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 ha