisingly strong they're such good defenders of the king it's night and day protect it looks passive and nights on the rim are usually dim but it does protect f7 and e6 meanwhile this night and f6 holds everything else together I think it's going to be hard for pregnant and just find counter play here actually let me just see because the clock times are not showing here yeah the clock times are in the balance still but they've only made two moves since switching the time control almost an hour ago we've discussed it's a time trouble at it we might see a second one here actually we missed the one I think there was a time scramble we missed it leading up to move 40 because we stuck with a very exciting game between David Navarra and Dennis Cadridge but if there is a time scramble here when would that be roughly an hour will most likely be here although I think I think if the one the MvL game concludes I want to stay Fiona Fiona wants a break I want to keep going to the bitter end I think we should stick around until all of the players who can join first place on 7.5 out of 10 I think we should stick around that's true David might stick around longer than the playoff even starts exactly the playoff will be going in another room and David I mean we'll be commentating on the fracking I might stick around next week for the backgammon tournament and commentating that as well here in Gerrata so yeah I think we'll stick with these few boards I mean I can't see any reason for Sarich not to play B4 right now I think B4, B3, B2, B1 is a very simple plan so it's looking good for Ivan Sarich we will be here until this game concludes as well as the Cavalier game and the MvL game I think maybe David maybe it's time to look at some games a bit further down by the way I'm just saying that Rownak Sadrani managed to draw managed to draw his game against Vaipav Sui which could have been over within an hour pretty much after 13 moves 12 moves a great save there by the young Indian player and maybe I mean he'll be hoping that Prandenlander wins I think because there is a junior prize of 1,000 pounds and he will hope that his other under 18 rivals take some of the other prizes so he's left with that one there's a question in the chat from Mitta a physician is Harold providing analyzers for any of the games absolutely yes he is I don't know if you mean the game if you mean the playoffs of course we will be here for that for all of it and I think the best way to find out when it starts will be to keep an eye out on our social media especially I think on Twitter as soon as we have a confirmed starting time you will find all the information there if you would like to know about the regulations for the playoff the link I am about to put it in the chat right now so if you're just joining us now we have a maximum of four players and I think at this stage it's pretty much a decided who they will be that's right I mean it's barring a miracle hold or a miracle win by Max Zulu who we see there on the bottom camera I mean we'll get back to that game shortly nothing much has changed do you want to look at some we have some boards still going on let's analyze some chess we haven't I mean we've been talking about everything for I was just saying we still have four games still on the way between boards 11 and 20 so let's go there one play we saw him on camera earlier that's Christian Sascha Kiwan on board 13 he's playing against Noel Studer that's right and over there in the corner there was a big crowd earlier it does look however that things have quietened down a bit white support up and most importantly four opposite color games they are they are often well they are connected simply and if the rooks come off the board I think that might be blacks well actually good question can you force or what are you saying okay it is I thought it was white to play but white has I thought it was black to play sorry but whites played rook h4 if it were black to play move rook h5 might hold because if the rooks came off the board black would be able to give up his bishop for these two pawns and white's rook's pawn is not the right color for its bishop and Sascha Kiwan did not want to give part ways with his rook just yet so he dropped it back to h4 yes and it looks like it will be a long and ultimately unsuccessful defense for the Swiss champion Noel Studer he doesn't look too happy there looking away from the board I can't imagine black holding this one white has a simple plan of bringing his rook around to the side and then pushing his trump cards on the king side at the very best black in hope for a difficult rook vs rook end game but I think even he I mean he won't even be able to get that one David I have one special request it's a game that's been over for a little while but Theo mentioned it a couple of times in the chat a while ago I would love to see if the end of the game Anna Musichuk was our top lady seed she didn't have the best of events but she ended her tournament on a high and played a beautiful game today against Kobo we who actually I saw him in the bar during our last break and he looked he looked a bit destroyed I wasn't sure what happened in his game and now now I see that he was her opponent opponent I start to understand so let's bring up that game and let's keep at least one of the cameras on the MVL game always that's right so it looks like a crazy King March look at that King ending the game proud King on D5 on D5 and there are actually no good checks here for black in the final position white is a rook and a bishop up and every check gets met by a bishop block incredible and a discovered check against the black King so so we maybe just see go back a few moves and see how the King got all the way to D5 that's right it was nice and safe on it was nice and safe on C1 not that long ago and material was equal white played the move Queen D5 possibly threatening some discovered attacks against black's Queen H6 rook E2 I mean this one exploded in the space of eight moves that King gets to D5 h4 white is really getting up now on the G7 square and black gambled black didn't defend it check and Queen takes G1 I think black just assumed that this would be checkmate maybe he was low on time didn't have enough time to calculate I wonder actually let me see if there was anything but no I think Anna played a great game actually this could be another candidate for us no possibly I think Anna was forced to find good moves but yeah exciting stuff nonetheless let's go back to some of the games that are still underway there's a few more on the top 20 let's next go to maybe board 50 oh no let's go to board 16 because if I'm not wrong Luke Leon Mendonka is playing for a GM norm if he can I'm sure Wackage can confirm this because really so high rated I don't know if maybe a draw in some according to chess results I didn't think it was possible but I mean if he wins he's gonna be there or thereabouts you need to perform 600 level I think ultimately it will all be academic because he is not going to win this game with white unless miracle happens he is a pawn down a few more moves rook check and rook e2 I do think that black is a big favorite to convert this black simply has this extra deep one I mean let's remind people one more time that there is some big big rating band prizes at stake as well Luke has had a fantastic tournament so he must be surely one of the candidates for the prize up to 24 49 so maybe the bigger question is can he hold here yes it's a good question I mean I think it's 50-50 whether he holds this or draws this white could set a trap bishop d5 bishop c3 and you give checkmate and if the king goes to g8 there will be a discovered check oops me and my arrows again sorry everyone that would be a discovered check that would be one trap but in terms of holding I mean bishop d5 if black wants to be solid rook e7 maybe even rook e3 I think holding for white is possible definitely but no chance of winning and I don't think I'm not sure he's going to be on for that rating prize either maybe one of the prizes David quick look at board 20 where we have a legend of the game still fighting on against a European champion from a few years ago with the black pieces Alexander he gave a fantastic master class here a few days ago which you can still find and the camera is almost making me dizzy the most agile thing I've seen since I don't know when don't say whatever you're thinking I'm not going to finish that sentence so there is the Alexander Beliaski with the black pieces you can find his master class on our YouTube channel also if you haven't seen it yet check out the fantastic master class by who unfortunately had to withdraw from the tournament a great shame for us for the fans around the world but we really hope that is feeling better already that's right and Beliaski is maybe playing on in the hope that he can hold this game because there are prizes for senior players he's one of our oldest players here actually I did a bit of research I think Juan Belon might actually be the oldest in this tournament I think he's turning 70 this year let me see how how beyond did today he drew his game against Alexander Kostanuk so he's finished his tournament on 5 and Beliaski is on 5 and half already what players involved there are for example Johan Jartusen Katronius Hjertason is finished on 6 so he is one of the favourites Hydarno finished on 5 and a half Katronius is still playing we can go to that game so Hjertason finished on 6 yes so we'll see well let's leave this one Beliaski I mean he he is going down ultimately I don't think there are any checks we've just seen white play Queen A2 white is simply a rook and two pawns up for a knight and it's a matter of time this one Beliaski the legend himself is unfortunately not going to be able to hold so let's go to board 40 to see if Vasilius Katronius he will have to win his game to tie with Johan Jartusen and he's playing black against one of our players and the longest way to travel it's always a pleasure having her here Irina Sukandar from Indonesia that's right and I bumped into her at breakfast a couple of days ago and she was complaining that she played mostly women players nearly only women players let me do a quick count so she started off her tournament it feels like a lifetime ago she started off her tournament on board 2 against Amiel which was a very fighting game and then she played one, two, three, four, five at least three, four I think half of her tournament she played against women players that's right or maybe six, I'm actually five so five women players five men and let's have a look at her position against Katronius I feel like we should talk about more moves we've been neglecting the players a bit there but this one I've chosen the wrong game to talk about moves with it does look roughly equal white is a pawn up but this bishop on a8 isn't the best piece in the world and black has a nice safe king king g5 might come under consideration bishop g6 as well black could also start checking immediately with queen b6 I would guess this one would end in some kind of perpetual check or a drawn bishop hand game I think queen b6 already does look like will end in draw sooner or later queen f2 and black will give perpetual check sooner or later so it looks like Johann Jartalsson will be the winner of course we'll get confirmation for all this you'll find the results ah he's not 60, that's right it's been pointed out in the chat he is only 56 if I remember of course, yes apologies to Johann David I know you want to talk about moves let's bring back the MVL game which is the main one that we're still waiting for and I still want to get your opinion on one more talking point, meanwhile we see the results there so we're going to have a big pile up as we said at the top in that tie for first we have Esi Panko, Wang Hao, David Paravian Mustafa Yilmaz we also had David Navara join that group and Dani Ljufa it looks like MVL is getting closer to joining them as well let's look at his game so MVL will join most likely, at the tie for first as well but just miss out on the playoff and that's the question at the talking point I want your opinion on but let's first catch up with the moves don't forget it though I'll keep an eye on it, see you Akim I've got you lots has changed in the last few moves White did go active with the King and Black thought Parham thought it's time to get some counter play if I'm going to go down I'm going to go down fighting and Rook H2 Black is finally creating some threats so Rook F1 was played Rook H2 is now impossible because of check and the Rook would fall because Black's knight is pinned so instead Black dropped back with the King and we see your Rook playing game actually did I jump to conclusions again because MVL is such a you know I always trust MVL he's one of the top players that actually I trust least in these positions he rushes so much we saw him did he blow a winning position I mean okay we saw him make a final move in his game against Peralta and it was a blunder and Peralta resigned anyway check out that video that interview with Tanya Sachdev on our YouTube channel that was dramatic stuff but I mean I've played him before and he's been completely winning plus six and he rushes he just makes quick decisions quick calculation and because he's so good at it he can rush but occasionally there are mistakes and actually against me he blew the advantage several times because he yeah he just rushed too much yeah so here so now the knight and the bishop have come off we're now in a double Rook end game and actually I thought MVL was edging closer but is that maybe once again it's very difficult here in this position to make generalizations and evaluate at leisure I mean yeah we're trying to work out in 30 seconds what's what MVL has what they're both working out over the last like hour and a half yeah I I'm not so sure I think white still must be winning somehow I mean possibly with Rook G5 and Rook G7 so that you can eventually win the 8-1 but some calculation is needed just want to give a very quick shout out to Steve Codder who's in the chat with us I think he's still the webmaster or he has been the webmaster here forever he's been a big part of the tournament in one way or another for the longest time Steve it's a pleasure having you with us thanks your lovely tweet earlier today Rook G2 I mean it must be Rook G5 I can't really see any other ideas King C5 does get kicked back by Rook C2 check so no progress can be made Rook G5 let's try and work out one variation or two let's try Rook G7 check that is a check let's say King D8 Rook takes Rook King takes Rook takes A7 feels like White is winning this B-point is very quick the G-point is one to keep an eye on out for still you know you say that MvL has rushed and maybe you're right but just looking at the clock times he's actually you know he's lower lower than than Parham so at least hasn't rushed too badly because they still they are only on move 50 can move still to make of course it is an endgame but still one that's not easy to figure out no that's right and I'm sure he will have figured it out in advance I mean I just meant that he does have a tendency to rush not that he's rushed specifically but even the fact that he's thinking if it's not Rook G5 what could he be thinking about I mean first thing I would also think of is throwing in a check I just can't see how that helps say King F7 sorry Dave it's just a ruckus in the chat is informing us that on board 32 Chen Qi B from China I believe has scored a GM norm with a draw so congratulations well done great result I think there will be other norms as well maybe some IR norms further down in the field but now we'll try and get confirmation of those maybe a bit later I think anyway whatever we cannot tell you you'll find everything on our social media follow us on Twitter on Instagram and also on the website I'm sure tomorrow you will find all the final results the results you will find even tonight but all the prices all the photos shout out to our photographers Niki Riga and Jean Saunders chipchast.com is where we said and just as you saw Pram he was almost gone and then he heard the clock came back Rook G5 is on the board now you're right I think from previous years the norm winners those who achieve a norm they do go up and get their photo taken as well they get a nice little certificate with their results that they send it to Fide so you'll be able to find that all out soon and then we see Jules Moussade at the back of the crowd with Prang Ananda next to him just checking out the game I think Jules Moussade is actually still playing we can when we get I don't know maybe we can go very quickly maybe in a moment we have seen Rook G5 being played I just kind of want to see the next couple of moves and then we'll check out Jules I think we were there not that long ago though Oh yeah it was a sorry I thought I got really mixed up yeah never mind about that I got that mixed up with one last word that we have not seen yet we'll come to that maybe in a second go cash against Rook A2 but let's try and figure out this Rook ending here I mean I think Max Ooloo is trying to figure it out as well he has to take on G3 he can't afford to go two pawns down in this Rook endgame David, maybe now is a good question to have a good time to ask you the question that or the topic that was raised by Joachim in the chat earlier while we have Maxime on screen so Joachim was saying a second ago that he has a banker and one how are in the playoffs just because they have taken a buy 7 out of 9 is simply better for a TPR than 7.5 out of 10 he's thinking that this is probably something to be changed as it is an incentive for taking a buy and not play chess what do you think of that it's difficult I mean I think as long as it's in the rules there are their well within the rights to take the buy there is too diplomatic an answer do you think the rules should be changed David I think it should be down to each tournament I mean all tournaments are different here I think maybe the players who do get conditions I mean it's a very small percentage of them but those who do get conditions maybe if the organisers wanted to enter the contract saying you have to play all the 10 games I think they were explaining the other day that the buys originally started so that the amateur players could go out and enjoy the rock enjoy tourism maybe head over to Morocco but you know I read one point on Twitter which made some sense to me I think it was a point made by Bartala a friend from Norway living in the Isle of Man involved with the tournament there so who has some experience as well with these big opens and he was saying that his understanding was that his possibility to take a buy is to lure in this top players most events they play have a rest day here it's 10 days without a rest day so that the buy could be sort of in lieu of a rest day I don't know I think top players I mean if you're a professional chess player you have to go along with the tournament which is possibly that's the factor but yeah Rakesh has made a good point Viel did not only play not only did he play all 10 games but he also played I think almost all the side events and yeah I've just one final point before we close one final point before we close this discussion I'm just not sure which tournament it is but I've definitely been at a tournament before where it says title players cannot take buys which I think makes a certain amount of sense of course people like me lonely woman I am we're coming as tourists it's really difficult to find an ideal regulation but foot for thought I think if you invite a player you can be well within your rights to expect them to play all games but each tournament has to choose I mean Gibraltar is so fantastic because it has so many side events and so many attractions here at the Rock and I mean so many things to do so it's an exception maybe but I mean you can see why a lot of other opens they would want to force their invited players to play absolutely so I think there will be plenty more can be discussed it's not I think we've discussed everything we could and so let's try let's go back and try and figure out is this hook ending a win we see by the way MVL is also trying to figure it out he's not sitting at the board he's just standing a bit behind it mhm that's right and he's trying to work things out now he's so good at calculation usually the only other thing black can really be thinking about is giving a check on B2 I can't really see that helping maybe just King A4 and if another check King B3 and eventually this G pawn will drop I noticed it was mentioned in the chat that King F7 might be calculated Rook 6 G4 and Rook E7 but somehow I thought this didn't work because of King C5 and White just comes and grabs on D5 it looks like this is a bit too desperate for black I mean it's difficult I mean let's look at the most human line at least taking on G3 I'm not sure it matters what order we can take on A7 first but we can also play check we can take and take where does the King go does the King go back to try and helps stop the B pawn or does the King go forward to try and I guess take all the white pawns and then give up the black Rook and then eventually come round would it make sense to start with King E6 possibly although after B6 your King is far away from that pawn and you don't even have time to grab on E3 now well I think actually this is a very nice variation after B7 black could still play but White can give a check and wherever the King goes Rb6 and black will not be in time the only way to stop it is Rook e8 but the pawn is too far away like a G pawn likewise after Rb6 a check and King C5 and White's pawn will queen very nice so King E6 I think is impossible King D6 I mean if B6 now maybe B6 King C6 B7 King C7 I mean but suddenly isn't your Rook a bit suck yeah this Rook is very bad so B6 doesn't look so attractive we could give a check King could drop back I'm not sure which square you know I think we might actually get a time-scramble even in this Rook ending because time is ticking down Parham is about to drop under 20 minutes and you know although there are so few pieces left on the board there's so much still to calculate yeah I mean there's actually I wrote it off I thought Rook takes G3 was the only move but actually black has options and very sharp and he has taken on G3 by far the most human and we could end up with an endgame like this where I feel that White must be winning but it's actually much closer than it maybe should have been yeah MVL is back at the board Jadubing the Rook on G3 is he gonna go I mean he has been thinking about this position for a while Basmaniac in the chat is saying something I haven't common with MVL at last I often find standing away from the board when I'm playing gives me a different perspective and I see new ideas we saw MVL you know take a step away but of course in the his head and he was looking at the position and there we go I think we're gonna go down this line that we just looked at Rook G7 is on the board thinking D8 just to avoid any checks but King E8 is the same it's like we were saying the other day Fiona with our commentary sometimes it's actually easier to see things when we're not being emotional and we do take a step back sometimes at the board you get carried away you're in your own little bubble and if you don't see something then there's no way to kind of snap yourself out of it sometimes it's easier to get a different perspective I know some players who stand from their opponent's side and see how things look from the black side but different things work for different people absolutely okay so Rakesh has just seen on Twitter so we now have official confirmation from the chief arbiter here Laurent Freud from France it is it is China one how against the three Russians in the playoff except if Parham holds then Paravyan will be out and Parham in yes so imagine how Paravyan is feeling right now he's sitting in his room watching us probably just with his fingers crossed hello David so he's saying come on Parham oh no wait come on MVL come on MVL yeah I mean he doesn't want Parham to hold this or win it so the king has gone back to e8 the king went back to e8 okay I think we'll see the same thing either way I expect to see a rook exchange yeah rook takes d7 and rook takes a7 check it's coming possibly actually king c5 here might be a nice way to prevent king d6 I think it would be the same thing actually if we take king d6 there's always at least a check and we get the king we get the c5 square 4 king but yeah rook takes a7 far more natural actually it's so funny just when I said hello David there's a joke David Sandoz hello David Sandoz as well too many David it's a good name if you ever have kids Fiona David is a great baby name remember that I'll try and remember I'm not sure so rook takes a7 and it's a check actually we joked about this before no if I have a girl Davina is my alter ego especially on Friday nights king d6 greetings to Athens there's actually 1260 people watching us right now shout out to all of you remind them if you're just joining us now this is not the end of the show we have playoffs playoffs coming up I would say maybe in an hour from now roughly give or take keep an eye out on our twitter channel for all the official latest news and it's going to be exciting thank you for watching us also those of you watching us on youtube of course 5pm is confirmed of course unless this this game 5pm cannot possibly be confirmed I mean what if this game goes another 45 minutes I mean Parham is right up there in the mix I guess 5pm must be the starting time in case all the players and Parham is the last one who can possibly make it maybe if that game is over but even then I don't know if they would there playing a playoff with Kobalia and frags still right there to me it feels not quite fair to move for example move those players just to have a playoff I know I was playing as I mentioned earlier I was very upset when I was playing Wang Hao two years ago and they were already trying they were about to try and ask us to move even though I was right there the playoff was two metres away from me and if I'd won I would have jumped up I think actually one of the arbiters was watching the screen as soon as he realised I'd missed the win or missed the way to get into Rook and Bishop versus Rook I think he was just like yep let's start setting up and I was a bit upset so hopefully they don't cause too much of a fuss I think these players let's remind everyone apart from Parham the other two games Kobalia, Le Quang Lien, Pragana Nanda and Ivan Cherwich have no chance to get into the playoff but they are still let's remind everyone they are playing to tie for first plays which is absolutely massive not only a great result but the prize money 30,000 for first which will be decided in the playoff but the prices they are after they will be sharing £20,000, £15,000 £10,000, £8,000, £6,000 you cannot move these players they are playing for £10,000, £15,000 at least some of these players so yeah it's going to be long Rakesh misses Gypchas Rakesh we miss you too hopefully you'll be back with us next year so much happening today we will have the playoffs we will have the Gala dinner lots to look forward to David, King Rakesh 7 is on the board and Parham is thinking should he go forward or backward F for forward F for Fiona and F for forward in an ideal world he would go forward to D6 I think we saw that King E6 didn't look as good unless actually after B6 maybe Black can ignore if the E3 but maybe but then it feels like after B3 you probably have to go back anyway after after B3 Black will give a check and take and suddenly and Parham wins the tournament with £30,000 I was saying earlier the only way Parham would win the game was if I'm real fall asleep but it looks like I found another way if I had to pick someone to bet my life upon in Rook and Games it wouldn't be me it's instructive though it's instructive it's just testing you David people forget this Rook and Games are always full of calculation full of tactics and also allegedly always a draw but maybe not today most Rook and Games are drawn but Rook G7 I think would be a strong move here still coming and now we keep an eye on this G pawn so King E6 feels wrong King D6 what else King C8 is that really the right direction I mean Rook G7 now looks pretty strong to me I think this Rook and Pawn and Game will be winning because White has time to sneak in to the C5 square and the King will support this B pawn or just take on D5 and Steve Steve in the chat who was here I think in the early tournament he's probably one of the people who has been here the most often is telling us that back in the day the players have been taking place in Augustus which is where people some of you will be watching us there right now I will leave a shout out Augustus is the main playing hall I think it's the main one then I got it all wrong so whilst remaining Games are in progress and that's what Rakesh was saying as well but I think it will not be happening any of the three games in the top 10 still on the way but shout out to everyone watching us here from Jim what is that room called where the people are sitting I mean I don't know if you're in Jim if you're in Jim and you're watching us shout out to the people watching Cecilia I think yes shout out to everyone nope the Archie shout out to everyone watching us in the Archie suit or back in their rooms there must be some people in their rooms King E6 was played so let's come back to it our studio is Cecilia so let's see King E6 we've had a couple of quick moves that was the only one I wasn't sure about but King E6 looks like B6 has been played and Ruchi won so we were actually on spot on despite getting carried away and getting distracted we're not that bad Rakesh is pointing out I think 1300 plus is a new record of viewers welcome to everyone joining us now the playoffs are going to be so much fun absolutely playoffs will start very shortly after the last three games in the top 10 have finished whenever that may be I don't envy the arbiters it's such a hard job no win situation start the playoffs early while people are playing or do we move people David let's come back to this game can we get the big shot with Parham who's just gotten up because I'm just wondering I mean I can only see B7 the bottom of his face there is a crowd there with one arbiter surveilling things from close by Steven Boyd Jules Moussard is of course working in with his great friend Maxime we have another arbiter on the left Alexandra Dimitrovich the arbiters are gathering this is calculation city I think we might even see a queen end game for Yona they might just play for another two hours oh dear it is now moves 56 by the way 55 5 moves to go and then the players an additional 15 minutes I think it's move 56 white has played move 56 so black has a decision do we push our g-pawn or do we give a check first I'm not sure there's a huge difference right now either way white will move the king and give a check oh my gosh this is getting crazy rook B6 rook takes rook okay I think but then you pick up the pawn yeah well check take take and we might see a queen end game how crazy would this be unless white can somehow pick up the black queen with some checks but I don't really see it does MVL have something better than this um I mean this is gonna be crazy imagine seeing a hey I just met you imagine if we see 150 move game and the critical round we would be here literally until 11 we'd miss all the dinner we'd miss the dinner they would have dinner but no price giving they'll send us to like McDonald's around the corner and just be like oh you know you're done now um this is I mean if black doesn't give a check first if black plays g3 then I think it's just the same and there we see taba tabai checking in with his good friend and compatriot he must be rooting for parham so much I mean how crazy would this be this would be insanity check is the black king safe it is safe I don't know I mean it might get checkmated if you keep running check check I mean I'm just playing some variations out on the board can I take you, be super greedy and take it for no I don't want to take that actually oh my gosh I've got headache but this must be made here must be made I guess or not must be I mean this one's checkmate this was actually quite a nice checkmate I mean there's also quite a full checkmate here but I think I saw it mentioned in the chat again rakesh that man is on fire let's remind everyone for those of you who don't know rakesh is actually an international master he does not just know his stats but he's a very strong chess player in his own right no that's right and if we do see the other way around if black gives a check first apparently you missed, we missed something taking on d5 after rakesh c1 ah yeah yeah just another board that variation so this was if black didn't promote first then okay there is a pawn that pawn's been defended like the whole game I don't know and yeah this would be a quick checkmate immediately Alejandro Ramirez on camera there I think his game is still going as well ah I thought he was busted a few hours ago but he's surviving he's still busted but still going still struggling on yeah we might come to that later in Alejandro Ramirez's game for those of you who do watch the St. Louis feed and I mean you know him very well he's based in St. Louis now he's aiming to get king versus two knights and make a draw but it would be easy yeah so this one and then our friend Vladimir was once playing against the 26 plus GM we tried to checkmate him with two knights yeah actually it's funny timing you mentioned that Topolov in the bar last night I was just chatting with him and he said oh can you believe this guy had the cheek he played 20 moves against me knight to knight versus king so that one I mean if it happens we'll show it yeah of course David should we very quickly check in with Kobalia and then that to see if there's been any developments so if you want to show one final variation I think if we do see a rook check first after b7 check I just want to point out I think this line that maybe Rakesh mentioned as well earlier there is a check if the king moves rook b6 take take I mean crazy stuff both sides would queen and at the end maybe maybe queen e5 check king g6 is forced to be able to pick up that pawn with a check but it's probably not like this maybe this one and you take with the king and I don't think there's a way for black to defend that pawn and keep an eye on e3 yeah black needs the queen to somehow magically appear on f3 and that's a very nice variation actually nice sting in the tail there a bit of finesse at the end so I mean that could be what Maximus calculated I would be surprised Psycris wants to know what's the selection criteria for playoff so this has already been officially confirmed by the main arbiter there are 3 players who are guaranteed a place in the playoff already that's Wang Hao Yasi Panko and Daniel Yufa if Parham can hold he will join the playoff if he loses it will be David Paravian yes that's right so it's very simple at this point you can also check out Gibraltar on chess results they do update things they will update as we go along it looks quite set in stone at this point so you wanted to check in with let's keep the camera on Parham and let's go to Prague first on board 9 he's still a pawn down still a pawn down it's really got away from him the last 10 moves also if we just go back to where we left it after e2c5 as predicted Ivan Sarech said ok I don't believe you I'm going to push this B pawn down the board king to g2 Rb8 I mean so solid for black these knights just hold everything together white can't even create a threat also it doesn't help that he can't move his knight because the queens come off Rc8 95 and eventually white decided ok I have nothing better than to move the knight actually we're going to see a queen endgame I think and Parham might go down we might get a playoff at 5 o'clock so let's bring the board back for NvL just to finish this one off Nb7 has been played which is very sneaky now Rc8 we have to show this just before we get back to NvL Nb7 attacking white's rook king takes Nb7 B3 I think you can't because the bishop can come back to f1 I will play Nb4 and this pawn will queen it's a lovely line I mean if we see this that would be stunning that's incredible and also if the king moves actually king moves doesn't help because after B2 Bb4 there is at least Nc3 check and black will capture that bishop so deep calculation there by Ivan Sarich he played Nb7 immediately a peace sacrifice and knights are so bad at stopping these pass pawns that would be such a stunning finish if we see that Ivan Sarich and it looks like Pragnanda will just have to exchange rooks and drop back and this will be a miracle if he holds this game wow okay let's come back to NvL board 1 board 3 ah board yes it does feel at this stage like it is it's worthy of any board 1 clash okay so we've seen okay this is sorry on the left on that side I was just working from earlier it's like doing a mass exam all over again you're doing a working and you hand it in and people can examine it pressure pressure so rook b1 was played king c5 and Parham's having a think but he does not look happy hand on his face now maybe he's seen this I mean what can black do to prevent it king I mean king f5 does prevent this rook a6 rook b6 idea I think you just snack on this pawn and as you said together the two pawns together are very strong I should yeah okay I mean even here it's not not completely easy it reminds me of it reminds me of Kadrich against Alexenko from a few days ago well actually it was a queen end game and Kadrich was two pawns up and still winning in the final position but it was a draw someone in the chat was saying is that Bob the Fisher in the background he had the pleasure of talking to him a few days ago but I've forgotten his name he does look a bit like Bob the Fisher in his final years but he is local to the to the to Gibraltar he lives here he's a lovely man I just don't know his name but lovely shout out to Bob Maxime is looking more confident now he's walking around doesn't look like he's okay I thought I didn't want to say it because I wasn't sure but Bob or whatever his real name is he actually drew against Karpov in the opening simmel here in Gibraltar we can find out that name it'll be up on our website I have actually I've read it as well before I got introduced to him but I'm sure someone someone in the chat will enlighten us and there is footage of that Karpov simmel all over our website our YouTube channel I think Karpov won most of his games he did drop a few draws but unbeaten absolutely and there is also a fantastic interview out with him conducted by Tania Sadstaff and you can find that and many many more stunning videos on our YouTube channel about Fischer about the Kosparov matches it's so inspiring he's a local resident so he's not originally I think he's from Ireland if I'm not mistaken Anthony Farrell, shout out that is an Irish name Colin Farrell so Karpov did win 25 games and made 4 draws and one of them was called Robert Fischer I saw this on the website it wasn't the guy we saw on the camera but there was someone called Bobby Fischer in the simmel David I think we headed straight for the same game let's try and work out King F5 so if we headed for the same game if MVL can pick up the pawn with the queen and the two pawns Parham will play on but it should be fairly straight forward let's try and work out this one so King F5 what else can we play, King takes D5 unless King takes G3 either A2 or A8 maybe A8 actually this wins immediately unfortunately I think if G2 I will go behind and as soon as you promote I will capture you and deflect your rook so that's probably and if you move the king I think you will be too slow King E4 I think I can make a queen first you take G2 and easy win for White by the way I just realised we never got around to talking about it because there was so much action we did mention at the start of the round that our friend Laurence Trent needed a win to reach the all important 5.5 mark but unfortunately he could only draw and finish on 50% I mean that's how difficult opens are can't make over 50% and yeah he had some bets there as well difficult times Paris Boris Basky's birthday I did, yeah I read that this morning even this morning feels like a lifetime ago already I was like oh yeah I read that recently we've only been here 5.5 hours for you we've only got another 3 or 4 to go oh more than 3 or 4 there's the dinner I mean we're gonna be here another 8 hours yeah I think that's more like it minimum and then we've got our flights David which top 20 player would you choose to play a high stake match against be aware I will make it happen when I win the lottery I mean they'll all crush me so I don't know I'd just love to play any of them I'd love to play Carson and get beaten 20-0 I mean he would especially speed chess it's just destroy it's very sad to see Parham there I think he is just coming 2 terms that there is unfortunately I think no hope now nothing no hope yeah I mean even less hope than yesterday when he was a queen down there we see on the bottom right hand video Volodil and Mertzen he's been watching all the games which I'd love to see from a young player if they show interest in chess if they really love the game if they're big fans then they will go far but yeah Parham he's young as well he's only 19 David since someone was just asking again sorry to interrupt you about how does the play of work we have mentioned it many times already we will mention it just before we conclude the show one final time you can find the regulations on our website but just to Matthew has informed me that it will not be 1 against 4 and 2 against 3 but it will be a drawing of lots wow a drawing of lots that is ok that adds a bit of flavour to the whole situation a bit of je ne sais quoi literally je ne sais quoi I have no idea what's going to happen later it's going to be madness and we will try and get all that action for you on this channel so stick with us it's actually funny because I feel weird you know in our little studio here it always feels like everyone is more aware of what's going on literally people in the chat know more than us we have seen a couple of checks in the game black gave a check on c1, king b6 another check, king c7 another check, king d8 and the rook has come back to b1 that's right now what? now what indeed I would expect to see a transposition actually to this variation with a rook check on a6 meaning that when the king moves there we go rook a6 check, king c7 you can come back, now any checks you don't have to move the king, you can block with a rook and we'll actually just get a transposition after king c7, g3 rook b6 to this very this queen end game we discussed a bit earlier Parham I think is I mean he's manic at this point clock ticking we saw him stare down the clock a few moments ago maybe only two or three minutes left to make it the last few moves here yeah it's gonna be a tough I mean we've mentioned it before how losing the last round is always heartbreaking the opening went quite badly today for Parham but even later it felt like he still had some chances to hold even a pawn down the knight was in great shape against the bishop maybe we can show a moment or two I think maybe we weren't sure right now because some action is happening for those of you who do want to go and play through this game now I think the big mistake was on move let me find it move 16 for black the knight went passive it should have gone active to b4 and he would have had great compensation for the pawn but he's been on the defensive ever since and the big mistake on move 32 as well yeah mistakes on move 16 and 32 maybe Parham just doesn't like multiples of 8 and yeah two mistakes I think strategic mistakes long term they have hindered him yeah we're racing down that variation now so we will see this queen ending it looks like and Parham actually there's no need to rush they have maybe move 60 maybe he's forgotten that you get another 15 minutes on the clock because he is rushing but okay all the moves are forced I don't think we've barely seen any games all week where we went beyond it's because we went to have dinner before we had to look at the moves number 130 a good friend of ours Alex played I think till move 132 incredible over seven and a half hours that's right now just some accuracy from Maxim there's no need to rush Maxim I think he's okay he's got over 20 minutes on his clock there's an extra 15 in the bag once that takes down to zero and he has played 25 as we expected King C6 and if he plays King C6 or King C5 I think that will I mean that will sink to the end yeah so we see the queen I was just wondering no sorry I was just looking at the question in the chat wondering what the problem is with the youtube stream I think there is no problem at all I think the youtube stream is up and running and I like the pun there from Basmaniac he's not Russian he's Iranian he's not rushing I love my terrible puns I'm a sucker for a good pun but that was especially bad move by move is saying this is actually not trivial trivial at all Black has so many checks that is true yeah I mean the game will definitely go on it's just the last phase now and no doubt White is definitely winning it's just he has to maintain concentration he can't let what happen to Dennis Kadrich happen I was just going to say that I mean they had the same exact material balance at least queen and two puns but there Dennis eventually fell to a repetition he was still winning in the final position but his yeah repetitions happen all the time in queen end games you can't let your opponent's queen get onto the right circuit you have to be able to block eventually with your queen ideally without giving up one of the puns I'm just thinking again how insane it is that if I could play queen to F3 then okay maybe White would still be winning but it would be very difficult yeah good winning chances in a practical game but very difficult unfortunately the queen can't defend D5 while keeping an eye on E3 so we see queen to A1 I would expect to see Maxine maybe give a couple of checks now before taking this pawn on D5 just to make sure he's not walking into any repetitions David I think MVL will take this pawn maybe he will consider his choice as a little bit shall we take a couple of minutes as we see Parham walk away from the board let's briefly check in with board 6 and 9 let's remind everyone there are two games still going where the players are fighting to also join the tie for first no chances for a playoff but chances for a massive payday and let's start with board 6 yeah and Lekwanglian and there we see Lekwanglian having a think this again hasn't changed too much the only difference is that a few moves ago we did see White change the pawn structure on this king side giving himself an isolated pawn I'm not sure I'm so happy with that with White this E pawn it's a bit of a weakness Black's bishop is now a monster on E5 they are ticking down I mean the clock's ticking down they are on move 56 currently so four moves to make for White five for Black then they will also get their additional 15 minutes I think I predicted about two or three hours ago that this might be the longest game I think we predicted after half an hour of the game that it might be a draw it still looks draw-ish but Black is certainly the one pushing this bishop on E5 is just very strong I think the question is whether Black can activate this knight maybe via F7 to H6 to G4 maybe maybe just F7 to D6 but I mean a long, long way to go in this one and LeKwanglian I mean so much money on the line he has a good right I mean he's well within his right to push this as long as he can and he will let's go back to Prague and Procnananda and Ivan Chowich on board nine and when we last left it off I think we should show it again because it was such a nice move we're now in a pure woe did you see that too? Mark is taking some liberties at the production there that was actually incredible I mean nine days of practice with that camera is a dab hand I mean it was amazing that we even caught it that camera I didn't even know it could move that fast that's right another pun in the channel let's go back to Prague we mean Prague as in Prague, Nananda the young Indian one he's about to make a move but just to go back Black did play this wonderful idea after Bishop U2 Knight B7 and the rooks did come off the board and White thought he couldn't win this night now and he was correct because after B3 this pawn simply runs home Bishop F1 it's important that Knight B4 that's D3 I find this really like a stunning stunning piece sacrifice kudos to Ivan Sharich after such a long game and such a long tournament to still find this one very aesthetically pleasing by the way Rakesh has just made a very good point imagine what a fairy tale it would be if Magsut Lu first held yesterday imagine if he holds this one and goes on to win the playoff that would literally be insane we'll show this in a moment as well that there is an immediate draw if Maxime is careless, which he won't be he'll take his time here but just this Prague Nananda Sarich game it looks like a few pieces have come off the board and it's a knight end game now Black is a pawn up, this B pawn and it's surprisingly hard to win that pawn if White goes for it immediately with Kc3 then he'll drop some pawns on the king side for Prague Nananda to save this knight end games are like pawn end games and here Magsime is pawn up he will use that B pawn as a distraction, he'll try to distract the king in knight and then sneak his king into the game you've told us many times before this week I'm like a broken record knight endings are like pawn endings let's go back to MVL so it looks like I think if we had to make a prediction the draw would be most likely in the Kobalia game with Black pressing and it looks like Ivan Shai which is going to go on to score an all-important Black victory here and also enjoy the tie for first place that's right what do we think, should we check back in on board one? yeah, let's go back board three Fiona, keep doing it I need to kind of I need to write it down in front of me first of all show us where this draw trick was so we have seen Magsime played queen g3, check if he had played queen takes d5 this is the motif that is always a draw in a queen end game if your king and queen get skewed or if they're too close to each other now White's king is tied down defending that queen no matter where it goes this is geometry at its best for those who think chess and mathematics have something in common, you're correct for example, check wherever the White king goes it is tied down to the queen for example, it will keep going round in a circle and there's always attack on the queen behind it check check is that right? maybe I'm wrong now check and the king can't escape check so you have to be careful this is actually an incredible line this is a nice, look at this the geometry, I just love going round in circles like this check and if I want to d3, now what's that square called e6? actually I realised I've I'm getting confusing myself if king e5, the best, the safest is queen to h8 and now if king f4, queen h4 hoping for king f3 and then the power damn it's been a long day close enough so that's why mvl has to be careful I mean some lovely checks there but of course mvl saw all that, gave a check on g3 we're about to see king f5 from Magdoodlou although he's not so sure, his hand is still attached to the king David, I think in a second, maybe we can just take a 2-3 minute break I'm going to run to another room we all know what she means I might get another coffee to get ready for the playoffs shall we just take a very quick break we'll leave the camera on these guys this one will go on for a while so we won't miss the end of this we'll be back, 5 minutes, absolute max don't go anywhere we'll see you very shortly see you soon Maxime Varshel-Lagrab goes into round 10 with 6.5 points that puts him in a must win situation in the last round of the Gibraltar Masters we'll find out whether he can do it or not tomorrow, for now he joins us in our studio Maxime win in round 9 here at the Gibraltar Masters it looked pleasant for you but was it how bad was it for you? and we are back again it is still round 10 it feels like it's been on forever already but it's only we can't even talk we are only halfway through the emotional roller coaster or the chess roller coaster that is today we are going to have a playoff let's switch the camera back to Parham's game the suspense is building but we need to catch up on some moves here so on move 68 we can trip back a bit yes I have the moves white gave a check we left it around this moment he was about to gobble this pawn on d5 which he did and many checks later we arrive in the current position black didn't give any more checks here if the checks would not help they would just drive wett's king to safety on the king side so he played queen g2 and queen to f1 that was an odd one I've been told that the only thing people know about queen n games is that nobody knows anything about queen n games and look at Parham he was about to play queen c2 in fact our live ward there has already registered it but I think he will go there he didn't mess up our live ward also with queen n games queens obviously they want to be centralised if possible all the checks are the most effective way usually they're hardest to block I'm trying to think of all the things I know about queen n games there isn't that much normally it's pure calculation and here mvl will be just trying to find the most centralised square face queen bas maniac is asking if I got my coffee yes I did and while I was getting that I bumped into the main arbiter Laurent Freud I asked him what the situation about the playoffs was and he said as soon they will commence as soon as this game is over I mean not like the second but within minutes you know within 5-10 minutes of this game ending it looks like actually neither of these players will be in the playoff if Vashilygrav wins then he doesn't quite make it up there he does miss out by one performance point which is heart breaking and Parham either way will miss out unless he has a miracle hold speaking of miracle holds apparently Prague has gotten some holding chances should we keep these guys on camera and quickly go back to Prague on board 9 meanwhile Rakesh wants to know if you know of any books or tools to improve your queen ending I know books or tools to improve nearly any other endgame queen endgames probably the hardest let me think no work has been done because as I said you know nobody knows anything about queen endgames that's why there's been no pure published works on them I guess but they are tricky I mean there are general rules that you can follow but in the end it is just down to calculation and looking at all the checks yeah and phenomenon only so this there are only 5 6 6 pieces left actually I'm so tired I can't it is 6 well done Fiona you got that 4 for white 2 for black yeah that's the way I got there okay you're still talking about this queen endgame I just wanted to say that the table bases the 6 piece table base is informing us that there's apparently made in 35 but a player who has played 9 days of chess and 6 hours we have literally just entered the 7th hour here is a very different thing than the stone cold table base no that's right I think table bases I mean they're good reference point but nobody can memorize all of these things and okay I mean this one who nobody can calculate 35 moves in advance you don't need to for white you just need to find the next 4-5 moves get your king safe advance the pawn and you need to find the next 4-5 moves get your king safe advance another pawn and so on and so on until your pawns reach the end of the board or if you're able to find some tricks and swap off queens then you will be winning but this one it could take a while despite I mean everyone knows why it's winning Parham knows what he's losing it's just gonna take a while so let's go quickly to Prague and see if he has some drawing chances indeed so this one has changed quite a bit it's still a knight ending but now 2 against 3 and every pawn that comes off the board I guess brings Prague closer to that draw that's right now he's definitely made some progress I thought it might be difficult for white to get rid of black's 2 queenside pawns but he has done that at the cost of just one pawn on the kingside this is going to be incredibly hard for Sarich to win I mean theoretically I think it is a draw now I've looked at something very similar with 3 versus 2 it is a draw but again you have to be accurate you can't allow black to get too active with his king it's just hard for black to make progress because there is no room for error now you only have 3 pawns left and white will always have sacrifices sacrifice ideas to sacrifice white's knight for a couple of pawns and then go active with the king and get the last pawn we see that Anfiel has started pushing his pawns Prague who has been one of the main stories here when he beat Topalov I'd be very happy for him to see him hold that draw here again I would be happy for him but it's just Prague has been so impressive whatever I mean it would be nice for him to end the tournament on a high and take away some good memories and all the lessons he's learnt quick look at board 6 Kobalia against Leuq Wangliam that is now a pure opposite coloured bishop ending David does any side really still have any chances there I said that draw I'm afraid even if white can force the issue immediately with d6 and go after these king side pawns of blacks but even if he doesn't even if just king f3 I think white has enough squares white can just go passive king b4 there are enough squares for this bishop to defend this a4 pawn even if black were to win this d5 pawn is not enough black can't create a pass pawn I mean even if he were to create one that wouldn't be enough so it looks like he has played king f3 and draw any moment now I think I think out of the three games that remain that remain on the top ten boards I mean this should be the first two and let's go back to MvL by the way MvL's good friend Jean Moussard is also still going still trying to grind out his extra pawn in an opposite coloured bishop ending but Leon Leuq Mendonka is doing a great job holding on to that we can check in on that one maybe along the way yeah Mendonka I guess is praying for a miracle as well for his grandmaster norm but he will not win that one so let's check back in again on on MvL so MvL not too much has changed he's just played the move king to g3 there are no checks if black plays queen g6 check and the game if queens come off white will win the pawn endgame and I was not confused so someone said it's only the games have only been going for six hours but what I said is we're into the seventh hour of play so past the six hour mark that's right I mean Parham he looks like he's desperately searching for one last trick I would expect queen c3 but white can try anything even just e4 the pawns are slowly rolling now and mate in 35 they said earlier according to table base I would say that this game might go on another 10-20 moves but I think Maxine just needs to show he makes progress and Parham will throw in the towel yeah it's a very sad end to the tournament for Parham but I mean MvL was my pick he's unfortunately just gonna miss off on the play for oh by the way during the break David and I also saw David a power of yann he is following the games but not from the comfort of his room or getting some rest he's sitting in the middle of the hotel lobby in the middle of all the hustle and bustle everyone's running around preparing you know the gala dinner preparing the playoffs and he's just sat right in the middle of all the chaos looking at his phone nervously exactly he looked so nervous and he's just literally around the corner from us of course he must be here I was thinking why isn't he in his room he's of course not staying here he might even be staying you know who knows I haven't seen him at the holiday so yeah he actually has nowhere good to us I think players who who else is in the as he pankers in the same situation he's also not staying here he took the bus with me one house in the holiday and with us the players in the tie break I was staying in this hotel so that makes it a bit fairer at least yeah I mean they'll all be in limbo they'll all be thinking okay do I quickly prepare for my opponents do I save some energy do I just go relax have a drink non-alcoholic drink have some lunch and sit at the bar now I mean different strategies for different players I think some of them will be maybe just trying to get some quiet trying to close their eyes just knowing that there's a storm brewing and they will be actually very shortly with all of you guys watching them us watching them the whole world watching them absolutely we had who was just hurrying back to his game shall we very quickly have a look yes at his game he's on board 16 with the black pieces against Leon Luke Mandanka that's right and this one it looks like white is defending for now white has just blacks given a check on g1 white has moved the king d2 pawn is attacked and under control for now white covers this d1 square but it's still going to be difficult it's going to be a long long defense here I can imagine a move such as king g5 maybe such as bishop h6 or bishop b4 as long as black keeps that d2 pawn black will be doing okay and we'll put the pressure on for another 50 moves I'm sure and MVL has been blitzing out a few quick moves I guess one of the ways to end his game is if he can force a queen exchange somehow looks like queen d7 check king h8 queen e8 check queen e7 check I think he's actually just going to ignore his e-pawn use it as protection for his king and he's just going to push this d-pawn I mean it looks convincing to me David let's very quickly check back in with board 6 because I think we are really getting closer to that draw now there black has won a pawn but it's not going to be enough to win the game that's right board 6 I mean it's a typical classic opposite color bishop endgame these queenside pawns balance each other out meanwhile on the king side black just doesn't have enough to create anything if you could somehow the problem is you can never get your king around yes black to the to the queenside because the king is tied down to the defense of those to that g6 pawn that's right draw any moment now we saw bishop b4 king g2 and bishop e1 but this doesn't do anything king f3 simply even if black creates one pawn on the king side if we just play one variation ignore the fact that these aren't the best moves even if black creates a pass pawn this won't be enough because white will just put the king on h1, put the other bishop on c6 and you can even lose one more pawn you can even lose the a pawn you don't need it and easy draw and I think Leuq Wangliang maybe we will get all the way here but the Russian school of chess he is not going to lose this one I can guarantee it quick look at Pragg yes Pragg on board the 9 Pragg now earned her, not the capital of the Czech Republic we've seen a few more moves black's trying to get his king active Ivan Sarich hoping, I guess his hopes that he can somehow bring his king the whole way around but it will take a long long time to make this happen I mean black needs to maybe, let me get rid of those arrows black needs to get his knight to f5 somehow but again that's a long way from happening and even then white would have chances to exchange off another set of pawns Alejandro Ramirez who has lost pretty much all game has actually done a stunning job of defending his position and that game has ended in a draw against Tejaravi so kudos to Alejandro on a very stubborn defense to nature's stuff he was moaning about drawing all his games and today he drew again so well done to Alejandro and we never got there but captain Barbosa actually who we heard earlier that he was completely he was completely winning at some point but somehow let his opponent escape and it's been a great tournament for Pierre-Louis G. Basso yeah should we go back to the hell now I'm just seeing if I can see a few more top games I think the two let's remind everyone Tanjongri she played a great game to beat Maxime Lagarde she became the sole women champion on seven out of ten taking home 20,000 pounds she was followed in second position by her compatriot and friendly Tingzhe on six and a half actually I don't even know I think Tingzhe probably took second place on six and a half unfortunately went down as did Abdomalik we saw a bit earlier and Jovakishvili took a quick draw so six is the score to share a third place and there will be a lot on six there will be Jovakishvili on six there is also Anamusi Shuk let me see if there is any more there was a lot of women there were eight women on five points so if any of those Pia Kramling fantastic for Pia it's come joint third, four women also Beau Fantanetta, Stefanova and Elizabeth Pia so a big tie there for third shared third place a lot of money there as well I mean they will be sharing I think a few thousand among them so congratulations to those women we see a lot of quick moves now in our board one game board three game our remaining top board highest remaining board I need to stop saying board one I always feel like I could let you get away with it but I take too much joy and I'm loving in the chat that there is a pirate for the Caribbean discussion going on because those are some of my favourite soundtracks David does a fantastic impression you can sing hum the soundtrack in a great manner maybe if this game goes on until 10pm I'll lose patience and just start singing but it does look like black is running out of checks there is one or two checks on the back rank but those are easily guarded against it might be time for white to just make a dash with the king the chat wants to hear you sing no thanks please sing actually black is doing the only thing that might pay off I don't know if any of you guys in the chat saw the game oh gosh who was it again was it pantsalaya against Carlson or Carlson was black oh no it was this Russian guy Sergei in the world blitz a couple of years ago the first round who was it again this queen end game well done I'm impressed Sergei Gregorians against Magnus Carlson and Carlson did this fantastic trick he put his king and queen as far away from each other as possible he put his own king in the corner like maizulu is doing and he found a stalemate trick which was incredible I'll try and reenact something like that a bit later on maybe but there will be stalemating tricks for example if how can I do this if white was really careless how can I do this I'm trying to set up I'm trying to set up stalemate trap but anyway for those of you who do want to learn about queen end games check out that game Gregorians against Carlson Carlson saved it miraculously absolutely but this one I don't think maizulu will save it is two pawns rather than the one in that game do you think David that Maxime knows he will miss out on the playoff? probably I really hope he knows because it would be so heartbreaking for him to only find out after I mean he's put in such a long shift here I really hope he knows yeah and let's remind if you're just joining us now he's missing out on the playoff by the smallest possible margin one performance rating point that's incredible I mean you can gain or lose 20 points sometimes some players in one game and he's missing out by one performance point after 10 games I think of the average that must be and that deepon is now one square away from becoming another queen it will turn into Davina Davina the deepon will become Davina when it gets to D8 and yes we've seen the last few moves now La Rinda in the chat is saying this image so this lower camera shot looks like me on every club night everyone waiting to go home and we in time trial they're waiting to shut up shop and look at this lovely chess vest sported by former tournament director Stuart Rubin yeah on the right there he heard you talking about him and now he's just leaving shy yeah I mean there's we haven't seen it yet but queen itch 4 check I would expect if black goes to other squares queen g7 king f5 and white king is escaping not many more checks now queen g6 likewise white can decide whether to go forward or back both of them win quite easily this deepon is just she's going to be crowned soon the coronation will take place absolutely it will here's your first reminder so the playoff that's going to start momentarily now we have been told pretty much as soon as this game ends it's gonna involve four players I think we can go there pretty much confirmed are Wang Hao Yesi Panko and Dani Ljufa and unless there's an absolute miracle here the fourth player will be David Paravian these four players will be drawn so it will not be an all play all it will be two semifinals and a final so it will be a draw who is playing against each other can I explain that any player lucky draw draw is probably not the right word they will be picked at random the two semifinals it's not one against four and two against three and then they will play two games ten minutes plus five second increment per move if they are still tied after two games so one with each color they will play Blitz three minutes plus two seconds that will actually be very tricky to commentate on we might just have the camera and us talking I think an analysis board is super close there actually but I'm prepared for anything at this stage I don't know if you know but I did some commentary with Neil Squandelius on bullet games oh wow if you can commentate on bullet you can commentate on anything which was a lot of fun if it is still a tie after four games after those two three plus two games they will play an Armageddon and the two winners from the semifinal will move on to play the final for the title, for the money and for the glory we're about to see a handshake I think one more move here king to f8 and no more checks no matter where black checks now there will be a queen exchange queen c5 is met by queen e7 check there goes the king to f1 8 f8 and yeah I think no stalemates that's the only reason Maxine paused he still had his hand on his score sheet there waiting for resignation I can't see any stalemates I mean if black could somehow play if the black could somehow check on f6 it looks like stalemate but even that wouldn't be stalemate it wouldn't have to take it white could give a check on f7 no stalemates here today and white is queening next move Basmaniac arrived late wants to know who won the ladies prize Tan Zhangjie played a fantastic game to beat Maxime Lagarde and is the sole champion two years in a row defended her women's top prize she scored a fantastic 7 out of 10 incredible even more than her score last year I think impressive, impressive victory today very impressive and sole second place for the ladies Lei Tingzhe so another successful event for the Chinese after Zhu Vanzhun just defended her title in the women's world championship a few days ago it's funny timing just this morning I wrote a newspaper article about the Chinese Stranglehold on the women's world title and yeah more success today for those Chinese players just last couple of moves we did see queen a5 stopping d8 Maxime can make a new queen if he wants I mean queen a7 check looks like it will make a new queen queen f7 check first and then queen f6 check also looks like it will make a new queen I mean is there's no stalemates here for sure is Maxime Lu really going to play on a queen down yesterday he did but today it looks unlikely Hawaii pan pizza wants to know what happened to Pierre Kramling she is sharing joined the big tie for third place in the women's standings what happened to Malcolm Payne unfortunately there was some personal issues he had to leave the tournament after three rounds he did have a ticket for the Liverpool game I almost got my hands on it so close his brother will be going to that game with his season ticket Malcolm is in South Africa that's right yeah and he was saying he's been waiting years and years for me and Gibraltar and he finally managed to play a few games here hopefully next year he can complete his tournament Malcolm by the way himself is fine and if he's watching us Malcolm yo also there was a great picture of Malcolm there was a great picture of Malcolm during the blackout here earlier in the tournament the power cut David we're about to see him you're very funny and Maxime has the queen in his hand Davina is about to appear on the board Davina the deep one that's right will he promote now will he give a check first there we see another queen appear white second queen one more check queen f5 two queens should be enough here king g8 has been played no more checks now black's definitely not getting stalemated this king is far from the corner and handshake should we count down to 30 seconds yeah it will it will appear any moment Parham he caught a lucky break yesterday put up some not a lucky break actually he put up some great resistance but unfortunately for him today MVL proved a stronger player in the end and MVL will join the tie for first but unfortunately this will be the last time I say it just missing out on the playoff and there is the handshake and Parham is officially out of the playoff but congratulations to MVL who had a late surge he made the most of his double white to end the tournament he is sharing first place but he is missing out on the playoff that's right so no playoff for MVL I like that final trick by Parham bluffing his opponent queen disappears but it's not stalemate black does have one legal move so yeah he did and we see him take it with a smile Parham is such a lovely guy I'm sure we will see much much more of him such a great player and I mean overall you know it's always tough when you lose the last round but he is such a strong player still only 19 years old a bit like Dennis Cadridge I think when he gets over the initial disappointment he can look back at a great event big question though do you think Parham will allow himself a day off tomorrow or he'll be back studying 20 hours of chess a day he'll be in the airport on his laptop waiting for his flight maybe he should get a quarter point for this game it was almost stalemate David I think let's check in one final time with board 6 and 9 which are still on the way actually board 6 has ended in a drop one quick look at Pragnan and Da and then we will take a break we will leave you Prag on the screen while we take a bit of a breather to get ready for the playoff playoffs will be starting imminently we will need to get psyched, get ready, get fresh and we'll be keeping you company through all the action but we do see this final game Pragnan and Da against Saric if one of them wins they will come joint first as well and share in a huge amount of prize money but it's looking more and more like a draw and Kudos to Prag by the way Jean Moussard is also still I know he has literally just converted his game so Prag is well done as well for the French what long games ending they finish at the same time lovely touch to see MvL and Parham still at the board discussing their game guys I think we will leave you with this screen actually we'll just go away now leave you with Parham and MvL and Prag and Ivan Chowich and we'll be back for the playoffs in a very short while yeah thank you anyway and we're back as you can see just below us they're getting ready they're at the tables are you ready David? I was born ready actually I'm not sure this is no I mean nervy stuff three of our players are ready and Wang Hao has just arrived actually I got my wish so the games were drawn at random I'm hoping I don't know how bias I am hoping for a final between Wang Hao and Yesi Pengo but all four players deserve their plays in the playoff they all had a fantastic tournament one Chinese player Wang Hao he is one of the eight candidates we're off it's literally non stop at this point so Wang Hao will be playing against Dani Lufa and Yesi Pengo against Power of Yan do we have the games? I'm not sure we do at the moment so while we try and pull off the games on camera I'll let you talk through it and let me see I'll let you talk us through the opening I'll message Matt to find out where the games are on the top board I mean the top camera screen there we see Yesi Pengo and David Power of Yan it is the symmetrical English opening, very tentative stuff not too much action usually happens here early on that being said on the bottom board between Lufa and Wang Hao it is exactly the same opening that Wang Hao played in his classical yes, that's right there's classical game earlier today against Andreas Pengo I mean we're all lost for words we're struggling for breath here I think we have the games now so there we go we're looking at Yesi Pengo against Power of Yan and by the way as you can see we just need to change the analysis board Pragnananda is actually still playing still trying to hold that night ending and I think we are ready now Yes and we won't be analyzing too many variations this is a very short time control for those of you just joining us it is 10 minutes plus 5 seconds absolutely they will play two games one with each color if that ends on one they will be playing Blitz 3 plus 2 if they are still tied after two more games they will be playing an Armageddon where the white player is in a must win situation yes, white will have one minute more but needs to win Armageddon literally end of the world and it feels like that stitch now for all of these players who have been competing so well for the last 10 days David, before we get to the games quick who do you think is going to become the champion this year? I am a loyal kind of guy I picked Wang Hao on day one and here we are 10 days later I would still pick him how about you Fiona? My candidate MBL just missed out on this playoff I love Wang Hao as well but I am going to go with Jesse Panko just to disagree with you and I am still heartbroken for what happened yesterday I am glad he recovered he is in the playoff and let's see his game against David Paravian that's right we've got developed, got castled and a very standard English opening actually here I would be tempted to play D4 as white it feels like we've lost a move with D3, D4 but actually that position is normally quite a good one for white if blacks pawn were back on A7 black's ace removed doesn't really count for much we'll wait and see what he comes up with D4 would be high on my radar maybe he could play for A3 and B4 as well I wouldn't spend too long here if I were him in a rapid game looks like he's already spent a couple of minutes let's remind everyone Esi Panko is a specialist of fast time controls maybe not a specialist but he was first rose to fame when he beat Sergei Karajakin at the World Rapid and Blitz a few years back that's right, I think in 2017 so just over two years ago an amazing game Karajakin as white against the Karakan defense and Esi Panko just sacrificed a queen fashion and just to confirm for those in the chat wondering so yes the winner of each of these two semifinals they will play for the title in the final there will be no place for third place because the prices all the prices but first place are shared here in Gibraltar that's right so a huge amount of money on the line I think it's more than £10,000 difference between winning this playoff and the three others they will be dropping down and sharing with a huge bunch of players on 7.5 out of 10 David let's go back to the Wang Hao game let's do it this one is not so different from his game this morning if we do see for example Bishop takes f6 it would be very similar I would expect maybe knight bd2 first or maybe knight e5 if white is feeling a bit fruity knight e5 rook d8 and black is completely fine in these positions he doesn't look too bothered he just looks like I'm going to make a draw with black I'm going to crush you with white do you think that's a good strategy with black you're solid and you're waiting to bounce with the white pieces I think it's a decent strategy it's a big advantage to start with black in speed games especially in a pair of games it's a bit like in football you'd rather be in a two legged tie you'd rather be away from home first the second game you're at home then you can go all out if you only need to draw then great Patrick had tickets to go to the cinema to see parasite in about two hours but he's cancelled everything to watch this you should all be cancelling your plans I think we're in for at least another couple of hours of chess it's going to be a long long day it's touching go where the fiona and I are going to get any dinner we do see on the top board here I'm a bit worried actually he has made a move now on knight c3 we're having a long think there but knight c3, very standard stuff and Wang Hao having a think the top board has developed a bit more quickly black is a tempo up on some normal lines so black will be happy there David Paravian on the left we mentioned Espenko speed demon Paravian as well, extremely good at blitz and they will have to keep an eye on the clock I think in this ten minute game it's important not to fall too far behind no that's right I mean ten minutes it's a bit of limbo right it's a mix between rapid and blitz it can be a bit hard to I was literally just took the words out of my mouth they have been playing classical chess for the last ten days so this is of course a much faster time control but it's not quite blitz no that's right and actually I myself struggle I mean I really like blitz and I normally like rapid but anything in between it's difficult I mean do you play for tricks, do you just try and play as quickly as possible I mean, one house game here we do see progress quite quickly, black is just going to play C5 as he did in his classical game against Espenko and black is fine and if none of your business you're saying you're not sure if we're going to make dinner I think we really should have qualified for the closing banquet hopefully we can make it in time I think we deserve our spot I don't know, I feel we need another two, three hours of hard work before we deserve it we do see the move, 90 E5 I feel what you wish for David okay so the moves are coming in thick and fast let's go back to Espenko okay that's right and we'll update a couple more moves there we do see this very normal position but black has gained this X from move A6 because white spent two tempi on D3, D4 a couple more moves D6 was played and queen D3 and the bishop went to F5 hitting the queen hitting the queen and dropping back to E6 black's again wasted a move but white's bishop is now blocked by its own pawns I would expect to move like B3 here we're getting the maroxi-bind structure black is normally very happy once a set of minor pieces have been exchanged we have seen B3 and David Parapial is having a think white is I think slightly better in these positions but black is extremely solid Rakesh wants to know the format please I'm surprised he doesn't know let's remind you one final time of what the format is for this playoff so these two games you are currently watching these two matchups they are semi-finals they have been drawn at random and the two players who win their respective matches will advance to the final where the title of this year's Gibraltar Masters will be decided the time control for the first two games is 10 minutes plus 5 seconds and if the match is still tied after two games one with each color they will play Blitz 3 plus 2 so 3 minutes with a 2 second increment per move if they are still tied after those two games they will play an Armageddon that's right and I think the Armageddon will be 6 minutes against 5 minutes white will have 6 minutes black will have 5 no increment until move 60 but white needs to win and yes this is going to be exciting stuff it is a mix between Rapid and Blitz the first two games have actually started quite quietly I think the players as you said you know this difficulty to adjust from a classical time control to this tricky 10 plus 5 which is somewhere in between I think they are still just getting in the swing of things and I think do you think we might be seeing maybe two more quiet games by the way some big names among the spectators we see Shantzaya Abdumalik on the top cam also Nisha Mahota from India and just to let you know if we can switch the camera for or actually on the bottom camera you see Prague in the background with the purple jacket he is still playing his round 10 game classical game against Ivan Sharich they are nearing move 100 and Prague is still fighting Nadra will keep you posted about that one that is right a lot of money riding on the line I am not sure I would be too happy with some rapid games going on alongside but that is the way it goes and these players so far things have started quite slowly quite sedately we do see a couple more exchanges though after Bishop B to D4 Bishop is captured B5 I think we will see Cxb5 and a rook to C1 can I jump with my knight to D5 is that going to be an outpost for the knight eventually or what I am not sure if that is good or bad but I am glad to see the knight jump into D5 that is a good move I think sooner or later it will jump there anyway white has the queenside majority if white can get a queenside passport later especially on this a-file there is a distraction tactics will always happen when you have pass spawns and that can be very useful in rapid games I like white here me too I think white is just easier to play with white somehow with black you need to be resourceful you need to somehow create something whereas with white you just centralise your rooks get that pass spawn going on the a-file and black has also centralised his knight the knight has jumped D5 the players are down to 6 minutes there allocated time is gone we saw Yesipenko make another quick move work F2C1 and black has decided to give up his bishop for this monster knight on D5 that is right and B4 locking down this queenside I was a bit afraid of this as white I wanted to get my pawn going to A4 first now with A4 black will take on passant and white can capture but this B-pawn will be very weak on B3 we are seeing a lot of moves in the other game maybe we can check in there let's go back to Daniel Yuffa and Wang Hao yes and a few developments after knight to E5 black played rook FD8 white played knight E4 sacrificing his pawn on D4 and it looks like Yuffa has captured a knight on F6 but he doesn't look too confident in this position how is white playing for the draw white is a pawn down and can you immediately recapture on C6 possibly lots to figure out here tactically knight takes C6 I think might run into rook C4 and this would lose a piece because that's a double attack so maybe white has to recapture on D4 first but then knight takes C6 this B2-pawn hanging it looks like white might be yeah I mean it feels like maybe he can force a draw I'm not sure I can't see any tactics here for black really if queen takes B2 queen takes, bishop takes, rook B1 I think this is going to end in a draw very shortly but knight D7 instead okay I thought that this might force a draw for Yuffa but he's going for more, knight D7 Qd8 almost forced I think maybe he can take on D1 for check first so defending this bishop which can now be recaptured with the queen if white takes there I mean there's there's got to be some tactics now I mean at the very least white would just put a knight on C5 for a strong square and claim compensation for the pawn I think that's full compensation is there a way to win back to pawn and he has taken on F6 queen F6 rook takes, queen takes and rook D1 and that rook is jumping into the 7th rank next next, 7th heaven 7th heaven, the queen has dropped back to B6 after a moment's hesitation maybe we could see a draw here bit of calculation to do rook D7 is the most natural move at least, rook D8 and pieces come off the board there's no pins here, bishop B4 will get out of trouble for white we could see so many exchanges here let's, we'll keep an eye on the camera let's check back in with Panko and Paravyan that's right and more exchanges on this board too we have seen a pair of rooks leave the board H3 just being played after rook C2, king C7 H3, H5 more quick moves I mean these are kind of blitz moves that are just nice to play you get your king nice and safe tucked away so tactics don't work everything's protected now for white, everything's protected for black I mean you can tell they've both played a lot of blitz not allowing any tactics here I mean I still slightly prefer white chances, this knight in E5 looks nice, but it will get kicked away sometime soon that being said queen and knights are so dangerous especially at speed chess Rakesh Rakesh is saying that Yuffa has got to win in the rapid portion of this match he himself beat him in blitz recently in Abu Dhabi so he does not trust Yuffa's blitz skills that tongue-in-cheek of course of course, humble brag yeah, I mean I think of the four players Yuffa is maybe the least known for his speed skills and of Paravyan I mean this is pretty sad I've seen on YouTube him playing blitz in the Russian championships and world blitz championships too pretty pedigree and Wang Hao, just a phenomenally strong player so we've seen a few more moves in this game, F4, king back in the night and Rooksie 6 I like the way Esa Panko played Rooksie 6 drilling it into that square trying to show his opponent who's boss it's important to play that immediately before black establishes the knight Rooksie 6 I would expect to see queen A5 or queen B5 here maybe queen A7 actually queen A7 looks the most natural just keeping an eye on the spawner and the stygonal but queen A5 instead was played the time is taking down the players on now down under 5 minutes for the Pregnananda and even showerage fans out there, these guys are on move 97 even showerage has just pushed another pawn so we could see 50 more moves of that they could still be there when the playoff is over maybe we'll have to stick with the commentary of their game at 10pm actually Maxine Vashlygrav made his 100th move when black resigned and we will see 100 moves on that board too by the way for those of you in the chat asking if you can get both boards we will see after this first game if we can arrange that no promises but we will try yes and a big blunder not a blunder but a strategic mistake I said I like this queen A7 move instead he played queen A5 and he forgot that A4 is possible now black cannot take en passant because this queen is undefended on A5 and that gives white something to work with that backward pawn on A2 has now become a path to A pawn yeah Alfred or Alfred the A pawn, Alex the A pawn, Adam the A pawn yeah I mean either way he's going to run forward sooner or later what white has to be careful of is that this B3 pawn might be a target for black's knight but that's easily defended against the thing is for white this is pretty much a dream your king is safely tucked away on H2 your rook on C6 is doing a great job controlling the C file controlling the 6th rank you're probably going to double even if it gets hit with a move like I don't know knight B8 the rook can come maybe to C4 hitting B4 to C8 I really really like Esipenko's chances here now no that's right me too queen B2 treks always in the air somehow it feels like it's easier to improve white's position and that past A pawn now is a demon did this confirm Andre did you actually make that joke anything but Andre Andre of course Andre the A pawn I thought it was Ari the A pawn there's Andre that's right how the H pawn David the D pawn Daniel the D pawn so if we check in on the other game we haven't been in there for a while a couple more moves after rook D7 black played B4 why not black is a pawn up temporarily queen D2 rook F8 just over protecting F7 therefore ideas white played E3 bit mysterious not sure I understand that one so much but E3 useful waiting move and black played bishop A8 I'm a bit confused by the last pair of moves so bishop E8 I guess the idea is you want to activate your queen or the sort of I mean you want to I guess play C5 eventually and now this bishop is defended you can play C5 last move I would expect to move like queen D6 and we now have the two boards so I think we're going to stop analyzing so what you see now is the two life boards and we'll follow the action there on camera no that's right and a lot of moves being played there on the bottom screen Wang Hao against Daniel Lufa Wang Hao has played C5 the clock times David I mean Daniel Lufa with blitz it has to be said we're not sure to how accurate they are but roughly accurate so Daniel Lufa is already playing pretty much on increment while Wang Hao still has four minutes that's right and Wang Hao is so practical not just in classical games but also these speed games and there we see the bishops come off the board I mean Wang Hao is suddenly in the driver's seat he's still a pawn up white never managed to regain that pawn that he sacrificed early on what do you think his chances of converting this extra pawn? I think that's slim white is so active and controls the defile but I mean as we saw in his game against Pregnananda in the main tournament if you take a pawn, if you're AI able to hold on to it then later that does definitely become a factor what about Andrew Yesipenko's game what do you think of his chances? I think not too much has changed have we seen a repetition of moves possibly if white plays rook c6 now then the queen will drop back and repetition I think but it's just hard to make progress as white that a pawn looks so great it's just hard to push it further and the rook is going back to c6 we'll see queen a7 now and we've seen this position before David Paravian does not look so happy he's claiming with the arbiter he's claiming a three-fold repetition Andrew Yesipenko does not seem to agree otherwise he would shake hands I think he probably wants to try and this one will be very interesting because if it is a three-fold then the game will be over but if it is an incorrect claim time will be added to Yesipenko No that's right let me just try and figure it out so David is our three-fold expert I'm the pawn counter we're the three-fold expert I think they're going to step away from this board to check it Yes he is correct I think about this three-fold repetition and we've worked funnily enough we were just talking about this just yesterday about how tricky sometimes it is to verify these three-fold repetitions I don't know if we've seen a shake of hands yet no I think they are stepping away because on the Wang Hao game the queen has just dropped back to B8 and White can regain his pawn but he didn't want to, he didn't want to take on A5 he decided instead to maintain his bind by controlling the D-file and yeah I mean claiming a three-fold repetition when you don't have a score sheet to check especially in a speed game when you don't have time to think about it but I think he is correct on his claim And here do you still think that Daniel Lufi's pieces are so nice and central but do you think there's enough counter play? Yes, I think now he is okay I'm surprised by Wang Hao's last move I would have put my pawn on A3 as black it looks like he captured on B3 There we see Ace Panko standing by his board Oh I think the players are still waiting for Confirage and that's what we were saying yesterday sometimes it takes it takes a long time to check these things We have some of the best arbiters in the world here in Gibraltar but I found even the best arbiters do struggle sometimes with the three-fold repetition it's hard if you're not playing to imagine it in your mind so they have to take a step back and play it through on the board And the only score sheet that exists of course we have the PGN files meanwhile on the upper camera we see Ivan Chowich still trying to convert his extra pawn but he's down one pair of pawns have been swapped it's now just one pawn for Pragnananda two pawns for Ivan Chowich and it looks like we're headed towards a draw there and it isn't and wow I'm scared on tonight it would actually be incredible if yeah I'm going to try and work this out off-screen I really hope that the arbiters are not wrong because that would be a big big scandal so one two three yeah it's definitely a draw I think the arbiters have got this one mistaken I'm David we might have to send you upstairs some shocking scenes there I actually this one you know we were saying who would you trust for your life for this or that I think you are the number one man on the planet who I would trust with my life when it comes to threefold repetitions what people in the chat are conflicted something it's a wrong claim what does Rakesh think? Rakesh let us know there is some drama the game goes on and it turns out that Paravian was right I don't know what happens there yeah he could launch an appeal but he would have to do it immediately I mean the arbiters he seems very sure as well like he has been told to play on and he's like no I mean I would be the same I mean it's incredible and Jesse Panko with the smile I don't know if he knows I think he's I think he does know it's just he feels it's a draw because he won't go against you I mean maybe the arbiters okay it's better that they double check now we should look at the Wang Hao game Wang Hao has a winning end game now I'm pretty sure he's close to winning simply his two on the queen side are too strong for white's one white's rook is tied down keeping an eye on the c5 pawn and as soon as Rook takes f7 happens Rook takes b3 now Wang Hao frowning just wondering why and Wang Hao is about to win with black he's about to win with black which is a big big win all he will need with the white pieces in the next game is a draw to advance to the final he has recently won the big Isle of Man Open the Grand Swiss can he win all the big opens I mean he seems even said it on day one he was your pick he's such an expert he beat me so you know he must be he must be super strong and yeah I think Wang Hao he never seems to be in danger he's just so hard to beat and the draw has just been confirmed thankfully Paravyan was so certain yes and I was pretty certain too it's just surprising the arbiters took so long it seemed they went away and put it on the board but there we go a draw and a decent result for Paravyan I think he was a bit worse and he had black so white in the next game meanwhile Wang Hao's pawn are making a run for it but it's well known that when two pawns they do push forward themselves they do support each other and root c3 and we're going to see a handshake b3 and resignation so the first game is over we had a draw in the game between Yasepanko and Paravyan after some drama and a big win for Wang Hao it's never going to be easy was it Fiona no it's never going to be straightforward so I think well the players are sitting down already they're going to get a break I don't think they want a break yeah they probably don't want a break yeah I mean I've been there myself you don't want to kind of go outside for 10 minutes because actually you lose focus you lose concentration and meanwhile Pregnan and Das game is on move 106 David we're not going to bring it up but you can see it on our screen do you think that's going to be a draw I think that's a dead draw now for over 7 hours long may it continue chess is a tough game that's right I mean who says chess isn't a sport they should have had heart monsters on this place who said it was going to be easy nobody ever exactly I mean I've won heart monsters during my game I mean one of my opponents burnt I think one and a half thousand calories during the game there's one guy who's famous for having burnt so much I think it's a Russian grandmaster Rakesh was there in the Isle of Man he probably knows this he's a hero to Sam another fellow streamer one of these two guys should know there was one guy who burnt such an incredible amount of calories I doubt he was playing 7 hours and the playoff right I mean whoever you're talking about I doubt he was playing 7 hours and then playoff games as well with 30,000 pounds on the line incredible and the reason you feel resigned in that game is that Wang Hao is just making a new queen so I think it was actually anti-pov that is true it was Mihail Antipov who was playing here in Gibraltar we saw him a lot it's all that hair twiddling saw the hair twiddling I mean he burns maybe 5000 calories with his hands alone during the games no that's incredible I played against Abhijit Gupta as well and he was drinking so much coffee that somehow his heart rate was all over the place during our games and apparently it was his and Abhijit Gupta talking about him, their heart rates were through the roof I remember I played a game I blundered and my heart rate was still the same and the next game Abhijit Gupta he was spiking anywhere between 80 and 160 during that game incredible stuff so we see David Paravian is the first player to sit back down at the board I hope he, I mean I know that if this was you playing after this draw claim hopefully he can put that aside and I'm actually very impressed at how calm he remained in a tricky situation he was, they were close to making him play on but he said no I'm certain it is a threefold repetition they went back to check it again and it was confirmed he was correct and we see him there take a moment to refocus before his rematch he will be playing with the white pieces as you said you prefer and I think a lot of players prefer having the white pieces in game 2 you know what you need you need a win to go through in case of a draw they will be playing Blitz 3 plus 2 and other 2 games we shouldn't forget as well Paravian is 4 years I think older than his opponent he's very experienced he's played so many speed games in his life seeing a threefold repetition is kind of child's play for him and also you mentioned playing the second game with white is an advantage but for Wang Hao who won with black with the white pieces and I mean I had a black piece against him in the Isle of Man final round I knew I needed to win and it's just he never loses with white it's just so hard to beat he's got this one sewn up if he plays solidly there is another question in the chat about this play of Sua Daadi's guys playing for are they playing for the title or is the prize money divided equally no it is and it is the divided for every place behind first place but whoever wins this play of will take all the money the first prize £30,000 so that's the title to add to your CV it always looks nice to have won Gibraltar £30,000 and all the glory no exactly I mean it's a launching pad as well I remember being here in 2005 when Levan Ronin was one of the winners and then he went on to become one of the best players in the world we saw Artemiyov win here last year the European Championship some medals for Russia as well it's a real launching pad by the way I love how all the spectators who were looking at the playoffs just a second ago have all just turned around by 180 degrees and are now looking at Prague's ending which is meanwhile on move 113 but Prague is still holding his own incredible at 13 or 14 14 years of age he showed some incredible nerves Ivan Sharich put him to a real test today I mean imagine sitting there for more than 7 hours defending over 100 moves in a bad position, in a bad end game only 14 years old I mean that's a good sign for the future end games have always been a strong point Prague and Nanda but I mean that's incredible tenacity so that game well let's not write it off before it's over but it's likely to finish in a draw and if it does they will finish half a point behind the leaders Yassipenko and Paravian Yassipenko seems to be in a very light mood Paravian is probably saying I can't believe this took so long to verify he doesn't want to smile I think Yassipenko was asking whose water that was Paravian was like none of your business none of your business like none of your business in the chat who's been with us almost every day guys there's so many of you watching us right now shout out you've been here almost every day and this is the grand conclusion of this year's event I know and yeah the climax is approaching well if Wang Hao wins now or draws he will be through to the final but their chances are that the the other game might well go to the Blitz matches and I think we've just had a result in the Prague Nanda game I don't know if we can switch the camera for one second Prague Nanda that game has just officially ended in a draw and there we see Prague still putting back the pieces his last game it took 7 hours and 15 minutes but he did eventually manage to defend we see our arbiter there we see Tania on the left I love the bold colors everyone is just waiting for Daniel Yuffa for the return game of the semifinals it's tight I mean he's the one player out of the four and there is Yuffa with the high five with Shanzaiya Abdul Malik that's right low five I think it was but yeah he's the one player who needed to get out of the room I think have some fresh air maybe wash his face and think okay let's forget I just lost with white but I still have a chance yes it's with black yes it's against one of the top 10 players in the world but I mean in rapid and fast anything can happen in any single game he played such a fantastic tournament to get to this playoff but Wang Hao he really looks imperturb... how do you pronounce that word? imperturbable I trust you Fiona I'm partival I can't even say that in French anymore David in our defence we've been here for over 7 hours as well that's right we've been here and there's a handshake Wang Hao and Yuffa are starting first and there comes the other handshake Wang Hao started with night of three actually we need to we are just waiting I think for the Pijians to come through for this game let's try and bring them up yes we will just get those boards up in a moment but on the right hand side we do see the video the live action of the players we see a Kings Indian defence in the game Wang Hao, Yuffa and our favourite opening David Karo Kahn sorry you go are we both shocked at how long Karo Kahn is taking? Espenko only plays the Karo Kahn it's his main opening it has been since he was born he's famous for it and that game that we mentioned Karajakin against Espenko in 2017 Espenko used it to win very nicely in 20 moves Queen Sacrifice if you haven't seen it do check it out so we have the boards now and he has played an exchange variation that's right a tricky move order by Paravyan just testing what set up Espenko wants to go for and on the other board though Kings Indian nice and active nice and contrapersonal opening Black is really just allowing to take the centre as we see Black will try and counter attack most likely on the Kings side we actually saw this position in the main tournament Black was a tempo up and the Kings Indian in the game Paravyan against Ansipov but here we see Yuffa who needs to win just trying to create as many imbalances as possible the bishop yep no you go Yuffa is using a line that's quite old and quite rare nowadays and I think what is supposed to be better but it's a test does Wang Hao know what he's doing I think Wang Hao it will take a lot of unconventional moves to somehow surprise him or at least take him out of you know he always looks so relaxed and I haven't do you remember when the last time was that Wang Hao was involved in a big playoff I wonder if he has played any actually none of these maybe none of these four players have ever played a playoff as big as this one I mean Wang Hao for sure has played at the World Cup I remember him recently having this kind of marathon much with Lenya Dominguez I think he went out in that game eventually I think he went just before the Armageddon games maybe it was even the Armageddon but Wang Hao yeah I mean he's had so much experience compared to these guys Wang Hao is the only guy in his 30s now I think he's just turned 30 and Rakesh has figured out the numbers so after the draw between Pragana Nanda and Saric so the winner will get 30,000 pounds and all the other players who shared first place on 7th and a half will get 10,500 each so basically this playoff the difference it's a difference of 20,000 pounds basically almost double twice as much for the winner compared to the three three times yes excuse me it's been a long day also the word is impertable impertable yeah that's right and for those of you in the chat it looks like my mic was off it ran out of battery we've been commentating for so long that we've had to change the battery in the mic hopefully I'm back by now MassMatch no no no I'm gonna go quite as well as long as they change it while they change my mic David over to you no that's right I mean imagine just some speed games decide 30,000 pounds for the winner just over 10,000 pounds for all the others no almost three times as much and that shows today's such a big day for these guys especially the three young Russians I mean I think Wang Hao won his fair share of money in the Isle of Man and will get a decent amount at the candidates but for the three others it's maybe not life changing but it's a huge amount it's such a huge difference like you said on the CV as well imagine what a boost this will be for their careers I mean Artemiev who won here last year and came on to become to win the European Championship as well this one we have three more Russians in the running I'm cheering I'm not cheering I'm not cheering for anyone I'm a big fan of Wang Hao I think Wang Hao should have the best chances I think Wang Hao on paper should have the best chances he has the most experience he has you know played these high tension games the most and the Russians are young and they are hungry that's right they're all very young Espenko 17 I think Paravian and Eufa both 22 Wang Hao 30 yeah I mean it's incredible chess is the young person's game nowadays for better or for worse I'm not sure in the chat I mean it's mentioned that Wang Hao is using his left hand but I think he might be a righty but just using his left I mean there are certain players for example Levon Oronian he is a righty and he writes all his moves with his right hand and he plays all his moves with his left and we saw Maxime Vashley grav do that earlier today as well a lot of moves though especially on the bottom board I mean not the bottom board but the bottom camera between Wang Hao and Eufa they're both rushing ahead with this King's Indian and quite likely Eufa's position I was just going to say how much of an issue is that hole on E3 can our knight have a jump in or our bishop and also what do we do with the light squared bishop that's still on C8 good question E3 bishop doesn't have so much of a job right now I think 93 doesn't really threaten much I'll just move my queen and it's not clear he actually put the bishop into E3 and they are about to be swapped Wang Hao responded with King G1 and he did make a hand movement towards the bishop and he has now taken on F2 that's right and Eufa will now try to put his knight into D4 now the dark squared bishops are off the board that is an outpost maybe he can try and play C6 or C5 first if he really wants to create more tension in the center long term if White can solidify and he just put a plant a knight onto E4 White is doing very well but right now it looks like Eufa's got a healthy enough position what about the caro kan that one the first game ended in a draw so it could match could and here with the decisive result you are our in-house caro kan expert what do you make of this one? I mean I actually do a lot of my caro kan I started using Espenko's game this one is actually transposed into a line that I had more than 10 years ago against Wesley So from the White side OK, White decides to take in D4 I was going to say I played Bishop D3 in that game and after Bishop H5 I played King to F1 and everyone thought it was a mouse slip but it was a real life over the board game Inspired by Vladimir Kramnik a big advocate for a new no-cancelling rule Inspired by someone who was pretending to be Alexander Morozovich ICC the internet chess club he told me it was a great move and then I played it over the board and I realised ah it's just a load of rubbish and it turned out to be an imposter but either way, White takes the Bishop H5 now in that game, Black castles it's this cars bad structure which is so rigid it usually appears from the Queen's gambit declined how much of an edge is the Bishop H5 here? a fair amount I think just in recent years people have started to realise that actually White can get an attack going on the King side but the Queen side minority attack doesn't get started anytime soon White has decent attacking chances so H3 I expect to see maybe a move that prepares Bishop D6 for Black Black needs to try and exchange off the remaining castles of the Bishops that Queen probably wants to find a more active square than C8 B7 is under attack so maybe Black will aim for B5 first Knight A5 maybe and then redeploy the Queen Bxp does not look too happy we saw him frown there as A4 appeared on the board making playing B5 that much harder I think Black really needs to challenge that Bx4 maybe with a move I mean it's sad to play but 98 and Bd6 or maybe D8 and Bd6 maybe even Bd8, Bc7 but you need to challenge that Bishop now Black is really struggling for space and activity in the Hau game Wang Hau put his knight to D4 which Yufei has just captured how is White going to recapture both knights and taking both taking with the knight and the pawn look quite tempting I think he will take with the knight if you take with the pawn the knight on F2 doesn't have such a great home we see Wang Hau frowning there as if he's shocked and confused I would take with the knight I think for sure take with the pawn just allows knight D4 yes he played the move that I had in mind for a while Queen D7 that's another way maybe a more natural way to challenge with Bd6 actually Bd6 is currently possible and I think he might play it Bd6 White cannot grab the pawn on B7 with Bxd6, Qxd6, Qxb7 the queen will get trapped on that square B8 picks it up immediately that's right and Wang Hau is predicted it has recaptured with the knight and I liked the look of that knight on E4 it's a great outpost and White is threatening to play C5 and really pushed through the advantage in the center so knight D4, I expect to see C5 appear maybe even F4 if Wang Hau is feeling fruity actually the more I look at White's position is just improving Black has made no progress at all in the last few moves he will have to find some winning chances so if you are just joining us this is game 2 of the semifinals Wang Hau won game 1 with the Black pieces so all he needs is a draw to advance to the final take one step closer to becoming the 2020 winner of the chip chess masters and taking home the first whopping prize of £30,000 actually all my years playing here in Gibraltar I've never known such a disparity in the first place and drawing first place that's an incredible amount of money they're playing for and we see some exchanges in the game between Paravian and Espenko so the bishops have come off the board that definitely helps Black but he's been forced to put his knight on the side of the board on the rim and the knight on the rim, David is sometimes dim what about this knight yes it's not great Bishop takes E5 the boards that we see on the live boards are slightly slightly behind the video but we did see Bishop takes E5 D takes E5 and knight takes H5 I would expect to see G3 from Paravian and that knight will have to reroute itself to G7 Fianceta knights are normally quite bad unless you're playing two bishops versus knights end games Espenko is also over 3 minutes down on the clock which at this time control is already quite significant that's right and we did see F4 from Wanghao and Black is captured on C4 I think this is really getting away from you for now after FxE5 D takes E5, rook takes C4 Bishop B5, I would expect to see rook takes D4, exchange sacrifice getting rid of that knight on D4 after FxE5 could Black consider taking with the board? the knight on D4 needs the protection of the board that is a very good point and there we see that has happened on the board FxE5, D takes E5 I think White will recapture that pawn on C4 now, it's very much in Wanghao's style to just play simple chess there we go and if the bishop jumps to B5 OK it jumps to F5 instead that's a better square attacking White's knight trying to get rid of that great knight on an outpost Wanghao do you expect him to move the knight or will he be happy to I think the bishop on E4 will also be doing a great job no that's right I mean Black's last move was very clever I was trying to sacrifice with rook takes D4 but I didn't think that would be enough now so maybe White will move the knight to C5 or just move to Qc1 OK so Qc1 doubling on the C5 putting some pressure against the pawn on C7 and Black's king just looks a bit airy just looks a bit weak Black's pawn structure is far worse than White's Black has 4 pawn islands, White has 3 it's looking great for Wanghao at the moment I think at the moment both positions actually look great for the players with the white pieces I think I would I wouldn't be too unhappy with Black in the S-Penko game just because I've played these Karakans and the space issue isn't so important now that a couple of minor pieces have been exchanged I'm just worried about that knight on H5 if it doesn't find any work anytime soon then it could become an issue later on and on G7 it isn't so great either so yeah, White's slightly better there but not a huge amount and we saw just put the rook to E8 what is it doing there David? mysterious it must be supporting the f6 break so Black would like to break with f6 but he is over protecting the pawn on E6 before he does it's very sensible in Blitz or Rapid Games you don't want to, if you're not sure about committing something to something, especially pawn breaks especially some tactics or forcing lines then just bringing all your pieces into the action makes sense, that rook wasn't doing too much on C8 now he gets it ready for the action later on and yeah, he's not committed he can always go back to the other side if he decides f6 isn't great he'll think on his opponent's time though in the Wang Hao game we see him take a sip of water he seems very calm and Yufa is in the very tricky spot of having to find some chances he's in a must win situation otherwise he is out of this playoff that's right I mean he doesn't look too happy as we mentioned he is possibly the least well known for his speed skills that showed in the first game he got outplayed from a roughly level position and here it's hard to find a move for black yeah I was just going to say it's very difficult he has played rook e7 it's hard enough to defend but creating some winning chances is going to be very difficult that's right and already there might be some tactics in the position I would imagine a move like d6 probably doesn't work right now but d6 is always in the air opening up that bishop on g2 David let's see the Sipeng and by c I mean watch so we have some change now in the structure white has broken with c4 which was captured and queen takes c4 is on the board yeah and that makes full use of the fact that black moved his rook away from the c file but I mean I'm not so sure that helps really and the rook is just coming back to c8 suddenly black's knight will have some outpost yeah I was just thinking I would love to get my knight so that knight on h5 is still not doing very much I guess it will go to g7 to f5 I mean white is still slightly better and naturally it does make sense to open the position because you do have a bishop and bishops love open lines the bishop wants to be on e4 now the queen has dropped back to b3 stepping out of that c file and keeping a knight on b7 the question I have is can the knight jump to e7 and try and jump into d5 yep that would definitely make sense I might even flick in rook fda first or maybe even queen c7 first to hit the a5 pawn and now we see d6 I mention this as a tactical idea now if black so Wang Hao captures on d6 with his knight that knight is loose but if queen takes knight the a8 rook will fall that pushponchi too sniping away on a8 is taking a moment to consider his options he's still 2 minutes down on the clock he's now under 3 minutes but I think at this moment it's important to figure out a plan what do I want to do in the next few moves that's right and I love how the chat has to send it into a theoretical debate discussion about the Karakann lightsy guys saw your comment but there is simply no time to discuss these things Alex and I in our Karakann DVD recommend 3c5 so you can buy that to find out more about it check it out www.gingergm.com absolutely no Karakann the dynamic Karakann oh yeah that one I thought it was the killer Karakann so let's take with the games rook has dropped off the board black has sacrificed material and now e4 this is ambitious by you I don't think it's completely sound that pushponchi is on a8 stuck out there in Siberia but I don't know black has sacrificed some material at the very least white can sacrifice some back so it's a full exchange pawns are equal I did a quick count, 4 pawns each how do we stop I guess all we need to do is stop that pawn make sure that doesn't queen but it's a very long way away can I somehow get some play on the D file I think knight f3 check is black's oh that's a big threat I would suggest possibly a move like queen d1 to try and side step that and if knight f3 check just moving my king to the corner maybe you could put your king in the corner first just to a bit of prophylaxis just to be ready for the knight jumping into f3 I mean it feels like at the very least white can play rook takes d4 but that would be kind of a last resort and we think what else rook d1 I don't think works I think it's the first time in the game that we see Wang Hao really pause because it is a big threat but it feels like Wang Hao just needs a few accurate moves to parry all the threats let's remind everyone again all he needs is a draw to advance to the finals that's right he's a big big favorite what's it gonna be he's also ahead on the clock despite having a long think here I would play possibly queen d1 or f1 d1 maybe meanwhile we've had some big changes in the power of Yan Yasi Penko game whose favor is b7 dropping off David I think it is falling you have to be a bit careful with white b4 is coming 4 black but queen takes b7 it looks possible Wang Hao has played this move rook d1 that was my first instinct and then I thought I just allowed an e2 check with some forks but there's some counter tactics the queen is on d6 and it is undefended that's right so white is initiating some tactics that do look decent for white I can't see any immediate and there he goes knight e2 is on the board king f2 is he gonna catch the queen does he have a choice queen e6 check queen b6 queen e3 yeah I think you might have missed that one queen e3 maybe he was banking king takes knight and then bishop g4 check and some tactics but it looks like he might yeah I think he just missed that one body language wise he missed that queen b6 would be met by queen e3 now and the problem is what else both you hit your queen on d6 and your knight on e2 under attack black is already an exchange down and he is in a must win situation and this one is looking very tough for euphan yeah let's try and calculate this e3 check that doesn't work king takes knight and bishop g4 check is impossible because suddenly rook defense g4 covering g4 nice desperate for euphan now queen f6 okay e3 check and I think the knight will just disappear and there's no bishop g4 check we'll see a resignation now white has a rook up black has no more threats and euphan realises what he's done and Paravyan meanwhile took a long think before playing queen e3 these players white is down her to 2 minutes 1 minute 4 yes e panko David how do you like his position I'm surprised by that last move by white queen e3 trying to get the queens off I think white is the only one who can be better simply because black's knight is so bad on h5 not really participating at the moment but it feels like the pressure is slowly disappearing maybe e3 can get all the queenside pawns off he's gonna take b2 queen takes b2 is on the board and the bishop drops back to b2 how calm is that white simply wants to go rook b1 and take on b7 but now I think black's out of danger somehow there must be a way to somehow I mean prevent this rook b1, rook takes b7 idea oh and draw a greed wow so we are going to the blitz games we will see at least two more games between David Paravian and Andrei Espenko Yuffa is still I know he's not still thinking he has played queen f6 but all one how needs to do now it's just to make sure he doesn't get mated basically but I don't even see a threat for black at the moment bishop g4 check might be a threat but I think bishop d5 check first king g7 we'll see queen to c3 I'm going to swap queens off rook e5 I mean white can do anything at this point bishop back to f3 prevents any checks any nonsense on the f2 square there we go bishop f3 and I think we'll see Yuffa resign he's just a rook down and no compensation white's king is super safe and if when he does we see Wang Hao trying to to get a sight on what has happened on the other board and there we see the resignation so Wang Hao advances to the final where he will be facing either David Paravyan or Andrey Yesipenko the two Russians will decide who of them goes through to the final in a couple of blitz games at the time control will be three minutes and two seconds guys we'll just take a one minute breather we'll keep the cameras we'll just rearrange maybe the layout so we'll see you in just two minutes see you soon and we're back and the first blitz game between Paravyan and Yesipenko has just started so this one is now played at the time control three minutes plus two seconds we're just working on getting the board up for now we'll follow it on camera by the way if you are watching us on YouTube you can come over to Twitch where you can join a chat oh just think where you are but anyway welcome to all of you and here we will decide who is going to play against Wang Hao for the big final to decide the winner of this year's GYPCHAS Masters and who is going to take the first prize of 30,000 pounds David no that's right and actually on the board now we're seeing a very theoretical line Yesipenko we mentioned he's loyal to the Karakan he plays it all the time as black and he's shaking his head quite early on let's just hope that his predictability the fact that he doesn't switch things up let's hope it doesn't come back to bite him in the end it looks like he's been hit by some preparation and I mean the C3 and B5 line it's quite a rare one we'll just try and get that board up for you in a moment but what is having a think now does he capture the knight on D7 does he retreat his bishop and a couple of long things here considering it's a three minute game now a couple of long things I mean we mentioned before it's hard to adapt from the classical games to the ten minutes but also ten minutes to three minutes is also quite a big switch and even if we can just get one board that will be enough we're just trying to bring that back up Yes and a bit of an odd retreat but should be two four white I'm not a big fan of that one I mean I hope they start moving I mean they are starting to move quicker now the game will most likely be decided later in the middle game Esipenko knows these systems these setups very very well though I mean I studied many of his games in these lines we have a what is almost a French defense at this point but black has a decent I mean black's bishop on F5 is very nicely developed and we're about so what you see on the left hand side there is the life position it will struggle to keep up with the player's pace and we're just working on getting our analysis board back up as well so that maybe you can show us a couple of maybe just draw some arrows it will be hard to keep track and black has gone for a tactic we're going to see that on the board in the moment it looks like Esipenko has spotted an idea that Paravian had missed he's captured this pawn on B4 it's that knight is taken which it is bishop C2 attacking the queen and the knight and black is winning a pawn that's right and it's not okay it's not just a pawn it's also he will get his bishop round to the C4 square he's going to be positionally strategically better as well bishop takes knight and that bishop will land on C4 next move white now desperately has to create some open lines create some kind of counter play but it looks far fetched that will just take on B5, bishop takes B5 and bishop C4 so I think we're actually just going to bring up I think we can just stick with the live board if we can get the live board and the camera that will be enough it's struggling as it is so David Andrea Esipenko now a big favorite to reach the final I would say yes I mean he has a fantastic position B6 now I'm not hugely keen on that one I would have preferred to maybe put my knight on B6 to get it to the C4 square now black's knight is passive but then again black is a pawn up and black has got technically what is supposed to be the better bishop I can definitely see him bringing his pieces to the open files swapping off some rooks and winning long term and this is let's remind everyone I mean I shouldn't have written if I said Andrea was a big favorite to reach the final this is only game one of the two blitz games he will even if David Paravian goes down there will be the rematch he will have the black pieces but especially in blitz absolutely anything can happen of course that's right and actually just a really sad blunder to make he looks so confident in the opening and then as soon as he started to have these long things started to go wrong so yeah I mean white is not threatening much white is just going to sit and ask black to make progress so how do we make crores can we try and somehow hit that rook on B5 with the knight it will take a while to coordinate it but for now black is just doubling on the C file and when in doubt push Harry that's right Harry the H pawn running up the board there just trying to create some chaos some weaknesses later H6 if white's pawn was allowed to get to H6 there would always be tactics always mating ideas and you don't want to allow that in blitz so H6 for black H6 and black well he is up that pawn on B6 which is blocked for now but it is still it is still an extra pawn and white is trying to put up some counter play he's pushing forward g pawn yes I mean it's desperate but it makes sense in blitz you might as well scale your opponent you know your pawn down and struggling anyway and there we see the board now so g4 has been played queen c6 queen c6 and the queen goes to c4 yeah I mean c4 won't be the final square it goes to it wants to jump into d3 if black can force the queens off the board black will I mean be a massive favorite to win it's going to be very hard for white to stop that we'll go to d3 and e4 it will be 2 I expect queen d3 here let me see if I can I get an approximate clock white is down to 45 seconds and black has just over a minute so very soon the moves will be coming in thick and fast rook a8 is on the board so black is now occupying all the open files yeah that's right white's rooks look very nice doubled up but they are hitting this very well protected pawn on b6 it's just hard to find an active plan for white g5 will never work white's just too weakened he might have to try it I mean if g5 yeah I would eat my hat again the bishop has dropped back to d2 hitting the rook which has gone to a3 rook is on a3 now rook c1 and queen to d3 surely yeah the queen is actually coming around to e4 now to target the g4 pawn white is struggling white will either have to swap queens or allow some kind of attack on his king side and yeah the queens will come off the board now most likely and yeah as you said black white cannot allow that d4 pawn to drop off because it is the one thing that's sort of holding position together what's happening here what's the king doing on f3 the king is going for an adventure on g3 it's nice and safe at the moment but some tactics happening rook c7 trying to get to the 7th rank and esi panko says no he's going to challenge that 7th rank queen c2 so it turns out white is the one who has to desperately swap off the queens or else his king would come we're just getting the shot onto the clocks 4 seconds for david power vian let's remind you he just gets a 2 second increment per move and 30 seconds so andrei esi panko he is still a pawn up he is in the driving seat on the clock but I mean with nerves anything anything can happen here just taking a king f7 and just get everything solid defended worry about making progress later let your opponent have a think king f7 now he needs oh he's gonna drop down to 10 seconds taking on f6 and white is going for g5 just trying to create some desperate counter play surprised that oh okay knight takes g5 bishop takes g5 yeah I mean black's piece is going to be the better one long term as long as he can avoid white's bishop getting into e5 rook b7 a solid move just defending that b pawn which is now going to start running down the board rooks do belong behind pass pawns and after rook b2 I expect the move e5 here there it is to activate that knight so both players now down under 10 seconds this is the first of the two blitz games oh dear I remember recently watching Alireza lose two magnus on the clock in the driving seat so one second oh Christ oh this is insane I'm so this is crazy David both players struggling to even make the time I mean make a move now black is still a pawn up but he needs the number one thing he needs to be and the pawn has dropped off the board and the draw I said Penko has blown his advantage unfortunately we will see a dead drawn king upon the game we'll see king vs king in a moment oh wow drama and Fiona's heart rate is off the scales right now David what a game that was I think we need to make sure for the second game we'll try and keep exactly this formation on screen I think we need to see the clocks someone has to have a word with Kevin Winter there with his head blocking the camera oh yes he Penko looks so disappointed I mean he had found his night tactic he was in control on the clock as well but the problem is these 30 seconds they take down so quickly no that's right and one one long pause one misstep and that whole clock advantage disappeared and his board advantage disappeared very very quickly guys in the twitch chat welcome to true welcome to everyone watching us this is insane I need a moment to I need a sip of water I mean dramatic stuff and it's only going to get more dramatic now we will see colors reversed we will see Espenko on the white side this time and if this is a draw we will see Armageddon the dreaded Armageddon game when we will I mean literally I think Fiona is going to so I mean this is the first playoff I've ever commented on it's just too much I can't handle it David if you're just joining us now so this is the playoff for who's to decide who's going to win this Gibraltar Masters 2020 it is the semifinals Wang Hao has beaten Daniel Yufa 2-0 to advance to the finals and in this second Blitz game it will be decided who will be playing Wang Hao for the first prize for 30,000 pounds all other three players involved in the playoff will share the remainder of the prize money actually I think that might be Fide President by the way who we're seeing in the background by the home of women's just poster Akadi Vorkovich I think will be with us in Gibraltar tonight so all other three players will be working away with 10,000 pounds still a great payday but three times as much for the winner exactly I mean you can think of it that all of the players in the playoff they've always secured 10,000 pounds I mean that's all in the bank now they're all just playing for that remaining 20 and also as we said before adding the Gibraltar title to your CV always a nice bonus no exactly Power of Yan is back at the board we see Yasi Panko still facing in the background he needs to forget about this game he was probably winning as black up upon in control but yeah as the time takes down it's so tough to keep I lost mine here I don't even want to imagine what the players feel and yeah I think now that he's moved a tiny bit closer that is indeed Akadi Vorkovich in the background President of Fide yeah so if we're not getting there might be an issue with getting the feed for this if it is I think we'll just follow this game on full screen yes we can yeah we'll talk about the game as it goes along I think Espenko who was pacing in the background there a moment ago I think not only does he need to forget the last game he needs to forget yesterday where he was a queen up against Magzulu and failed to win he would most likely already be the tournament winner at this point we'll get all that just focus on this game easier said than done I think if we're struggling to get the PGN but we should not worry I think we should get the two camera angles if possible one with the clock times and this one and with the two angles we should be able to follow all the angles so Espenko is back this is the second Blitz game if there is a decisive result here the winner will advance to the final to face Wang Hao if it is a draw we can see an Armageddon next and they are off that's right I mean I'm curious which opening we're going to see Espenko it's always been a 1D4 player looks like we're going to see the queens government decline okay the Catalan I think let's just stick with this I think the camera is enough to follow all the action yes that's right we see this variation with Bishop b4 check and a5 I mean I'm pretty sure I've seen Paravian play this before okay lots of Catalan's this tournament as well we've seen I don't even know I was going to talk about approaches but I think at this point it's really all about just keeping you cool and trying to play the players have to rely on intuition that's right 3 plus 2 such a quick fast control is so hard to adapt this morning did I say that such a fast time control just this morning they were playing classical games they would see some first exchanges on b4 that's right I mean I think that's the big issue here they have been playing these 7 hour time controls 10 days in a row and suddenly they're playing super quick blitz okay Black has taken control of the center he sacrificed a pawn on c5 but he is advancing d4 and e5 look like a very strong center right now White will be forced to retreat sooner or later looks like Espenko is about to play knight to d2 e4 if he doesn't do that so knight d2 does make some sense instead okay we see castles and I would expect Black to think about e4 if not then maybe a move like rook e8 or bishop g4 maybe even queen e7 so much choice here by Paravian but he needs to play quickly David I'm I'm out of commission it's such a complex games and I don't even know who's better give me just a quick just tell me who's better and why it's too hard a question I'd prefer to spend 2 weeks studying this position I think it might be slightly easier to play with Black you have given up a pawn but you have this clear plan you want to advance in the center you want to get your pieces out to great squares White is the one who's slightly tied down defending c5 defending the a2 pawn as well Black has this semi open a file we saw the bishop just go 2g4 is that bishop going to stay there or is it maybe going to try and retreat to g6 I think you're right bishop h5, bishop g6 would be a very nice plan also it's just time for Black to bring the rooks to the center maybe later once that knight on g5 is kicked back Black will play knight to d7 and try and recapture on c5 and even here I mean even in those kind of games a 30 second time advantage on the clock is already a little something and yes a panko will have to to speed up we saw this in the first game though Paravyan was lower on time for the duration of the game but he handled it very well when he got down to under 5 seconds I mean as the panko a few times was so close to losing on time the previous game he dropped down to 1 second at some point Paravyan was under 5 seconds when the panko had all the most a minute but in general it's not clear at the moment who the faster player is knight to e4 2 and Black says no, no exchanges knight to e8 I think that's a good move, you don't want to allow White to kind of free himself does he want to play one of my favourite moves f5 he does if Black gets f5 and e4 and Black is doing extremely well White would ideally like to stop that h3 the bishop will drop back I mean it won't be nice if White has to play it's just hard to understand what White wants in this position can I play a3 at some point I don't like how tied down I am on the a file but I don't know if a3 resolves that you can do and it might be quite likely sooner or later we will see an exchange on a3 and White's queen side pawns will be shattered so despite being a pawn up those queen side pawns don't mean a huge amount I mean while Black is just playing in the centre Black's just forgetting the whole queen side yes White's 4 versus 2 up on that side of the board Panko is now down to under a minute lagging behind one minute and he has decided on the e3 push allowing d3 that's right I would be very worried about playing e3 I think d3 and f5 maybe f5 now even looks very tempting the knight jumps into d6 where it is taken and now what queen takes oh queen takes ok I thought maybe rook takes but push back 7 now so White can finally get rid of this strong d pawn but it will be at the cost of allowing some more exchanges I think queen takes d3 will happen ok maybe e4 I would be thinking about as well here for White but if queen takes d3 everything will be exchanged on d5 and Black will be slightly better but White does play e4 on these on these angles e4 is on the board trying to keep that stronghold on d5 Black has taken on e4 the bishops come off the board that's right so I mean that d3 pawn still lives White does have a very nice rook now on e4 attacking this backward e5 pawn but I don't know somehow the d3 pawn is always going to be tactics later White's queen is the queen is just the worst blockaders and White's queen is tied down on d2 yeah White would love to have time to rearrange his pieces put his knight on d2 but it's going to be very difficult to achieve yeah that's right and I mean with Black here I would just be looking to maybe somehow get the a8 rook into play and the queen swings to g6 attacking the rook on e4 do I have time now to play a move like queen e3 possibly queen e3 there might be a move like d2 instead f3 just keeping things nice and solid e4 square is a launching pad for White it is the only outpost that White can really use for his pieces and knight to e7 okay coming around to f5 so can I not take on e5 and he will take it knight f5 now we need to defend that g3 pawn queen f4 maybe 25 seconds I think Paravian is trying to up the ante he is trying to put pressure on the clock and he will play g4 so kicking away that knight it is pinned the knight jumps to h4 check in g3 second game in a row we see White put a king on g3 in a middle game and I mean it's I'm just surprised Paravian is playing all this so quickly and after the most forcing moves he is having a think White is now two pawns up and he will create enough counter play the White king is a bit out in the open but if White had all the time in the world he would probably be winning but with 20 seconds on the clock it's a different story and I think it's just one pawn for White at the moment oh it's just one pawn but Black's got the initiative okay I do think White is somehow consolidating but it's just not easy to play White at all he is taking it down to 10 seconds 11, 10, 9 what's it gonna be? f5 that's right and f5 it does allow Qd6 check I was gonna say and knight h4 check now maybe that king is in some serious trouble it goes back to h1 how does Black increase the pressure Qg3 doesn't quite work because I think White can just kick back with rook e3 and the queen has to retreat Qc6 looks like a pin and there it is Qc6 the rook is now under attack and it is pin the queen goes 2e3 to defend the rook and the king I think this is going to be winning for Black now it takes on a 2 okay that's slightly surprising I would have played rook I would have tried to attack the rook and e4 and suddenly more tactics and oh Black has missed something Qxh5 now he needs a he's down to White has to draw it if he wants it oh does White have more than a draw I think we will see draw 4 or 3 he needs to make a move and Black can play a draw now after king h7 he had one second again and here we go again Armageddon in the next game I think we nearly saw a full turn around there oh David this is too much for me my poor old heart I mean I think there must have been lost there that king was just too open and suddenly he got a perpetual Paravian rushed just a bit too much in the end even he looked disappointed not to have more it seemed to have turned around completely what a stress MSU in the chat I know we're going to see a toss of the coin now I think the winner of this coin toss will choose a colour it's always hard to say I would always prefer to choose White in an Armageddon it's nice to have more time and you've got to back yourself to win a draw in a blitz game is quite a rare result anyway so winning this coin toss is a big first step so it's a pity we cannot hear what is being said I think we won't even find out at least for now who has won the coin toss and what's he picking it looks like Paravian has won the coin toss just the way the arbiter is facing and talking but maybe not so just to explain the Armageddon I think White will have 6 minutes Black will have 5, there won't be any increment at all this time until move 60 after move 60 there will be White has more time White has the extra minute but White has to win a draw and Black will progress to the final in both those games by the way Yesipenko dropped down to one second I mean I my heart is racing my heart is racing so badly we are getting confirmation that Paravian was winning in this second Blitz game but ok who can blame them anything can happen with 10 seconds and we are getting a new clock maybe they have rushed it so hard I think they just had a clock ready for the Armageddon they could somehow sense that it was imminent and the clock gets plugged in I think we'll follow this game with the two screens again we need the view the clock times so we'll keep following it with the two videos of the players so yes as David said whoever gets White will find out in a second he is in a must win situation this will be the final game actually one how I think he's already had quite an advantage for the final huge advantage he has he has he has the what was I going to say the edge of having more experience in this high pressure situations but also it is quite it makes quite a big difference here to get a bit of a time off to catch a deep breath and not have to play immediately these guys after the Armageddon game I guess they will get maybe two three minutes but not more than that that's right so Wang Hao sitting there just literally laughing just watching the games I mean he must be feeling quite confident at this point just fully refreshed then again I mean he's had a few minutes break now Wang Hao and he might not be as much fit as the others I mean the others will be fully in the zone after these Armageddon games I think maybe one disadvantage is if the final and I'm getting ahead of my head but if the final goes to Blitz the others will have had the Blitz practice already I think Wang Hao is probably not too concerned about these things he's probably sitting somewhere with this calm and composed look on his face that we've seen him sport for the past 10 days he's never seemed to be too perturbed by anything at all maybe he's doing what he's been doing for there I mean for some of the other days here at the tournament sitting in the lobby playing some Blitz warming up but yes Wang Hao will be watching this with interest meanwhile he's definitely going to see a decisive result this is the final game of the semi-finals Esther Penko is he taking black? I think he is so I think it's likely maybe that Paravian won the coin toss no official confirmation and it looks like those are definitely the colours so Paravian will need to win this game and as you said there is no increment up to move 60 very often I think in an overwhelming majority of those Armageddon games we don't get there because the players one out of time before we reach move 60 yeah I mean 60 moves is a lot to make I mean physically it takes at least a second to move on average so players will need to move very fast especially Esther Penko to make up that one minute disadvantage from the start it's nice having draw odds but a draw is a rare result and white will be taking some huge risks but I didn't realise how stressful it would be sitting here I really feel for the players you have been in a lot more high pressure situations than I have but that's my mind everyone what is at stake is advancing to the final to play one how for the first place and 30,000 pounds for the title here in Gibraltar that's right yeah 20,000 pound difference between winning the final and getting knocked out and we do see a Karakan and a repetition of okay not quite a repetition of the last game white has tried, I mean Paravian this is his third game with white now against Esther Penko he's tried something different every time and last time when Esther Penko was black he found this nice tactic to win a pawn it wasn't quite enough in the end here all he needs is a draw actually a game like this is perfect for Esther Penko because he has black he knows his opening so well inside out he's played the Karakan his whole career and he won't be spending too much time in the opening at least he'll be trying to make up some valuable seconds apologies about the black and white screen on the right there's nothing we can do about that at the moment but anyway all we need from that one is to keep an eye on the clock times I like the mood lighting I see life in black and white not just because of the chess and oh there we see a bit of a hesitation I think Paravian was about to blunder if he had played 94 he would have lost immediately to Queen H4 and his knight would have been attacked and H2 would have been attacked so he's had to exchange off on D5 maybe not favourable for exchange for white he's had to commit too early in the centre he would have loved to have taken that back and played a move like G3 instead now black is very solid and we will see some action on the C-file very shortly B5 first maybe knight B6 I think he has a panko for this game one of the things he is solid he will have to play faster because in my experience once you drop down to let's say 30 seconds very often it just isn't enough they're currently on move 15 I will be keeping an eye out on the move number to let you know how close they are I think that increment the magical number is move 60 that's right I'm not a huge fan of what Espenko has just done but his king will be nice and safe if it gets to G7 while white is trying to open up the queen side I just feel Espenko has played a bit too slowly over the last few moves and maybe we can indeed see if one of our team could maybe go to the playing hall I know there's a lot happening but just ask that person on the right to move a tiny bit like the full view onto the board and someone is on their way and we'll try and keep the angle free that's right I think the more I look at it the more I think white is starting to take control I just don't understand this G5 and G6 idea by Espenko is he trying to drum up some play along the DH file he's not going to have time I think the idea was to put the king on G7 King F8, King G7 but it's so slow and look at that G5 pawn now and it's a weakness it's all going wrong for Espenko the king is still headed to F8 but rook rook A5 and the problem is there's a lot of issues now G5 is attacked, B5 is attacked and it's very difficult to see how to deal with all those threats and he's still half a minute behind on the clock I recently competed at a tournament and lots of juniors were coming up to me actually playing other games themselves for the first time and they said which color would you take and white is so nice to have that extra minute now he does not only have an extra minute but also an extra pawn as B5 has dropped off that's right he just needs to keep control now they quickly, confidently, no risks, no tactics still I mean okay I think objectively white is winning but let's remember there is no increment here as our producer is doing a great job because he can't actually know what the angle is but we now see the board is black going to be able to get anything at all on that H file David? no, I mean it's too far away it needs three or four moves to even create a threat on the H file and by that time white can just play Bf1 and H3 or even just F3 defend H2 with the queen the knight is headed back 2d7, where does it want to go? I think it's just nowhere better to go unfortunately at this point we'll put another rook on the 7th rank I mean white is in complete control black has no chance to play, black is the one who's passive and a pawn down they are currently on move 26 I think we can predict already we won't be reaching move 60 here can white be able to keep his calm so much at stake he has a winning position he is 40 seconds up on the clock and he needs to win to advance the two define a two face one how? that's right, so we see an exchange of one pair of rooks whites other rook might land on the 7th rank black has played Qc8 that queen still doesn't have any real entry squares on the C file though white's king is super safe struggling to believe that this game will even continue the next 510 moves and there he goes attacking two pieces we saw him desperately look over at the king's side there Qc3 looks active but it doesn't quite work white can at the very least play Bf1 keeping king nice and safe black is just running out of moves unfortunately the time is also ticking down he's trying to get some counter play Qc3 but just a very calm Bf1 black is losing a piece along the 7th rank and his king is also on that rank I mean there's no way out here black can even create a threat Bc5 desperate it's just a free piece though which white will take he's a minute up, he's just checking there are no tricks I mean I guess the only idea is that if white takes this bishop then knight takes e5 there might be one check on f3 I don't think it's so deadly even if you allow a check on f3 I can't see any finish there 4 black but yeah I would just take that bishop I think it happens if you take the knight instead attacking f7 the queen is attacked on a7 white should drop his queen hopefully he sees that and he does not take the queen drops back to a2 I mean that makes some sense as well nice and solid and black still has 2 pieces under attack so we're now on move 31 only half way to the magic mark of move 60 the players are not going to get there and for Andrea Sipenko he is objectively lost he just lost the piece but can he find any tricks at all he'll take on e3, he'll have a check I mean the problem is after queen takes e3 there was queen f2 and the queens would have to come off the board so he took on e5 instead but the queen is on f2 anyway and white is up a piece and completely solid that's right if he wasn't on the board black would have decent drawing chances but unfortunately that B pawn will win the day black is just going to have to play instantly just throw all the pawns up the board and hope for the best f4 is coming for black he wants to open up some lines in front of white's king but unfortunately it does open lines in front of his own king as well and with his last move it's threatening queen d4 to get the queens off the board if the queens come off it's very hard to see how to avoid it queen dropped back to d6 and the queen goes to d4 anyway threatening checkmate on g7 an e5 I think is the only sensible way to stop that rook f7 will not help under 20 seconds for ace panko he's played queen f7 but he is going to go down here rook f7 and after rook exchange just b6 put the queen on b2 and I mean this is just over queen takes e5 now even if you give up the b pawn you'll win the d pawn, you're a piece up and a pawn and also 30 seconds up on the clock as the panko is down to 8 seconds I think he will resign shortly yes it's physically impossible I think to get to move 60 by now and white is also winning on the board 20 seconds he's just trying to make some moves but even if he did reach move 60 he wouldn't although the queen has come in what's happening here 3 seconds white can play bishop f3 bishop g2 queen is still in no man's hand and his checkmate next move queen f8 some drama there towards the end paravan prevails and advances to the final where he will be playing Wang Hao the 30,000 first prize here in Gibraltar and the title guys we're going to take a one minute breather and we'll be back with the final in a few minutes yeah, they go anyway and we are back and we're now watching the final where the winner of this edition of the Gibraltar masters will be decided David, will it be Wang Hao or David Paravian I picked him in round 1 and I still think Wang Hao is the big favourite in this game he's had the break he's fresh, Paravian still has to calm himself down his heart rate must be off the charts at this point after the Armageddon game that being said, if he does survive to the Blitz games he'll be fresh, he'll be ready he's already played a few warm up games for the player to make it to the playoff just one performance point higher than MVL and he's now playing the biggest the biggest couple of games of his life by quite a margin there's 30,000 pounds at stake it's like one of those computer games you level up and then you play another bigger boss and here he's playing Wang Hao but that's often how it works sometimes you're a bit lucky to get into it at the last minute entrance the pressure's off, somehow you think actually I'm just lucky to be here you enjoy it more and then things start to go your way so Paravian actually extremely impressive in that last round and here we see him use the Berlin defence and anti-Berlin and we, since we finally have one minute I mean that Blitz playoff followed by the Armageddon I almost I almost didn't make it David but since we have one minute to take a breather now and let's remind everyone the time control here is 10 minutes for the game and a 5 second increment per move they will be playing two games one with each colour, if they are still tied after that we'll come back to the Blitz madness 3 plus 2 and if still tied a final Armageddon that's right, it'll be fun wouldn't it actually Wang Hao has used this exact system against me here in Gibraltar in the final round he did play this anti-Berlin system with bishop g5 and a quick c3 d4 it's not the most common but it is quite testing for black black has to decide now does he open the centre, does he take everything on d4 and risk being slightly worse slightly behind in development or as he does in the game play queen e7 nice and solid I personally quite like black's chances just because two bishops nice flexible structure but I know that these double pawns on the queen side can play a factor and black's bishop on d6 isn't always the best piece I would expect maybe d takes e5 here maybe d5 or knight bd2 if Wang Hao is feeling solid and I think we now have the board back so we'll be able to show you some lines I think this game it's maybe not going to be decided who is the better chess player by waiting and by experience Wang Hao is the favourite over the board but I think the players have played 10 games of classical chess it is local time 7.30 they started playing 8.5 hours ago I think it will all come down to who is in the better physical shape and who can keep his cool when it matters the most that's right so what do you think Fjernar will they be able to keep that cool it's been 8.5 hours as you said I think I lost my cool a long time ago I'm not sure about losing my cool but we've definitely lost our voices I think after 8.5 hours I was just thinking during our last break the very next time I'll be very careful what I wish for I wanted I wanted a playoff and I got a lot of value for my money how has your first time been it's been emotional David it's been emotional 8.5 hours black now again if black is feeling super ambitious I would recommend FxE5 just aiming to eventually get this push about later with a pin that keeps more tension as well but maybe the more solid option is to take with the knight there we go FxE5 I think white will now be looking to try and get Wai Wenhao will he get his knight into the game so knight bd2 So where is the knight, where is the knight's idea of square d5? White's knight would love to sit on e3 at least to eye up those two squares you mentioned. Just to tease black, it might go either way. I think long term black's big issue is this bishop on d6, but if white can't do anything in the center or the queen side, black might be the one with the attacking chances. Whoops, me and my arrows again. Black might be the one with the attacking chances down this f-file. And if e5 is always solidified then this bishop on g3 doesn't have much work to do. I would pick black, David, just because I like the semi-open f-file. I like the attacking chances as well. Who would you pick? I'm used to these types of positions as black, but because you said black, I would say white. I mean, I think this one's really in the balance. If white's able to swap off, for example, this pair of knights, I mean, I would play, yep, you play queen e2, I was going to say I would play that too so that knight c4 might be an option. If white can swap off a pair of knights, get this knight in f3 to e3, then I think white would be very healthy, especially if the queens come off the board. The more pieces off the board the better, but Paravian pinned this knight on f3, h3, bishop h5, rook fe1, slightly mysterious. I'm not really sure what the last move does, but okay, I mean, rook on e1, can't be worse than f1. King h8, very nice solid move. I'm starting to like black a bit more now. This is just very awkward, this pin, actually. So he's stepping out of it, queen e3 is on the board. But it still takes a while for white to get organized. I mean, this knight h4 might be an idea, but maybe the knight has to run away to h2. I mean, as black, I would be very tempted to just start doubling my rooks on the f-file. So what? Well, maybe queen e6 first. Which way do you go on about it? I would love to play rook f6, but I have just spotted it. It fails to bishop h4, so that would be an oops moment. Rook f7? Rook f7 possibly. The conservative. Yeah, maybe we could prepare rook f6 with queen e6. But it looks like he's played h6. I'm trying to guess from the camera. Yep, h6. Yeah, there we go. So there we see the clock times. The game messages just started, what, five minutes ago? Yes. But once again, even with the ten minutes, he eventually picks out so quickly, and black has now put the queen on f6. Yeah, and we'll see knight f5, I think. Wang Hao was about to reach over for that knight. That's right, he does. So that knight on f3 was a bit of a target a few moves ago. Now it's on f5, a better square. Whoops, a better square. But it doesn't necessarily want to capture on d6. That is black's bad bishop. We'll see bishop g6 for short. And I'm hoping we don't see knight h4, bishop h5, knight f5. Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure, because I think in general, as we said before, a draw as black is a fine result, and then you have your own destiny. Oh, knight is. I drew the arrows. While you were talking, I wanted to show I might have seen this idea in advance, queen e6. And is he thinking about g4 here, Wang Hao? That's super ambitious, a bit weakening, but I mean, g4 would be the ambitious way to play. If white's feeling super safe, then maybe knight takes d6. But then his advantage, if any, would be minimal after c takes d6. Crucial moment. Sleepy Mario was with us earlier, and he's back now. He's wondering, is this the final of the tie break? Yes, it is. The winner of the 2020 Gibraltar International Chess Festival will be Ida Wang Hao from China, or David Paravian from Russia. This is game one of the playoff final. So no matter what happens here, they will play a second game with inverted colors. No, that's right. Wang Hao did go for g4. It shows that he's in ambitious, in an ambitious mood. G4 creates some weaknesses around the white king, especially if black can get a knight to f4, but that's a long way away, and this knight on f5 is very strong. What is the route to f4? Fire e6, but even getting there is f8. Long, long way. Long, long way away. Meanwhile, Wang Hao rewoods his knight to f3. That's right. So maybe one idea is to put the bishop back on g3 now, and put the other knight on h4, or to push h4, h5. White will be the one attacking on the king side now. This is quite a thematic idea. We see it in a lot of these types of structures of the Spanish exchange and in this anti-Berlin. I liked black just a couple of minutes ago. I'm suddenly starting to like white. I think especially at faster time controls, knights are so tricky, and those white knights are getting dangerously close to the black king for my liking. That's right. I just have a feeling Paravian will keep ignoring threats on that side of the board. Maybe with a move like a4. Whoops. I mean, my arrow is today. It's bad, bad. David, we've been here for eight and a half hours. I think you're excused. I'm clumsier than ever. Yeah, he does play h4, a4. Knight takes h6. I think it doesn't quite work at the moment. So therefore, Wang Hao plays for Kd1. Okay. So allowing queen takes a2, but this would drop something after knight takes and rook takes with a double attack. Although even then, knight c4. Super sharp. Actually here, white has lots of options. Maybe it should be seven as well. I mean, if queen takes a2, that queen does get very offside. And knight takes h6 might be an idea. So I doubt Paravian will have the courage to capture that pawn. I wouldn't. I mean, I wouldn't even think about it. I mean, it's a blitz game at this point. I mean, seven minutes versus six minutes. You don't want to waste two of those minutes calculating moves that may or may not work. If he doesn't take it, what are his other options? That knight to c4 looks decent. White might just play Qc1, protecting b2 or maybe even Qe2. And he has snatched a pawn on a2. Well, now it looks a bit surprising. What? You really took my pawn on a2. How dare you. How dare you. How dare you, Fiona. Well, I certainly wouldn't have taken it. I'm greedy, but I'm not brave enough. I mean, that is courage. And fortune does normally favor the brave. Let's look at knight h6, which is the big question here. So knight c4 isn't really effective now because Qg5 looks a bit scary. So, okay, let's say we take this. Qh6 has to drop back. There is a few candidate moves. I really want to play d5 or something to block this queen. To block the queen from coming back. But I don't think it quite works. Knight g5. Maybe I can drop back here. And everything is under control. That's right. Wow, scary stuff, though. So instead, Qh7. So knight g5. Maybe there's a queen back to g8 idea. David, do you think Qh7 is going to take on h6? Yes. The problem is it's a very committal decision. If you give up the knight, well, you might deliver a checkmate. But if black can parry all the threats and to lose as white is very tough. And there he goes, knight h6. And we're in for a treat, David. It's too tempting. I mean, it feels like somehow we must see a decisive result in this game. Black has two moves. Black could, well, I was going to say he could take on f3 as well. Rxf3 does distract the white queen. And then you could take on h6. But then Qf6. Maybe black's surviving. Qh7. Queen is coming back sooner or later. Yeah, I just can't see anything here. Can't see anything here. Rxf3 looks possible. I mean, how about this variation? Let's say we take this knight. Take the knight, bishop h6, h7. We were looking at rook d5, which we could not quite make work. Knight g5. Also, can I push the... I'm also not in time to push my jeep on, or am I? No, I think not. I will just drop back with my queen at the very least. True, if I see in the chat, predict a win for Wang Hao. I also like it, but I also can't see. I mean, we haven't found anything that looks anywhere near convincing yet. And black has two moves. Rxf3. Which one is he going to go for? Rxf3 or Qt6? I'm not sure what we're missing, to be honest. Our engine warriors are out. Let's remind everyone, we haven't used an engine throughout the last 10 days, and we're certainly not using one now. Apparently, Qf3 is the top move, but it's probably very difficult to work that out with five minutes on the clock. Exactly. That's the main reason I wouldn't necessarily calculate Qt8.2 is because it will cost Parabian more time now. I have to say, Kudu, I'm very impressed by Wang Hao. It's such a practical decision to take on h6 as quickly as he did. Yes. There was no way he had it all worked out, but as you said, sometimes he has now made a move that is a peace sacrifice, but it's clear that black will have to take some time to think about it. And Wang Hao, he looks so calm, but his brain is working very fast right now, trying to work out all the lines. It's a brave decision by Wang Hao. That's right. And there we go, rook takes f3. We weren't entirely sure what was happening after you take h6, but this one looks safe enough for black. One move with rook f8, or with Qf7, and black will be in full control. So, practical from Wang Hao, but equally practical, I think, from David Parabian. He gets rid of an attacking piece. He didn't spend that long on rook takes f3. He spent three, four minutes on that move. What now? We looked at this position a second ago. We saw one check on Qf6. After Qh7, we didn't see a way forward. And actually, this is the first time that, I mean, I don't know, Wang Hao personally, that I see him look the tiniest bit concerned, or do you? I think maybe the first time this tournament, he's about to play a move, though, and it's a crucial one. It will be Qf6, Qh7, and taking on d6. I mean, this must be the only way to really justify white's whole, kind of, I mean, this whole sacrifice, essentially. So, it's a piece, quick pawn count, five versus six, so white only has a pawn, but there's a lot of loose pieces for black, and the king is not safe. Well, rook a6 so quickly. What a move. From Parabian, where we see the crowd gathering. I mean, I would have taken a while over that move. There was Nc8 as well. There's, I guess, the only thing is that black didn't want to play Nc4 because you don't want to block your queen's retreat to the f7 square, hence rook a6. But somehow, white is getting a lot of pawns. Yeah, which one do you take of the two on offer? I kind of want to take this one, maybe push f4 or f5 later on. And if I take it, also if white can start getting the rook to the d-file, maybe white's doing quite well. Black's king is looking a bit naked, and that's a big issue in a speed game. I had a moment of doubt, but now I'm back to actually wanting to play white, which seems to be the overwhelming preference of our chat on Twitch as well. It just does seem easier to play. I like what you just suggested, taking on e5 and start pushing those pawns. Of course, b2 is dropping as well. I think black might not be able to take immediately that looks like this is going to be checkmate if the queen can't come back to defend. I mean, it looks like black can't survive this. Let's go silver, yeah. For example, just to show a checkmate. Check, check, check. Very nice. But yeah, I mean, maybe black can defend with a move like 97, and this queen will come back. I mean, it's so unclear at this point. But I would prefer to have the safer king. White. A little pun, a little joke in the chat. How does he do it? I used to get the old joke. How well did he do? Yes, how does he do it indeed? He's still thinking. He's now down to three and a half minutes. So the players have pretty much the same time. Let's just remind you, they do get five seconds added to the clock for every move they make. And there goes the e5 pawn. Now as predicted, and now I would guess 97 is black. It feels like you have to get some pieces back into the defense. So 97 would allow the queen to come back to f7 next move. Queen f7 now also makes some sense. Yeah, I would like to get that queen back. If I were black, I'd love to add some defenders to my king. My question is, can I play f4? Yeah, good question. Now I will play either knight c4 or knight c4, let's say. Knight c4. Maybe you can just snack on another pawn. Sure. Unfortunately for black, I don't think you can take an f4. I can't see any checks for black here. The bishop on h4, doing a great job defending everything. Sneaky bishop. Yeah, I think white... Well, it's easy to play white at least. Although 97 maybe, and it's hard to defend f4. Okay, he plays 97 first. So I think those are the two options, that make sense. Bring the queen back next move. And the queen is headed to c7. So pinning the knight, the queen drops back to f7. Breaking the pin. And now if queen takes b7, there might be a rook b6. And this pawn will drop. Another question, can I... Also knight e5 for maybe coming. And if I play e5 myself, you can take my pawn, yeah? Yeah, you mean in this position? Yeah. I can't take your pawn because you can take this one. But I know what you mean. It's... e5 doesn't quite threaten anything so far. Oh, maybe... Oh, no, no, no. Check, check, check. Take, take. I was trying to make some tactics work, so like f4. I was trying to make this one work. But after queen takes f7, I think... Let's start with f4 maybe instead of e5. Yes, so f4 first. It's definitely playable. Wanghao still in the tank having to think... Queen... Takes b7. I don't know, super sharp. Rook b6. Come behind and then... Who knows who's better, I think white. But yeah, maybe f4. Maybe f4. That's clearly what he's thinking about right now. He's not going to play it instead. Rook d1 attacking the knight. Mm-hmm. Which is probably going to move. Yes. Can I move to e5? Or is there an... e5 is still defended. How many times am I going to blunder? How many times am I going to blunder that knight? Hopefully Paragon won't blunder it. I would have thought knight f8 now. Yeah, knight f8. The knight wants to reroute itself to e6. Maybe to f4. Can I be greedy? Can I take on c5? And I will... Also be greedy and take on e4? Yeah. Let's try it. I figured that you could come as e7, but rook e6 looks 5. Yeah, bishop tec4 would be fine. Would be playable. I'm wondering what one-how has planned now, because the reason I didn't suggest... And the queens come off the boards. So that completely changed the dynamic of the positions. f4 follow up immediately and now white's plan is to run down those pawns which do look quite threatening. That's right. That being said, black is a piece up for two pawns. And somehow I'm... Paravian must be out of danger now. I mean, I feel like black should be doing well. It's just hard to... Hard to be accurate in this position with not much time on your clock. How about... OK, if we do push our majority on this side, maybe bishop e7 is a bit annoying. And f5. And if that bishop lands on c5, it's going to do such a great job stopping the pawns. Yeah, that's right. Black is about to go under two minutes. I don't know. What do you think the objective evaluation is of that position? I think black is better. I think black is clearly better. It's just in practical terms. I can definitely see everything getting hoovered off the board somehow. I can see black giving back a piece for the king-side pawns and a draw, but... If this were a long game, I would bank on black somehow. So we've seen the a-pawn come off the board. She's a pity, really. Promoting later on in the game? The problem is, I guess, white now has to make a decision. Can he push his pawns and give up the pawn on c3? Or does he have to spend some time to defend that pawn? No, good question. I mean, bishop f6 makes sense. You don't really want to go passive with rooks in the endgame. D3 is passive, rook c1 is very passive. And I think it would have been too slow to give up a pawn. Lots of everything is dropping here. So bishop f6 and can black attack that bishop? The only way to attack it is king g6. Yeah, but now maybe bishop e7, now that knight doesn't have the g6 square. Also, bishop h8 would have been a cool move to play. Repeat the position and draw. If we see that move repetition, David, I'd be very disappointed. OK, I thought you were just going to run away or something and refuse to commentate anymore. But bishop f6 has been played. I mean, I don't really like the fact that black's exchanged that a pawn for the b pawn. I thought that a pawn was a prime candidate to queen. I thought that was black's main source of counterplay. What is black thinking about? Can he start running his b pawn up the board? Yeah, but it's so much slower now that the a pawn's disappeared. And, I mean, white will play f5. I think this formation for white is very strong because now rook d8 ideas are always on the cards with checkmate. And black's b pawn is so slow. I mean, b4, I'll just take take and I'll go rook d8. That's the one who has to be afraid. And Paravyan's now down to 50 seconds. Things are about to heat up very seriously here. Truth pointed out, 19 king g6, e5, knight h7, f5, mate. Beautiful self-mate there suggested in the chat. I used to see these self-mate puzzles in the paper and I thought, what a waste of time. Actually, sometimes they are quite beautiful and this would indeed be checkmate. Paravyan, he needs to make up his mind. It's now getting dangerous. I mean, there are still 5 seconds at least an increment, but... Actually, I'm not... I don't even know where to start looking for moves. Rook a4. He read my mind. I was about to say the only active move I can see is to attack a pawn with rook a4. I'm just wondering if rook d8 is possible now for white. Maybe black wants to just simplify somehow. Rook d8. How can black escape this? Knight e6 possible. Knight e6, all this runs into f5. Unless we see something like this. Knight e6. Oh no, Fiona. Are we headed for a draw? Knight e6. Rook takes e4. That takes. King takes. And an opposite. Bishop ending. Maybe this is what black has to play, though. What else? Simply, you don't really want to go to e6. I mean, it feels like... Oh, maybe you are getting checkmated. Rook d8 is about to appear on the board. No. He's having second thoughts. Time is ticking down for Wang Hao as well. 35 seconds to Paravians. It's a bullet game, Fiona. It really is a bullet game now. Yeah, maybe black can after rook d8 play knight e6 because there's no checkmate here. And e4 will drop. Or f4 will drop. Unless bishop e5 and still super shop. 20 seconds for Wang Hao. He probably has... Don't move now. Maybe he has seen that draw. Rook e1. Rook e1. So calm. Do you think Wang Hao wanted more than that draw? I think he wants to win. Yeah, rook d8. Okay, there was a tactic that I'd missed right at the end of that variation. Instead, we see... Okay, a couple more moves. Knight to seven. Let's just put the life moves on the analysis board so that we can keep up with the action. Rook c4. Attacking a pawn. Which makes sense. Rook e3. I don't know how Saxa piece then swaps off the queens and goes passive. I mean, it's like it's a list of everything not to do. But somehow these pawns do give counterplay. Long term. And b5, finally the pawns start running. He's playing as if he's not a piece down. I know. It's incredible. He's going to try and get rid of that b-pawn. Sooner or later, you have to get rid of that b-pawn as white. Come on. King f3. f3. It's just... I can't imagine white ever. You know what would be the craziest thing? If we saw Paravian having to checkmate with Bishop and Knight if everything got liquidated. Five seconds on this clock. Five second increment. I mean that would be quite easy I think. Because you just play ten quick moves. You gain nearly a minute on your clock and with a minute it's straightforward. I mean actually Wang Hao is going down in this game. For sure. For the first time we see him visibly shaking. He is shaking his head. The rook has to drop back to stop the b-pawn from running but black is now firmly in control. And white is actually on the brink now. The b-pawn is just coming home and we're going to see a resignation. So sudden. He just played too slowly. I mean we were saying he broke all the rules. He swapped the queens then he played passively. He played so slowly with his rook. He took the knight on c5. I mean you can even play rook c1 here if you really want to. Or you just take on c5 and you laugh. And he took on c5. And Wang Hao is leaning back. He's about to resign. Just for b5. And there we have a shahen shake. I think that is the biggest win of David Paravian's career. I mean he hasn't won the play of just yet but he has won game one with the black pieces which is absolutely massive. The players will take a rest for a few seconds before reconvening for what might be the final game of this year's Gibraltar International chess festival. David, should we take a breather for one minute? A very short break. We'll be back in a moment. Don't go anywhere. And we are back for what is likely to be the last game of this event. This is the first time that I have actually seen Wang Hao look so distraught in my life, David. Yeah, I mean he tends to wear his heart on his sleeve when it comes to chess. And you can tell he's just not ready for this situation. He never dreamed that he could lose with white and be in a must-win situation with black. Yeah, I mean actually it struck me during the break that Paravian's actually played four more games than Wang Hao this tournament. Three more in the semi-finals and one more during the classical portion of the tournament. And I mean it just looks like Wang Hao is not happy at all. Of course winning on demand with the black pieces is a tough ask but Wang Hao he needs to recompose himself. He's such a class act. He has it in him absolutely to win this game and that's what it will take for this match to continue. Exactly, he's done it before. I mean we've all been in situations especially in big open tournaments and he's an open specialist. He's done it before. He's won on demand. He's just doing it in a rapid game with so much money on the line. I mean 20,000 pounds difference now between winning this game and losing this game. It's just it's easy to crack and especially under the pressure now. Having played for what? I mean we started the action eight hours ago. I was literally nine hours ago. Nine hours ago. I just calculated. Wang Hao it's been a long day. Wang Hao has actually looked quite hard throughout the event but he needs to find the energy. It will all be over within an hour now but if he wants to win this Gibraltar Masters and the prize that goes with it 30,000 pounds for the winner he needs to win this game with Black to take the final match to a Blitz playoff. Yeah that's right and I mean if he wins the momentum will be with him he'll be a big favorite in the Blitz games I feel but yeah this one is the big ask this is the challenge of his tournament and we see Peravian using the opening he used in round 10 of the Gibraltar Masters in the classical game he used it to draw from the better side of a draw against Mustafa Yulmaz and here White is very solid he's taking no big risks. And he is right not true it is Wang Hao who will have to create chances here Peravian by the way David he's not someone who we had on our radar at the start of the event but he's played a fantastic tournament here in Gibraltar picking up close to 30 rating points along the way he remained unbeaten in the classical portion finishing on 7.5 out of 10 and he is on the brink of the biggest performance the biggest exploit of his life. That's right I think he's not gaining 30 rating points in classical games I think that does count the kind of rapid portion I mean the playoffs but I mean he's performed incredibly well undefeated never I mean the games we've seen he's never been in big danger just impressive stuff and this could be his breakthrough I mean he's still young he's only 21, 22 years old and he's I mean look at those nerves of steel he's played an Armageddon game already and he's just bounced back and beaten one of the candidates one of the World Championship candidates with black and he looks surprisingly surprisingly calm he's a player who was not too familiar with this event but what do you think is he gonna be able to keep his calm for one final game I think so that being said the last couple of moves maybe he played a bit too hastily he's missing a small tactic here oh maybe he missed a small tactic here now Knight takes D6 for white would be impossible because of Queen B6 check and Wellak would pick up the Knight I think maybe he underestimated that once and only now he's pausing for thought if black can take an F4 and put a Knight on E5 black would be doing decently I mean it's still in the balance and I think he's still on course just can't get nervous he can't spend too much time on the clock he's already half a minute behind he just needs to make a couple of quick moves sensible moves and I think white is doing well I'm just yeah what are some options what are some options for sensible moves ah King H1 C3 don't make a big don't make a big blunder like Knight takes D6 actually a good move would be kind of blinking taking the move last move back not playing Knight F5 because actually I think that was just a tactical oversight and maybe this is actually what Wang Hao needs Wang Hao knows his opponent missed this one I think and maybe this is what he needs to pick up confidence and you know maybe try and come back into this final yes Wang Hao just I mean he likes to look at his opponents during the game tries to read their body language there he saw his eyes flick up and check out his opponent was still awake and we're about to see C3 okay a very sensible move blocking that bishop on F6 diagonal I suspect C King H1 a bit later on maybe as well as black I would I wouldn't hesitate much I would either play either Knight C5 or he takes F4 and put my knight on E5 black needs to activate now I like I like your suggestion of taking on F4 E5 does look like a tasty outpost yes indeed and I mean it's a very typical Sicilian knight off idea as well so Wang Hao just sport of choice at the moment just the last two three moves somehow it feels like white has lost the thread a little bit but okay obviously still in the balance and white has got a healthy position yeah Wang Hao is taking some time for the first time in this game we're about to bring the board back up to show you maybe a few the two options the two main options that you were talking about so let's just let's just catch up with the moves with the action after F4 knight E7 I really didn't like this move Knight F5 because I think white just had this idea in mind of taking on D6 and it would have fallen into a fork a check and this knight on F5 it's not clear that it I mean it's normally a great square for knight but it's not clear that it's so healthy or happy there at the moment so I would have preferred to delay that with white and he has just captured on E4 as you predicted bishop F4 and there goes the knight into E5 and Wang Hao with the last few moves seems to be picking up a bit of momentum and maybe looking the tiniest bit more confident he's still and there is this there is back he looks more interested now at least he just looked despondent a few moments ago and okay white did play the move I mentioned a bit earlier King H1 it's just nice to step out of this Queen B6 check idea so King H1 for a sensible move especially in speed chess you don't want to allow any checks at all and bishop takes F5 and yes good move getting rid of that knight and the bishop pair doesn't matter so much now because black's knight is just so strong on the E5 square I think G6 there he goes the bishop will most likely come back to H3 C2 possibly as well I quite like the idea of keeping the bishop on H3 just keeping an eye on the C8 square bishop on C2 does feel like it's not doing too much it's hitting this kind of concrete wall on G6 it doesn't have any future on any of these diagonals bishop H3 maybe the problem of course for black is his position is fine the problem the question I have for you is that David is it anything more than fine because if you're just joining us now Wang Hao lost the first game of this final with the white pieces so he needs a win here with black that's right I would slightly prefer black I mean there we go bishop H3 I slightly prefer black purely because he does have this nice outpost and it's hard for white white to know what to do that being said you're right Fiona I was just I was looking at it what do you do as black how do you make progress minority attack possibly expanding on that side also I mean you can play on both sides of the board here as black you can stuff okay rook E8 was played you can start with a minority attack on that side of the board or actually long term you can even attack on the king side the reason I know it's been mentioned by Rakesh in the chat the reason it's maybe less attractive for white to go into an opposite color bishop position is just long term these positions especially with the queens and rooks on the board they do favor the side with the initiative and white's king is just a bit vulnerable you can imagine a queen lining up on H2 and threatening some nasty stuff white just has one fewer one less pawn as well as shelter for that king meanwhile white's extra pawn on the queen side counts for literally nothing white black's king is super safe on the king side so rook to C1 a bit mysterious I guess that rook wants to enter the action via C2 and now we will see how can he should he play one more pre-cortious move drop the bishop back to G7 or is there no need I think bishop G7 or maybe bishop G5 if we can swap off these bishops yeah then it'd be very very happy you'd have a monster knight on E5 against that bishop on H3 which is not doing much and which doesn't actually have any great prospects at all that's right so I would be very tempted by bishop G5 if not then your move bishop G7 makes a lot of sense as well later if we pick the right moment we can even block out this bishop on H3 with F5 but I would be tempted to even just move my queen double the rooks on the E-file and happy days for black yeah I mean the suits one house style normally he likes his positions without any big risk unlike the last game where he kind of lost control in the complications so we'll see what he chooses after rook C1 a knight is a beast I know maybe even knight C4 but and into E3 lots of choice Wang Hao what's it gonna be I think if he hadn't lost the last game he would have already made a move by now WCP5 so there goes the minority attack that's right and I think you know Wang Hao he looks rejected but he couldn't really have asked to get more from the black side of this chances it's an imbalanced position and I think if anything we both prefer black yes slightly but I mean black's very solid and I mean that's what you need you just need a position with tension with some imbalance and the moment there is an imbalance in minor pieces and in pawn structure so enough for Wang Hao to work with for now Phenomenon early in the chat is saying go Wang Hao we want to see another Armageddon we will see two Blitz games at the time control 3 plus 2 that's right and we're really in danger of missing the garlic dinner at this rate I'm hoping they save some fruit for us at least or some salad or something but maybe some lemon tarts David ah lemon tarts my favourite yeah we can actually already hear the music starting at the garlic dinner here in Gibraltar B5 yeah it's just so hard for white to find a plan Bishop take C5 is always B5 and somehow I mean the rook actually might enter the game via A7 to E7 I really like B5 actually this bishop on E5 dominates white's bishop the white has taken some time but he has now played A4 I mean an interesting move just asking black what he's doing on the queen side but I don't think white is especially optimistic about getting active on that side of the board queen B actually maybe not queen B6 Bishop G5 now Bishop G5 Wang Hao would love to see those dark-squared bishops come off the board and if as we mentioned if white takes on the E5 he will get an initiative and there he goes bishop takes E5 so we will see this rook takes yeah so there was a small tactic if bishop takes C1 then white could flick in the move bishop F6 before capturing the C1 with a winning position so black just recaptured and rook to A1 so actually yeah queen B6 black maybe wishes he had the move B5 back on that pawn back on B7 just so he wouldn't have to exchange off any pieces or any pawns but he's still in control after A6 B5 now he will take with the queen attacking B2 and attacking B5 I would be tempted to play queen F3 here for white just a one move threat but I like the two meanwhile we see the time ticking down half of their allocated time has now gone and I always feel it's around death mark where suddenly you know the first five minutes you feel I've got plenty of got time I've got plenty of time but now it's going to start passing a lot quicker bishop D7 yeah I mean I missed that one to be honest that bishop will sneak around to C6 so Wang Hao has taken on A4 how do you recapture you have three options here B2 is under attack so white is activated as bishop but maybe at the cost of a pawn or at least he has to spend the move here defending B2 which isn't so easy queen C2 doesn't look great rook A2 doesn't look great I can't see a good way to gambit this pawn though on A4 I mean the pawn on B2 on B2 yeah so what happens if you yeah I can't even say what happens after move like queen C2 queen C2 yeah I'm not sure black ever wants to take the pawn on D5 oh that's funny well yeah it's not completely clear I mean maybe that rook gets to D2 but it does invite some kind of nasty tactics sleepy Mario in the chat thinks there are now serious chances for Wang Hao to get this one we see power of Yan I think he's missed something here we saw him head in hand and now looking over at the clock which keeps taking down he's now three minutes and I think Wang Hao with every past move that we've seen his chances have kept increasing yeah that's right I mean I'm maybe there's some lack of experience but he's just been a bit inflexible in the opening I mean he's chosen this open Sicilian and normally you don't go for open Sicilians if you are in a situation where you only need to draw with white heading for the night off there's no forcing lines there's no way to kind of immediately force the draw there's we've just mentioned that here even with equal material we like the blacks initiative with maybe some chances on the king side or on the queen side but now it looks like it's not just going to be the initiative but looks like black is winning a pawn that's right queen c2 I mean I think that will be my move I reluctantly play it but Rook a2 just looks too sad somehow it just looks a bit wrong he's edging in on the two minute mark this is getting quite a serious time advantage now as well for Wang Hao almost four minutes up on the clock imagine the momentum he'll get if he wins this game going into the Blitz games I mean it's a lottery now what's going to happen I think Wang Hao right now is an overwhelming favorite because it's not just his position look very good but for Power of Yan I mean it's so difficult to readjust to a new situation you came into the game as white knowing you just need a draw and suddenly you're down to one minute 30 you're in a difficult situation there's 30,000 pounds on the line all he needed was a draw all he still needs is a draw and the loser of this match will get 10,000 which is still a whopping amount of money but it's three time less than the winner he knows that's in the bank already I mean he's just playing for that extra 20,000 nothing to lose he might as well go for it and there we see Queen C2 I mean I don't think he's too happy he's regretting his decisions early I think it started with this Knight F5 move which is just premature he played it instantly and it did miss this elementary tactic and now he's having to suffer just for one small slip so how do we go on about this Queen C2 was actually my suggested move I mentioned a bit earlier I was a bit worried about Rook takes D5 because of Queen E4 and there was nothing good here I mean there might be Blackhood maybe just hold on to looks very dangerous actually suddenly an intermediate check and White will win a Rook next move and one house played Rook B8 and Bishop A4 is on the board so White has recaptured that pawn with the bishop okay B2 take everything greedy I guess greed is good one of the things that David Paravian is relying on sorry trap I said you can definitely take that pawn if you take it you go Rook B1 Queen takes Queen an intermediate check and David Paravian would be the champion and if you cannot take that pawn so let's go back then what yeah good question can we take on D5 now maybe take on D5 now and A5 I said yeah I'm quite like leaving White with that pawn because once you take D5 suddenly White's Bishop long term will have a nice diagonal on A2 to G8 so leaving White with that pawn actually kind of hinders the White Bishop we need to send someone to the playing hall to David Paravian to move that Bishop away from A4 where it is blocking our clock he'll move that Bishop soon don't worry he's played B4 aiming for more exchanges I mean if any Rooks Queens come off the board White will be edging closer to his goal of making that draw so Wang Hao his margin for error is slowly decreasing he needs to whip up some kind of activity now against the White King ideally before White gets organised David could we see Harry make a final appearance yes I think we might sooner or later I think at some point we will because Black is in a most win situation if there is nothing else this will always be a last-ditch attempt that's right somehow I want to switch around this Rook and this Bishop I would love my Bishop to be on E5 it's just hard to get there that Bishop will control everything on the E5 square and this Rook on E5 isn't so great we do see A-Takes B4 C-Takes B4 and Bishop to E3 okay maybe starting my plan and maybe Rook H5 hitting this H2 point it is White's weaker square at the moment I mean I still like Black but the Bishop is about to get away freeing up the view so just over one minute for David Paravian I would play Bishop D4 here I think is Black asking White to question what do you do with the Rook if the Rook goes to I was going to say to A6 to attack the Queen but that Rook can be taken wow it's been a long day if Rook to B1 I would play Queen to D4 Queen to D4 okay he's going for the attack now yeah which makes sense yes he's sensing his moment and I mean it's going to be very uncomfortable and very unpleasant for White to defend here with less than a minute on the clock and I see some traps already like Rook B1 for example Rook H5 White gets careless Rook H2 and that's checkmate very nice but instead okay B5 Rook H5 would still be tempting absolutely I think he will play it I think so too unless there's something seriously wrong but doesn't look like it White still has a fair amount of way away from doing anything to B4 and there comes the Rook Rook H5 subtle threat Black is now threatening to take on H2 followed by White on H4 and David Peravian G3 carries calmly with G3 I mean if we could somehow whisk this Queen off the board then Black would be giving checkmate with Queen E4 but at the moment the Queen covers that square I would also love to maybe get my bishop back to that you have been talking about that square before Bishop E5 the bishop would be great there can we play Queen G4 let's try and re-root this bishop round again maybe and threatening this G pawn how would White defend this I mean Queen G4 looks good to me or maybe he's thinking about Queen E5 as well similar idea White might have to go passive with Queen G2 or King G2 I like Queen G4 I like it too I like any move that brings our pieces closer to the White King and Queen G4 is on the board there we go bit of a threat now Queen takes G3 it's not easy for White to defend this I mean Queen G2 it's a bit of a sad move to play it just going passive and now maybe Black will bring the bishop round to E5 30 seconds on the clock for David Paravian a draw is all he needs but Wang Hao is going to give this all he has David Paravian is under some serious attack the Queen tries and come to the rescue rescue to G2 that's right so Queen to G2 it was mentioned in the chat Queen D1 and this is a very sneaky idea Queen D1 hoping for Queen takes G3 3 and then Queen takes H5 and White will win some material next move people are still very sharp even after 9.5 close to 9.5 hours of action today that's right and thank you for the comment about the coronavirus after my call Queen G3 Queen G4 Queen G2 is by far the most human move I mean the problem for Black is this rook on BH you can't get in the game at all can we ever see can Black push his F pawn Freddie your favourite move Freddie the F pawn running out of the board I like it Ruck is also suggesting it in the chat F5, F4 I mean he isn't a must win situation I think if he doesn't find anything else he will play F5 it does not matter at all whether Wang Hao draws or loses only a win matters at this point exactly it's the same and he's shaking his head Queen back to D4 wow I guess he was afraid of this idea with Queen to F3 where White could thereby threaten F7 and the E3 Bishop swapping Queens and Rook D1 was played pretty much instantly hitting the Queen I think I think Paravyan is a big favourite now to win the tournament the pieces are moving moving in the wrong direction Queen C5 the clock time is an issue 15 seconds for Paravyan he seems to have stabilized somewhat but he needs to speed up now Queen F3 we'll see Rook F8 I think Black doesn't really want to play Rook F5 and swap off some Rooks or he does Rook F5 I still think that Harry will make an appearance at some point I mean White has Rook D5 there we go and if Queen F3 I think we will see Rook to F8 oops, wrong way with that Rook will go to F8 the Queen goes to D3 instead 10 seconds on the clock for David Paravyan and F5 at long last long long last Freddie Bf4 makes an appearance I liked your idea sooner or later just pushing H5 H4 feels safer slightly F5 Rook A1 and Rook F8 all the pieces are now supporting the attack Rook A4 the Rook is trying to defend from the fourth rank a lateral defense I would move Black's Bishop now Rook Rook where is it going to? very mysterious so David Paravyan has only 8 seconds on the clock Rook G7 King G7 a quiet move Queen D4 this Queen's might be coming off the board if the Queen's come off White will be safe Queen B6 does Black really want to retreat the whole way maybe he has to maybe he has to I like it's Queen D8 so bad then try and swing the Queen to G5 no maybe it's not so bad I just don't want to allow Rook A8 Queen B6 Rook A6 and Queen C7 yep so Queen C7 I don't want to allow Rook A8 if any Rooks come off or the Queen's come off then White's edging closer you can still try and swing to G5 via E7 mm-hmm later on 4, 3 oh dear and Queen B4 I think we'll see Bishop C5 now oh Bishop C5 this Queen A5 Bishop B6 but I don't understand why that King came to G7 yeah allowing all those he wanted to play Rook F7 first a few moments ago but then he decided to change his mind um Bishop B6 this one I think it's gonna come down two nerves Wang Hao now 30 seconds on the clock Rook B8 he wants to put his Bishop on B6 sooner or later actually my heartbeat if we had hardweight Rona does it's like we've run a marathon let alone the players you know they've had the easy drop there King the King where is it going to F7 I mean some mysterious moves I think Wang Hao's getting nervous as well and as soon as that Queen moves we'll be able to see White's clock 3 seconds he keeps playing with 3 seconds Queen C4 again Queen E7 is the Queen finally headed for G5 I think your idea might come into both of your ideas Rook A2 first Harry Harry the H1 Rook E4 first Queen D3 I mean White has just got a simple plan Rook AE2 Black has to get ready for this is he going to play G5 and F4 I think he has to No the bishop is going to drop back to C5 Interesting so if White captures now then Black will get a very strong pass pawn instead Rook AE2 and Wang Hao shaking his head he's made a mistake I mean now he has to swap Rooks I mean I don't know what what he was planning there Wang Hao is far more And he's now caught up with his opponent actually has dropped below him 10 seconds on the clock for Wang Hao who we see shaking his head 6, 5, 4 he needs to move Queen A7 and Queen E6 checking G7 The queens are off the board Queen E7 check get those queens off and I mean only White can be better look how passive Black's Rook is I mean Wang Hao is going to at maximum draw this game and there we see a handshake Okay a draw agree then congratulations to our champion David Paravyan from Russia I think a player who not many people and look who's still there Yesi Panko who seems to be happy I mean he lost to Paravyan in the semifinals but congratulations and even Wang Hao has a smile on his face what a moment David Paravyan is the winner David of the 20-22 Walter Masters £30,000 to the winner Yeah look how cool he looked there I mean I mean a man of steel steel nerves Unbelievable David it's been a long day It's been a long 10 days I'll be careful next time I wish for a playoff it couldn't have gone down further to the wire I mean we'll be recovering for the next few hours I'm sure these players will be recovering from the next few days but most of all it's been an honour to be here and commentate on some fantastic chess I think before we wrap up once again congratulations to the winner David Paravyan and then next up a big thank you to all the sponsors who have made this tournament possible also many thanks to the government of Gibraltar who have supported this tournament for such a long time thank you to all the people working so hard behind the scenes the scenes special shout out to our tournament director Stuart and especially to the team here in the room with us Hemence Production who have brought you this dream for the past 10 days David thank you to you for bringing such an amazing co-commentator it's been a pleasure thank you for holding my hand through guiding me through it it's been great and last day to you guys out there who have been watching us for the past 10 days interacting in the chat it's been an absolute pleasure bringing you all the action here and how much action we've had so much David I think we all deserve some dinner you've said it all Fiona thank you to everyone out there for watching us for your support you've been so kind to me this was my first seeing you very soon guys thank you very much for watching for all the support have a lovely evening bye bye good night bye bye welcome to Gibraltar home to the biggest chess festival in the world we're at the Caleta hotel where all the magic happens the morning events and the Gibraltar masters master classes simultaneous displays and seminars by the best in the world Blitz events to some and of course our most awaited evening the battle of the sexes mission never stops and we want you with us subscribe to our youtube channel 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