Macaques and defence

January normally brings cheerful photos from the Gibraltar Chess Festival, where visiting chess-players get an impromptu snap with the Barbary macaques which inhabit the island. Alas, the 2021 festival was off, while the Fide Women’s Grand Prix, a 12-player all-play-all which forms part of the Women’s World Championship cycle, was planned for January and then postponed.

Gibraltar vaccinated most of its adults by March, and by mid-May the government announced that there were no active cases among residents or visitors. That was good timing for the Fide Women’s Grand Prix, which had been rescheduled for later in May, and offered a refreshing glimpse of over-the-board chess.

Zhansaya Abdumalik, 21, from Kazakhstan, won the event convincingly. With a magnificent 8.5/11 score, she gained enough rating points to punch through the 2500 barrier, her last hurdle in qualifing for the Grandmaster title. She faced a difficult defensive challenge during the ninth game.