 Jan Verle tamed the beast as he held Adiban to a draw in round 7 of the Gibraltar Masters. Jan joins us in our studio. Jan, a draw against Adiban today, a level result, but the game was quite interesting. Yeah, it was an interesting game. For a long time it was a theory up to this moment actually. We placed the Berlin line, one of the critical lines. I knew that Adiban is a very aggressive player, so I could already guess that he would pick a very aggressive and sharp line. And yeah, I was well prepared and on the 23rd move I came with kind of a novelty I think. That's quite fascinating that you were able to guess his opening because you knew his playing style and you were prepared till about the 24th move pretty much. Over here, Bishop g5. You had this in your prep already. This was prep and it's some, yeah, Tabia in the Berlin. And if White really wants to get an advantage, because it's all locked the whole line, you know. And it's a very solid line of course for Black. And if you want to get an advantage, you should play a critical move. So yeah, this is a very sharp line. There's some good results from Gawain Jones, Luke McShane, who had some nice wins here. And there's some sharp ideas of course here, he wants to go Queen H4, there's a nasty pin. So he has sacrificed the pawn, but he's got the two bishops here, as well as your pawn structure is not that great. No, I have a terrible pawn structure indeed, a very weak bishop and a nasty pin here. But of course when I can get my knight to E4, then my problems are solved. Right, so Black's aim is to play knight E4 here, but that's not possible at the moment because you just take on E4, which is why you went 8-6. Yeah, at first sight it looks like a ridiculous move. I'm wondering what's going on after bishop 8-6. People guess probably that I'm crazy man or something like that. But yeah, well the point is of course that I already said it, if he takes, that's what happened in the game. Then I first played Queen E7. Did he take instantly after bishop 8-6, after you played 8-6? Yeah, they're not really other moves. Yeah, because if he leaves the H48 diagonal, then of course I can also play Qe4, there's no more pin. So after bishop 8-6 you went Qe7. So what was your point of giving back this pawn? Well, I win a move here. After Qe7, on the next move I can play Qe4, there's no more pin. And if he goes back to G5, then I can play Qe5. Nice. And then on the next move again, Qe4. Right. Was 8-6 also something that you had prepared? Or was that over the board inspiration? Well, he plays a lot of lines. He plays e4, he plays d4, and within all these e4 stuff he plays also a kind of variation. So there's a lot to remember. You had this pattern in your mind. I knew that 8-6, we play for free results here. I'm still very active, I'm still a pawn up, and he doesn't have the initiative anymore. And I surprised him, so best practical shot I think. Right. In fact he did take some time after that for this move, Rf1, almost 23 minutes. So you did succeed in surprising him. And now after Rf8 he comes back. But like you said that you get your Qe5 and your problems are more or less solved here? I think so, yeah, because I'm still a pawn up, Nx4 is coming. And after Bf4 I play Qd4 check, and again Nx4 is coming. So maybe it's nice to point out that after Rf1 I shouldn't go Nx4 instantly, because then he takes and I'm losing the game after Rf5 or Rf4. Rg4 is the threat here and there's a problem again. So just to point it out, if something like e3 you can even take on g7 perhaps? Yeah, indeed, that's winning indeed. Yeah, so you just take on g7 and then... Yeah, Rg4. Right. Yeah. Very nice. So this was actually a little trap by Adiban that you can't go Nx4 here instantly. Yeah, I should play Rf8 and we analyzed Rf5 and now I can't play again Nx4. So the same idea doesn't work again because? Yeah, then after this he takes again here and Rf5, there's B6 check. Right. But Rf5, you should not forget this own king and I thought, yeah, what's he going to do? I didn't see it, he neither saw what you should do here. Because why is threatening Bg7 after Rf5? So Rf7, you were happy with this position. How were you evaluating this position at this moment? Did you know that you were fine already over the board? Yeah, I had confidence in my position and I thought I was fine and let him come up with some new idea and I could just rest and lay back. Right, and then it just led to repetition and a draw here. Happy with the way things went today overall? Yeah, it's with Black and against very strong opponents so I'm very happy. Yeah, and tomorrow again with the white pieces. You're on 5 out of 7, you're having quite a fantastic tournament so far. Tell us how are you feeling about going into the final part of the event? Yeah, well, of course, last year I had 4.5 out of 6 and then 2 times white but I lost twice against Alexchenko and Gwain Jones. Okay. And then I spoiled everything so I'd like to say so far so good and nothing more and just play my games and we'll see how far I get. One game at a time as they say, we wish you all the best and look forward to having you in our studio with us again. Thank you very much. Thank you Jan. Bye bye.