Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

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  • Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

    Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

    October 8, 2017

    2017 FIDE World Chess Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix

    NOV 16 – 25 2017 Palma de Mallorca, Spain

    The tournament, a nine round Swiss contest, is the last of four Grand Prix in 2017 and follow’s the Sharjah Grand Prix in February, the Moscow Grand Prix in May and the Geneva Grand Prix in July.

    The Grand Prix series is sponsored by Kaspersky Lab and EG Capital Advisors.

    Each round starts at 2PM local time. The live broadcast of every game at the Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix is available exclusively at www.worldchess.com.

    Prize Fund

    € 130000

    Players

    Alexander Riazantsev
    Anish Giri
    Boris Gelfand
    Ding Liren
    Dmitry Jakovenko
    Ernesto Inarkiev
    Evgeny Tomashevsky
    Francisco Vallejo Pons
    Hikaru Nakamura
    Jon Ludvig Hammer
    Levon Aronian
    Li Chao
    Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
    Pavel Eljanov
    Pentala Harikrishna
    Peter Svidler
    Richard Rapport
    Teimour Radjabov

    https://worldchess.com/events/europe...ca-grand-prix/
    Last edited by Wayne Komer; Tuesday, 14th November, 2017, 05:16 PM.

  • #2
    Re: Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

    Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

    November 14, 2017

    Schedule

    Palma de Mallorca, Spain

    November


    Wednesday 15 Opening Ceremony

    Thursday 16 Round 1 — 14:00

    Friday 17 Round 2 — 14:00

    Saturday 18 Round 3 — 14:00

    Sunday 19 Round 4 — 14:00

    Monday 20 Round 5 — 14:00

    Tuesday 21 Rest Day

    Wednesday 22 Round 6 — 14:00

    Thursday 23 Round 7 — 14:00

    Friday 24 Round 8 — 14:00

    Saturday 25 Round 9 — 14:00

    Sunday 26 Departures

    This is one of those tournaments where you have to pay Agon/World Chess to see the broadcast. I don’t know what other sites are carrying the moves.

    https://worldchess.com/gp2017/

    14:00 Palma time is 8:00 AM Montreal/Toronto time

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

      Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

      November 16, 2017

      Round One

      Pairings


      Bo. Name Rtg Name Rtg

      1 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2721 - GM Aronian Levon 2801
      2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2796 - GM Gelfand Boris 2719
      3 GM Eljanov Pavel 2707 - GM Nakamura Hikaru 2780
      4 GM Ding Liren 2774 - GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2705
      5 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2702 - GM Svidler Peter 2763
      6 GM Giri Anish 2762 - GM Rapport Richard 2692
      7 GM Inarkiev Ernesto 2683 - GM Li Chao B 2741
      8 GM Radjabov Teimour 2741 - GM Riazantsev Alexander 2651
      9 GM Hammer Jon Ludvig 2629 - GM Harikrishna P. 2738

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

        Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

        November 16, 2017

        Round One

        Results


        1. Jakovenko-Aronian 0.5-0.5
        2. MVL-Gelfand 1-0
        3. Eljanov-Nakamura 0.5-0.5
        4. Ding-Vallejo Pons 0.5-0.5
        5. Tomashevsky-Svidler 0.5-0.5
        6. Giri-Rapport 1-0
        7. Inarkiev-Li Chao B 1-0
        8. Radjabov-Riazantsev 0.5-0.5
        9. Hammer-Harikrishna 0.5-0.5

        Round Two Pairings

        1. Giri-MVL
        2. Aronian-Inarkiev
        3. Nakamura-Jakovenko
        4. Riazantsev-Ding
        5. Svidler-Eljanov
        6. Vallejo Pons-Radjabov
        7. Harikrishna-Tomashevsky
        8. Li Chao-Hammer
        9. Gelfand-Rapport

        ________

        The tournaments run by Agon have very poor marketing. Usually, in most international tourneys, there are weekly stories, interviews with players and a build-up of anticipation. But with Agon, there was virtually nothing in the press before.
        The official site is rather sterile with little or nor information. When the pairings were made, there was finally something to report.

        World Chess exclusively broadcasts by pay-per-view. ChessBase carried the game scores live by agreement. Chessbomb and chess24 had no mention of the event this morning.

        Agon alienated other services with their lawsuits and they threaten them to be blacklisted via FIDE

        See post #26

        http://forum.chesstalk.com/showthrea...480#post119480

        These tweets on Nov. 14:

        Chess24 – Having lost every legal case Agon’s lawyer drafts a shameful “FIDE LIVE MOVES BROADCASTING POLICY” trying to impose an illegal ban on reporting chess moves using FIDE “ethics as its basis.

        Alejandro Ortiz – And what about chess media and chess fans? What would happen if for example nobody follows nor covers the next Grand Prix?

        Susan Polgar – Many already stopped watching. Many sites do not even cover them.

        ChessHot – World Chess wanting to monetize their investment is normal. What isn’t normal is making the factual report of LIVE chess moves illegal.

        Jupiqqer – What is the “FIDE family” supposed to mean? Sounds like the mob.


        Opening Ceremony

        The Opening Ceremony was held at the landmark hilltop Bellver Castle, former residence for the Kings of Mallorca built in the 14th century in a Gothic style. At the castle’s unique circular yard guests had a good opportunity to mingle with each other and enjoy modern Spanish guitar music.

        Javier Ochoa, Honorary FIDE Vice President and President of the Spanish Chess Federation, thanked FIDE for the opportunity to host the tournament and welcomed the participants. “Spain is a country with a great Chess tradition and a thousand-year long history of playing chess,” he added.

        Sebastia Nadal, President of the Winter Chess: “It is very rewarding to know that one of the best Spanish chess players of our time, Francisco Vallejo Pons, who was born and who resides here in our islands, could take part in this cycle of the World Chess.”

        The first round took place at the Hotel Iberostar Bahia de Palma.

        https://worldchess.com/2017/11/16/fi...gothic-castle/

        The games:

        Radjabov-Riazantsev was only 12 moves to the draw. Ding Liren – Vallejo Pons was 20. Perhaps the latter is excusable in that Ding had to fly from St. Louis through seven time-zones to make it for the game today.

        Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix 2017
        Round 1, Nov. 16, 2017
        MVL – Gelfand, Boris
        B35 Sicilian, Accelerated Fianchetto, Uogele variation

        1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Bb3 d5 9.exd5 Na5 10.O-O Nxb3 11.Nxb3 b6 12.d6 e6 13.Qf3 Rb8 14.Rfd1 Bb7 15.Qh3 Rc8 16.Bd4 Nd5 17.Nxd5 Bxd5 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Rac1 b5 20.Qg3 Qf6 21.Nd4 b4 22.c4 bxc3 23.Rxc3 Rxc3 24.bxc3 Rd8 25.h4 e5 26.Nf5+ Qxf5 27.Rxd5 Qe4 28.c4 f6 29.Qc3 Qb1+ 30.Kh2 Qxa2 31.Rd2 Qa4 32.g3 Qc6 33.c5 Rd7 34.Qc4 1-0

        Round 1, Nov. 16
        Giri, Anish – Rapport, Richard
        A40 Queen’s Pawn, Keres Defence

        1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.a3 Bb7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.Nc3 Ne7 7.h3 Nf5 8.d5 Bd6 9.Qd2 exd5 10.cxd5 O-O 11.O-O-O Re8 12.e3 Bxf4 13.exf4 Ne7 14.Bc4 b5 15.Bb3 a5 16.Nxb5 a4 17.Bc2 Nexd5 18.Rhe1 d6 19.Nfd4 Rxe1 20.Rxe1 Nb6 21.Nf5 Qd7 22.Nc3 Re8 23.g4 Rxe1+ 24.Qxe1 g6 25.Ng3 Nfd5 26.f5 Nxc3 27.Qxc3 Qd8 28.Kb1 Bg2 29.f4 d5 30.fxg6 hxg6 31.f5 d4 32.Qd2 d3 33.Qxg2 Qd4 34.Bd1 Nc4 35.fxg6 fxg6 36.Qb7 Nd2+ 37.Ka2 Qc4+ 38.b3 Qc1 39.Qd5+ Kg7 40.Qd7+ Kf8 41.Qd8+ Kg7 42.Qd7+ Kf8 43.Qxd3 Qxd1 44.bxa4 c5 45.Ne4 Nxe4 46.Qxd1 Nc3+ 47.Kb3 Nxd1 48.a5 Ne3 49.a6 c4+ 50.Kc3 Nd5+ 51.Kxc4 Nc7 52.a7 g5 53.Kc5 Ke7 54.Kc6 Na8 55.Kd5 Kf6 56.Kd6 Kf7 57.Ke5 Kg6 58.Ke6 Nb6 59.a4 Na8 60.a5 Kg7 61.Kf5 Kh6 62.Kf6 1-0

        Round 1, Nov. 16
        Inarkiev, Ernesto – Li, Chao
        D85 Grunfeld, Exchange variation

        1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Qa4+ Nd7 8.Nf3 O-O 9.Be2 Nb6 10.Qb4 Qd6 11.O-O Bg4 12.Qb3 c6 13.Rd1 Qc7 14.Ba3 Nc8 15.Rac1 Bxf3 16.Bxf3 Rd8 17.e5 e6 18.c4 Rb8 19.Be4 c5 20.Bxc5 f6 21.Bb4 fxe5 22.d5 b6 23.dxe6 Ne7 24.Rd7 Rxd7 25.exd7 Qxd7 26.c5+ Kh8 27.c6 Rc8 28.Qf7 Qd4 29.Bxe7 1-0

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

          Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

          November 17, 2017

          Round Two

          Results


          1. Giri-MVL 0.5-0.5
          2. Aronian-Inarkiev 1-0
          3. Nakamura-Jakovenko 0.5-0.5
          4. Riazantsev-Ding 0.5-0.5
          5. Svidler-Eljanov 0.5-0.5
          6. Vallejo Pons-Radjabov 0-1
          7. Harikrishna-Tomashevsky 0.5-0.5
          8. Li Chao-Hammer 0.5-0.5
          9. Gelfand-Rapport 0.5-0.5

          Round Three Pairings

          1. MVL-Aronian
          2. Radjabov-Giri
          3. Tomashevsky-Nakamura
          4. Ding-Eljanov
          5. Hammer-Svidler
          6. Inarkiev-Harikrishna
          7. Jakovenko-Riazantsev
          8. Rapport-Li Chao
          9. Vallejo Pons-Gelfand

          _______

          Evgeny Miroshnichenko is commentating on the official broadcast from a studio in Moscow. Peter Doggers says that it is one of the ways Agon is cutting costs. Furthermore, the live shows image quality has decreased. Just like during the Geneva Grand Prix, a limited number of cameras of a lower quality is used compared to the first two Grand Prixs. All this is understandable if you take into account the financial trouble Agon is in, but what’s surprising is that, yet again, the company is publishing the live broadcast for free on Facebook while on the official site viewers need to pay $10 to watch.

          https://www.chess.com/news/view/giri...lma-grand-prix

          Coincidentally, the featured grandmaster on the backpage interview of New in Chess this month (2017#7) is Miro.

          A couple of his answers:

          What is your favourite city?

          Brussels is surely on the list

          What book is currently on your bedside table?

          Books by Terry Pratchett, Alexander Gents and (surprise!) Boris Gelfand.

          What is your all-time favourite movie?

          Dead Man by Jim Jarmusch

          And your favourite TV series?

          Black Books; close second, House MD

          Given the last answer, it is not surprising that one of the three famous people he would invite to dinner is Hugh Laurie. I would love to hear them talking at that meal!

          _______

          Round Two games:

          Round 2, Nov. 17
          Aronian, Levon – Inarkiev, Ernesto
          D37 QGD, Hastings variation, main line

          1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qc2 Nc6 9.Rd1 Qa5 10.a3 Re8 11.Nd2 e5 12.Bg5 Nd4 13.Qb1 Bf5 14.Bd3 Bxd3 15.Qxd3 Ne4 16.Nxd5 Nxg5 17.b4 Qa6 18.bxc5 Rad8 19.Nb4 Qa4 20.Qb1 a5 21.Nd5 Nc2+ 22.Ke2 Ne4 23.Nxe4 Qxc4+ 24.Kf3 Rxd5 25.g4 f5 26.gxf5 Rf8 27.Qxb7 Rxf5+ 28.Kg3 Rxd1 29.Rxd1 Nd4 30.exd4 Rf7 31.Qb1 Rf4 32.f3 Qe6 33.Ng5 Qh6 34.Qb8+ 1-0

          Round 2, Nov. 17
          Vallejo Pons, Francisco – Radjabov, Teimour
          E73 King’s Indian, Semi-Averbakh System

          1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 O-O 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 a5 8.g4 Na6 9.h4 Nc5 10.f3 h5 11.g5 Nh7 12.Kd2 Bd7 13.Nh3 c6 14.Nf2 cxd5 15.exd5 f5 16.gxf6 Nxf6 17.Bxc5 dxc5 18.Kc2 a4 19.Qd2 a3 20.b3 e4 21.fxe4 Ng4 22.Nxg4 hxg4 23.h5 Rf2 24.h6 Be5 25.Raf1 g3 26.Rxf2 gxf2 27.Nd1 Qf6 28.Rf1 Bd4 29.Nxf2 Bxf2 30.e5 Qxe5 31.Rxf2 Bf5+ 32.Kd1 Qa1+ 33.Qc1 Qxa2 34.Rxf5 Qxb3+ 35.Kd2 Qa2+ 36.Ke1 Qb2 37.Qf4 Qb1+ 0-1

          And an endgame of rook vs two knights

          Round 2, Nov. 17
          Gelfand, Boris – Rapport, Richard
          A40 Queen’s Pawn, Keres Defence

          1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Bxd2+ 5.Qxd2 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Ne2 dxe4 8.Bxe4 Bb7 9.Nbc3 Nf6 10.Bf3 O-O 11.O-O Qc8 12.Rad1 Ne7 13.Bxb7 Qxb7 14.Ng3 Rad8 15.Qe3 Rfe8 16.f3 Qa6 17.b3 Qa5 18.Rd3 a6 19.Nge4 Nd7 20.a4 Nf5 21.Qd2 Qb4 22.Rb1 Nf8 23.d5 exd5 24.Nxd5 Qxd2 25.Rxd2 c6 26.Ndc3 Rxd2 27.Nxd2 Re3 28.Nde4 Ne6 29.Rd1 h5 30.b4 h4 31.h3 Ng3 32.Kf2 Nxe4+ 33.Kxe3 Nxc3 34.Rd6 Nxa4 35.Rxc6 Kf8 36.c5 bxc5 37.Rxa6 Nc3 38.Ra8+ Ke7 39.bxc5 Nd5+ 40.Ke4 Nf6+ 41.Ke5 Nxc5 42.Kf5 Ne6 43.Ra7+ Kf8 44.Ra8+ Ne8 45.Kg4 g5 46.g3 hxg3 47.Kxg3 f6 48.h4 Kf7 49.hxg5 Nxg5 50.f4 Ne4+ 51.Kg4 Ng7 52.f5 1/2-1/2

          Position after 41.Ke5

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

            Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

            November 18, 2017

            Round Three

            Results


            1. MVL-Aronian 0.5-0.5
            2. Radjabov-Giri 0.5-0.5
            3. Tomashevsky-Nakamura 0.5-0.5
            4. Ding-Eljanov 0.5-0.5
            5. Hammer-Svidler 0-1
            6. Inarkiev-Harikrishna 0.5-0.5
            7. Jakovenko-Riazantsev 0.5-0.5
            8. Rapport-Li Chao 0.5-0.5
            9. Vallejo Pons-Gelfand 1-0

            Round Four Pairings

            1. Aronian-Giri
            2. Svidler-MVL
            3. Nakamura-Radjabov
            4. Inarkiev-Ding
            5. Harikrishna-Vallejo Pons
            6. Eljanov-Jakovenko
            7. Riazantsev-Tomashevsky
            8. Rapport-Hammer
            9. Li Chao-Gelfand

            Ranking List after Round Three

            1-5 Aronian, MVL, Svidler, Giri, Radjabov 2.0
            6-14 Nakamura, Ding, Harikrishna, Jakovenko, Eljanov, Vallejo Pons, Tomashevsky, Inarkiev, Riazantsev 1.5
            15-17 Li Chao, Rapport, Hammer 1.0
            18 Gelfand 0.5

            Candidates Qualifiers

            Martin Bennedik is doing a round-by-round update of the qualifiers for the Candidates.

            See:

            https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...n97Kg/pubhtml#

            So far, these are the standings:

            Runner-up 2016 Sergey Karjakin

            World Cup 2017 #1 Levon Aronian
            World Cup 2017 #2 Ding Liren
            Rating #1 Fabiano Caruana
            Rating #2 Wesley So
            Grand Prix 2017 #1 Teimour Radjabov
            Grand Prix 2017 #2 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
            Organizer’s Nominee Vladimir Kramnik

            The only two of the above that are in reasonable doubt are Radjabov and Mamedyarov. Alexander Grischuk cannot getting any more points in the Grand Prix but MVL can and Radjabov may falter. It is best to follow Martin Bennedik’s spreadsheet round-by-round.

            Round Three games

            When I started watching the live feed from the tournament, I thought for a moment that I was seeing Magnus Carlsen at the board. It turned out that it was Jon Ludvig Hammer, so much do they look alike with the mop of hair and the glasses!

            I see that chessbomb is giving a live feed of the games but chess24 is not.

            Round 3, Nov. 18
            Hammer, Jon Ludvig – Svidler, Peter
            B51 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky Attack

            1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Bxd7+ Bxd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.Qd3 Rc8 9.Nd2 Be6 10.Nf1 Be7 11.Ne3 Nf6 12.O-O Qc7 13.a4 Qc5 14.Rd1 O-O 15.Bd2 Bd8 16.Nf5 Bxf5 17.exf5 d5 18.Rac1 Bb6 19.Qe2 h6 20.a5 Ba7 21.Na4 Qc6 22.b3 Rfe8 23.Kh1 Qd7 24.g4 d4 25.Qf3 e4 26.Qg2 Qc6 27.g5 hxg5 28.Bxg5 e3 29.f3 Re5 30.Qh3 e2 31.Rg1 d3 32.Nb6 Bxb6 33.axb6 Rce8 34.Bh6 Ng4 35.Rxg4 e1=Q+ 36.Rxe1 Rxe1+ 37.Kg2 R8e2+ 38.Kg3 Rg1+ 39.Kh4 Qxh6# 0-1

            Hammer allows Svidler to mate on the board.

            Round 3, Nov. 18
            Vallejo Pons, Francisco – Gelfand, Boris
            B77 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack

            1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Bb3 d6 9.f3 Bd7 10.Qd2 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 b5 12.Nd5 Nxd5 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.exd5 a5 15.a3 Qb6 16.O-O-O Rfc8 17.g4 h5 18.h3 Rab8 19.Rhe1 a4 20.Ba2 b4 21.Qxb4 Qxb4 22.axb4 Rxb4 23.Rxe7 Rc7 24.c4 Kf6 25.Rde1 Rcb7 26.R1e4 h4 27.f4 Kg7 28.Re2 Kf8 29.R7e3 Rb8 30.Re4 Kg7 31.Re7 R8b7 32.R7e3 Rb8 33.Ra3 Kf6 34.Rc3 Kg7 35.Rf3 Kf6 36.Rd3 Kg7 37.Rd1 Kf6 38.Rdd2 Kg7 39.Re7 R8b7 40.Re3 Rb8 41.Ree2 Kf6 42.Rc2 R8b7 43.Kd1 Rb8 44.Ke1 R4b6 45.Kf2 Rb4 46.Kf3 Kg7 47.Ke4 f5+ 48.Kd3 fxg4 49.Re7+ Kh6 50.Rxd7 gxh3 51.Rxd6 Rxb2 52.Re6 h2 53.Re1 Rxc2 54.Kxc2 Re8 55.Rh1 Re2+ 56.Kc3 Rxa2 57.c5 Ra3+ 58.Kb4 Rf3 59.c6 Rxf4+ 60.Kb5 Rd4 61.c7 Rxd5+ 62.Kb4 Rd4+ 63.Kc3 1-0

            There were three draws of 21 moves or less – Radjabov-Giri (21), Inarkiev-Harikrishna (20) and Jakovenko-Riazantsev (18). These short draws have been plaguing the Grand Prix series.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

              Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix 2017

              November 19, 2017

              Round Four

              Mike Klein at chess.com:

              In today's round four of the final leg of the FIDE Grand Prix in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, six of the nine players of the white pieces played h4, many with aggressive intentions.

              It was on the square d6 that the round hinged. We will know in one week for sure, but one square from one round could easily decide one quarter of the Candidates' qualification!

              Today GM Levon Aronian finished off a gem of an attack with pawn to d6 as the finishing move, while a little while later GM Hikaru Nakamura sacrificed a queen on this square, eventually leading to a win over one of the men trying to qualify, GM Teimour Radjabov.

              Those were just two of the six wins this round, which nearly doubled the total number of wins from the first three rounds combined (seven).

              On this Bloody Sunday Aronian's win could have even bigger implications, since that pushed him into the lead with 3.0/4. Since GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave drew, the Frenchman (2.5/4) is now splitting second place points with the other five players on a +1 score. Taking out the calculus of the big reward 170 points for 1st place, and adding even more players to split with, will not help Vachier-Lagrave.

              That failure to convert the full point against Aronian yesterday now looms even larger for France's strongest-ever player.

              Today though, a dilemma: Both Aronian's and Nakamura's wins mattered greatly to the live Candidates' standings, and both had moments of greatness. From a pure chess viewpoint, Aronian easily gets top honors. Marriage has clearly not dampened his creativity.

              Aronian claimed afterward that his opening resembled a setup that is usually chosen as Black (which he has played once, so why not as White!?). He said it was made popular by the late GM Vugar Gashimov. While that's true, he could have gone even further back in time than that.

              While his opening also resembled the style of GM Duncan Suttles (who also played in Mallorca once, at the 1970 Interzonal), Aronian's middlegame resembled, well, himself! Recall that it was only just a few months ago that Aronian blessed with chess world with another h4, h5, and eventual Rh4 brilliancy. Sure, GM Anish Giri did miss one saving chance today (that our analyzer still thinks doesn't hold), but overall the Armenian was just as irrepressible as at the Sinquefield Cup.

              "When I sacrificed the piece, I did it intuitively," Aronian said. "I had a feeling it should work somehow."

              As Aronian's game concluded, Radjabov looked to be holding as Black against Nakamura, but then a wayward loosening move spoiled everything. The American had already begun marshaling his forces on the queenside, and punished 26...b5 summarily. Nakamura said Black was already in some danger anyway.

              Just prior to the ending, Nakamura offered a pseudo-queen-sac.

              "Psychologically it was very hard," Nakamura said after that, adding that he thought Black took back on c8 with the wrong rook.

              Shortly after, Nakamura said he played "close to perfectly" while dominating the left half of the board. The queenside rout was so complete that Nakamura was willing to allow one black knight to capture all three of his kingside pawns. His rook then staircased up to b8 and in the final position Black's pieces are uniquely impotent to stopping White's pawns.

              https://www.chess.com/news/view/bloo...as-sole-leader

              The games:

              Round 4, Nov. 19, 2017
              Aronian, Levon – Giri, Anish
              A16 English

              1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.d3 Bg7 6.Bd2 O-O 7.g3 c5 8.h4 Nc6 9.h5 Nxc3 10.bxc3 c4 11.hxg6 hxg6 12.Qa4 Na5 13.d4 b6 14.Bg2 Bb7 15.Qc2 Qd5 16.Nh4 Qd7 17.e4 e5 18.d5 Bc8 19.f4 Qe7 20.f5 g5 21.Qd1 gxh4 22.Rxh4 Rd8 23.Qh5 Kf8 24.Rg4 Bf6 25.Bh6+ Ke8 26.Rg8+ Kd7 27.d6 1-0

              Round 4, Nov. 19, 2017
              Svidler, Peter – MVL
              A33 English, symmetrical variation

              1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Bf4 d5 7.e3 Bb4 8.Be2 Bd7 9.O-O dxc4 10.Bxc4 1/2-1/2

              Round 4, Nov. 19, 2017
              Nakamura, Hikaru – Radjabov, Teimour
              B30 Sicilian, Nimzowitsch-Rossolimo Attack

              1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.O-O Nge7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Ng6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Be2 O-O 9.Nc3 Qc7 10.f4 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 b6 12.Qd2 Bb7 13.Rad1 Bc6 14.a3 Bf6 15.g3 Rac8 16.e5 Be7 17.h4 Rfd8 18.h5 Nf8 19.Ba6 Rb8 20.Qd6 Bxd6 21.exd6 Qc8 22.Bxc8 Rbxc8 23.a4 h6 24.Ra1 Ba8 25.a5 Rc6 26.Rfd1 b5 27.a6 b4 28.Nb5 Rxc2 29.Rd2 Rdc8 30.Nc7 Rxd2 31.Bxd2 Bc6 32.Be3 Nh7 33.Bxa7 Nf6 34.Bc5 Ne4 35.Bxb4 Nxg3 36.a7 Ne2+ 37.Kh2 Nxf4 38.Ra6 Be4 39.Rb6 Nxh5 40.Rb8 Rf8 41.Bd2 Nf6 42.b4 1-0

              Round 4, Nov. 19, 2017
              Inarkiev, Ernesto – Ding, Liren
              C88 Ruy Lopez, Closed, anti-Marshall

              1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.a4 b4 9.d4 d6 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Nxe5 dxe5 12.Qf3 Bc5 13.h3 Bb7 14.Nd2 Kh8 15.Qg3 Qe7 16.Qh4 g5 17.Qxg5 Rg8 18.Qf5 Rg7 19.Nf3 Rag8 20.Bg5 Nxe4 21.h4 Nxg5 22.hxg5 Rxg5 23.Nxg5 Rxg5 24.Qh3 Qf6 25.Re3 Rxg2+ 26.Qxg2 Bxg2 27.Kxg2 Bxe3 28.fxe3 c5 29.Bc4 Qg6+ 30.Kf3 Qf5+ 31.Kg3 Qe4 32.b3 Qxe3+ 33.Kg2 Qd2+ 34.Kh1 f5 35.Rg1 Qh6+ 36.Kg2 Kg7 37.Rd1 Qg5+ 38.Kf2 Qf4+ 39.Ke2 Qh2+ 40.Ke3 f4+ 41.Ke4 Qxc2+ 42.Rd3 Kf6 43.Bxa6 Qg2+ 44.Rf3 Ke6 0-1

              Round 4, Nov. 19, 2017
              Harikrishna, Pentala – Vallejo Pons, Francisco
              A21 English, Kramnik-Shirov Counter Attack

              1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.Nd5 Na6 4.Nxb4 Nxb4 5.a3 Nc6 6.b4 d5 7.e3 Nf6 8.Bb2 d4 9.Nf3 Bg4 10.h3 Bxf3 11.gxf3 O-O 12.Qc2 a5 13.b5 Ne7 14.f4 dxe3 15.O-O-O e2 16.Bxe2 exf4 17.h4 Kh8 18.h5 h6 19.Rdg1 Qd6 20.c5 Qd5 21.Rh4 Rfe8 22.Rxf4 Neg8 23.Bf3 Qe6 24.Qc3 Rad8 25.Rfg4 Qf5 26.Rxg7 Re1+ 27.Rxe1 Kxg7 28.Bxb7 Kf8 29.f3 Nxh5 30.Qe5 Qd7 31.Bc3 Ngf6 32.Bc6 Qe6 33.Qxe6 1-0

              Round 4, Nov. 19, 2017
              Eljanov, Pavel – Jakovenko, Dmitry
              A37 English, symmetrical variation

              1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.Nd5 Na6 4.Nxb4 Nxb4 5.a3 Nc6 6.b4 d5 7.e3 Nf6 8.Bb2 d4 9.Nf3 Bg4 10.h3 Bxf3 11.gxf3 O-O 12.Qc2 a5 13.b5 Ne7 14.f4 dxe3 15.O-O-O e2 16.Bxe2 exf4 17.h4 Kh8 18.h5 h6 19.Rdg1 Qd6 20.c5 Qd5 21.Rh4 Rfe8 22.Rxf4 Neg8 23.Bf3 Qe6 24.Qc3 Rad8 25.Rfg4 Qf5 26.Rxg7 Re1+ 27.Rxe1 Kxg7 28.Bxb7 Kf8 29.f3 Nxh5 30.Qe5 Qd7 31.Bc3 Ngf6 32.Bc6 Qe6 33.Qxe6 1-0

              Round 4, Nov. 19, 2017
              Rapport, Richard – Hammer, Jon Ludvig
              D35 QGD, Exchange (Tartakower System)

              1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 c6 7.Qc2 Nbd7 8.Nf3 h6 9.Bf4 Nh5 10.O-O-O Nxf4 11.exf4 g5 12.Bd3 gxf4 13.Rhe1 Kf8 14.Bf5 Bb4 15.a3 Bxc3 16.Qxc3 Nb6 17.g4 Bxf5 18.Qc5+ Kg7 19.gxf5 Qf6 20.Re7 Rhe8 21.Rg1+ Kh7 22.Rge1 Rxe7 23.Qxe7 Qxf5 24.Nh4 Qd7 25.Qf6 Rg8 26.Re7 Qg4 27.Nf5 Qg1+ 28.Kc2 Qxf2+ 29.Kb3 1-0

              Round Four Results

              1. Aronian-Giri 1-0
              2. Svidler-MVL 0.5-0.5
              3. Nakamura-Radjabov 1-0
              4. Inarkiev-Ding 0-1
              5. Harikrishna-Vallejo Pons 1-0
              6. Eljanov-Jakovenko 0-1
              7. Riazantsev-Tomashevsky 0.5-0.5
              8. Rapport-Hammer 1-0
              9. Li Chao-Gelfand 0.5-0.5

              Round Five Pairings

              1. Ding-Aronian
              2. MVL-Nakamura
              3. Jakovenko-Svidler
              4. Radjabov-Harikrishna
              5. Giri-Riazantsev
              6. Tomashevsky-Rapport
              7. Vallejo Pons-Li Chao
              8. Eljanov-Inarkiev
              9. Gelfand-Hammer

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

                Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix 2017

                November 20, 2017

                Round Five

                The Palma de Mallorca Interzonal took place from November 9 to December 12, 1970. It was a 24-player round robin.

                Fischer won the Chess Oscar in 1970. He played Petrosian in the USSR vs The Rest of the World,
                played in the Herceg Novi blitz, Rovinj/Zagreb, Buenos Aires, the Siegen Olympiad and at Palma.

                On Board 2 against Petrosian his score was 3-1 in four games, was first at Herceg Novi Blitz 4.5 points ahead of Tal, won Rovinj/Zagreb with 13/17, 2 points ahead of a field that included Smyslov, Korchnoi and Petrosian, won Buenos Aires 3.5 points ahead of Tukmakov and led the USA to 4th place at Siegen.

                Bobby was ineligible for the Interzonal because he did not take part in the last championship (Evans) but FIDE voted to allow the 27-year-old American to play in the Interzonal if one of his countrymen would step down to make room for him. Pal Benko agreed to step aside for Fischer, as did the designated first-alternate, Bill Lombardy, as well as all the other players in the U.SA. Zonal.

                In the tourney, Bobby drew with Hubner, then defeated Smyslov, Addison, Filip, Hort and Reshevsky. A poor patch – and a touch of flu – in rounds 7-9 included draws with Matulovic and Naranja, and a defeat by Larsen.

                Two further draws with Portisch and Polugayevsky came next, the Polugayevsky game featuring the curiosity of Fischer playing 1.c4 for the only time in his life to date.

                “We are not afraid of Fischer”, declared Efim Geller in an interview after the Interzonal when he discussed prospects for the Candidates’ matches. The fearless Geller offered Bobby a draw on the seventh move; Bobby laughed at him, turned down the offer, and won 65 moves later from a drawn rook ending where the tired Geller analyzed an illegal move in pondering the critical position. It was the turning point of the tournament, though only in the sense that after the game the question because whether Fischer could surpass his own winning margin of Stockholm.

                Two more convincing wins against Ivkov and Minic, preceded a little interlude where Bobby dropped half points to the tournament tail-enders Jimenez and Ujtumen. At this stage, with seven rounds left, he was half a point in front of Geller and one point ahead of Uhlmann.

                The prospects were for a narrower lead over the second finisher than in Stockholm, but the remaining games set in motion an incredible record series of victories It started with two wins which demonstrated Bobby’s strength in opening theory: a textbook sacrifice at d5 destroyed Rubinetti’s Najdorf Sicilian, then Uhlmann fell into a known trap in the Modern Benoni which cost his key king’s pawn and the game. Fischer’s win from Taimanov was a classic bishop vs knight situation of a type where Fischer excels: Taimanov missed a chance to solidify a black square grip, whereupon Fischer opened up the position for the bishop and won a precisely calculated endgame.

                Three more wins showed once again how Fischer plays at full power at the end of a tournament when most masters are flagging. He broke through with his rooks in a sharp game against Duncan Suttles, coasted to an easy point against the young Brazilian Mecking, who showed poor strategical judgement in defence against Fischer’s 1.g3, and took full advantage of a fatigue blunder by the veteran Gligoric. In the final round, Bobby had a little compensation for the events of Sousse when Panno resigned without play as a protest against special arrangements for the games of Fischer and Reshevsky to start after the other players.

                The great spurt in the closing rounds had achieved the impossible. Bobby’s winning margin was wider than in Stockholm. The table for the top half of the tournament read Fischer 18.5 out of 23. Larsen, Geller, and Hubner 15, Taimanov and Uhlmann 14, Portisch and Smyslov 13.5. Polugayevsky and Gligoric 13, Panno and Mecking 12.5. Journalists were already making forecasts for the Spassky-Fischer match.
                _______

                The round-by-round description above comes from the chapter entitled “From Portoroz to Petrosian” in the book “The Games of Robert J. Fischer” (1972), edited by Robert Wade and Kevin O’Connell.

                After today’s play in Palma 2017, I wanted to show the exciting play there in 1970.

                All the games today were drawn, seven in less than 30 moves.

                All games 1/2-1/2

                1. Ding-Aronian (20 moves)
                2. MVL-Nakamura (13 moves)
                3. Jakovenko-Svidler (19 moves)
                4. Radjabov-Harikrisna (31 moves)
                5. Giri-Riazantsev (17 moves)
                6. Tomashevsky-Rapport (24 moves)
                7. Vallejo Pons-Li Chao (24 moves)
                8. Eljanov-Inarkiev (45 moves)
                9. Gelfand-Hammer (28 moves)

                Rank after Round 5

                1 Aronian 3.5
                2-7 MVL, Nakamura, Ding, Svidler, Harikrishna, Jakovenko 3.0
                8-12 Giri, Radjabov, Tomashevsky, Rapport, Riazantsev 2.5
                13-16 Li Chao, Eljanov, Vallejo Pons, Inarkiev 2.0
                17-18 Gelfand, Hammer 1.5

                Round Six Pairings

                1. Aronian-Svidler
                2. Harikrishna-MVL
                3. Nakamura-Ding
                4. Giri-Jakovenko
                5. Tomashevsky-Radjabov
                6. Riazantsev-Rapport
                7. Li Chao-Eljanov
                8. Hammer-Vallejo Pons
                9. Gelfand-Inarkiev

                Tomorrow is a rest day. Round Six takes place on November 22.
                Last edited by Wayne Komer; Tuesday, 21st November, 2017, 12:01 AM.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

                  Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix 2017

                  November 22, 2017

                  Round Six

                  From the official site:

                  https://worldchess.com/2017/11/22/ro...keeps-leading/

                  Levon Aronian made a draw with Peter Svidler, yet remained the sole leader of the tournament after six rounds.

                  Richard Rapport and Evgeny Tomashevsky defeated Alexander Riazantsev and Teimour Rajabov accordingly to join the group of six players with plus one, including Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, Ding Liren, Peter Svidler, Dmitry Jakovenko and Pentala Harikishna. Boris Gelfand suffered another loss in the tournament, this time at the hands of Ernesto Inarkiev. Other games finished in a draw.

                  Peter Svidler was in trouble right from the very opening: “I have a suspicion that Levon Aronian looked at the line, which happened in the game, in more detail, because I think it’s more difficult to look at it in less detail than I did.” Levon Aronian was happy about his position after the opening, but was disappointed with his decision of 20.Ng5: “When I was playing fast, I was doing the right moves, then I thought for 25 minutes, got carried away and blundered 21…Rae8.” The White’s advantage slipped away and the game finished in a draw after a few moves.

                  According to Richard Rapport, he was satisfied with his position after the opening, but believed that things got out of control afterwards. Alexander Riazantsev declined a draw offer after 25…Qg5 but most probably missed a strong idea 27…c5. It was White’s turn to be careful, but the Russian Grandmaster didn’t manage to hold the position playing under time pressure.

                  Ernesto Inarkiev and Boris Gelfand played two matches against each other in Ingushetia (Russia) and continued their theoretical discussion in the English opening. Inarkiev had difficult times with Black after 1.c4 and it was his first victory in classical game over Gelfand with Black pieces. The Russian Grandmaster managed to equalize comfortably and the moment Gelfand decided to complicate the position he felt it should not work for White. Ernesto was happy to find 20…Na2 and thought his position was better after.

                  Teimour Rajabov dropped back to minus one with a loss against Evgeny Tomashevsky. The game could have finished in a draw around move 20, but Teimour decided to play on. “At least I tried! #chess”, wrote Azerbaijani Grandmaster in his twitter.

                  Evgeniy Tomashvesky had a similar experience as his opponent at the last stage of the previous Grand Prix Series in Khanty-Mansiysk. He also had a chance to qualify for the Candidates back then and knew how difficult it was to play under such pressure. The two opponents had different motivation. The Russian Grandmaster was slowly increasing his advantage and won a pawn on move 40. He was sure that Black could have defended better, but at the same time believed White’s position had to be winning.

                  Round Six Results

                  1. Aronian-Svidler 1/2-1/2
                  2. Harikrishna-MVL 1/2-1/2
                  3. Nakamura-Ding 1/2-1/2
                  4. Giri-Jakovenko 1/2-1/2
                  5. Tomashevsky-Radjabov 1-0
                  6. Riazantsev-Rapport 0-1
                  7. Li Chao-Eljanov 1/2-1/2
                  8. Hammer-Vallejo Pons 1/2-1/2
                  9. Gelfand-Inarkiev 0-1

                  Standing after Round Six

                  1 Aronian 4.0
                  2-9 MVL, Nakamura, Ding, Svidler, Harikrishna, Jakovenko, Tomashevsky, Rapport 3.5
                  10-11 Giri, Inarkiev 3.0
                  12-16 Li Chao Radjabov Eljanov, Vallejo Pons, Riazantsev 2.5
                  17 Hammer 2.0
                  18 Gelfand 1.5

                  Round Seven Pairings

                  1. Rapport-Aronian
                  2. MVL-Tomashevsky
                  3. Svidler-Nakamura
                  4. Jakovenko-Harikrishna
                  5. Ding-Giri
                  6. Inarkiev-Vallejo Pons
                  7. Radjabov-Li Chao
                  8. Eljanov-Hammer
                  9. Riazantsev-Gelfand

                  Round Six Games

                  Round 6, Nov. 22
                  Harikrishna Pentala - MVL
                  A33 English, symmetrical, Geller variation

                  1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.g3 Qb6 7.Nf3 Bb4 8.Bg2 O-O 9.O-O Bxc3 10.bxc3 Qc5 11.Qa4 Re8 12.Nd4 Ne5 13.Qb5 d6 14.Qxc5 dxc5 15.Nb5 Rd8 16.Na3 a6 17.Bf4 Ned7 18.Rfd1 Re8 19.Rab1 e5 20.Be3 e4 21.h3 h6 22.Nc2 b6 23.a4 Ne5 24.Na3 Be6 25.Rxb6 Bxc4 26.Rb2 Nd5 27.Bf4 Nxc3 28.Rdd2 Nxe2+ 29.Kh2 Nxf4 30.gxf4 Nd3 31.Nxc4 Nxb2 32.Rxb2 Rab8 33.Rc2 Rb4 34.a5 Ra4 35.Bf1 Re6 36.Rd2 Ra1 37.f5 Re8 38.Be2 g6 39.fxg6 fxg6 40.Kg2 Kg7 41.Rd7+ Kf6 42.Ra7 Ra2 43.Rxa6+ Re6 44.Rxe6+ 1/2-1/2

                  Round 6, Nov. 22
                  Tomashevsky, Evgeny – Radjabov, Teimour
                  B08 Pirc, Classical System

                  1.d4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 O-O 6.O-O c6 7.a4 Nbd7 8.a5 Qc7 9.Be3 e5 10.h3 exd4 11.Bxd4 Re8 12.Bc4 Nf8 13.Re1 Be6 14.Bf1 N8d7 15.Ng5 a6 16.Qd2 c5 17.Be3 Ne5 18.Bf4 Rad8 19.Nxe6 fxe6 20.Na4 Nf7 21.Rad1 Nh5 22.Be3 Nf6 23.Bf4 Qc6 24.Nc3 Kh8 25.b3 h6 26.Bd3 g5 27.Bh2 Nd7 28.Ne2 Nfe5 29.f4 gxf4 30.Nxf4 Bf6 31.Kh1 Kh7 32.Rf1 Bg5 33.Qe2 Nf6 34.Nh5 Rf8 35.Bxe5 dxe5 36.Nxf6+ Bxf6 37.Bc4 Qe8 38.Qg4 Rxd1 39.Rxd1 Rg8 40.Qxe6 Qxe6 41.Bxe6 Rd8 42.Bd5 Kg7 43.g3 Rd7 44.h4 Bd8 45.Ra1 Kf6 46.Kg2 Kg6 47.Kf3 Rg7 48.c3 h5 49.Ra2 Kf6 50.Kg2 Kg6 51.Kf2 Kf6 52.Kf3 Kg6 53.b4 cxb4 54.cxb4 Kh6 55.Rc2 Be7 56.Rb2 Bd8 57.Rb3 b6 58.b5 1-0

                  Position after 57…b6



                  - 57….b6 is a poor move
                  - will ET find the killer 58.b5?
                  - He found it, Radjabov can say goodbye to the Candidates tournament
                  - Mamedyarov can start packing. It’s all between MVL and Grischuk now

                  Round 6, Nov. 22
                  Riazantsev, Alexander – Rapport, Richard
                  A91 Dutch Defence

                  1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 d5 6.O-O Ne4 7.Nc3 c6 8.Nd2 Nd6 9.b3 Nd7 10.a4 h5 11.b4 h4 12.b5 hxg3 13.hxg3 Nf6 14.Qb3 Bd7 15.a5 a6 16.bxc6 bxc6 17.Ba3 Rb8 18.Qc2 Nfe4 19.Ncxe4 fxe4 20.Rfb1 Rxb1+ 21.Qxb1 e3 22.Qg6+ Nf7 23.Bxe7 Qxe7 24.fxe3 O-O 25.Qd3 Qg5 26.e4 dxc4 27.Nxc4 c5 28.Qe3 Qxe3+ 29.Nxe3 cxd4 30.Nc2 e5 31.e3 Rc8 32.Nb4 dxe3 33.Bf1 Rb8 34.Nxa6 Rb2 35.Nc5 Ng5 36.Bg2 Bh3 37.Bxh3 Nf3+ 0-1

                  Round 6, Nov. 22
                  Gelfand, Boris – Inarkiev, Ernesto
                  A29 English, Bremen, Smyslov System

                  1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Bb4 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O d6 7.d3 Re8 8.Nd5 Nxd5 9.cxd5 Ne7 10.a3 Ba5 11.b4 Bb6 12.Nd2 c6 13.dxc6 Nxc6 14.Bb2 a6 15.Rc1 Be6 16.e3 Qd7 17.Nc4 Ba7 18.a4 Nxb4 19.Ba3 a5 20.Nxa5 Na2 21.Rc4 Bxe3 22.Nxb7 Bxc4 23.dxc4 Bd4 24.Nxd6 Nc3 25.Qh5 Rxa4 26.Nxe8 Rxa3 27.Nxg7 Kxg7 28.Qg5+ Kf8 29.Qh6+ Ke7 30.Qxh7 Qg4 31.Qh6 Ra2 32.Qc6 Qf5 33.c5 Kf8 34.Kh1 Kg7 35.f4 e4 36.g4 Qxg4 37.Bxe4 Ne2 0-1

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

                    MVL needs to go all out for the last 3 rounds draws probably aren't enough anymore to qualify for the candidates.
                    I think he needs at least 2 wins min.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

                      Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix 2017

                      November 23, 2017

                      Round Seven

                      The star game of this round was Rapport-Aronian that went 6.5 hours and is the longest game of the tournament so far at 79 moves. It finished with a study-like move by Rapport that drew the game.

                      Round 7, Nov. 23
                      Rapport, Richard – Aronian, Levon
                      E05 Catalan, open, Classical line

                      1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.O-O Be7 5.c4 O-O 6.d4 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Rd1 Bc6 10.Bg5 a5 11.Nbd2 Na6 12.Nxc4 Nb4 13.Qb3 Nd7 14.Bxe7 Qxe7 15.Qa3 Rfd8 16.Rac1 Nd5 17.Qa1 N5f6 18.b3 Qb4 19.Ncd2 Rac8 20.e3 Ne4 21.Nc4 Nd6 22.Ne1 Bxg2 23.Kxg2 Nxc4 24.bxc4 Qe7 25.Nd3 c5 26.Qa3 Kf8 27.Qb3 b6 28.Qb5 cxd4 29.exd4 Qd6 30.Nf4 Qc6+ 31.Qxc6 Rxc6 32.d5 Rd6 33.dxe6 Nc5 34.e7+ Kxe7 35.Nd5+ Kf8 36.Ra1 Rc8 37.Rdb1 Nd7 38.Ne3 Ne5 39.Rc1 Rd2 40.Rcb1 Nd3 41.Rf1 g6 42.Ra3 Rc6 43.Rb3 Nc5 44.Ra3 Ne4 45.Raa1 Rf6 46.Ng4 Rfd6 47.Ne3 Rf6 48.Ng4 Rf5 49.Rfd1 Rc5 50.Rxd2 Nxd2 51.Nf6 Ke7 52.Nd5+ Kd6 53.Rd1 Nxc4 54.Nxb6+ Kc6 55.Nd7 Rd5 56.Rc1 Rd4 57.Ne5+ Kc5 58.Nxf7 Kb4 59.Ng5 Nd2 60.Ne6 Rc4 61.Ra1 Kb3 62.f4 Kb2 63.Re1 Rxa4 64.Re5 Kc3 65.f5 Nc4 66.Rc5 gxf5 67.Kh3 Ra2 68.Rxf5 a4 69.Nc7 Rd2 70.Rf8 Rd7 71.Nb5+ Kb4 72.Rb8 Kc5 73.Nc3 a3 74.Rb5+ Kd4 75.Rb3 Ke5 76.Rb5+ Kd4 77.Rb3 Ra7 78.Nb5+ Kc5 79.Rxa3 1/2-1/2

                      Position after Black’s 78…Kc5




                      Miro said that the Vallejo game was only understandable if you used the computer:

                      Round 7, Nov. 23
                      Inarkiev, Ernesto – Vallejo Pons, Francisco
                      C17 French, Winawer, Advance

                      1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Ba5 6.b4 cxd4 7.Qg4 Kf8 8.Nb5 Bb6 9.Nf3 Nc6 10.Bb2 Nge7 11.Bd3 Ng6 12.Qg3 f6 13.Bxg6 hxg6 14.Nbxd4 Nxd4 15.Bxd4 Kf7 16.O-O Bd7 17.Rfe1 Rc8 18.c3 g5 19.Re3 Bxd4 20.cxd4 Rh5 21.exf6 gxf6 22.Rae1 Qc7 23.Qg4 Rch8 24.Rxe6 Bxe6 25.Qxe6+ Kg7 26.h3 Qf7 27.Qd6 Re8 28.Rc1 Qe6 29.Qg3 Rh7 30.h4 Reh8 31.Rc7+ Kf8 32.Rxh7 Rxh7 33.hxg5 Qe4 34.Qd6+ Ke8 35.Qb8+ Kf7 36.Qc7+ Kg6 37.Qc1 Rh5 38.Qd1 Rh8 39.gxf6 Kxf6 40.Ne5 Ke6 41.Ng4 Kd6 42.f3 Qf4 43.Kf2 Rf8 44.Ne3 Qh4+ 45.Ke2 Re8 46.Qd3 Qg5 47.Kf2 Qh4+ 48.Ke2 Qg5 49.Kf2 Qh4+ 1/2-1/2

                      - what a game!!
                      - Paco showing beautifully that there is a world outside of 1.e4 e5

                      Round 7, Nov. 23
                      Svidler, Peter – Nakamura, Hikaru
                      C37 QGD

                      1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 Be7 5.g3 O-O 6.Bg2 dxc4 7.Ne5 Nc6 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Nxc6 Qe8 10.Nxe7+ Qxe7 11.Qa4 c5 12.dxc5 Qxc5 13.Be3 Qc7 14.O-O Nd5 15.Bd4 Bd7 16.Qa3 a5 17.Rad1 Nb4 18.Bc5 Qxc5 19.Rxd7 Rab8 20.Rfd1 h6 21.Qa4 Nd5 22.Nxd5 exd5 23.R7xd5 Qb4 24.Qc2 Qxb2 25.Qxc4 Rb4 26.Qc5 Qxa2 27.Qxa5 Rb2 28.Qxa2 Rxa2 29.e3 g6 30.g4 Rfa8 31.Kg2 R8a5 32.h4 Kg7 33.Kg3 R2a3 34.Kf4 R3a4+ 35.e4 Rxd5 36.Rxd5 Ra3 37.f3 Rc3 38.Ra5 Rb3 39.Rc5 Ra3 40.Rb5 Rc3 41.Kg3 Ra3 42.g5 hxg5 43.hxg5 Rc3 44.Kg4 Ra3 45.Rb7 Ra4 46.Kf4 Ra5 1/2-1/2

                      At the post-game interview it was said that Nakamura mixed up his move order and Svidler had a healthy extra pawn but it was still a theoretical draw

                      Round 7, Nov. 23
                      MVL – Tomashevsky, Evgeny
                      C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed

                      1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a3 O-O 9.Nc3 Bg4 10.Be3 Nd4 11.Bxd4 exd4 12.Nd5 Nd7 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 a5 15.Nxe7+ Qxe7 16.Qg3 a4 17.Ba2 Qe5 18.f4 Qc5 19.Rfe1 Rae8 20.Re2 Re7 21.b4 axb3 22.Bxb3 Qb6 23.Rb1 Qa6 24.Qg5 Rfe8 25.Qd5 Qxa3 26.Qxb5 Qc5 27.Bd5 Qxb5 28.Rxb5 Rc8 29.Bb7 Rb8 30.Re1 Nc5 31.Bc6 Rxb5 32.Bxb5 f5 33.e5 dxe5 34.fxe5 g6 35.Kf2 Kg7 36.Kf3 g5 37.h4 Kg6 38.Bc4 Nd7 39.e6 Nf8 40.g4 fxg4+ 41.Kxg4 gxh4 42.Re4 1/2-1/2

                      MVL could not get furtherer in tying up a spot in the Candidates

                      Round 7, Nov. 23
                      Radjabov, Teimour – Li, Chao
                      A10 English, Adorjan Defence

                      1.c4 g6 2.e4 e5 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nf3 exd4 5.e5 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qe7 7.Bxb4 Qxb4+ 8.Qd2 Qxd2+ 9.Nbxd2 Nh5 10.Nxd4 Nc6 11.N2f3 b6 12.Nb5 Kd8 13.O-O-O Re8 14.g3 a6 15.Nbd4 Bb7 16.Nxc6+ Bxc6 17.Bh3 f5 18.Bg2 b5 19.Rhe1 bxc4 20.Nh4 Bxg2 21.Nxg2 Rb8 22.Rd4 g5 23.Red1 Rxe5 24.Rxd7+ Kc8 25.Rxh7 Nf6 26.Rh8+ Kb7 27.Rxb8+ Kxb8 28.Ne3 f4 29.Nxc4 Re2 30.Rd2 Re1+ 31.Kc2 Kb7 32.Kd3 Rh1 33.gxf4 gxf4 34.f3 Rf1 35.Ne5 Re1 36.Ng4 Nd5 37.h4 c5 38.h5 Nb4+ 39.Kc4 Rc1+ 40.Kb3 Nc6 41.h6 Nd4+ 42.Ka3 Nxf3 43.h7 Nxd2 44.h8=Q Nc4+ 45.Ka4 Nb6+ 46.Kb3 a5 47.Qf6 a4+ 48.Ka3 Ka6 49.Qxf4 Nc4+ 50.Kxa4 Nxb2+ 51.Kb3 Nd3 52.Qd6+ Kb5 53.a4+ 1-0

                      Round 7, Nov. 23
                      Eljanov, Pavel – Hammer, Jon Ludvig
                      B10 Caro-Kann Defence

                      1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bf4 Bg4 6.Nbd2 Nc6 7.c3 e6 8.Qb3 Bd6 9.Qxb7 O-O 10.Bg3 Rc8 11.Bd3 Bxg3 12.hxg3 Qd6 13.Qa6 Rb8 14.Nb3 Rb6 15.Qa4 e5 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Nxe5 Qxe5+ 18.Kf1 Re8 19.Bxh7+ Nxh7 20.Qxg4 Rf6 21.Nd4 Ng5 22.Kg1 Rxf2 23.Kxf2 Qe3+ 24.Kf1 Ne4 25.Qxg7+ 1-0

                      Round 7, Nov. 23
                      Riazantsev, Alexander – Gelfand, Boris
                      E00 Queen’s Pawn game

                      1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Nd2 O-O 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 b6 7.O-O Bb7 8.a3 Be7 9.cxd5 exd5 10.b4 a5 11.b5 c6 12.bxc6 Nxc6 13.Bb2 a4 14.Qb1 b5 15.Ne5 Qb6 16.Nxc6 Bxc6 17.Bc3 Rfc8 18.e3 Bd7 19.Bb4 Bxb4 20.Qxb4 Rc7 21.Nf3 Rac8 22.Ne5 Bf5 23.Ra2 Ne4 24.Rb2 Nc3 25.Ra1 f6 26.Nf3 Kf7 27.Rd2 Rc4 28.Qb2 Ne4 29.Re2 b4 30.Nh4 Bg4 31.h3 Bxe2 32.Qxe2 g6 33.axb4 Qxb4 34.Qg4 Qb7 35.Bxe4 dxe4 36.Kg2 Rc2 37.d5 Rxf2+ 38.Kg1 f5 39.Qd1 Rcc2 40.Qd4 Qb2 0-1

                      Boris said in the interview that the tournament has not gone as he would have liked but afterwards he will look at how the openings transformed into the middle game and see what he can learn from those.

                      Round Seven Results

                      1. Rapport-Aronian 1/2-1/2
                      2. MVL-Tomashevsky 1/2-1/2
                      3. Svidler-Nakamura 1/2-1/2
                      4. Jakovenko-Harikrishna 1/2-1/2
                      5. Ding-Giri 1/2-1/2
                      6. Inarkiev-Vallejo Pons
                      7. Radjabov-Li Chao 1-0
                      8. Eljanov-Hammer 1-0
                      9. Riazantsev-Gelfand 0-1

                      Rank after Round 7

                      1 Aronian 4.5
                      2-9 MVL, Nakamura, Ding, Svidler, Harikrishna, Jakovenko, Tomashevsky, Rapport 4.0
                      10-13 Giri, Radjabov, Eljanov, Inarkiev 3.5
                      14 Vallejo Pons 3.0
                      15-17 Li Chao, Gelfand, Rianzantsev 2.5
                      18 Hammer 2.0

                      Round Eight Pairings

                      1. Aronian-Tomashevsky
                      2. Nakamura-Harikrishna
                      3. Svidler-Ding
                      4. Rapport-Jakovenko
                      5. Inarkiev-MVL
                      6. Vallejo Pons-Eljanov
                      7. Li Chao-Giri
                      8. Gelfand-Radjabov
                      9. Hammer-Riazantsev

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

                        Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix, 2017

                        November 24, 2017

                        Round Eight

                        Leonard Barden in The Guardian this morning:

                        The Fide Grand Prix has its final round in Palma de Mallorca on Saturday, with two of the eight candidates to challenge for Magnus Carlsen’s world crown still to be decided. France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and the Azeri Teimour Radjabov could qualify by a final spurt in Spain while his fellow Azeri Shak Mamedyarov and Russia’s Alex Grischuk have completed their schedules and must watch from the sidelines.

                        Palma was the site for a famous final-round game-throwing episode in 1970, when Milan Matulovic, after selling the point for $400 to Soviet officials who wanted Mark Taimanov to qualify, blitzed out his moves to a lost position. It did not help Taimanov, who a few months later even more famously lost his candidates quarter-final 6-0 to Bobby Fischer.

                        Round Eight Results

                        1. Aronian-Tomashevsky 1/2-1/2
                        2. Nakamura-Harikrishna 1/2-1/2
                        3. Svidler-Ding 1/2-1/2
                        4. Rapport-Jakovenko 1/2-1/2
                        5. Inarkiev-MVL 1/2-1/2
                        6. Vallejo Pons-Eljanov 1/2-1/2
                        7. Li Chao-Giri 1-0
                        8. Gelfand-Radjabov 0-1
                        9. Hammer-Riazantsev 1/2-1/2

                        Final Round (9) Pairings

                        1. Nakamura-Aronian
                        2. MVL-Jakovenko
                        3. Tomashevsky-Ding
                        4. Harikrishna-Svidler
                        5. Radjabov-Rapport
                        6. Eljanov-Gelfand
                        7. Hammer-Inarkiev
                        8. Giri-Vallejo Pons
                        9. Riazantsev-Li Chao

                        Ranking after Round Eight

                        1 Aronian 5.0
                        2-10 MVL, Nakamura, Ding, Svidler, Radjabov, Harikrishna, Jakovenko, Tomashevsky, Rapport 4.5
                        11-12 Eljanov, Inarkiev 4.0
                        13-15 Giri, Li Chao, Vallejo 3.5
                        16 Riazantsev 3.0
                        17-18 Gelfand, Hammer 2.5

                        Round Eight Games

                        Round 8, Nov. 24
                        Li, Chao – Giri, Anish
                        D14 QGD Slav, Exchange, Trifunovic variation

                        1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 Bf5 7.e3 e6 8.Qb3 Bb4 9.Ne5 Qb6 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Be2 Ne4 12.f3 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Be7 14.c4 Qxb3 15.axb3 Bb4+ 16.Kf2 a5 17.Rhc1 Kd7 18.g4 Bg6 19.cxd5 exd5 20.e4 dxe4 21.d5 c5 22.Bb5+ Kd8 23.Bd6 Rc8 24.Bc6 h5 25.g5 exf3 26.Bxc5 Bxc5+ 27.Rxc5 Re8 28.Rcxa5 Re2+ 29.Kxf3 Rxh2 30.b4 Kc7 31.b5 Rh3+ 32.Kf2 Rb3 33.Ra7+ Kd6 34.Rd7+ Kc5 35.Rc1+ Kd4 36.d6 Rb2+ 37.Kg1 Bf5 38.Rxf7 g6 39.d7 Rd8 40.Re7 1-0

                        Win to order!

                        Round 8, Nov. 24
                        Gelfand, Boris – Radjabov, Teimour
                        E18 Queen’s Indian, old main line

                        1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.O-O O-O 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Bd2 Nxd2 9.Qxd2 d6 10.Rad1 Nd7 11.Rfe1 c5 12.e4 a6 13.d5 e5 14.b3 g6 15.Rf1 Bc8 16.Ne1 Rb8 17.a4 f5 18.f4 exf4 19.gxf4 fxe4 20.Nxe4 b5 21.a5 bxc4 22.bxc4 Rb4 23.Rc1 Nf6 24.Ng5 Qxa5 25.Nd3 Ra4 26.Qe3 Qd8 27.Rce1 Bf5 28.Bh3 Nxd5 29.cxd5 Bxg5 30.Bxf5 Rxf5 31.Qe6+ Kg7 32.fxg5 Qxg5+ 33.Kh1 Ra2 34.Qe7+ Qxe7 35.Rxe7+ Kf8 36.Ree1 Rxf1+ 37.Rxf1+ Ke7 38.Re1+ Kd7 39.Re3 a5 40.Rh3 h5 41.Nf4 a4 42.Nxg6 a3 43.Rf3 c4 44.Nf4 Ra1+ 45.Kg2 a2 46.Ra3 c3 47.Ne2 c2 48.Kf2 Rh1 0-1

                        Round 8, Nov. 24
                        Vallejo Pons, Francisco – Eljanov, Pavel
                        C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

                        1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 O-O 6.O-O d6 7.h3 a6 8.Ba4 Ba7 9.Re1 Ne7 10.Nbd2 Ng6 11.Nf1 d5 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bxf6 Qxf6 14.exd5 Nf4 15.Ng3 Qg6 16.d4 exd4 17.Nxd4 Nxd5 18.Bb3 c6 19.Bxd5 cxd5 20.Qf3 Bxd4 21.cxd4 Be6 22.Nh5 Rac8 23.Rac1 Rxc1 24.Rxc1 Qe4 25.Qd1 Rc8 26.Rxc8+ Bxc8 27.a3 Bf5 28.Qd2 Qd3 29.Qxd3 Bxd3 30.f3 f6 31.Nf4 Bc4 32.g3 Kf7 33.Kf2 g5 34.Ng2 Ke6 35.Ne3 Bd3 36.Ng4 h5 37.Ne3 a5 38.h4 b6 39.Nd1 Kd6 40.Nc3 Bc2 41.Ke3 Bf5 42.Nd1 Ke6 43.Nf2 Bg6 44.Kd2 Be8 45.Ke3 Bg6 46.Nh3 Bf5 47.Ng1 Bg6 48.Ne2 Bf5 49.Kd2 Kd6 50.Nc3 Bd7 51.b3 Bf5 52.Nd1 Bd7 53.Nf2 Ke6 54.Ke3 Kd6 55.Nd3 Bf5 56.Nc1 Bd7 57.Na2 Bf5 58.b4 axb4 59.Nxb4 Bb1 60.Ke2 Ke6 61.Kd2 Bg6 62.Na2 Kd6 63.Kc3 Bb1 64.Nc1 Bf5 65.Ne2 Bh3 66.Kd2 Bd7 67.f4 gxh4 68.gxh4 Bg4 69.Ng3 Kc6 70.Nf1 Kb5 71.Ne3 Bf3 72.Kc3 Ka4 73.Kb2 Be4 74.Nd1 Kb5 75.Kb3 Bd3 76.Nc3+ Kc6 77.Kb4 Kd6 78.Nd1 Kc6 79.Ne3 Kd6 80.Kc3 Be2 81.Nf5+ Kd7 82.Kb4 Kc6 83.a4 Bg4 84.Ng7 Be2 85.Ne8 Kd7 86.Ng7 Kd6 87.Nf5+ Kc6 88.Ng3 Bg4 89.Nf1 Bf3 90.Ne3 Be4 91.Kb3 Kd6 92.Kc3 Kc6 93.Kb4 Bd3 94.Kc3 Be4 95.Nf1 Bf3 96.Ng3 Bg4 97.Kb4 Kc7 98.Nf1 Kc6 99.Ne3 Bd7 100.f5 Bc8 101.a5 bxa5+ 102.Kxa5 Bb7 103.Ng2 Bc8 104.Nf4 Bxf5 105.Nxh5 Kd6 106.Nxf6 Ke6 107.Nh5 Bg4 108.Ng3 Bf3 109.Kb4 Kf6 110.Kc3 Kg6 111.Kb3 Bg4 112.Kb2 Bc8 113.Kc3 Ba6 114.Kd2 Bc4 115.Ke3 Bb3 116.Kf3 Ba4 117.Kf4 Bd1 118.Nf5 Kh5 119.Kg3 Ba4 120.Ne3 Bc6 121.Ng4 Bb7 122.Ne5 Ba6 123.Nd7 Kg6 124.Nb6 Bb7 125.Nd7 Kf5 126.Kf3 Bc6 127.Nb6 Be8 128.Nc8 Bh5+ 129.Ke3 Kg4 130.Ne7 Bf7 131.Nc6 Be6 132.Nb4 Bg8 133.h5 Kg5 134.h6 Kxh6 135.Kf4 Kg7 136.Ke5 Kf7 137.Nxd5 Kf8 138.Kd6 Bf7 139.Nc7 Bb3 140.d5 Bxd5 1/2-1/2

                        Position after White’s 115th move




                        From Mike Klein at chess.com:

                        Here are all the final-round scenarios (that we could think of!):

                        If Aronian wins on top board tomorrow, he will take first with 6.0/9. Then:

                        If Radjabov wins (against GM Richard Rapport), he is in the Candidates, no matter what. This is because at most four players will tie for second. The points would be 140+110+90+80= 420 / 4 = 105 and Radjabov would finish first with 346 3/7. Both he and Mamedyarov would qualify.

                        Vachier-Lagrave would need to win (against GM Dmitry Jakovenko), and have no other 4.5 scorer win (regardless of who it is). If he is the only 4.5-scorer to win, then he and Mamedyarov would qualify.

                        If there is one other 4.5-winner that is not Radjabov, Vachier-Lagrave would merely tie Grischuk for the second Candidates' spot. The first tiebreak is actual games won in the three events, and they would tie there (16.0-16.0). The second tiebreak is number of games played with Black, and Grischuk played 14/27 games with Black while Vachier-Lagrave will have played only 13/27 games. So Vachier-Lagrave cannot afford to go to the tiebreak.

                        If Aronian draw or loses, then there will be one player on 5.5 from board one (either him or GM Hikaru Nakamura). In that scenario:

                        Radjabov is still in the Candidates' if he wins. There could be at most five total players tying for first, so his minimum points would be 170+140+110+90+80 = 590 / 5 = 118. Radjabov only needs 96 to qualify, so he and Mamedyarov would be in the Candidates'.

                        Vachier-Lagrave still needs to win, and have not more than one other player in the 4.5 score group win also (not counting the top board, where someone will be getting to 5.5/9). Vachier-Lagrave would not care if Radjabov was one of the other two people tying with him. That's because 170+140+110 = 420 / 3 = 140. In this case Vachier-Lagrave would qualify and so would Radjabov if he was one of the winners, or Mamedyarov if Radjabov failed to win.

                        Here's where it gets fun: Vachier-Lagrave can still qualify if he wins and there are two other winners in the 4.5 score group win (in addition to the top board player scoring 5.5/9). But in that case he cannot have Radjabov be one of the winners.

                        That's because the four-way split would be 170+140+110+90 = 510 / 4 = 127 1/2, which is more than the 126 that Vachier-Lagrave needs to overtake Grischuk. However, that's not enough to overtake Mamedyarov's total (it's about three points short). So if Radjabov is one of the four finishing on 5.5/9 for first, then he'd take first qualification overall, and Mamedyarov would barely hang on over Vachier-Lagrave.

                        There are no scenarios at all where Vachier-Lagrave or Radjabov can qualify with a draw. So, this is all academic for them. They both must win for any chances to exist.

                        https://www.chess.com/news/view/radj...-hunt-with-mvl

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

                          Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix, 2017

                          November 25, 2017

                          Round Nine

                          This comment from Lennart Ootes this morning -

                          Today Radjabov and Vachier-Lagrave will play their most important must-win games of the year in an environment, which has no anti-cheating measures. no metal detectors, bathroom next to spectators’ area and audience can use mobile devices in playing hall.

                          Round Nine Results

                          1. Nakamura-Aronian 1/2-1/2
                          2. MVL-Jakovenko 0-1
                          3. Tomashevsky-Ding 1/2-1/2
                          4. Harikrishna-Svidler 1/2-1/2
                          5. Radjabov-Rapport 1/2-1/2
                          6. Eljanov-Gelfand 1/2-1/2
                          7. Hammer-Inarkiev 1/2-1/2
                          8. Giri-Vallejo Pons 1/2-1/2
                          9. Riazantsev-Li Chao 1/2-1/2

                          Final Ranking after 9 Rounds

                          Rk. Name FED Rtg Pts. Rp rtg+/-

                          1 GM Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2721 5.5 2823 12.7
                          2 GM Aronian Levon ARM 2801 5.5 2821 2.6
                          3 GM Radjabov Teimour AZE 2741 5 2764 2.6
                          4 GM Rapport Richard HUN 2692 5 2762 8.3
                          5 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny RUS 2702 5 2791 10.8
                          6 GM Nakamura Hikaru USA 2780 5 2792 1.2
                          7 GM Svidler Peter RUS 2763 5 2782 2.1
                          8 GM Ding Liren CHN 2774 5 2771 -0.7
                          9 GM Harikrishna P. IND 2738 5 2767 3.2
                          10 GM Inarkiev Ernesto RUS 2683 4.5 2734 6.2
                          11 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2796 4.5 2741 -6.8
                          12 GM Eljanov Pavel UKR 2707 4.5 2724 2.2
                          13 GM Li Chao B CHN 2741 4 2656 -10.2
                          14 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco ESP 2705 4 2679 -2.8
                          15 GM Giri Anish NED 2762 4 2693 -8.3
                          16 GM Riazantsev Alexander RUS 2651 3.5 2640 -1.5
                          17 GM Gelfand Boris ISR 2719 3 2580 -16.7
                          18 GM Hammer Jon Ludvig NOR 2629 3 2586 -4.9

                          The games:

                          Round 9, Nov. 25
                          Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime – Jakovenko, Dmitry
                          C53 Giuoco Piano

                          1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.O-O d6 7.a4 Ba7 8.Re1 O-O 9.h3 h6 10.Nbd2 Re8 11.b4 Ne7 12.Qb3 Rf8 13.d4 exd4 14.cxd4 d5 15.exd5 Nexd5 16.b5 Be6 17.bxa6 bxa6 18.Ba3 Re8 19.Ne5 Nf4 20.Ndf3 Bxc4 21.Qxc4 Qd5 22.Qxd5 N6xd5 23.Nc6 Rxe1+ 24.Rxe1 a5 25.g3 Ng6 26.Nxa7 Rxa7 27.Re8+ Kh7 28.h4 Rb7 29.Nd2 Nc3 30.h5 Nh8 31.Nc4 Nxa4 32.Ne5 Nb6 33.Bc5 a4 34.d5 f6 35.Nc6 Nd7 36.Bd4 Rb5 37.Nd8 Rb8 38.Bb2 Rxb2 39.Ne6 a3 40.Re7 Nf7 41.Rxf7 a2 42.Rxg7+ Kh8 43.Rxd7 a1=Q+ 44.Kg2 Qe1 0-1

                          Position after 37.Nd8?



                          - Maxime has never won against jako
                          - 0-5 now
                          - with four draws
                          - pity for MVL
                          - so jakovenko wins Palma

                          Round 9, Nov. 25
                          Radjabov, Teimour – Rapport, Richard
                          D30 QGD

                          1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 e6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Bxe7 Qxe7 6.Nbd2 Nf6 7.g3 O-O 8.Bg2 b6 9.O-O Bb7 10.Ne5 Nbd7 11.Nxd7 Nxd7 12.Rc1 Rfd8 13.Qb3 Rab8 14.Rfd1 Nf6 15.Qa4 Ba8 16.b3 a5 17.c5 Nd7 18.cxb6 Qb4 19.Qxb4 axb4 20.e3 Rxb6 21.Nf3 Bb7 22.Rc2 Ra8 23.Bf1 Kf8 24.Rdc1 Ke7 25.Ne1 Ra5 26.Kg2 Kd6 27.Nd3 Ba6 28.Nc5 Bxf1+ 29.Kxf1 Kc7 30.Nd3 Ra8 31.f4 Kd6 32.g4 Rc8 33.h4 Nf6 34.Ne5 Rc7 35.Kg2 Ne4 36.Kf3 1/2-1/2

                          Round 9, Nov. 25
                          Nakamura, Hikaru – Aronian, Levon
                          C89 Ruy Lopez, Marshall Counter-Attack

                          1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.Re1 Bd6 13.d3 Bf5 14.Qf3 Qh4 15.g3 Qh3 16.Bxd5 Bg4 17.Qg2 cxd5 18.Qxh3 Bxh3 19.Be3 Bf5 20.d4 Rfe8 21.Nd2 f6 22.Bf4 Bf8 23.Nf1 Rxe1 24.Rxe1 Rc8 25.f3 Kf7 26.Bd2 h5 27.Ne3 Be6 28.f4 Bd6 29.f5 Bd7 30.Rf1 Re8 31.Rf2 Bc6 32.Ng2 b4 33.cxb4 Bb5 34.Rf3 Re2 35.Bc3 Ke8 36.Rf2 Kd7 37.Nh4 Kc6 38.a3 Re8 39.Kg2 Be2 40.Nf3 Bd3 41.Ne1 Be2 42.Nf3 Bd3 43.Ne1 Be2 1/2-1/2

                          Final Grand Prix Scores

                          Mamedyarov 340
                          Grischuk 336.4
                          Radjabov 312.8
                          Ding Liren 311.4
                          Jakovenko 236
                          MVL 231.4
                          Nakamura 212.8
                          Svidler 202.8
                          etc

                          Mamedyarov and Grischuk are in the Candidates. MVL and Radjabov are not.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Palma de Mallorca Chess Grand Prix 2017

                            Leonard Barden is still writing columns! - now thats news - and longevity!

                            Comment

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