European Rapid and Blitz Championships 2015, Minsk

[Wayne Komer]

European Rapid and Blitz Championships 2015, Minsk

December 17, 2015

The European Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship 2015 will take place in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

The Blitz event is scheduled for December 18. The strong field of 679 participants is led by GM Stanislav Bogdanovich (UKR 2815), defending champion GM David Navara (CZE 2806), GM Rauf Mamedov (AZE 2777), etc.

http://champ.openchess.by/en/participants/blitz/

The tournament continues with the Rapid Championship, which is scheduled for the 19th and 20th December, starting from 10 am. An amazing number of 800 players will try their luck in the Rapid event, and the best chances are with the top seeds GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE 2784), GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS 2773), GM Ernesto Inarkiev (RUS 2742), GM Sergey Movsesian (ARM 2724), GM Jobava Baadur (GEO 2727), etc.

http://champ.openchess.by/en/participants/rapid/

Both Championships will be played according to the Swiss System in 11 rounds. Time control for the Blitz event will be 3 minutes + 2 seconds, and 15 minutes + 10 seconds for the Rapid tournament.
_______

Nigel Short is seeded 11th in the rapids and says that he will go if he can get there without a visa!

See also: http://chess-results.com/tnr193594.aspx

and

http://champ.openchess.by/en/live/

[Wayne Komer]

Re: European Rapid and Blitz Championships 2015, Minsk

European Blitz

December 18, 2015

The tournament is in full swing. Nigel Short made it to Minsk. Two of his tweets:

(Dec. 16) – Off to sunny Minsk. Back in the USSR.

(Dec. 18) - Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has been here in Minsk. If anyone imagines Makropoulos taking over is anything other than a ruse, they are mistaken.

Nigel said he wanted to get in without a visa. One person thought that this was because Nigel has been to dozens of countries in his career and for the visa application in Khanty-Mansiysk in 2010, they asked you to list what countries you have been to in the last ten years.

At the Edmonton International in 2012, which Nigel participated in, there was a question for ChessBase readers on the number of countries.

http://en.chessbase.com/post/nigel-s...any-countries-

Counting the number of different countries in which Nigel Short had won tournaments (first, equal first, and including weekends, but not matches) was not so easy to determine: with Nigel's help we counted 29 countries: Angola, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Estonia, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Peru, Romania, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, USA, Venezuela. Gibraltar was not included as a separate country.

(Add Belarus to the above)
_________

Evgenij Miroshnichenko is the commentator in English at the official site. We saw him at Khanty-Mansiysk Grand Prix 2015. He does a very good job commentating on games from oblique camera shots rather than on the electronic boards.

The venue is the Palace of Sports. The playing room has five boards per table and there are carpets on the floor.

For Jeopardy! geography fans, Minsk is on the Svislach and Nyamiha rivers.

The blitz tournament is an 11 double-round Swiss with 3 minutes and 2 seconds per game.

With the games finished the top ten are:

1. Mamedov, Rauf (AZE) 18
2. Savchenko, Boris (RUS) 18
3. Riazantsev, Alexander (RUS) 17
4. Bocharov, Dmitry (RUS) 17
5. Andriasian, Zaven (ARM) 16.5
6. Melkumyan, Hrant (ARM) 16.5
7. Petrosian, Tigran (ARM) 16.5
8. Grachev, Boris (RUS) 16.5
9. Bortnyk, Mykola (UKR) 16.5
10. Alekseev, Evgeny (RUS) 16.5

I cannot really understand all the byes etc that give the players an unequal number of games. Jobava finished with 15 and Short with 9.

It was interesting to see Yuri Balashov’s name among the participants. He was a very strong player in the ‘70s and in 1992 was Boris Spassky’s second in Yugoslavia’s Revenge Match of the Century vs Bobby Fischer. He scored 14.5.
All the games are not immediately available, so I cannot tell you how many times Jobava played 1.b3, if at all.
________

A final note

There is the old Jewish story of the Russian itinerant who needed to travel from Minsk to Pinsk. He caught a ride with a wagon driver whose cart was drawn by a rather ancient horse.

As they approached the first significant hill on the Minsk-Pinsk highway, the driver halted the cart, unhitched the horse, and asked the passenger to assist him in pushing the wagon to the top of the hill. At the top, he hitched up the horse again, and they proceeded on their way until the next small elevation, where they again repeated the previous procedure.

After the fifth such ritual, the now-exhausted passenger dropped to his knees at the side of the road and looked quizzically at the driver. “I know why I have to get to Pinsk. I suspect you have a reason for going there as well. Enlighten me please. Why are we bringing the horse?”

With google maps in front of me it was more than flesh and blood could do not to find the distance between Minsk and Pinsk. It is 305 km.

Now two days of rapids

[Jack Maguire]

Re: European Rapid and Blitz Championships 2015, Minsk

Rauf Mamedov picked up 40.8 ELO for his effort today and now has a live blitz rating of 2809.8, which makes him the #9 rated blitz player in the world. Rauf is clearly a far superior blitz player since his classic rating of 2650 isn't quite good enough to even crack the top 100. All the other top 10 blitz players have a classic rating of at least 2707 (Nepo) and most (7) > 2750 so Rauf is very much an anomaly.

http://www.2700chess.com/blitz?per-page=100

[Wayne Komer]

Re: European Rapid and Blitz Championships 2015, Minsk

European Blitz

December 18, 2015

Nigel Short seemed to drop out of the blitz tournament half-way through. Some speculated that he was saving himself for the two days of rapids. That makes sense in that there were 22 games per person today.

- He has had some health problems recently pulling out of the British Knockout at the Classic. Fingers crossed he's just being a bit cautious.
_______

I finally got a file of games from the blitz. Several scores were missing but three that Nigel played impressed me because I had never heard of the openings before. What do you make of these?

Minsk Blitz
Round 7, Dec. 18, 2015
Short, Nigel – Vovk, Orest
B00 KP, Colorado Counter

1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 f5 3.exf5 d5 4.d4 Bxf5 5.Bb5 Qd6 6.Ne5 Nf6 7.O-O Nd7 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Bf4 Nxe5 10.Bxe5 Qg6 11.Nd2 Bxc2 12.Qf3 e6 13.Rac1 Bd3 14.Rfd1 c5 15.dxc5 c6 16.Rc3 Bf5 17.Qe2 a5 18.Nb3 Qg4 19.f3 Qa4 20.Nd4 Kf7 21.g4 Bg6 22.Nxe6 Re8 23.Ng5+ Kg8 24.f4 Qxf4 25.Bxf4 Rxe2 26.Bd6 h6 27.Nf3 Kh7 28.Rd2 Re4 29.h3 Be7 30.Bxe7 Rxe7 31.Nd4 Be8 32.Rf3 Bd7 33.Kf2 Rb8 34.b3 Rb4 35.Kg3 a4 36.a3 Rb7 37.b4 Rb8 38.Re2 Rbe8 39.Rxe7 Rxe7 40.Kf2 Kg8 41.Re3 Rf7+ 42.Ke2 Rf4 43.Kd3 h5 44.b5 cxb5 45.c6 Bxc6 46.Nxc6 hxg4 47.hxg4 Rxg4 48.Ne7+ Kf7 49.Nxd5 Rg1 50.Kd4 Rb1 51.Kc5 g5 52.Nb4 Rb3 53.Nc2 Rb2 54.Nd4 Kf6 55.Nxb5 Kf5 56.Nd4+ Kf4 57.Rf3+ Ke4 58.Rg3 Kf4 59.Rg1 g4 60.Kc4 g3 61.Kc3 Rb8 62.Ne2+ Kf3 63.Rxg3+ Kxe2 64.Kc4 Kd2 65.Rg2+ Kc1 66.Rg3 Kb2 67.Rg2+ Kxa3 68.Kc3 Rc8+ 69.Kd2 Kb3 70.Rg7 Rd8+ 71.Kc1 a3 72.Rb7+ Ka2 73.Kc2 Rc8+ 74.Kd2 1/2-1/2

Round 8, Dec. 18, 2015
Vovk, Orest – Short, Nigel
A00 Kadas (Desprez) Opening

1.h4 e5 2.h5 d5 3.h6 Nxh6 4.d4 exd4 5.Bxh6 gxh6 6.Qxd4 Rg8 7.Nc3 Bg7 8.Qd3 Be6 9.O-O-O c6 10.e4 d4 11.Nce2 c5 12.Nf4 Nc6 13.Nxe6 fxe6 14.Qh3 Qf6 15.Bc4 Ke7 16.Nf3 a6 17.e5 Qf7 18.Qh4+ Kd7 19.Qe4 Kc7 20.c3 dxc3 21.Rd6 cxb2+ 22.Kxb2 Nxe5 23.Nxe5 Kxd6 24.Rd1+ Kc7 25.Ka3 Bxe5 26.Qxe5+ Kb6 27.Bxe6 Qe7 28.Rd6+ Ka7 29.Qd5 Rgd8 30.Bd7 b6 31.Qc6 Rab8 32.Bc8 Rxd6 0-1

Round 10, Dec. 18, 2015
Short, Nigel – Fomin, Taras
C40 Brazilian (Gunderam) Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Qe7 3.Nc3 c6 4.d4 d6 5.a4 Nf6 6.b3 exd4 7.Qxd4 Bg4 8.Be2 Nbd7 9.O-O Ne5 10.Qe3 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 Nxf3+ 12.Qxf3 Qe5 13.Bb2 Be7 14.Rab1 Qh5 15.Qg3 O-O 16.Rbd1 Rad8 17.h3 Qg6 18.Qe3 b6 19.f4 d5 20.f5 Qh5 21.Qf3 Qxf3 22.gxf3 dxe4 23.fxe4 Rfe8 24.Kg2 Bc5 25.Kf3 Bd4 26.Rd3 Nxe4 27.Nxe4 Bxb2 28.Nd6 Rf8 29.Rfd1 Bf6 30.Nc4 Rxd3+ 31.Rxd3 Rd8 32.Rxd8+ Bxd8 33.Ne5 Bc7 34.Nxc6 a5 35.c3 Kf8 36.b4 Ke8 37.bxa5 bxa5 38.Ke4 g6 39.c4 Kd7 40.Nd4 g5 41.Nf3 f6 42.Kd5 h5 43.Nd2 g4 44.hxg4 hxg4 45.c5 g3 46.Nf3 g2 47.c6+ Ke7 48.Kc5 Bh2 49.Kb5 g1=Q 50.Nxg1 Bxg1 51.Kxa5 Kd6 52.Kb5 Kc7 53.a5 Bf2 54.Kc4 Kxc6 0-1

There was a Yuri Vovk who stood ninth in the World Blitz in Berlin 2015. His blitz rating is 380 Elo points higher than Orest’s. Both are from Ukraine.

[Jack Maguire]

Re: European Rapid and Blitz Championships 2015, Minsk

The Brazilian (Gunderam) Defence that Nigel Short lost to has scored rather well at chessgames.com. There's been 47 games there that began 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Qe7 3.Nc3 and Black is +20, -19, =8. And Taras Fomin was spotting Nigel some serious ELO since the 38-year-old Russian is only rated 2312/2278/2355.

Richard Rapport played 3.Qe2 against a Caro-Kann at the Politiken Cup (2014) and managed to checkmate his opponent in just 5 moves (:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1763088

[Tom O'Donnell]

Re: European Rapid and Blitz Championships 2015, Minsk

European Blitz

Minsk Blitz
Round 7, Dec. 18, 2015
Short, Nigel – Vovk, Orest
B00 KP, Colorado Counter

1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 f5 3.exf5 d5 4.d4 Bxf5 5.Bb5 Qd6 6.Ne5 Nf6 7.O-O Nd7 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Bf4 Nxe5 10.Bxe5 Qg6 11.Nd2 Bxc2 12.Qf3 e6 13.Rac1 Bd3 14.Rfd1 c5 15.dxc5 c6 16.Rc3 Bf5 17.Qe2 a5 18.Nb3 Qg4 19.f3 Qa4 20.Nd4 Kf7 21.g4 Bg6 22.Nxe6 Re8 23.Ng5+ Kg8 24.f4 Qxf4 25.Bxf4 Rxe2 26.Bd6 h6 27.Nf3 Kh7 28.Rd2 Re4 29.h3 Be7 30.Bxe7 Rxe7 31.Nd4 Be8 32.Rf3 Bd7 33.Kf2 Rb8 34.b3 Rb4 35.Kg3 a4 36.a3 Rb7 37.b4 Rb8 38.Re2 Rbe8 39.Rxe7 Rxe7 40.Kf2 Kg8 41.Re3 Rf7+ 42.Ke2 Rf4 43.Kd3 h5 44.b5 cxb5 45.c6 Bxc6 46.Nxc6 hxg4 47.hxg4 Rxg4 48.Ne7+ Kf7 49.Nxd5 Rg1 50.Kd4 Rb1 51.Kc5 g5 52.Nb4 Rb3 53.Nc2 Rb2 54.Nd4 Kf6 55.Nxb5 Kf5 56.Nd4+ Kf4 57.Rf3+ Ke4 58.Rg3 Kf4 59.Rg1 g4 60.Kc4 g3 61.Kc3 Rb8 62.Ne2+ Kf3 63.Rxg3+ Kxe2 64.Kc4 Kd2 65.Rg2+ Kc1 66.Rg3 Kb2 67.Rg2+ Kxa3 68.Kc3 Rc8+ 69.Kd2 Kb3 70.Rg7 Rd8+ 71.Kc1 a3 72.Rb7+ Ka2 73.Kc2 Rc8+ 74.Kd2 1/2-1/2

I have played this opening as Black a couple of times in the 80s, though I didn't know its name. I remember seeing it in a Nimzowitsch Defense book I own. IM Doug Root from the US played it fairly regularly back in the day. I think the way Short played is now thought quite a bit better for White.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: European Rapid and Blitz Championships 2015, Minsk

European Rapid 2015, Minsk

December 19, 2015

The first day of rapid had 7 rounds and tomorrow there will be 4.

The standing of the first 15 players is:

1. Jobava, Baadur GEO 7
2. Petrosian, Tigran ARM 7
3. Short, Nigel ENG 6.5
4. Navara, David CZE 6
5. Guseinov, Gadir AZE 6
6. Melkumyan, Hrant ARM 6
7. Harutjunyan, Gevorg ARM 6
8. Bocharov, Dmitry RUS 6
9. Razin, Vadim UKR 6
10. Ragger, Markus AUT 6
11. Smirin, Ilia ISR 6
12. Zhigalko, Sergei BOR 6
13. Chigaev, Maksim RUS 6
14. Popov, Ivan RUS 6
15. Mikhalevski, Victor ISR 6

and ten others with 6 points

Some of the games:

European Rapid 2015, Minsk
Round 2, Dec. 19, 2015
Navara, David (2730) – Harshkou, Mikita (2300)
C06 French, Tarrasch, Closed Variation, Main Line

1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.c3 c5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 Qb6 9.Nf3 f6 10.exf6 Nxf6 11.O-O Bd6 12.Nc3 O-O 13.a3 Bd7 14.Be3 Rae8 15.Ne5 Bxe5 16.dxe5 d4 17.exf6 dxe3 18.Bxh7+ Kxh7 19.Qxd7 exf2+ 20.Kh1 Kh6 21.Qxg7+ Kh5 22.f7 Rd8 23.Ne4 1-0

Round 7, Dec. 19, 2015
Petrosian, Tigran (2625) – Navara, David (2730)
A07 Reti, King’s Indian Attack (Barcza System)

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2 Bg4 4.h3 Bh5 5.d3 e6 6.O-O Bd6 7.b3 Ne7 8.Bb2 O-O 9.Nbd2 Nd7 10.Qe1 a5 11.a3 e5 12.e4 f6 13.d4 Qc7 14.c4 Bxf3 15.Nxf3 dxc4 16.bxc4 exd4 17.Nxd4 Nc5 18.Rd1 Rfe8 19.Qe3 Rad8 20.h4 Be5 21.Bh3 Nc8 22.f4 Bxd4 23.Rxd4 Rxd4 24.Qxd4 Nxe4 25.Re1 Ned6 26.Rxe8+ Nxe8 27.c5 Ne7 28.Be6+ Kf8 29.Qd3 g6 30.h5 Ng7 31.hxg6 hxg6 32.Ba2 Nh5 33.Kf2 Nf5 34.Qc4 Nh6 35.Qe6 Qd8 36.Ke1 Qe7 37.Qxe7+ Kxe7 38.Kf2 Ng7 39.Bc3 Ne6 40.Bxa5 Nxc5 41.Bb4 Kd6 42.Bb1 Ng4+ 43.Kf3 f5 44.Ba2 b6 45.Bf7 g5 46.Bxc5+ bxc5 47.a4 gxf4 48.gxf4 Nf6 49.Bg6 c4 50.Bxf5 Kc5 51.Bc2 Kb4 52.Bd1 c3 53.f5 Kc4 54.Bc2 c5 55.Kf4 Nd5+ 56.Ke4 Nf6+ 57.Ke5 Ng4+ 58.Ke4 Kb4 59.Kf4 Nf6 60.Kg5 Nd7 61.f6 c4 62.f7 Kc5 63.Bf5 Nf8 64.Kf6 Kd6 65.a5 c2 66.Bxc2 Nd7+ 67.Kg7 Kc7 68.Bf5 c3 69.Bxd7 c2 70.f8=Q c1=Q 71.Qc8+ 1-0

Round 7, Dec. 19, 2015
Short, Nigel – Motylev, Alexander
B12 Caro-Kann, Advance Variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.a3 Ne7 6.Nc3 Ng6 7.Bd3 Bxd3 8.Qxd3 c5 9.O-O Nc6 10.Re1 cxd4 11.Nb5 Bc5 12.b4 Be7 13.Nbxd4 Rc8 14.g3 Nf8 15.c3 Nd7 16.h4 O-O 17.Bg5 h6 18.Bxe7 Qxe7 19.Kg2 a6 20.Re2 Rc7 21.Qe3 Rfc8 22.Rd1 Nxd4 23.cxd4 Nf8 24.Rd3 Qd7 25.g4 Qb5 26.h5 Nh7 27.Red2 Rc1 28.g5 hxg5 29.Nxg5 Ra1 30.Nh3 Rcc1 31.h6 g6 32.Rc3 Qf1+ 33.Kg3 Qh1 34.Rxc1 Rxc1 35.Rd3 Re1 36.Qf3 Qxf3+ 37.Rxf3 Rc1 38.Rb3 Rc4 39.b5 a5 40.b6 Rxd4 41.Rb5 Rd3+ 42.f3 f6 43.Rxa5 fxe5 44.Ra8+ Kf7 45.Ra7 g5 46.Rxb7+ Kg6 47.a4 Nf6 48.h7 Nxh7 49.a5 Nf6 50.a6 Rd2 51.Nf2 Nh5+ 52.Kg2 g4 53.a7 Ra2 54.Rb8 Nf4+ 1-0

Round 7, Dec. 19, 2015
Jobava, Baadur (2673) – Melkumyan, Hrant (2654)
C53 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 d5 7.Bb5 Ne4 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.h3 O-O 10.O-O f6 11.Bxc6 bxc6 12.Be3 fxe5 13.Nxe5 Qe8 14.Nc3 Nd6 15.Re1 Nf5 16.Rc1 Nxe3 17.Rxe3 Qd8 18.Na4 Qh4 19.Nf3 Qf6 20.Nc5 Bf5 21.Ne5 Rae8 22.Qe1 Qg5 23.b4 Qf4 24.Nxc6 Rxe3 25.Qxe3 Qxe3 26.fxe3 Re8 27.Kf2 Bg6 28.a4 Rf8+ 29.Ke2 Bxc5 30.Rxc5 Be4 31.Ne7+ Kh8 32.Rxc7 Bxg2 33.Rc8 Bf1+ 34.Ke1 Rxc8 35.Nxc8 Bc4 36.Nxa7 Kg8 37.b5 Kf8 38.Nc8 Ke8 39.Nd6+ Kd7 40.Nxc4 dxc4 41.a5 g5 42.a6 Kc7 43.d5 1-0

Poor Sakaev grabs the pawn on e5 and loses his queen.

Round 5, Dec. 19, 2015
Jobava, Baadur (2673) – Sakaev, Konstantin (2594)
C53 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 d5 7.Bb5 Ne4 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.h3 O-O 10.O-O Bd7 11.Ba4 Ne7 12.Bc2 c5 13.Nc3 Bf5 14.Re1 Nxf2 15.Kxf2 cxd4 16.Kg3 dxc3 17.bxc3 Rc8 18.Bg5 Bxc2 19.Qxc2 Qd7 20.Rad1 Nf5+ 21.Kh2 h6 22.g4 Nd4 23.Nxd4 Bxd4 24.Rxd4 hxg5 25.Re3 Rc5 26.Qf5 Qc7 27.Rdd3 Qe7 28.Re2 Re8 29.Rf3 Qc7 30.Qxg5 Rxc3 31.Rxc3 Qxc3 32.h4 f6 33.Qg6 Rxe5 34.Rc2 d4 35.h5 Rc5 36.Qe8+ Kh7 37.Qg6+ Kg8 38.Rxc3 dxc3 39.h6 Rg5 40.Qe8+ Kh7 41.hxg7 Kxg7 42.Qc8 a5 43.Qxb7+ Kg6 44.Qc8 a4 45.Kh3 1-0
________

Earlier in the thread I told the story of a journey from Minsk to Pinsk.

I should tell you that there is a book of recreational math puzzles entitled The Chicken from Minsk. It is by Yuri Cherniyak, former Associate Professor of Physics at Moscow State University.

The chicken problem gives you an idea of the difficulty and fun of these puzzles.

A fiber-optic cable completely encircles the Earth, by chance running through a new, privately owned chicken farm on the outskirts of Minsk. The chickens refuse to walk or fly over the cable and will only pass under it. Clearly, the cable must be raised off the ground by 1 foot if the chickens are to survive.

For technical and bureaucratic reasons, the cable must then be raised 1 foot higher everywhere, around the entire circumference of the Earth (the cable is thick and fragile and cannot be bent or twisted, even slightly). The farmer exercising his newly won individual rights, refuses to permit this cable to cross his land unless it is raised.

The bureaucrat in charge of the project is a holdover from the old days. He maliciously agrees to raise the cable only if the farm agrees to pay for all the additional cable, at the rate of $1 (U.S.) per foot. The farmer agrees, provided that the government will pay for the additional supporting structures. How much will the chicken farmer pay?

There, that is all I know about Minsk.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: European Rapid and Blitz Championships 2015, Minsk

European Rapid Chess Championship 2015

December 20, 2-15

Day Two

The last four rounds of the Rapid were played today.

The summary from Chessdom.com:

Ivan Popov became the winner of the European Rapid Chess Championship 2015, which was held on 19-20th December in Minsk, Belarus. Popov defeated Ilia Smirin from Israel in the direct encounter of the last round and triumphed with 10 points out of 11 games. The silver medal went to Armenian Grandmaster Hrant Melkumyan (2011 European Blitz Champion), who came sole second with 9.5 points, by defeating Nigel Short in the final round. Bronze went to the untitled Ukrainian Vadim Rasin who is probably the biggest surprise in the tournament. He defeated Ernesto Inarkiev with Black in the last round and took the medal thanks to the best tie-break in the group with 9 points.

The best ranked female players were Olga Girya, Anastasia Bodnaruk and Nina Sirotkina who scored 8 points and shared 27th place.

http://www.chessdom.com/european-rap...is-the-winner/

Final Standings

1. Popov, Ivan (RUS) 10
2. Melkumyan, Hrant (ARM) 9.5
3. Razin, Vadim (UKR) 9
4. Navara, David (CZE) 9
5. Smirin, Ilia (ISR) 9
6. Petrosian, Tigran (ARM) 9
7. Ragger, Markus (AUT) 9
8. Sychev, Klementy (RUS) 9
9. Fedorov, Alexei (BLR) 9
10. Matinian, Nikita (RUS) 9
11. Short, Nigel (ENG) 8.5
12. Movsesian, Sergei (ARM) 8.5
13. Mamedov, Rauf (AZE) 8.5
14. Rakhmanov, Aleksandr (RUS) 8.5
15. Kovalev, Vladislav (BLR) 8.5

Baadur Jobava ended with 7.5 points and 55th place.

European Rapid Minsk 2015
Round 8, Dec. 20, 2015
Jobava, Baadur – Petrosian, Tigran
B07 Pirc, Bayonet (Mariotti) Attack

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be2 Bg7 5.h4 h5 6.Nf3 O-O 7.Ng5 Nc6 8.Be3 e5 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.f3 Re8 11.Qd2 a6 12.a4 Bd7 13.a5 Bc6 14.Rd1 Qe7 15.O-O Rad8 16.Bd4 d5 17.Qe3 Ned7 18.Qf2 dxe4 19.fxe4 Rf8 20.Nd5 Bxd5 21.exd5 Qb4 22.Bc3 Qd6 23.Qf4 Rfe8 24.Bc4 Ne5 25.Ne6 fxe6 26.Bxe5 Qc5+ 27.Kh1 exd5 28.Bxf6 Rf8 29.Qg5 Qxc4 30.Qxg6 Rxf6 31.Rxf6 Qxh4+ 32.Kg1 Qxf6 33.Qxh5 0-1

Round 8, Dec. 20, 2015
Zhigalko, Sergei – Short, Nigel
C50 Giuoco Piano

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 O-O 6.Nbd2 d6 7.c3 a6 8.Bb3 Be6 9.Nc4 Bxc4 10.Bxc4 Na5 11.Bb3 Nxb3 12.axb3 Bb6 13.Be3 c6 14.b4 Re8 15.Re1 Bc7 16.Bg5 h6 17.Bh4 Re6 18.d4 g5 19.Bg3 exd4 20.Nxd4 Rxe4 21.Qf3 Qe7 22.Rxe4 Nxe4 23.Re1 d5 24.Nf5 Qd7 25.Qg4 Rd8 26.Nxh6+ Kg7 27.Nf5+ Kg6 28.Bxc7 Qxc7 29.f3 Qb6+ 30.Nd4 Nd6 31.h4 Rg8 32.Qxg5+ Kh7 33.Qh5+ Kg7 34.Qe5+ 1-0

Round 10, Dec. 20, 2015
Razin, Vadim – Short, Nigel
E10 Dzindzikhashvili Defence

1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 a6 4.Nc3 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.g3 Be7 7.Bg2 O-O 8.O-O c6 9.Bf4 Bf5 10.Qb3 Ra7 11.Rac1 Nbd7 12.Na4 Qa5 13.Nc5 Nxc5 14.dxc5 Nd7 15.Bd2 Qd8 16.Qa3 Be4 17.Nd4 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Re8 19.Qa5 Qxa5 20.Bxa5 Raa8 21.Nb3 Bf6 22.Rc2 Re4 23.e3 Rae8 24.Bc3 Bxc3 25.Rxc3 Rb4 26.Rd1 Ree4 27.Nd2 Re7 28.Nb3 Ree4 29.Nd2 Re7 30.Nb3 g6 31.Rd4 Re4 32.f3 Rexd4 33.exd4 a5 34.Nxa5 Rxb2+ 35.Kh3 Nf8 36.a3 Ne6 37.Rb3 Rf2 38.Rxb7 Nxd4 39.Rb4 Nxf3 40.g4 Ne5 41.a4 Ra2 42.Nb7 Kg7 43.a5 Ra3+ 44.Kg2 Nc4 45.Nd8 Rxa5 46.Rb7 Ne5 47.Re7 Kf6 48.Re8 Rxc5 49.g5+ Kf5 50.Nb7 Rc2+ 51.Kg3 Rc3+ 52.Kg2 Kf4 0-1

Round 11, Dec. 20, 2015
Inarkiev, Ernesto – Razin, Vadim
D20 QGA, 3.e4

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 e5 4.Nf3 exd4 5.Bxc4 Bb4+ 6.Nbd2 Nc6 7.O-O Nf6 8.e5 Nd5 9.Nb3 Nb6 10.Bb5 O-O 11.Bxc6 bxc6 12.Bg5 Be7 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Qxd4 Be6 15.Rac1 Bd5 16.Nfd2 Qg5 17.Ne4 Qg6 18.Ng3 f6 19.Rfe1 fxe5 20.Rxe5 Rf7 21.Rce1 Raf8 22.f3 h6 23.Nc5 Rf4 24.Qf2 Nc4 25.Re7 Qg5 26.b3 Nd6 27.Rxc7 Nf5 28.Ne6 Bxe6 29.Rxe6 Rd4 30.Nxf5 Rd1+ 31.Re1 Rxe1+ 32.Qxe1 Rxf5 33.Rxc6 Re5 34.Rc8+ Kf7 35.Rc7+ Kg8 36.Qc1 Qf6 37.Qc4+ Kh7 38.Qd3+ Kg8 39.Rc8+ Kf7 40.Qc4+ Re6 41.Rc6 Qa1+ 42.Kf2 Qe1# 0-1

Round 11, Dec. 20, 2015
Popov, Ivan – Smirin, Ilia
B41 Sicilian, Kan, Maroczy Bind (Reti Variation)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Qc7 7.Be2 Bb4 8.Qd3 Nc6 9.Nxc6 dxc6 10.a3 Be7 11.f4 e5 12.Qg3 g6 13.fxe5 Nd7 14.Bf4 g5 15.Be3 Nxe5 16.Bd4 f6 17.Bh5+ Kf8 18.O-O Kg7 19.h4 Rg8 20.Bf7 Kxf7 21.Bxe5 Qb6+ 22.Kh1 Rg6 23.h5 Be6 24.c5 Qxc5 25.hxg6+ hxg6 26.Bxf6 Bxf6 27.Qc7+ Qe7 28.Rxf6+ Kxf6 29.Rf1+ Bf5 30.Qxe7+ Kxe7 31.exf5 Rf8 32.Re1+ Kf7 33.fxg6+ Kxg6 34.Kg1 Rd8 35.Rd1 Rxd1+ 36.Nxd1 Kf5 37.Kf2 1-0
_______

Note: If you do the calculation, you will find that the farmer in The Chicken from Minsk pays only $6. The circumference of the Earth is given by the formula 2πR, where R is the radius. If you increase the radius by 1 foot, the increase in the circumference will be 2π feet, i.e. 6.28.