Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

Tbilisi 2015

Round Five
February 20, 2015

Commentators are WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili and GM Tornike Sanikidze. Their table appears to be near a door and throughout the commentary the sound of the door being open and closed is quite distracting.

Also, there is a very small viewing rectangle in the bottom left of the screen for seeing the commentators; the major part is occupied by the board and analyses. At least you can’t see the door.

First game to finish is Jakovenko-Grischuk:

Tbilisi 2015
Round 5, Feb. 20
Jakovenko, Dmitry – Grischuk, Alexander
E60 King’s Indian, 3.g3

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 c5 4.d5 Bg7 5.Bg2 d6 6.Nc3 O-O 7.Nf3 e6 8.O-O exd5 9.cxd5 Re8 10.Bf4 Bf5 11.Nh4 Bc8 12.Nf3 Bf5 13.Nh4 Bc8 14.Nf3 1/2-1/2

Chessbomb kibitzer:

kamalakanta: Favorite short draw story....Bronstein is playing Smyslov in the 50's...in a USSR Championship....they draw in 13 moves...the arbiter protests, saying "there is much play in the position! You must play on! The State pays you!"

Bronstein replies..."You want me to attack Smyslov...for 3 rubles a day?"

Comments from the Official Site:

Jobava - Mamedyarov 1-0

After the poor start 0,5/4 the Georgian star returned into competition with a victory against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

Jobava used the same unorthodox opening he already tried against world champion Magnus Carlsen this winter.

At one point white sacrificed a pawn but then missed the best continuation and black took the tempo to solidify the structure.

The only way to retain some chances was to also sacrifice a bishop, which is exactly what Jobava did.

After several forced moves black made a terrible mistake, completely blundering white's 19.Rxd5. Mamedyarov said he immediately wanted to resign but then he noticed that 19...Qb4 allows him to stay in the game a little longer. 18...Qc7 19.Qb2 where Jobava claims to have good compensation.

White committed another inaccuracy on move 22, but black quickly returned the favour and ended up checkmated.

Zurab Azmaiparashvili pointed that 22.Rd8+ Rxd8 23.Rxd8+ Kf7 24.c3 would win on the spot.

Tbilisi 2015
Round 5, Feb. 20
Jobava, Baadur – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack, Indian Variation

1.b3 Nf6 2.Bb2 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.d4 c5 5.e3 cxd4 6.exd4 d5 7.Qd2 Nc6 8.O-O-O Qa5 9.f3 h5 10.Kb1 Bf5 11.Bd3 Nxd4 12.Nge2 Nxe2 13.Qxe2 Bd7 14.Rhe1 e6 15.Bxg6 fxg6 16.Nxd5 Nxd5 17.Bxg7 Rg8 18.Qe5 Rxg7 19.Rxd5 Qb4 20.Rd6 Kf8 21.Red1 Bc6 22.R1d4 Qb5 23.Rd8+ Rxd8 24.Rxd8+ Ke7 25.Qd6+ Kf6 26.Qd4+ Kf7 27.Qf4+ Ke7 1-0

Vachier Lagrave-Radjabov ½
Andreikin-Dominquez 0-1
Kasimdzhanov - Svidler 1-0

Svidler defended with his favourite Gruenfeld Indian and Kasimdzhanov repeated the line that he used against Giri in Round Three

Black deviated from Giri's play by preventing e4 advance, and was then "treated to his own medicine", as Svidler put it, because he introduced white's line in the Candidates' game against Gelfand.

By now the main line is 8...c5 9.dxc5 N6d7, but Svidler borrowed Gelfand's forgotten idea of Bg4-Bxf3, only with a small twist - 10...N8d7 which saves valuable tempo and is much superior to the known 10...c6.

White was taken by surprise, but nevertheless he continued with normal development and castled long. He refrained from pushing the h-pawn, and Svidler has shown why he was right - 15.h4 Rad8 16.e5 f6 17.h5 fxe5 18.hxg6 h6 and black rook is great on f8.

The players have suggested several alternative variations:

15...Rac8!? (Svidler)
16...e5!? 17. f5 gxf5 18.Qxf5 Ne6 "with a monster knight on d4" (Kasimdzhanov)
16...Rxd2 17.Rxd2 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Rc8 19. Ka1 Nca4 etc (Kasimdzhanov)

Svidler underestimated 18.Nb5! and both players agreed that the position after 20.Qa3 is extremely complicated.

The losing move was 23...Rf7, both agreed, and tried to find a possible improvement:

23...Rxb4 doesn't work 24.Qxb4 Nf6 25.Nxd5 Nxd5 26.Qc4
23...Qf7 24.Bxc5 Rf1 25.Rd1; 23...Qh4 24.Nxd5 and g3 is a huge threat; 23...Qd6 24.Bxd7 Qxd7 25.Bxc5
23...Rc4 (engine) 24.Nxd5 Qf7 25.Ne3 Rxb4 26.Qxb4 Nd3 27.Qd6 Nxe1 28.Be6 etc

Tbilisi 2015
Round 5, Feb. 20
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam – Svidler, Peter
D85 Grunfeld, Exchange Variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 Nb6 6.e3 Bg7 7.f4 O-O 8.Nf3 Bg4 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 N8d7 11.O-O-O e6 12.Kb1 c5 13.dxc5 Nxc5 14.e4 Qe7 15.Be2 Rad8 16.Rhe1 Rd4 17.e5 f6 18.Nb5 Rd5 19.Bb4 fxe5 20.Qa3 Nbd7 21.Bg4 Rxf4 22.Rxd5 exd5 23.Nc3 Rf7 24.Nxd5 Qd6 25.Rd1 b6 26.Qxa7 e4 27.Bxd7 e3 28.Nxe3 Qe5 29.Qa8+ 1-0

Tomashevsky - Giri 1/2

The tournament leader attempted to repeat the line in the King's Indian Defence that he used against Grischuk, but met with a well-prepared Giri.

White was prepared for 11...h6 12.Bd2 Na6 13.Bg2!?, but black changed the moves order and white started losing ground.

The hasty 13...f4 14.gxf4 exf4 15.Bd4 would have turned bad for black, but he played the strong 13...Nh7 to which white couldn't remember how to continue.

Giri suggested the calm 14.a3, but instead white committed himself with 14.h4. Tomashevsky admitted that his "position started falling apart" and that "black has won the theoretical duel".

After 24...b5 white realised that he was outplayed and should look how to save the game. He did put up a stubborn defence and eventually earned a draw.

Tbilisi 2015
Round 5, Feb. 20
Tomashevsky, Evgeny, Giri, Anish
E90 King’s Indian, 5.Nf3

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.h3 e5 7.d5 Nh5 8.g3 f5 9.exf5 gxf5 10.Nh4 Nf6 11.Bg5 Na6 12.Bd3 h6 13.Be3 Nh7 14.f4 exf4 15.Bxf4 Ng5 16.Kf1 Bd7 17.Kg2 Nc5 18.Qc2 Qf6 19.Rae1 Nxd3 20.Qxd3 Rae8 21.Qd2 a6 22.Rxe8 Rxe8 23.Re1 Rxe1 24.Qxe1 b5 25.Qe2 bxc4 26.Qxc4 Qe7 27.Qd3 Qf7 28.Nf3 Nxf3 29.Qxf3 Bc8 30.Kf2 Bb7 31.Qd3 h5 32.Be3 h4 33.Bd4 Bf8 34.Qf3 Be7 35.Ke2 Qg6 36.gxh4 Bxh4 37.a3 Kf7 38.Kd2 Ke8 39.Bf2 Bg5+ 40.Be3 Bf6 41.Kc1 Be5 42.Bf4 Bf6 43.Qe3+ Kd8 44.Qg3 Qxg3 45.Bxg3 Bg5+ 46.Kc2 Ke7 47.Kd3 Kf6 48.Bf2 Kg6 49.b4 Bc8 50.Ne2 f4 51.Ke4 1/2-1/2

Standing After Round Five

Tomashevsky 4
Grischuk 3
Kasimdzhanov 3
Jakovenko 3
Giri 3
Dominguez Perez 3
Radjabov 2.5
Mamedyarov 2
MVL 2
Jobava 1.5
Andreikin 1.5
Svidler 1.5

Round 6 Pairings

Radjabov-Grischuk, Mamedyarov-Jakovenko, Giri-Jobava, Dominguez-Tomashevsky, Svidler-Andreikin, MVL-Kasimdzhanov

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

The chances of Tomashevsky being 1 of the 8 Candidates continue to increase. His draw against Dominguez maintains his full point lead and the top seed, Grischuk, is no longer one of his pursuers after going down in flames to Radjabov. And the #2 seed, Giri, could only manage a draw against Jobava, who perhaps has righted his sinking ship (:

Had Giri won that game, he would have been a live #2. Instead he's only #5, which goes to show what a great race it's going to be for those 2 Candidates spots based on rating. It's the average 2015 rating that's all important so those big numbers Caruana had the last 3 months of 2014 are totally irrelevant. Since both Caruana and Grischuk are but a single loss away from losing their 2800 status, it's now entirely possible (albeit still not likely) that Carlsen may soon have exclusive 2800 status.

http://www.2700chess.com/

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

The chances of Aronian securing 1 of those 8 Candidates spots become more and more remote. He's not playing in the Grand Prix so has zero chance of qualifying via that avenue. And after giving up a draw to the world's 2nd strongest IM, 16-year-old Alexander Donchenko, in the Bundesliga today, he's again out of the Top 10 in rating. His chances of qualifying via rating aren't a whole lot higher than zero. That only leaves the 2 spots from the World Cup and that's always a crap shoot at best. I'm assuming, of course, the Wild Card entry will go to either Nakamura or So given the 'likely' American venue (and given they both haven't otherwise qualified).

[Andy Shaw]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

The Candidates tournament is in America?

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

The Candidates tournament is in America?

It's only rumoured at this point so I'm definitely jumping the gun here. If the World Championship is to indeed be held in the U.S. (as indicated at the following Wikipedia link), then it is rather logical (:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_C...mpionship_2016

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

Tbilisi 2015

Round Six
February 21

Well, well – a poisoned pawn Sicilian! Radjabov seemed to know more of its intricacies than Grischuk so:

Tbilisi 2015
Round 6, Feb. 21
Radjabov, Teimour – Grischuk, Alexander
B97 Sicilian, Najdorf, Poisoned Pawn Variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.e5 h6 11.Bh4 dxe5 12.fxe5 g5 13.Bg3 Nh5 14.Ne4 Nd7 15.Rb3 Qxa2 16.Be2 Nc5 17.Nc3 Nxb3 18.Nxb3 Bb4 19.Bxh5 Qb2 20.O-O Qxc3 21.Bxf7+ Ke7 22.Qf2 Kd7 23.Qb6 Rf8 24.Be1 1-0

Radjabov played the interesting 13.Bg3, because according to him "the main line 13.exf6 is deeply researched, all the way down to a draw".

The game pursued its normal course until Grischuk committed a grave mistake with 16...Nc5. He should have played different move order, starting with disrupting check 16...Qa1+ 17.Bd1 Nc5 18.Nxc5 Nxg3 19.hxg3 Bxc5 20.c3.

Another mistake followed with 18...Bb4, when 18...Nxg3 19.Nxa2 Nxh1 would have given some chances in unbalanced position. Grischuk missed that after 19...Bxc3 20.Qxc3 Qb1+ white has simple 21.Bd1.

The game was finished in a matter of couple of moves. (From the Official Site)

Vachier Lagrave-Kasimdzhanov ½

Dominguez Perez-Tomashevsky ½

Peter Svidler wins in the Berlin:

Tbilisi 2015
Round 6, Feb. 21
Svidler, Peter – Andreikin, Dmitry
C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.O-O d6 6.Nbd2 O-O 7.c3 Bb6 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Re1 Re8 10.h3 Nd7 11.d4 exd4 12.cxd4 d5 13.b3 c5 14.exd5 Rxe1+ 15.Qxe1 Bb7 16.Bb2 Bxd5 17.Qe3 cxd4 18.Bxd4 Nf8 19.Ne4 Qe7 20.Re1 Ne6 21.Nc3 Bc6 22.Bxb6 axb6 23.Nd4 Bd7 24.Nd5 Qc5 25.Nxe6 Bxe6 26.Qxc5 bxc5 27.Nc3 Rb8 28.Re5 c4 29.bxc4 Bxc4 30.Rc5 Be6 31.Rxc7 Kf8 32.a4 Rb3 33.Ne4 Bd5 34.Nc5 Rb1+ 35.Kh2 Rb2 36.Kg3 g5 37.Rd7 Bc6 38.Rd6 Be8 39.a5 Rb5 40.Rd5 Ke7 41.Rxg5 Rxa5 42.Re5+ Kd6 43.Rxe8 Rxc5 44.f4 1-0

In this Anti-Berlin Ruy Lopez white played a relatively rare 8.Bxc6, which Svidler doubts anybody will repeat soon. 8.h3 was leading to normal theory according to him.

Svidler also pointed that 11.d4 was a mistake and after that white has to be careful in order to equalise. He added that 11.Nf1 was better. On move 19 he was lucky that Ne4 is working.

Andreikin later missed 21...Bxf3 22.Qxf3 Rd8 to be equal. After the game continuation white suddenly got some play. Andreikin admitted that he missed 24...Qd6 would run into 25.Nf5.

The resulting endgame was quite pleasant for white, he won a pawn and continued pressing for a win, while black was in huge time trouble.

Perhaps black could have tried 27...Ra3 28.Rc1 Kf8 "with a long game ahead". As it happened, white advanced his passed pawn and duly converted the advantage. (From the Official Site)

Mamedyarov’s first draw in the tournament:

Tbilisi 2015
Round 6, Feb. 21
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar – Jakovenko, Dmitri
C47 Four Knights, Ioseliani-Glek (4..d5)

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.exd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Nc6 7.Nf3 Bc5 8.O-O O-O 9.Re1 Qf6 10.d3 Bg4 11.h3 Bh5 12.Be3 Bb6 13.g4 Bg6 14.Nd2 Qh4 15.a4 f5 16.gxf5 Bh5 17.Nf3 Qe7 18.Bxb6 axb6 19.d4 Rxf5 20.Qd3 Raf8 21.Nxe5 Nxe5 22.Rxe5 Rxe5 23.dxe5 Qxe5 24.Qd5+ Qxd5 25.Bxd5+ Kh8 26.Bxb7 Rf5 27.Re1 Rc5 28.Re3 Kg8 29.Be4 Bf7 30.Bd3 Kf8 31.Bb5 Bg6 32.Bd3 Bxd3 33.Rxd3 Rc4 34.Kg2 Rxa4 35.Kg3 Ke7 36.h4 g6 37.f3 Ke6 38.Kh3 Rc4 39.Kg3 Ra4 40.Re3+ Kf6 41.Rd3 Rc4 42.Re3 Kf5 43.Rd3 c6 44.Re3 b5 45.Rd3 Rc5 46.Re3 Re5 47.Rd3 Rd5 48.Re3 Rd2 49.f4 Kf6 50.Re5 Rd5 51.Re3 Rc5 52.Kf3 Rc4 53.Kg4 h6 54.Kg3 Kf5 55.Re5+ Kf6 56.Re3 h5 57.Kf3 Kf5 58.Re5+ Kf6 59.Re3 c5 60.Rd3 Ke6 61.Re3+ Kd6 62.Rd3+ Kc6 63.Ke3 Ra4 64.Rd8 Rc4 65.Rg8 Rxc3+ 66.Kd2 Rh3 67.Rxg6+ Kd5 68.Rg5+ Kd4 69.Rxh5 b4 70.Rg5 c4 71.Rg1 Rxh4 72.f5 Rf4 73.Kc1 Rxf5 74.Kb2 Ke3 75.Re1+ Kd2 76.Re4 Rc5 1/2-1/2

And the last game to finish. Giri said that he would normally fight out the long endgame but he didn’t here because it was drawn and there was no point and everyone applauded and thanked him otherwise they would still be playing. Jobava said this was the first game in which he did not make a sacrifice – he wanted to see what normal play was like.

Tbilisi 2015
Round 6, Feb. 21
Giri, Anish – Jobava, Baadur
A11 English

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 g6 5.d4 Bg7 6.Be2 O-O 7.O-O Bg4 8.cxd5 cxd5 9.Qb3 b6 10.h3 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 e6 12.Qa4 Qd7 13.Bd2 Rc8 14.Qxd7 Nbxd7 15.Rfc1 Ne8 16.Be2 a6 17.a4 Nd6 18.b3 Bf8 19.Kf1 Be7 20.Bd3 Kf8 21.Be1 Ke8 22.f3 Nb8 23.e4 Nc6 24.Ne2 Bg5 25.Rd1 Kd7 26.g4 Be3 27.Bb1 f6 28.exd5 exd5 29.Ra2 Re8 30.Nc3 Nb4 31.Re2 Rac8 32.Ne4 dxe4 33.fxe4 Nxe4 34.Rxe3 Nc3 35.Rxe8 Kxe8 36.Rc1 Nbd5 37.Bd2 Kd7 38.Bd3 b5 39.axb5 axb5 40.Kf2 b4 41.Ra1 Rc7 42.h4 Ne7 43.Bf4 Rb7 44.Ra8 Ncd5 45.Bh2 f5 46.gxf5 Nxf5 47.Be4 Rb5 48.Ra7+ Ke6 49.Bd3 Rb6 50.Rxh7 Rc6 51.h5 Rc3 52.Be4 gxh5 53.Rxh5 Nde3 54.d5+ Kf6 55.Bf4 Rxb3 56.d6 Ke6 57.Ke1 Rc3 58.Rh7 Rc4 59.d7 Rd4 1/2-1/2

In the opening which was a hybrid of Slav and Gruenfeld Indian, black conceded a pair of bishops in order to solidify the center.

White however responded with the strong 12.Qa4. The queens went off, but white emerged slightly better from the opening, both players agreed.

White prepared the central push e3-e4, but he underestimated the strength of the black bishop on e3. 27...f6 was a strong move which prevented white from blocking the center.

Jobava said that his plan was to play 31...f5 in order to prevent Ne4, but then he just changed his mind and allowed the jump.

This caused some coordination problems for black because white held two bishops and the game was opening up.

Some of the proposed lines were:

33...Nxd5 34.exd5 f5 (Jobava)
34...Nc2 35.Re2 Nxe1 or Ng3+ (Giri)
44.Ba6 Rb6 (44...Ra7 is losing) 45.Bc4 Nc6 46.Ke3 when black is facing a very difficult defence (Giri)

Black did hold well and was finally awarded the draw after six hours of play. (From the Official Site)

Standing After Round Six

Tomashevsky 4.5
Dominguez 3.5
Radjabov 3.5
Jakovenko 3.5
Kasimdzhanov 3.5
Giri 3.5
Grischuk 3
Svidler 2.5
Mamedyarov 2.5
Vachier Lagrave 2.5
Jobava 2
Andreikin 1.5

Round Seven Matchups

Kasimdzhanov-Radjabov, Andreikin-MVL, Tomashevsky-Svidler, Jobava-Dominguez, Jakovenko-Giri and Grischuk-Mamedyarov

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

The only prohibitive betting favourite tomorrow is Grischuk and that number (31/20) surprises me given the plus 2, minus 1, equal 6 score (in Grischuk's favour) between these two.

https://www.marathonbet.com/en/betti...tmund/Round+6/

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

Tbilisi 2015

Round Six
February 21

Well, well – a poisoned pawn Sicilian! Radjabov seemed to more of its intricacies than Grischuk so:

That's probably the best try against the Sicilian Najdorf with 6. Bg5.

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

Jakovenko's win against Giri moves him to clear 2nd and within a 1/2 point of Tomashevsky (who drew with Svidler), but Tomashevsky is arguably now the most likely Russian to qualify for the Candidates since Grischuk's loss to Mamedyarov leaves him an improbable qualifier via the Grand Prix and now only #5 in the live rankings. With the sole exception of Nakamura, it has not been a good month for the world's Top 15 ):

http://www.2700chess.com/

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

With the sole exception of Nakamura, it has not been a good month for the world's Top 15 ):

In chess you're only as good as the results of your last event.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

Tbilisi 2015

Round Seven
February 22, 2015

The round started with three draws, viz:

Andreikin, Dmitry – Vachier Lagrave, Maxime ½

Kasimdzhanov, Rustam – Radjabov, Teimour ½

Tomashevsky, Evgeny – Svidler, Peter ½

Tbilisi 2015
Round 7, Feb. 22
Jakovenko, Dmitry – Giri, Anish
A88 Dutch, Leningrad, Main Variation (with c6)

1.Nf3 f5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 g6 4.g3 d6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.O-O O-O 7.Nc3 c6 8.Rb1 Ne4 9.Qc2 Nxc3 10.bxc3 e5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Ba3 Rf7 13.Rfd1 Nd7 14.e4 Bf8 15.Bxf8 Qxf8 16.Qd2 Rf6 17.exf5 gxf5 18.Qg5+ Rg6 19.Qe3 e4 20.Nh4 Rg7 21.f3 exf3 22.Qxf3 Nc5 23.Rd4 Ne6 24.Rd2 Ng5 25.Qf4 Be6 26.Re1 Qf6 27.Qd4 Rf8 28.Rf2 Rgf7 29.Qxf6 Rxf6 30.Rf4 h6 31.a3 Kg7 32.Re5 Kg8 33.Bf1 a6 34.Kg2 Rd8 35.g4 Rd2+ 36.Re2 Rd3 37.gxf5 Bf7 38.Re8+ Bxe8 39.Bxd3 c5 40.Rg4 Rb6 41.Ng6 Rb2+ 42.Kg3 Bxg6 43.fxg6 Rb3 44.Bf5 Rxc3+ 45.Kg2 Rxa3 46.h4 Ra2+ 47.Kg3 Ra3+ 48.Kg2 Ra2+ 49.Kg3 Ra3+ 50.Kf4 Nh3+ 51.Ke5 Kg7 52.Rg2 Rf3 53.Rd2 Nf4 54.Rd7+ Kg8 55.Rxb7 Nh5 56.Be6+ Kf8 57.Ke4 1-0

The game was a Dutch Defence, where after the regular opening moves Giri was "feeling good about the position around 16.Qd2".

But a couple of moves later he was worried about 23.Rf1 and 24.Bh3 where white wins a pawn. Jakovenko also had his doubts, as he didn't like the looks of 28...Qxd4 29.cxd4 f4 30.d5 cxd5 31.cxd5 Nh3+!.

The players had different emotions about the game around move 32 - Giri was feeling uncomfortable, while Jakovenko was not pushing, he was just making normal-looking moves until he would come up with a plan.

The ending after the time control was extremely complicated. 40.Rg4 looks clumsy but it is a very good move, which prepares the advance of h-pawn. However, 44.h4 was still premature as 44...Rxc3 45.hxg5 h5 shockingly wins for black.

Giri said that 46...Ra2+ was a mistake that allowed white king into the game. He should have played 46...Nf3 47.Re4 Kf8, which might hold. He admitted missing the powerful idea of 52.Rg2-d2, but even 51...Nf2 52.Rd2 Nd3+ 53.Ke4! appears to be winning for white. He reminded of the famous ending Capablanca-Tartakower where the world champion gives away his pawns in order to penetrate with the king.

In summary, Giri said that he made enough mistakes that he deserved to lose. (From the Official Site)

Tbilisi 2015
Round 7, Feb. 22
Grischuk, Alexander – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
D52 QGD

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 c6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Bb4 7.Rc1 Qa5 8.Nd2 Ne4 9.Ncxe4 dxe4 10.Bh4 Qxa2 11.Be2 Qa5 12.O-O Bxd2 13.Ra1 Qb4 14.Qc2 c5 15.Ra4 Qb6 16.Qxd2 e5 17.Ra5 Qh6 18.Bg3 exd4 19.Bf4 g5 20.Bg3 d3 21.Bd1 b6 22.Ra1 f5 23.Ba4 O-O 24.f3 Qe6 25.fxe4 fxe4 26.Bxd7 Rxf1+ 27.Rxf1 Bxd7 28.Qc3 Qe7 29.b3 Re8 30.Qa1 a5 31.Be1 Rd8 32.Rf2 h6 33.Bd2 Rf8 34.Rxf8+ Qxf8 35.Qe5 Qe8 36.Qf6 Qe6 37.Qd8+ Kf7 38.Bc3 Qd6 39.Bd2 Qe6 40.Bc3 a4 41.bxa4 Bxa4 42.Qc7+ Ke8 43.Bd2 Bd7 44.h3 Ke7 45.Qb8 h5 46.Qh8 Qxc4 47.Qe5+ Qe6 48.Qxg5+ Kd6 49.Qxh5 b5 50.Qh8 b4 51.h4 Qa2 52.Qf6+ Kc7 53.Qf2 b3 54.Bc3 Qxf2+ 55.Kxf2 Kc6 56.Ke1 Kb5 57.h5 Ka4 58.Bb2 Kb4 59.Kd2 c4 60.g3 Bg4 61.h6 Bf5 62.g4 Bg6 63.Bf6 Ka3 0-1

White spoils his home preparation with 17. Ra5. IM Tihomir Yanev annotating at chessbomb ends with:

“And it's finally over. What was going to be misery for Mamedyarov, who was caught in a home preparation (perhaps), turned to be a dramatic game after a shocking blunder on move #17. Grischuk tried his best to save the game but black's passed pawns were too strong.”
An extremely exciting game that started as Queen's Gambit Cambridge Springs where white offered two pawns as sacrifice.

Black snatched one, but passed on the second as white would have developed tremendous attack, for example 11...Qxb2 12.Rc2 Qa3 13.0-0 Be7 14.Bg3 f5 15.c5.

Black tried to challenge opponent's central supremacy with c5 and e5, but white would have been better after 17.dxe5 Nxe5 18.Qd5 f6 19.Qxe4 0-0 20.Qc2.

Instead, Grischuk made a terrible mistake 17.Ra5, missing black's "long" move Qb6-h6. The pin on white queen allowed black to emerge two pawns up, but in much better version compared to the 11th move. Now his defended passed pawn on d3 was very dangerous.

The technical phase took some extra time as white had certain activity due to opposite coloured bishops. But after the second time control Mamedyarov finally brought the victory home. This was his third win with black pieces. (From the Official Site)

Tbilisi 2015
Round 7, Feb. 22
Jobava, Baadur – Dominguez Perez, Leinier
C44 Inverted Hanham

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Be2 Nf6 4.d3 d5 5.Nbd2 Bc5 6.c3 a5 7.a4 O-O 8.O-O Re8 9.h3 h6 10.Re1 Be6 11.Nh2 Ne7 12.Bf1 Ng6 13.Nhf3 dxe4 14.dxe4 c6 15.Qc2 Qc7 16.Nc4 Red8 17.Be3 Bxe3 18.Nxe3 Rdb8 19.Rad1 Rd8 20.g3 Qb6 21.Nd2 Qc7 22.Kg2 Nf8 23.Nf3 N8d7 24.b4 axb4 25.cxb4 Qb6 26.Rb1 Qa7 27.Ra1 Qb6 28.Reb1 Qc7 29.a5 Rdc8 30.Bc4 Qd6 31.Nd2 b6 32.Bxe6 Qxe6 33.Nb3 Rcb8 34.Nc4 bxa5 35.bxa5 Rb5 36.a6 Ne8 37.Rd1 Nc5 38.Nxc5 Rxc5 39.Ra4 Nc7 40.a7 Nb5 41.Qd3 Rxa7 42.Rxa7 Rxc4 43.Qd8+ Kh7 44.Re7 Qf6 45.Qd7 Rd4 46.Rxd4 Nxd4 47.Rxf7 Qg6 48.f3 c5 49.h4 h5 50.Kh3 Qh6 51.g4 hxg4+ 52.Qxg4 Kg8 53.Rc7 Ne6 54.Rc8+ Kf7 55.Qf5+ Ke7 56.Qxe5 Kd7 57.Ra8 Nf4+ 58.Kg4 Qxh4+ 59.Kxh4 Ng6+ 60.Kg3 Nxe5 61.Kf4 Kd6 62.Rd8+ Nd7 63.Rg8 c4 64.Rxg7 Ne5 65.Ke3 c3 66.f4 1-0

The local hero Baadur Jobava played the Reversed Philidor Defence, for the 7th time in his career. In this seemingly passive setup Jobava has won five games and conceded only two draws against world-class opposition.

Perhaps white did misplay the opening a bit, as the wandering knight allowed black to reposition his own knight to a better place, also clearing the way for the c-pawn.

Dominguez pointed that 13...c6 was better before trading on e4 because he has 14.Qc2 Qb6. With the game continuation he missed that after 15.Qc2 Qb6 white has simple 16.Nc4 (pawn no longer on d5).

He admitted that the misstep made him very upset and he couldn't bring his head back into the game. Jobava also noted that black started making erratic moves and that white position kept getting better and better.

Dominguez was also burning the clock and finally he was required to make six moves in 40 seconds. He was finding the best solutions, as praised by Jobava, until he stumbled and made decisive mistake on move 39. Dominguez said that he didn't even consider 39...Nd6, which turned to be superior. There was simply no time.

After the time control white was left with the pleasant duty of converting the advantage. (From the Official Site)


Standing After Round Seven

Tomashevsky 5
Jakovenko 4.5
Radjabov 4
Kasimdzhanov 4
Dominguez 3.5
Giri 3.5
Mamedyarov 3.5
Grischuk 3
Svidler 3
MVL 3
Jobava 3
Andreikin 2

Round Eight Matchups

Radjabov-Mamedyarov, Giri-Grischuk, Dominguez-Jakovenko, Svidler-Jobava, MVL-Tomashevsky and Kasimdzhanov-Andreikin

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

Despite the fact that Tomashevsky may well be leading the field heading into the 4th and final Grand Prix in Khanty-Mansiysk in just under 3 months time, 'Chess By The Numbers' still only has him as the 3rd favourite to secure one of the two Candidates spots via this avenue. I think the 30% probability cited therein is grossly understated however since both Caruana and Nakamura are very much in the hunt for the 2 Rating qualifiers which could well take one, or possibly even both, out of the Candidates equation. The 30% number equates with finishing 1st or 2nd when finishing 3rd, or possibly even 4th, may be good enough.

https://chessnumbers.wordpress.com/w...rix-2014-2015/

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

There's no betting line on the Radjabov - Mamedyarov game tomorrow. I'm assuming that's because these 2 Azeris nearly always draw (22/24 or 91.67%). And once again, the prohibitive betting favourite, Svidler at 93/100, is a horrible bet against Jobava. Jobava has won his last 2 games, is dead even against Svidler in 4 prior encounters (2 draws and a win each), and clearly shouldn't be a 7/1 dog tomorrow in his home country.

https://www.marathonbet.com/en/betti...tmund/Round+6/

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

Marathon certainly was wise not to allow betting on the Radjabov - Mamedyarov game. The first game to finish ended in a highly predictable draw. And I certainly got it right (at 7 to 1!) in the Svidler - Jobava match. With his win today, Jobava has won 3 games in a row and has now happily returned to the land of the elite, the 2700 plus club (:

http://www.2700chess.com/

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix

As the MVL-Tomashevsky game drags on, there is much ChessBomb discussion of the 50-move rule since Tomashevsky continues to avoid capturing MVL's last pawn, presumably to keep the count from commencing in a BBN vs R (+P) endgame. In reviewing Wikipedia's commentary on the 50-move rule, I note that there was a game played in 1966 between Filipowicz and Smederevac that invoked the 50-move rule with all 32 pieces still on the board!

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1710666