Georgian chess player Nana Dzagnidze (2535) is in excellent shape. At Gibraltar prestigious tournament she plays against the strongest chess players but she is still unbeatable. In the seventh round, Nana played against well-known English chess player Nigel Short (2677) and at the 37th move she played draw.
In seven rounds Dzagnidze gathered 5.5 points and is still among leaders (according to additional index she is the tenth). Again nine players have the same points as she, only English Michael Adams (2724) managed to advance as a result of beating compatriot David Hoels (2603) at the 115th move (!) and gained 6.0 points.
In the eighth round Dzagnidze plays against Petra Svidlers (2749), who is No.1 at this following tournament, but in spite of this she is in the 14th position. These following matches Adams-Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan, 2747), Short-Almash (Hungary, 2717), Hou (China, 2605)- Le Quangy (Vietnam, 2714), Movsesyan (Armenia, 2700) – Gopal (India, 2566) and Neg (India, 26451)- Sasikiran (India, 2700) are expected to be interesting. It is newsworthy that in the seventh round, Chinese Yifan Hou current World Champion played against Judit Polgar, who has not played against female chess players for a long time. At the 47th move Hou beat Polgar.
As for other Georgian participants, in the seventh round Nino Khurtsidze (2444) was distinguished among others, she played draw with Eduardo Iturizaga (2649) and took the 41th place with 4.5 points. Lela Javakhishvili (2454) is in the 52th place with the same amount of points. Salome Melia (2398) also has 4.5 points.
In the eighth round Javakhishvili plays against Armenian Gabriel Sargisyan (2683) with white pieces. Melia with black pieces plays against Estonian Kaido Kulaots (2581) and Khurtsidze plays against Italian Sabino Brunelo (2581) with black pieces.
Ten rounds will be held at the Gibraltar tournament and it will end up on February 2. Prize money will be shared the following way: I place – 20 000 EUR, II – 12 000, III – 10 000, IV – 8 000, V – 5 000, VI – 3 500, VII – 3 000, VIII – 2 500, IX – 2 000, X – 1 000, XI – 1000, XII – 1000. Woman winner will gain 10 000 EUR, the second-third placed – 7 000 and 5 000.
