Winning start for Short, Pons in Reggio Emilia 2010 chess tournament
Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010

Piazza Prampolini is the heart of the Reggio Emilia town – formerly known as Grand Piazza. The Palazzo del Monte, encompasses a belfry, and the Crostoso fountain which represents the allegory of the river flowing through the town.

Hello Everyone,

The 53rd Torneo di Capodanno in Reggio Emilia saw very interesting games all around. In the first round, Nigel Short and Francisco Vallejo Pons notched up victories – the former capitalising on an opponent’s attack gone wrong and the latter on the opponent’s blunder in time trouble. Meanwhile, Alexander Morozevich finally reached Reggio Emilia after two days of traveling. His match with David Navara has been posted to the rest day – January 1, 2011.

Results of Round 1
  • Nigel Short – Vugar Gashimov 1-0
  • Alexander Morozevich – David Navara (postponed to 1st January)
  • Fabiano Caruana – Vassily Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2
  • Francisco Vallejo Pons – Michele Godena 1-0
  • Alexander Onischuk – Sergei Movsesian 1/2-1/2
You can follow the action live at the official website here.

Meanwhile, here is the Short-Gashimov game from Round 1 that you can enjoy in the flashplayer below or run the moves through our pgnplayer.

PGN: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4 O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. Re1 Be6 11. Bb3 Na5 12. Bg5 Nxb3 13. axb3 Nd7 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Nd2 Nb6 16. Nf1 f5 17. exf5 Bxf5 18. f4 Bg6 19. fxe5 dxe5 20. Qe2 Qh4 21. Qe3 Rf6 22. Ne4 Rxf1+ 23. Kxf1 Qxh2 24. Nf2 Rf8 25. Qxb6 Qh1+ 26. Ke2 Qxg2 27. Rf1 h6 28. Kd2 Rf6 29. Qc5 Kh7 30. Rae1 Rc6 31. Qxe5 Rxc2+ 32. Ke3 Qc6 33. Ne4 Qb6+ 34. Kf4 Qxb3 35. Rf3 Qb4 36. Rc3 Rf2+ 37. Kg3 Rf5 38. Qe6 Qxb2 39. Rc8 h5 40. Qg8+ Kh6 41. Qh8+ Bh7 42. Qd8 g5 43. Nd2 Rf6 44. Rc7 h4+ 45. Kg2 Bg8 46. Rd7 Qc3 47. Re3 Qc6+ 48. Ne4 Rg6 49. Rd6 Qc2+ 50. Kg1 Qb1+ 51. Kf2 Qa2+ 52. Re2 Qf7+ 53. Kg1 Qf5 54. Nf6 Qc5+ 55. Kh2 1-0


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