Was wondering if anyone else was following this tournament. Pretty good mix of players ... a couple of the elite, and a whole gaggle of others. Fun to watch:

http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/gib2009/live/index.html

Nakamura might reach over the 2700 fide rating mark again after this tournament, that is good news, it is also good to see that old 'Al Belyavsky is still at it'

I wonder if he deserves to be that highly rated. Don't get me wrong, he is a great player. I just don't think he has really been tested against many of the top 2700 players that he would be joining (after a good tournament, of course). It could just be an inflation thing though. I guess 2700 is the new 2600. Yes Belyavsky is playing well, though he lost to Gashimov today :-(

I think he does deserve it because he EARNED it. Consider the rapid event where he knocked off Karpov and Ivanchuk in the final. At the same time, he does seem to have ups and downs. Like in this tournament for example, he's lost a couple games, one of which was sort of an upset.

Really in following Nakamura's games, it seems he still prefers offbeat opening lines to try and outplay his opponent from a lesser-known but inferior position. While it has worked great many times, it also allows for that random loss to a much lower rated player. I think if Nakamura ever hopes to reach top ten, he would need to start playing Kasparov style opening theory.

I would love to see Harikrishna win this. He is in 3rd place on 5.5/7 and plays Ganguly next.

Has Nakamura not scuppered this chance of reaching 2700 by losing 2 games? Perhaps not.

That is one thing I do like about Nakamura. He plays interesting openings. Which, while interesting, might preclude him from being the top player he aspires to be. I think there is a reasoning why opening theory exists ... it deals with the best moves.

Nakamura wins, Krush loses to a 2100, and Zatonskih in the middle of a tough battle still. Akobian drew. Medium day for the U.S.

A lot of 2100's in Gibraltar are young kids from Norway. I got paired with a couple of them last year. They do a good job preparing for you in the opening the night before, while on the other hand, hardly any of their games are in the database. All in all, they can be quite tough.

Nakamura is now only a half-point off the leaders! Way to go after a sloppy first half!

After his win in round 9, Nakamura is now in a 5-way tie for first going into the final round. This will be an exciting finish!

Nakamura ending must be a complicated one but he nicely advanced his king to have some back rank mate threats. Harikrishna somehow swindled?? a win in a roughly equal piece ending. Svidler must be looking for a revenge tomorrow against solid Harikrishna.

Nakamura is still in a "must win" situation against Vugar Gashimov. This is because his losses making him 5th on tournament rating performance, meaning if all 5 players draw tomorrow, Nakamura will not make it to the rapid playoff as they only accept the top 4 on tournament performance.

Nakamura drew and so had to settle for 3rd. Grats to Svidler for beating Milov in both blitz tie-break games! Svidler is the 2009 Gibraltar Telecom Chess champion!

Well done Svidler, and good for Nakamura, climbing back almost all the way.