Artemiev & Tan Zhongyi win Gibraltar Masters

20-year-old Vladislav Artemiev beat Yu Yangyi with Black in the final round to complete a stunning triumph in the 2019 Gibraltar Masters. His 8.5/10, 2941 performance earned him £25,000 and 27.4 rating points as he soared to world no. 20. Elsewhere it was a day of the underdogs as David Howell beat Levon Aronian with Black and 19-year-old Karthikeyan Murali from India took the £20,000 2nd prize by smoothly outplaying top seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Tan Zhongyi snatched the £15,000 women’s top prize with victory over GM Aleksandar Indjic.

He scored a 2941 rating performance while no-one else exceeded 2800, and his play had everything: bold attacks (e.g. vs. Nakamura), tenacious defence (vs. Aronian) and clever psychology (the exchange sac to get Navara into a passive position) as well as the intuitive technique that had already made him a feared rapid and blitz player.