The early phase of year 2016 seems like a repeat of what happened last year. Magnus Carlsen won Tata Steel Chess 2016 and now Hikaru Nakamura repeats his feat last year by re-wins the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess 2016. The American journey in 2016 Gibraltar tournament didn't really smooth, Hikaru conceded with slow starts. In the end he must fight through the play off against Frenchmen Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to earn the title. Hikaru Nakamura wins the last round against David Anton Gujairro in Dutch Defence, while Maxime VL won against Sebastian Maze in Sicilian game. Both got same points and face each other in playoff for first prize. After battling four shorter time control games, Hikaru Nakamura break the wall by winning the fifth game. It was in Armageddon time control and Hikaru Nakamura in black side.
Nakamura wons the Gibraltar Chess 2016 in a row.
Hikaru Nakamura memenangkan turnamen terbuka di Gibraltar Chess 2016. Ini adalah pengulangan dari
suksesnya di tahun 2015 di mana dia juga menang di kepulauan kekuasaan Spanyol tersebut. Walau demikian, tahun ini Hikaru Nakamura sedikit bersusah payah dan musti melewati babak play off untuk bisa meraih gelar juara catur nomor satu di Gibraltar.
Memasuki ronde 10, ada banyak pecatur yang mengantongi nilai yang sama. Namun setelah berakhir babak pertama, hanya Hikaru Nakamura dan Maxime Vachier Lagrave (Prancis) yang memiliki nilai 8/10. Hikaru Nakamura mengalahkan pecatur muda David Anton Gujairro di partai catur pembelaan Belanda / Dutch Defence, sedangkan Maxime Vachier Lagrave mengkandaskan pecatur Sebastian Maze di partai Sisilia. Keduanya berhadapan di babak play off dengan waktu kontrol lebih pendek. Setelah berduel 4 partai, keduanya sama kuat dan remis semua. Terakhir di partai dengan waktu kontrol Armageddon, Hikaru Nakamura dengan buah hitam berhasil menaklukkan Maxime dan merebut gelar jawara catur di Gibraltar 2016. Anna Muzychuk dari Ukraina dinobatkan sebagai pecatur puteri terkuat di hasil turnamen ini.
Partai Catur Sebastian Maze vs Maxime Vachier -Lagrave 0-1, Gibraltar 2016
Partai Catur Maxime Vachier Lagrave vs Hikaru Nakamura 0-1, Gibraltar 2016
Final standings Gibraltar Chess 2016
1. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
8/10
2. Hikaru Nakamura
8/10
- won tie breaks rounds
3. Etienne Bacrot 7.5/10
4. Sethuraman P Sethuraman
7.5/10
5. Pentala Harikrishna
7.5/10
6. Gawain Jones
7.5/10
7. Li Chao
7.5/10
8. Emil Sutovsky
7.5/10
9. Markus Ragger 7/10
10. Gupta Abhijeet 7/10
complete standings