Ivanchuk Wins Gibraltar, Short Second, Vallejo Vanquishes Viktor
It was a great finish for the top two in Gibraltar. Vassily Ivanchuk won yet again to conclude the event with a downright crazy 9/10 and a monster 2968 TPR. He beat Daniel Fridman in the last round, and this will push him to #5 on the Live Top List. (Right now he's just behind Karjakin, but that doesn't take today's game into account. If only he'd get his rating to these peaks at those moments when it would qualify him for Candidates matches!)
Nigel Short beat an even stronger opponent - Viktor Bologan, and with Black, no less. Short took clear second with 8.5 and a 2883 TPR, and he will no doubt be back on the road to 2700, though not there yet. A point back, Kaido Kulaots and Michael Roiz tied for third-fourth.
Meanwhile, my favorite story of the event came to an unhappy ending as Viktor Korchnoi lost to Vallejo Pons. Booooooooo. It was a funny game though: Vallejo outplayed him and missed a dead win with 26...Qc6. Black's 27th and 28th moves were further errors, and then the fairy tale could have come true: 29.Ra7!! would have won. After Korchnoi missed his chance, his opponent made no further errors, and it was soon 0-1. Still, it was a good all-around event for Korchnoi, and hopefully an indication that he's going to push back over 2600 again in the near future.
(N.B. Today the Viktors weren't the victors, but Victor Erdos managed to draw and tie for fifth. Question: do his opponents get a number?)