Shamkir 2017

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  • Shamkir 2017

    Shamkir 2017

    March 6, 2017

    The tournament calendar is starting to get crowded.

    So far, we have these tourneys for early spring:

    1. U.S. Championships Mar. 27-Apr. 11
    2. Korchoi Zurich Apr. 12-17
    3. Grenke Karlsruhe/Baden Baden Apr. 15-22
    4. Reykjavik Open Apr. 19-27

    to which we can add the Gashimov Memorial, Shamkir 2017 which will take place Apr. 20-30 with these participants:

    Wesley So
    Vladimir Kramnik
    Sergey Karjakin
    Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
    Michael Adams
    Pentala Harikrishna
    Pavel Eljanov
    Radoslaw Wojtaszek
    Veselin Topalov
    Timor Radjabov

    http://www.chess-news.ru/node/22837

    While these players are at Shamkir, Carlsen, Caruana and MVL (among others) will be at Grenke. Kramnik will have just finished up at Zurich before being at Shamkir three days later.

    Some player’s dance cards are rather full…

  • #2
    Re: Shamkir 2017

    Shamkir 2017

    April 7, 2017

    Press Release

    http://www.shamkirchess.az/news/121/76

    Shamkir 2017 Chess April 20 – May 1, 2017

    An international super-tournament dedicated to the memory of well-known Azerbaijani grandmaster, Europe champion late Vugar Gashimov, will be held the fourth time in a row. 10 strong grandmasters, again rating at high places in FIDE will compete in Vugar Gashimov’s memorial, supported by "Synergy Group" and Azerbaijan Chess Federation. Organizing committee of tournament has already specified the participants’ list.

    In the super-tournament along with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Teymur Rajabov will take part, Wesley So (USA), former world champion Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), Sergey Karjakin (Russia), Michael Adams (England), Pentala Harikrishna (India), Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine), Radoslav Wojtaszek (Poland) and Bulgarian world champion Veselin Topalov.

    The favorite of the rating of XXI category tournament will be the representative of the USA - Wesley So. The grandmaster is currently occupying the second place in the league table of the international chess federation, with an ELO of 2822.

    Farid Huseynov - Director of the Vugar Gashimov memorial's, the Chairman of the Shamkir Chess 2017 Organizing Committee, has expressed his belief that the competition will be held at the high level:

    «Dedicated to Vugar Gashimov " Shamkir Chess” tournament has become a tradition. The super-tournament, in which famous chess players participate, is organized in Shamkir for the fourth time. The main purpose of the tournament is to honor the memory of Vugar Gashimov, as well as to support the development of chess in Azerbaijan.

    The strongest grandmasters will compete for victory in Shamkir. We believe that this time again the interesting chess parties and uncompromising fight are waiting for chess amateurs. Remaining faithful to its corporative social responsibility policy "Synergy Group" pays great attention to the holding of this tournament.

    Gathering with famous chess players in Shamkir every year has become a tradition. Shamkir is almost included to the list of the chess cities of the world. Foreign players have always appreciated the organization of the competitions, and compared the ShamkirChess tournament to competitions like Wijk-aan- Zee and Linares which have a rich history. We believe that ShamkirChess 2017 tournament will also be held at the highest level.

    One should remember that in 2014 and 2015, the winner of tournament was world champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway). In the last year’s tournament Azerbaijani chess player Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won the first place.

    The grand opening ceremony will be in Heyder Aliyev Center in Shamkir on 20th of April. 9-round tournament will end on April the 30th.

    The press service of the tournament ShamkirChess2017

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Shamkir 2017

      Shamkir 2017

      April 17, 2017

      Schedule

      The rounds are scheduled daily from 15:00 local time, which is 7 a.m. Toronto/Montreal time.

      April 20 - 18.30 - Opening ceremony and drawing of lots

      April 21 - 15.00 - Round 1

      April 22 - 15.00 - Round 2

      April 23 - 15.00 - Round 3

      April 24 - 15.00 - Round 4

      April 25 - 15.00 - Round 5

      April 26 – Free day

      April 27 - 15.00 - Round 6

      April 28 - 15.00 - Round 7

      April 29 - 15.00 - Round 8

      April 30 - 14.00 - Round 9, Closing ceremony

      _________

      Time Control – 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then each player will be allotted 15 minutes after the second time control; an increment of 30 seconds per move will be allowed from move 61 onwards

      Prizes

      1. Place 25000 euro
      2. Place 15000 euro
      3. Place 12000 euro
      4. Place 10000 euro
      5. Place 9000 euro
      6. Place 8000 euro
      7. Place 7000 euro
      8. Place 6000 euro
      9. Place 5000 euro
      10 Place 3000 euro

      http://www.shamkirchess.az/files/fil...ations_new.pdf

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Shamkir 2017

        Shamkir Chess 2017

        April 21, 2017

        First Round Pairings

        1. Wojtaszek-Kramnik
        2. Topalov-Adams
        3. So-Mamedyarov
        4. Karjakin-Harikrishna
        5. Eljanov-Radjabov

        http://www.shamkirchess.az/content/124

        15:00 starting time is 7 a.m. Toronto/Montreal time

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Shamkir 2017

          Shamkir Chess 2017

          April 21, 2017

          Round One

          The commentators on chess24.com are Ljubomir Ljubojevic and Igor Khenkin.

          The sensation is that Wesley So has just been beaten by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. His last loss was two years ago at Bilbao.

          Shamkir Chess
          Round 1, Apr. 21, 2017
          So, Wesley – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
          C45 Scotch, Mieses variation, main line

          1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.Nd2 a5 9.c4 Nb6 10.b3 a4 11.Bb2 axb3 12.axb3 Rxa1+ 13.Bxa1 Qa3 14.Qd1 Bb4 15.Bd3 Qa5 16.Ke2 d6 17.Qc2 dxe5 18.Bb2 Qc5 19.Nf3 Bg4 20.Bxh7 Nd7 21.Bf5 Bxf3+ 22.Kxf3 g6 23.Bxd7+ Kxd7 24.Qe4 Re8 25.Ke2 Kc8 26.Rd1 f5 27.Qh4 Qe7 28.Qg3 g5 29.Bc3 Bc5 30.Bd2 f4 31.Qh3+ Kb7 32.b4 Bd4 33.Qd3 Rd8 34.b5 Qe6 35.bxc6+ Kxc6 36.f3 Rb8 37.Be1 g4 38.Rd2 gxf3+ 39.Qxf3+ e4 0-1

          Comments online

          - (Tarjel J. Svensen) – Wesley So loses vs Mamedyarov, his first loss in 67 games. His last loss with white was in October 2015, 560 days ago.

          - "Wesley So will lose a chess game". Isn’t that one of the six signs of the Apocalypse?

          - Expect the rain of molten glass next

          - Scotch is a good opening if your name is Kasparov. Anyway, So had an amazing streak and he is a great guy. Eventually he would lose a game.

          - Mamed too good for So. So’s lucky streak finally ends

          - After a long way, So was tired. Wait for the next match. Congrats Shakh

          - So blundered in an equal position, one move before time control

          ________
          I had forgotten how contentious and opinionated Ljubojevic is. At the post-mortem, So is hurting from the loss, Mamedyarov doesn’t want to be there and Ljubo is asking about the new proposed rating system (one rating for all sorts of chess) and about a faster playing speed from FIDE. He is pushing himself to the centre of the stage.

          (to be continued)

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Shamkir 2017

            Shamkir Chess 2017

            April 21, 2017

            Round One (continued)

            The games:

            Shamkir Chess
            Round 1, Apr. 21, 2017
            Eljanov, Pavel – Radjabov, Teimour
            C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

            1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.O-O Nd7 7.c3 O-O 8.d4 Bd6 9.Bg5 f6 10.Qb3+ Kh8 11.Bh4 b6 12.Nbd2 Ba6 13.Rfe1 Qe7 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Qxe5 16.Bg3 Qe7 17.Bxd6 cxd6 18.Rad1 Bc8 19.Qa4 b5 20.Qa5 Bg4 21.f3 Be6 22.Nf1 d5 23.exd5 Qc5+ 24.Ne3 Bxd5 25.a3 Rfe8 26.Qb4 Qb6 27.Qd4 Qxd4 28.Rxd4 Re7 29.Kf2 Rae8 30.Rdd1 Bb3 31.Nf5 Rxe1 32.Rxe1 Rxe1 33.Kxe1 Be6 34.Nd4 Bd5 35.Kd2 a6 36.Ke3 Kg8 37.Nf5 Kf7 38.Kd4 Be6 39.Ne3 Ke7 40.Kc5 Kd7 41.Kb6 f5 42.f4 g5 43.g3 gxf4 44.gxf4 Kd6 45.Kxa6 Kc7 46.Ka5 1-0

            Round 1, Apr. 21, 2017
            Wojtaszek, Radoslaw – Kramnik, Vladimir
            D41 QGD, Semi-Tarrasch

            1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 O-O 11.Bc4 Nd7 12.O-O b6 13.a4 Bb7 14.Bd3 Nf6 15.Rfe1 h6 16.a5 bxa5 17.Rxa5 Qc7 18.Rc1 Qd8 19.Re1 Qc7 20.Qb4 Rfb8 21.Rc5 Qf4 22.Qd2 Qxd2 23.Nxd2 Rd8 24.Nb3 a5 25.Rxa5 Rxa5 26.Nxa5 Rxd4 27.Nxb7 Rxd3 28.f3 Nh5 29.Nc5 Rc3 30.Na4 Rc2 31.g3 Nf6 32.Re3 Nd7 33.Rc3 Re2 34.Nc5 Ne5 35.h4 g5 36.hxg5 hxg5 37.Kf1 Ra2 38.f4 Ng4 39.fxg5 Kg7 40.Rd3 Kg6 41.Nb3 Ne5 42.Rc3 Kxg5 43.Rc5 Kf6 44.Nd4 Ra4 45.Nc6 Ng4 46.e5+ Kf5 47.Nd8 Kg6 48.Nc6 Ra2 49.Rc3 Kg5 50.Ke1 Ra8 51.Ke2 Ra6 52.Kd2 Rb6 53.Rc4 Rb2+ 54.Ke1 Ne3 55.Rc3 Rb1+ 56.Ke2 Ng4 57.Rf3 Rb2+ 58.Ke1 Rb7 59.Rc3 Rb5 60.Ke2 Rd5 61.Rc4 Nh6 62.Ra4 Rc5 63.Ra6 Kg4 64.Kf2 Rc2+ 65.Ke1 Rc5 66.Kf2 Kh3 67.Kf3 Rc3+ 68.Kf4 Rxg3 69.Nd8 Rg4+ 70.Kf3 Rg3+ 71.Kf4 Rg6 72.Ra7 Rg4+ 73.Kf3 Rg8 74.Rd7 Kh4 75.Ke2 Rf8 76.Rd6 Re8 77.Rd7 Rf8 78.Rd6 Nf5 79.Rd7 Kg4 80.Nxf7 Kf4 81.Ra7 Nd4+ 82.Kd3 Nc6 83.Rc7 1/2-1/2

            Round 1, Apr. 21, 2017
            So, Wesley – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
            C45 Scotch, Mieses variation, main line

            1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.Nd2 a5 9.c4 Nb6 10.b3 a4 11.Bb2 axb3 12.axb3 Rxa1+ 13.Bxa1 Qa3 14.Qd1 Bb4 15.Bd3 Qa5 16.Ke2 d6 17.Qc2 dxe5 18.Bb2 Qc5 19.Nf3 Bg4 20.Bxh7 Nd7 21.Bf5 Bxf3+ 22.Kxf3 g6 23.Bxd7+ Kxd7 24.Qe4 Re8 25.Ke2 Kc8 26.Rd1 f5 27.Qh4 Qe7 28.Qg3 g5 29.Bc3 Bc5 30.Bd2 f4 31.Qh3+ Kb7 32.b4 Bd4 33.Qd3 Rd8 34.b5 Qe6 35.bxc6+ Kxc6 36.f3 Rb8 37.Be1 g4 38.Rd2 gxf3+ 39.Qxf3+ e4 0-1

            Round 1, Apr. 21, 2017
            Karjakin, Sergey – Harikrishna, Pentala
            D38 QGD, Ragozin variation

            1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 O-O 8.e3 Bf5 9.Qb3 Bxc3+ 10.Qxc3 Nbd7 11.Nd2 Rc8 12.Be2 c5 13.O-O Qb6 14.Rfc1 Rfe8 15.Kf1 Ne4 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.a4 cxd4 18.Qxd4 Qxd4 19.exd4 Nb6 20.Rc5 Rxc5 21.dxc5 Nd5 22.Rd1 Nf4 23.Bb5 Rc8 24.Rd8+ Rxd8 25.Bxd8 Nd3 26.c6 bxc6 27.Bxc6 Nxb2 28.Ke2 Nc4 29.Be7 Ne5 30.Bb5 Bc8 31.Bd6 a6 32.Bxe5 axb5 33.axb5 f6 34.Bd6 Kf7 35.Ke3 Bd7 36.Kxe4 Bxb5 37.Kf3 h5 38.h4 g6 39.g3 Ke6 40.Ba3 Bc6+ 1/2-1/2

            Round 1, Apr. 21, 2017
            Topalov, Veselin – Adams, Michael
            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.d3 d6 10.a5 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Nbd2 Rb8 13.c3 Qe8 14.d4 bxc3 15.bxc3 exd4 16.cxd4 Rb5 17.Nc4 Qg6 18.Qe2 Nd7 19.Bd2 Bf6 20.Bc3 Rb3 21.Qc2 Rb5 22.Na3 Rb7 23.Qe2 Ra8 24.Rac1 Nd8 25.Nc4 Rb5 26.e5 Be7 27.exd6 cxd6 28.Bd2 Qf7 29.g3 Rab8 30.Bf4 Qf8 31.h4 h6 32.Kg2 Nf6 33.Bd2 Nd5 34.Ne3 Nxe3+ 35.fxe3 Qe8 36.e4 Nb7 37.Qc4 Bd8 38.Qc6 Bxa5 39.Bxa5 Rxa5 40.Re2 Qxc6 41.Rxc6 Rf8 42.Rb6 Ra3 1/2-1/2

            Pairings Schedule

            Round 2, Apr. 22, 2017

            Kramnik-Radjabov
            Harikrishna-Eljanov
            Mamedyarov-Karjakin
            Adams-So
            Wojtaszek-Topalov

            Round 3, Apr. 23, 2017

            Topalov-Kramnik
            So-Wojtaszek
            Karjakin-Adams
            Eljanov-Mamedyarov
            Radjabov-Harikrishna

            Round 4, Apr. 24, 2017

            Kramnik-Harikrishna
            Mamedyarov-Radjabov
            Adams-Eljanov
            Wojtaszek-Karjakin
            Topalov-So

            Round 5, Apr. 25, 2017

            So-Kramnik
            Karjakin-Topalov
            Eljanov-Wojtaszek
            Radjabov-Adams
            Harikrishna-Mamedyarov

            Round 6, Apr. 27, 2017

            Kramnik-Mamedyarov
            Adams-Harikrishna
            Wojtaszek-Radjabov
            Topalov-Eljanov
            So-Karjakin

            Round 7, Apr. 28, 2017

            Karjakin-Kramnik
            Eljanov-So
            Rnadjabov-Topalov
            Harikrishna-Wojtaszek
            Mamedyarov-Adams

            Round 8, Apr. 29, 2017

            Kramnik-Adams
            Wojtaszek-Mamedyarov
            Topalov-Harikrishna
            So-Radjabov
            Karjakin-Eljanov

            Round 9, Apr. 30, 2017

            Eljanov-Kramnik
            Radjabov-Karjakin
            Harikrishna-So
            Mamedyarov-Topalov
            Adams-Wojtaszek

            Playoff (if necessary)

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Shamkir 2017

              Shamkir Chess 2017

              April 22, 2017

              Round Two

              (Sam Copeland at chess.com) - Pavel Eljanov won his second game in a row to start The Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir in clear first place after two rounds, but the main story of the day was Veselin Topalov's beautiful win as Black against Radek Wojtaszek in which a rook sacrifice lead to an attack against White's centralized king.

              Topalov's 2016 was remarkably up and down as he nearly won the Sinquefield Cup with Wesley So before finishing with a dismal 2/9 in the London Chess Classic. Some Internet commenters even stunningly mused that Topalov's career might be nearly over after that. Today Topalov presented excellent chess with an opening novelty, enterprising play as Black, and a beautiful sacrifice.

              https://www.chess.com/news/view/topa...n-shamkir-7634

              Wesley So spoke about the time difference between the US and Azerbaijan. The player, originally from Philippines, said that he doesn’t have any problem with the time difference:” The purpose of my arriving in Shamkir 3 days prior to competition was to get used to the change. The time difference doesn’t create a problem. 3 days in Shamkir was enough to get used to it. I don’t have any problems about sleep either. Each day I prepare for games for about 1-2 hours.”

              http://shamkirchess.az/news/120/101


              The games:

              Shamkir 2017
              Round 2, Apr. 22, 2017
              Adams, Michael – So, Wesley
              A11 English, Caro-Kann Defensive System

              1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.O-O Nbd7 6.Na3 Nb6 7.Qc2 Be6 8.Ne5 h5 9.b3 cxb3 10.axb3 h4 11.Bb2 Qc8 12.Rfc1 hxg3 13.hxg3 Bd5 14.Nf3 g6 15.Nc4 Bg7 16.Bd4 c5 17.Nxb6 axb6 18.b4 c4 19.Rxa8 Qxa8 20.d3 b5 21.e4 Bc6 22.dxc4 Bxe4 23.Qe2 O-O 24.Bxf6 Bxf3 25.Bxf3 Bxf6 26.c5 Rd8 27.Kg2 Qa3 28.Rc2 Qxb4 29.Bxb7 Rd7 30.Bc6 Rc7 31.Qxb5 Qxb5 32.Bxb5 Bd4 33.c6 Be5 34.Ra2 Rc8 35.Ra7 Bd6 36.Kf3 Rb8 37.Rb7 Rxb7 38.cxb7 e6 39.Ke4 Kf8 40.g4 g5 41.f3 1/2-1/2

              Round 2, Apr. 22, 2017
              Wojtaszek, Radoslaw – Topalov, Veselin
              D12 QGD Slav

              1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.Bd3 c5 9.Qb3 Qd7 10.cxd5 exd5 11.dxc5 Nc6 12.Bd2 Bxc5 13.Rc1 Rd8 14.Na4 Bd6 15.Nc5 Bxc5 16.Rxc5 d4 17.Bb5 O-O 18.Bxc6 bxc6 19.f3 Qe7 20.Rc2 Nd5 21.Kf2 Rb8 22.Qa3 Rxb2 23.Qxb2 dxe3+ 24.Bxe3 Qxe3+ 25.Kg3 Qf4+ 26.Kf2 Rb8 27.Qc1 Qd4+ 28.Kg3 Ne3 29.Rc5 Rb2 30.Rg1 Rxa2 31.h3 Qd6+ 32.f4 Qd3 33.Kh2 Qe4 34.Rg5 Rc2 0-1

              Round 2, Apr. 22, 2017
              Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar – Karjakin, Sergey
              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.Nc3 O-O 10.Be3 Bg4 11.h3 Bh5 12.O-O Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Qg5+ 15.Kh1 Qf5 16.fxe4 Qxh3+ 17.Kg1 Bxd4 18.Qxd4 Qg4+ 19.Kh1 Qh3+ 20.Kg1 Qg4+ 21.Kh1 Qh3+ 22.Kg1 1/2-1/2

              Round 2, Apr. 22, 2017
              Kramnik, Vladimir – Radjabov, Teimour
              A48 King’s Indian, Torre Attack

              1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.c3 O-O 5.Nbd2 d5 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Be2 Re8 8.O-O e5 9.Bh4 c6 10.Bg3 e4 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.Bxe5 Bf8 13.Bg3 Bd6 14.Bh4 h6 15.c4 Be6 16.Rc1 Kg7 17.cxd5 cxd5 18.Nb1 Qb8 19.Kh1 Nd7 20.Bb5 Bxh2 21.g3 g5 22.Bxd7 Bxd7 23.Kxh2 gxh4 24.Nc3 Qd6 25.Qh5 hxg3+ 26.fxg3 f5 27.Ne2 Rac8 28.Nf4 b6 29.Rg1 Rf8 30.Kh1 Rc6 31.Qh4 Rxc1 32.Rxc1 Rc8 33.Rf1 Rf8 34.Rf2 Rf7 35.Rc2 Rf8 36.Qh5 Rf7 37.a3 Re7 38.b4 Rf7 39.Qh4 Rf8 40.Nh5+ Kg6 41.Nf4+ Kg7 42.Qh5 Rf7 43.Kh2 Re7 44.Qe2 Be8 45.Qa6 Bf7 46.Qc8 Qd7 47.Qb8 Qb7 48.Qxb7 Rxb7 49.a4 Kf6 50.Rc6+ Kg5 51.Kh3 Rd7 52.a5 bxa5 53.bxa5 Rb7 54.a6 Rb3 55.Rc7 Kf6 56.Rxa7 Rxe3 57.Rc7 Ra3 58.a7 Ra2 59.Rb7 e3 60.g4 fxg4+ 61.Kxg4 h5+ 62.Kf3 Ra3 63.Ng2 h4 64.Nxe3 h3 65.Kf4 Be6 66.Nf1 Ra4 67.Kg3 Ra3+ 68.Kf4 Ra4 69.Kf3 Ra3+ 70.Ne3 Kg5 71.Rg7+ Kf6 72.Rc7 Kg5 73.Rg7+ Kf6 1/2-1/2

              Round 2, Apr. 22, 2017
              Harikrishna, Pentala – Eljanov, Pavel
              E47 Nimzo-Indian

              1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 c5 6.Nf3 b6 7.d5 exd5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Bxh7+ Kxh7 10.Qxd5 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Qf6 12.Bb2 Nc6 13.O-O-O Kg8 14.h4 Ba6 15.h5 Qh6 16.Nh4 Qe6 17.Qxe6 dxe6 18.h6 Bc4 19.Nf3 Rad8 20.Rxd8 Rxd8 21.Rh4 b5 22.Ba3 gxh6 23.Bxc5 Bxa2 24.Nd4 Rd5 25.Rg4+ Kh7 26.Bf8 Ne5 27.Rg7+ Kh8 28.Rg3 Nd3+ 29.Kc2 Nxf2 30.Rf3 Ne4 31.Rxf7 Rg5 32.Rxa7 Rxg2+ 33.Kc1 Nxc3 34.Bxh6 b4 35.Bf4 Bd5 36.Be5+ Kg8 37.Rc7 Na2+ 38.Kb1 Nc3+ 39.Kc1 Ra2 40.Rc8+ Kf7 41.Nc2 Ne2+ 42.Kd1 b3 43.Kxe2 Be4 44.Kd2 Kg6 45.Bd4 bxc2 46.Rg8+ Kh5 47.Rh8+ Kg4 48.Rg8+ Kf3 49.Rf8+ Bf5 50.Kc1 Ra4 51.Rb8 Ra3 52.Rf8 Ke2 53.Rh8 Rb3 54.Rh2+ Kf1 0-1

              Standing after Round Two

              1 Eljanov 2.0
              2-3 Mamedyarov, Topalov 1.5
              4-6 Karjakin, Adams, Kramnik 1.0
              7-10 So, Harikrishna, Wojtaszek, Radjabov 0.5

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Shamkir 2017

                Shamkir Chess 2017

                April 23, 2017

                Round Three

                The redoubtable Ljubomir Ljubojevic is in the chair as commentator. Readers will remember the job he did at the Gashimov Memorial 2016, where he irritated as much as enlightened. Today he was asking what medicines players take during a tournament and asking Wesley So about holistic medicines in the Philippines.

                One of the two most important games of the round is Karjakin-Adams where Sergey falls to Micky. In time pressure Sergey plays 39.g3 and is lost.

                The other is Elajanov-Mamedyarov, where Pavel looked like he was going to win his third game in a row. And then came 44.Re5 when he lost the initiative and then 54.Qe4 then Shakh took over.

                Igor Khenkin was doing the commentary for a while. Igor is a Russian-born German grandmaster. He mentioned that Pavel Eljanov’s father was a publisher, who published Dvoretsky’s early works.

                It is best explained in this 2010 interview of Eljanov by Anastasiya Karlovich in chessbase.com:

                Going back to the beginning of your chess career, can you tell how you started playing chess?

                I was lucky to be born in a chess family and my parents always supported my wish to play chess, even during the periods when I lacked the desire. My mother helped me from the beginning, and showed me the rules of chess, and afterwards we continued to study the basics using the famous book of Ivashenko. It was probably a good book (laughs).

                Do you mean everybody who studies that book can play as well as Pavel Eljanov?

                I think 90% start to study chess from that book... Anyhow, I was quickly improving at the beginning but lost interest when I was 8-9 years old. The teamwork with my trainer Anatoliy Astrakhancev (coincidence with Astrakhan?) helped me to achieve a candidate master norm. Of course during that period my father supported me financially and helped me improve in chess. In 1995 he got the idea of publishing Mark Dvoretsky’s books. I studied all those books several times before they were published, so I was one of their proofreaders as well. Together with Alexander Moiseenko, we checked variations and read the first books at least five times, so I can say I drank it in as mother's milk. At the time I had no trainers, though I studied together with Zakhar Efimenko, Alexander Moiseenko as well as worked alone. Since 1997 I have been coming to the Chess Club of the National Law Academy. I was the youngest one there and it was a great experience for me to play with more experienced opponents such as Alexander Zubarev, Eduard Andreev among others.

                http://en.chessbase.com/post/intervi...vel-eljanov/17
                _________

                I wonder if the Sergey Ivashchenko book is the one on combinations – Ucebnik Sachmatnych kombinacij (The manual of chess combinations) !997.

                It is recommended for players with ratings from 1600 to 2200. The positions are from all stages of the game.
                ________

                The games:

                Shamkir Chess
                Round 3, Apr. 23, 2017
                Radjabov, Teimour – Harikrishna, P.
                D38 QGD, Ragozin, Marshall variation

                1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 O-O 8.Rc1 dxc4 9.Bxc4 c5 10.O-O cxd4 11.Nxd4 Bd7 12.Ne4 Qe7 13.Bd3 Nc6 14.Nb3 Na5 15.Rc7 Rfd8 16.Nxa5 Bxa5 17.Rxb7 Qf8 18.Qh5 Bb6 19.Ng5 f5 20.Bb5 Bxb5 21.Nxe6 Be8 22.Qf3 Qf6 23.Rxg7+ Kh8 24.Qb7 Rab8 25.Rh7+ Kg8 26.Rg7+ Kh8 27.Rh7+ Kg8 28.Rg7+ 1/2-1/2

                Round 3, Apr. 23, 2017
                Topalov, Veselin – Kramnik, Vladimir
                D56 QGD Neo-orthodox variation

                1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 h6 6.Bh4 O-O 7.Nf3 Nbd7 8.Rc1 c5 9.dxc5 Nxc5 10.cxd5 g5 11.Bg3 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Qxd5 13.Qxd5 exd5 14.Be2 Bd7 15.O-O Rac8 16.Be5 g4 17.Nd4 h5 18.Nb5 f6 19.Bd4 Ne6 20.Nxa7 Ra8 21.Nb5 Rxa2 22.Bc3 Kf7 23.Rcd1 Bc6 24.f3 Bc5 25.Kh1 Bxe3 26.Nd6+ Kg8 27.fxg4 Nf4 28.Nf5 Nxe2 29.Nxe3 Nxc3 30.bxc3 hxg4 31.Rd4 f5 32.Kg1 Bb5 33.Rb1 Bc6 34.Rf1 Bb5 35.Rb1 Bc6 1/2-1/2

                Round 3, Apr. 23, 2017
                Eljanov, Pavel – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
                E67 King’s Indian, Fianchetto, Classical Variation

                1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.O-O O-O 5.d4 d6 6.c4 Nbd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.e4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Re8 10.b3 a6 11.Be3 Rb8 12.a4 a5 13.Ndb5 b6 14.Qc2 Nc5 15.Rad1 Bb7 16.f3 Qe7 17.Rfe1 Rbd8 18.Bf2 c6 19.Nd4 Qc7 20.g4 Nfd7 21.Bh4 Bf6 22.Bg3 Na6 23.Na2 Ndc5 24.f4 Qe7 25.g5 Bg7 26.h4 f6 27.gxf6 Bxf6 28.h5 Qg7 29.Bf2 Nc7 30.hxg6 hxg6 31.Nc3 N7e6 32.Nce2 Nxd4 33.Nxd4 Rd7 34.Nf3 Bc8 35.e5 dxe5 36.fxe5 Rxd1 37.Qxd1 Be7 38.Nd4 Bg5 39.Bxc6 Rf8 40.Nf3 Qh6 41.Bxc5 bxc5 42.Qd5+ Kg7 43.e6 Rf5 44.Re5 Qh3 45.Qxc5 Qg3+ 46.Kf1 Rxf3+ 47.Bxf3 Qxf3+ 48.Qf2 Qd1+ 49.Qe1 Qd3+ 50.Qe2 Qg3 51.Qe4 Qh3+ 52.Qg2 Qd3+ 53.Qe2 Qg3 54.Qe4 Bh4 55.Qe3 Qh2 56.Rd5 Qh1+ 57.Ke2 Qe1+ 58.Kf3 Qg3+ 59.Ke2 Qe1+ 60.Kd3 Qd1+ 61.Ke4 Bb7 62.Ke5 Bxd5 63.cxd5 Be7 64.Qa7 Qe2+ 65.Kf4 g5+ 66.Kg3 Kf6 0-1

                Round 3, Apr. 23, 2017
                So, Wesley – Wojtaszek, Radoslaw
                D02 Queen’s Bishop game

                1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bf4 Bf5 4.e3 e6 5.c4 Bxb1 6.Qxb1 Bb4+ 7.Kd1 Bd6 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.c5 Bf8 11.Qc2 c6 12.b4 a6 13.Bd3 Nd7 14.Ke2 g5 15.h3 Bg7 16.a4 Qe7 17.Rad1 O-O 18.g4 e5 19.Bh7+ Kh8 20.Bf5 exd4 21.h4 Ne5 22.Nxd4 gxh4 23.Bd3 Qg5 24.Rdg1 Nxd3 25.Qxd3 Bxd4 26.Qxd4+ Qg7 27.Qd2 Qf6 28.g5 hxg5 29.f4 Rg8 30.fxg5 Qe5 31.Rxh4+ Kg7 32.g6 Rh8 33.gxf7+ Kxf7 34.Qd4 Qxd4 35.Rxd4 Rag8 36.Rf1+ Ke7 37.Rdf4 Rf8 38.Rxf8 Rxf8 39.Rxf8 Kxf8 40.e4 dxe4 1/2-1/2

                Round 3, Apr. 23, 2017
                Karjakin, Sergey – Adams, Michael
                E10 Queen’s Pawn game

                1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 a6 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bf4 Bd6 7.Bg3 O-O 8.e3 Bf5 9.Qb3 Bxg3 10.hxg3 Nc6 11.Be2 Qd6 12.O-O Ne7 13.Ne5 h5 14.Rfc1 Ng4 15.Na4 b6 16.Qc3 Rfc8 17.Nd3 Bd7 18.b3 Ng6 19.Qb4 Qf6 20.Nc3 Qf5 21.a4 a5 22.Qa3 Nf6 23.Ra2 Qg5 24.Ne1 c5 25.Nf3 Qh6 26.dxc5 Rxc5 27.Nb5 Rac8 28.Rxc5 Rxc5 29.b4 axb4 30.Qxb4 Ne4 31.Bf1 h4 32.gxh4 Bxb5 33.axb5 Nxh4 34.Nxh4 Qxh4 35.Qd4 Rc1 36.Qe5 Qd8 37.Qf5 g6 38.Qe5 Qc8 39.g3 Rxf1+ 0-1

                Standing after Round Three

                1 Mamedyarov 2.5
                2-4 Eljanov, Topalov, Adams 2.0
                5 Kramnik 1.5
                6-10 Harikrishna, Karjakin, So, Wojtaszek, Radjabov all with 1.0

                ________

                Note added later:

                Three-quarters of Eljanov vs Mamedyarov went Eljanov's way. He achieved a nice advantage out of the opening and played provocatively to gain space. The game featured a lot of slight ups and downs in the evaluation as is typical for such sharp and creative play, but Eljanov's advantage had become decisive when on move 44 he selected Re5? "blundering" (Eljanov's words) 44... Qh3! and missing 44. e7! which would have basically ended the game. After that, Mamedyarov had significant practical chances and won quickly.

                Michael Adams has recently reachieved the peak rating of 2761 that he first tallied in September of 2013 and is playing excellent chess. Today, he outplayed Sergey Karjakin with the black pieces, achieving equality and then an advantage. In the final position, Karjakin blundered a tactic, but he could have continued to fight had he not forfeited on time at this point.

                It is very unusual for a player to forfeit on time at such a level, but time trouble issues have been endemic to Shamkir as the players are struggling to adjust to the lack of increment.

                https://www.chess.com/news/view/mame...n-shamkir-5876
                Last edited by Wayne Komer; Sunday, 23rd April, 2017, 10:51 PM.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Shamkir 2017

                  Shamkir Chess 2017

                  April 24, 2017

                  Round Four

                  The game of the day is Kramnik vs Harikrishna. Vladimir sacrifices his rook with 25.Rxe5. The computer says that he is much worse but, he gets three connected passed pawns on the queenside – so who is right?

                  Everyone knows that it is a rule of the Russian School that Kramnik’s passed pawns always queen, ergo this is an imposing position.

                  Harikrishna plays until his game is untenable and looks around for Kramnik so he can resign but he is not there. The arbiter comes over and waits until Vlad is back at the board, where he shakes Pentala’s hand and they both sign their score sheets and go to the post-mortem.

                  Ljubo is not very tall and, sitting behind the raised lid of the laptop, you can only see the top part of his face.
                  He seems to think that he has the right to ask any question that comes to mind. The first to most of the participants is about Bobby Fischer playing in Yugoslavia in 1992 and being censured by the State Department. Ljubo asks each one if their major concern in going to a country for a tournament that their land would not approve of is political, ethical or economical.

                  Wesley So says that he would take the advice of the State Department as to whether it is dangerous to go or not but in the end, he would make his own mind up. Veselin says that he went to Libya in 2004 and got along all right. If you’ll recall it was the World Chess Championship semi-final with Topalov, Kasimdzhanov, Radjabov and Adams in June/July of that year.

                  The Women’s World Championship in Tehran was mentioned and Michael Adams said that, in general, the Foreign Office just has recommendations on its website of countries where it is dangerous to go and doesn’t give any political opinion about them. Ljubo immediately brings up the boycott against South Africa. Michael says that was before his time.

                  Wesley So was asked why he came to the States. Was it because there was no financial support in the Philippines? Wesley said that he came over at the age of 18 and there was very little support. Ljubo pressed him to name private U.S. sponsors and a lady in the audience asked who the woman is that he is often with.

                  No sponsor’s names are given and the woman who is seen with is his mother.

                  Yesterday, Ljubo asked Kramnik and Leko, who have are at daggers-drawn with each other, what they would do if Kramnik’s son wanted to marry Leko’s daughter. I could not bear to watch the answer, if one was given.

                  Ljubo did ask Tal once if any of his opponents had fainted at the board when Tal played a spectacular move against him. Tal said that he could not remember that happening but he would have been honoured if it had.

                  Some online comments:

                  - Hari could strangle him…wish he would take one for the team
                  - Ljubo asks what do you think of fischer? Was he an alien and what about twin towers and chemtrails?
                  - Ljubo is so annoying, giving lectures instead of taking interviews

                  The games:

                  Shamkir Chess
                  Round 4, Apr. 24, 2017
                  Eljanov, Pavel – Radjabov, Teimour
                  C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

                  1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.O-O Nd7 7.c3 O-O 8.d4 Bd6 9.Bg5 f6 10.Qb3+ Kh8 11.Bh4 b6 12.Nbd2 Ba6 13.Rfe1 Qe7 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Qxe5 16.Bg3 Qe7 17.Bxd6 cxd6 18.Rad1 Bc8 19.Qa4 b5 20.Qa5 Bg4 21.f3 Be6 22.Nf1 d5 23.exd5 Qc5+ 24.Ne3 Bxd5 25.a3 Rfe8 26.Qb4 Qb6 27.Qd4 Qxd4 28.Rxd4 Re7 29.Kf2 Rae8 30.Rdd1 Bb3 31.Nf5 Rxe1 32.Rxe1 Rxe1 33.Kxe1 Be6 34.Nd4 Bd5 35.Kd2 a6 36.Ke3 Kg8 37.Nf5 Kf7 38.Kd4 Be6 39.Ne3 Ke7 40.Kc5 Kd7 41.Kb6 f5 42.f4 g5 43.g3 gxf4 44.gxf4 Kd6 45.Kxa6 Kc7 46.Ka5 1-0

                  Round 4, Apr. 24, 2017
                  Wojtaszek, Radoslaw – Karjakin, Sergey
                  D41 QGD, Semi Tarrasch

                  1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.g3 Nc6 7.Bg2 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 Qxd4 11.cxd4 Bd6 12.a4 Rb8 13.Ba3 Ke7 14.Bxd6+ Kxd6 15.Kd2 Bd7 16.Rhc1 Rhc8 17.a5 Rxc1 18.Rxc1 b6 19.axb6 Rxb6 20.Ra1 Rb2+ 21.Kd1 Rb4 22.Ra6+ Ke7 23.Rxa7 Rxd4+ 24.Ke1 Ra4 25.Rxa4 Bxa4 1/2-1/2

                  Round 4, Apr. 24, 2017
                  Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar – Radjabov, Teimour
                  E94 King’s Indian, Orthodox variation

                  1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 e5 7.O-O exd4 8.Nxd4 Re8 9.f3 Nc6 10.Be3 Nh5 11.Qd2 Nf4 12.Rfd1 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Bxd4+ 14.Qxd4 Nxe2+ 15.Nxe2 b6 16.Nc3 Bb7 17.Nd5 Bxd5 18.cxd5 Qg5 19.Rac1 Rac8 20.Qd2 Qe5 21.Qd4 Qg5 22.Qd2 Qe5 23.Qd4 Qg5 24.Qd2 1/2-1/2

                  Round 4, Apr. 24, 2017
                  Topalov, Veselin – So, Wesley
                  C67 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence, open variation

                  1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 O-O 9.d4 Bf6 10.Re1 Re8 11.c3 Rxe1 12.Qxe1 Ne8 13.Bf4 d5 14.Bd3 g6 15.Nd2 c6 16.Nf3 Ng7 17.Qe2 Bf5 18.Bxf5 Nxf5 19.Re1 Ng7 20.Ne5 Bxe5 21.Qxe5 f6 22.Qe7 Qxe7 23.Rxe7 Re8 24.Rxe8+ Nxe8 25.Kf1 Kf7 26.Ke2 h5 27.a4 g5 28.Bb8 a6 29.h3 Ng7 30.a5 Kg6 31.g4 f5 32.f3 Ne6 33.b4 Nd8 34.Bc7 Nf7 35.Kf2 hxg4 36.hxg4 Kf6 37.Kg3 Ke6 38.Bb8 Nh6 39.Kh3 fxg4+ 40.fxg4 Ng8 41.Ba7 Nf6 42.Bc5 Ne4 43.Kg2 Nxc3 44.Kf3 Ne4 45.Kg2 Nf6 46.Kf3 Kd7 47.Kg3 Kc7 48.Kf3 Ne4 49.Bb6+ Kd7 50.Bc5 Nd6 51.Ke3 Kc7 52.Bb6+ Kc8 53.Bc5 Nc4+ 54.Ke2 Kd7 55.Kd3 Ke6 56.Ke2 Kf6 57.Kf3 Nd2+ 58.Ke2 Ne4 59.Ke3 Kg6 60.Ke2 Nf6 61.Kf3 Kf7 62.Kg3 Ke6 63.Kf3 Kf7 64.Kg3 Ke6 1/2-1/2

                  Round 4, Apr. 24, 2017
                  Kramnik, Vladimir – Harikrishna, Pentala
                  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 Nb8 10.Ne2 Nbd7 11.c3 Bb7 12.Ng3 c5 13.Re1 Rc8 14.Nf5 c4 15.dxc4 Bxe4 16.Nxe7+ Qxe7 17.cxb5 axb5 18.Bg5 Nc5 19.Ba2 h6 20.Bh4 g5 21.Bg3 Bh7 22.Qe2 Kg7 23.Rad1 Nfe4 24.Rd5 f5 25.Rxe5 dxe5 26.Bxe5+ Nf6 27.Qxb5 Ne4 28.Bd4 Rfd8 29.h3 Rb8 30.Qe2 Bg8 31.Bb1 Qb7 32.b4 Re8 33.c4 Qc6 34.Qb2 Rbd8 35.c5 Qe6 36.b5 Kf8 37.c6 g4 38.hxg4 fxg4 39.Bxe4 gxf3 40.Bxf6 Rd6 41.Bg7+ Kf7 42.Be5 1-0

                  Standing after Round Four

                  1 Mamedyarov 3.0
                  2-5 Eljanov, Topalov, Adams, Kramnik 2.5
                  6-9 Wojtaszek, So, Karjakin, Radjabov 1.5
                  10 Harikrishna 1.0
                  ________

                  Note added later on Kramnik's game:

                  Only two days ago, Veselin Topalov played a wonderful rook sacrifice in Shamkir that some commented might be a move of the year candidate. Today, Topalov's long-time adversary Vladimir Kramnik one-upped him with a possibly even more astonishing rook sacrifice. Kramnik offered his rook for three not-very-dangerous pawns in the middlegame: a pure positional sacrifice! To the author's knowledge, this particular sacrifice is unique in the annals of chess history, but we invite readers to post comparable sacrifices in the comments

                  https://www.chess.com/news/view/kram...n-shamkir-7875

                  Online Comments

                  - After that sacrifice there was nothing black could do. Awesome play. Worthy opponent.
                  - Amazing how he saw the idea all the way back with 22. Qe2
                  - Positional sacrifice!
                  - Kramnik wow!!
                  - That is one impressive sacrifice!
                  Last edited by Wayne Komer; Monday, 24th April, 2017, 09:53 PM.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Shamkir 2017

                    Shamkir Chess 2017

                    April 24, 2017

                    Round Five

                    The two young guns beat the oldsters – Karjakin taking down Topalov and So winning against Kramnik.

                    Ljubo’s press conferences are usually chaotic with everyone talking at once. I like this pronouncement during one of them:

                    “It is better for black; there is no question.”

                    His question of the day is whether the player would rather live in a big city or a small one, in an apartment or a house.

                    Radoslaw Wojtaszek is a 30-year-old Polish grandmaster. He has been a second to Vishy Anand. He is presently living in Warsaw but would like to retire to a small city.

                    Eljanov seems bored with the questions but says that he knows nothing of small city life, having spent all of his life in a big city. Though he lives on the sixth floor of his apartment, he always walks up and never uses the elevator.

                    The longest game is So-Kramnik with big Vlad having a deteriorating game and Wesley being very calm.

                    It is amusing at the end when Igor Khenkin, analyzing for the broadcast, said that Vladimir is lost but can trade away to an ending making Wesley mate him with knight and bishop.

                    I would have thought that if Wesley had outplayed Vlad so far, he would have no trouble accomplishing the bishop and knight mate.

                    It was one of the few post-mortems with Kramnik where he didn’t say that he had an equal or better game all through.

                    Both are asked by Ljubo about the big city/small city thing and Vlad says that he would like to retire to a small city and So would too.

                    Asked if they have pets:

                    Wesley: Two cats

                    Vladimir: Two kids!

                    The games:

                    Shamkir Chess
                    Round 5, Apr. 25
                    Eljanov, Pavel – Wojtaszek, Radoslaw
                    E04 Catalan, open

                    1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.d4 Nf6 5.O-O e6 6.c4 dxc4 7.dxc5 Qxd1 8.Rxd1 Bxc5 9.Nbd2 c3 10.bxc3 O-O 11.Nb3 Be7 12.Nfd4 Bd7 13.Nxc6 Bxc6 14.Bxc6 bxc6 15.c4 Rfb8 16.f3 Kf8 17.Bd2 Ke8 18.Bc3 g6 19.Kf2 Nd7 20.Ba5 Rb7 21.Rac1 Nc5 22.Nd4 Rc8 23.Rb1 e5 24.Rxb7 Nxb7 25.Nb3 Nxa5 26.Nxa5 Bc5+ 27.Kf1 Bb4 28.Nb3 Ke7 29.e4 f5 30.Ke2 fxe4 31.fxe4 Rb8 32.Rb1 Bc5 33.Rd1 Bb4 34.Rc1 Rb6 35.c5 Ra6 36.Rc2 Ra4 37.Kd3 Ba5 38.Rb2 Ke6 39.Rf2 Bd8 40.Rf8 Be7 41.Rf2 h5 42.Rc2 Ra3 43.Kc3 Ra4 44.Kd3 Ra3 45.Kc3 1/2-1/2

                    Round 5, Apr. 25, 2017
                    So, Wesley – Kramnik, Vladimir
                    E05 Catalan, open, Classical line

                    1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.O-O O-O 6.d4 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bf4 a5 11.Nc3 Nbd7 12.Qd3 Bb4 13.Rfe1 Re8 14.Qc2 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 c6 16.Red1 Qe7 17.Na2 Bd6 18.Bxd6 Qxd6 19.Nc1 Nd5 20.e4 Nb4 21.Qc3 e5 22.Nb3 Qe7 23.Bg2 exd4 24.Rxd4 Nf8 25.Rad1 Red8 26.R1d2 Ne6 27.Rxd8+ Rxd8 28.Nxa5 Ra8 29.Nc4 Rxa4 30.Nd6 Ra1+ 31.Bf1 Na6 32.Kg2 Nac7 33.Nf5 Qe8 34.Bc4 Ra8 35.Rd6 Qf8 36.Rd7 Re8 37.Qe5 b5 38.Ba2 g6 39.Ne3 Re7 40.Rxe7 Qxe7 41.Ng4 Qg5 42.Nf6+ Kh8 43.Nd7+ Qxe5 44.Nxe5 Nd4 45.Bxf7 c5 46.f4 c4 47.Kf2 Kg7 48.Ke3 Nb3 49.g4 Nc5 50.h4 Na4 51.b3 cxb3 52.Bxb3 Nc5 53.Bd1 h6 54.Nc6 N7a6 55.Kd4 Ne6+ 56.Ke5 Nec5 57.Bc2 b4 58.Nd4 g5 59.hxg5 hxg5 60.f5 Nd7+ 61.Kd6 Nf6 62.e5 Nxg4 63.Ne6+ Kh6 64.f6 Nb8 65.Ba4 1-0

                    Round 5, Apr. 25, 2017
                    Harikrishna, Pentala – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
                    A07 Reti, KIA, Neo-Grunfeld

                    1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 g6 4.O-O Bg7 5.d4 O-O 6.Nbd2 a5 7.c4 a4 8.cxd5 Qxd5 9.Nb1 Rd8 10.Bf4 Qa5 11.Qc1 Nc6 12.Na3 Nxd4 13.Nxd4 Rxd4 14.Qxc7 Nd5 15.Qxa5 Rxa5 16.Bc1 Be6 17.Nc2 Rc4 18.Na3 Rd4 19.Nc2 Rc4 20.Na3 Rc8 21.Bd2 Ra6 22.e4 Nb6 23.e5 Nd5 24.f4 Rb6 25.Rac1 Rxc1 26.Bxc1 f6 27.Rd1 Nc7 28.Rd4 fxe5 29.Rxa4 Rd6 30.Bf3 Bxa2 31.fxe5 Bxe5 32.Nc4 Ra6 33.Rb4 Bxc4 34.Rxc4 b5 35.Rc2 Kg7 36.Kg2 Ne6 37.Rc6 Rxc6 38.Bxc6 Nd4 39.Bd7 Kf6 40.b4 e6 41.Be3 Nc2 42.Bd2 Nd4 43.Be3 Nf5 44.Bb6 Bc3 45.g4 Nh4+ 46.Kg3 g5 47.Bd8+ Kg6 48.Be7 Be1+ 49.Kh3 Kf7 50.Bxg5 Ng6 51.Bxb5 1/2-1/2

                    Round 5, Apr. 25, 2017
                    Karjakin, Sergey – Topalov, Veselin
                    B12 Caro-Kann

                    1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.a3 Bxc5 6.Nf3 Ne7 7.Bd3 Ng6 8.O-O Nc6 9.b4 Bb6 10.Bb2 Nf4 11.c4 Nxd3 12.Qxd3 dxc4 13.Qxc4 Ne7 14.Nc3 Bd7 15.Qg4 Bc6 16.Rad1 Qc7 17.Ng5 Qxe5 18.b5 h5 19.Qh4 Bxb5 20.Rfe1 Qf5 21.Nxb5 Qxb5 22.Bxg7 Nf5 23.Nxe6 fxe6 24.Rxe6+ Kf7 25.Qf6+ Kg8 26.Bxh8 Bxf2+ 27.Kh1 Qa4 28.Red6 Rf8 29.Qg6+ Kxh8 30.Rd7 1-0

                    Round 5, Apr. 25, 2017
                    Radjabov, Teimour – Adams, Michael
                    E05 Catalan, open, Classical line

                    1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O dxc4 7.Ne5 Nc6 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Nxc6 Qe8 10.Nxe7+ Qxe7 11.Qc2 c5 12.Qxc4 cxd4 13.Qxd4 e5 14.Qh4 Qb7 15.Nc3 Be6 16.Bg5 Nd5 17.Nxd5 Qxd5 18.b3 f6 19.Be3 Qb5 20.Rfe1 a5 21.f3 Rfc8 22.Kf2 a4 23.Qe4 axb3 24.axb3 Rxa1 25.Rxa1 Qxb3 26.Ra8 Rxa8 27.Qxa8+ Kf7 28.Qe4 Kg8 29.Qa8+ Kf7 30.Qe4 Kg8 31.Qa8+ Kf7 32.Qe4 1/2-1/2

                    Standing after Round Five

                    1 Mamedyarov 3.5
                    2-3 Eljanov, Adams 3.0
                    4-7 So, Karjakin, Topalov, Kramnik 2.5
                    8-9 Wojtaszek 2.0
                    10 Harikrishna 1.5

                    There is a rest day tomorrow

                    _________

                    Notes on the Karjakin and So wins from chess.com

                    Karjakin's point came at expense of GM Veselin Topalov. The Bulgarian tried to play a Caro-Kann, which shape-shifted into a French Defense a tempo down after he refused the more standard lines with... Bf5. However, White had already committed to an early d- for c-pawn exchange.

                    GM Veselin Topalov could never find shelter for his king today. Taking the e-pawn proved too much. Black then spent many more tempi acquiring the bishop pair, activating his "French bishop," and even going after the White's final center pawn.

                    The final indiscretion proved too much and Karjakin punished Topalov for his profligacy. In particular 23. Nxe6! was a nice touch. Abandoning the queen to threaten a double-check mate highlighted the prior need for Topalov to eschew material and find safe harbor for his king.

                    Sometimes when a young player bursts onto the scene, his personal head-to-head record suffers against the veterans until he learns to play at the highest level. That's not so for So, who after today has grabbed two victories from GM Vladimir Kramnik without any losses in classical chess. (Curiously the former champ has So's number in fast time controls though.)

                    GM Wesley So played the day's longest game and was rewarded with a win, his first in Shamkir.

                    Today the Catalan produced a position with divergent themes. White had the only bishop, but Black had the queenside majority. That dynamic could have played out a number of ways, but moves 30-37 should be the reader's focus. Somehow all of So's pieces moved forward and took on ideal posts while Black's kept backing up.

                    If we are to believe Kasparov, who claimed that a knight on f5 is worth nearly a pawn, then So was even up material so to speak. Black's... g6 forced the steed out, but the weakening of dark squares gave the American an opening to win a pawn. So's game was a great example of envisioning the endgame starting at the middlegame.

                    Four on two and an active king was no problem for the world number two to convert. He did pass up on a few chances to force himself to do the bishop+knight mate, but since chess professionals don't get paid by the hour, that's understandable!

                    https://www.chess.com/news/view/karj...n-shamkir-4754
                    Last edited by Wayne Komer; Thursday, 27th April, 2017, 02:20 AM.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Shamkir 2017

                      Shamkir 2017

                      April 27, 2017

                      Round Six

                      Vladimir Kramnik is not a player who loses consecutive games but he has lost two back-to-back, so to speak, so far – against Wesley So and today against Shakh. As a result of that win, Shakh is in first place a whole point ahead of Topalov, So and Adams.

                      Wesley So is playing well. He outplayed Karjakin, with a calm imperturbability that one associates with Capablanca. His successes of the past year reveal to me that he is a much bigger talent than I had supposed.

                      On the present live rating list Magnus has 2831.6 and Wesley 2816.0, a difference of about 15 ELO points.

                      A game has arisen of speculating when So’s rating will equal or surpass Carlsen’s.

                      In the chat room today:

                      - Let’s go Mamedyarov, 3 more wins and 2800

                      - Let’s go Wes, 3 more wins and you’ll catch up with Carlsen for live ratings

                      And on the EC Forum:

                      - I hope So can't or won't catch Carlsen by winning the next three games, against Eljanov (2751), Radjabov (2710), and Harikrishna (2755). Does anyone want to do that calculation?

                      - If So were to beat So, So and So, he'd gain 15.0 rating points. He can't gain 15.6 rating points from three games unless one of them is against Carlsen.

                      - So, if I understand correctly if So plays three so-and-sos he can only overtake Carlsen if at least one of the so-and-sos is Carlsen?

                      - My spreadsheet says that:

                      1 win against Carlsen and 2 wins against Caruana would gain him 15 points.
                      2 wins against Carlsen and 1 win against Caruana would gain him 15.3 points.
                      3 wins against Carlsen would gain him 15.6 points.

                      So it's only 3 wins against Carlsen that would allow So to match Carlsen's current rating in 3 games. (Obviously, 2 wins against Carlsen would allow So to overtake Carlsen because So would gain 10.4 points and Carlsen would lose 10.4 points.)
                      ________

                      Radoslaw and Teimour came from their finished game to the postmortem room in a loud friendly argument about the play. It is obvious that they have analyzed together many times before. With big smiles on their faces, they lighten Ljubo’s presence.

                      Ljubo draws a lot of criticism but there was a rather nice comment about him on the chess24 forum today:

                      Ljubo was last active as a player in the "Rising Stars vs. Experience events" until 2010, he was also often/always guest of honor at Joop van Oosterom's other project/brainchild: the Amber rapid/blindfold events. He also played in the "honorary group" 2008 in Wijk aan Zee with Timman (one of Timman's many roles over the years), Portisch and Korchnoi.

                      Ljubo also did live commentary for Shamkir Chess 2016, a year ago I wrote "also in press conferences he surprises with constructive criticism of the players and original questions".

                      The games:

                      Round 6, Apr. 27, 2017
                      Wojtaszek, Radoslaw – Radjabov, Teimour
                      E54 Nimzo-Indian, Gligoric System

                      1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.O-O cxd4 8.exd4 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b6 10.Bg5 Bxc3 11.bxc3 Bb7 12.Bd3 Nbd7 13.c4 Qc7 14.Re1 Rac8 15.Qe2 h6 16.Bd2 Rfd8 17.Rac1 Qd6 18.Bc3 Qf4 19.Qe3 Qc7 20.h3 Ba8 21.Bb2 Qb7 22.Bf1 Qb8 23.a4 Re8 24.Nd2 Bc6 25.Ra1 Nf8 26.Qb3 Qf4 27.Qe3 Qc7 28.Bd3 Ng6 29.Bxg6 fxg6 30.f3 g5 31.Qe5 Qd7 32.a5 b5 33.Ba3 a6 34.cxb5 Bxb5 35.Ne4 Nxe4 36.fxe4 Qf7 37.Rac1 Red8 38.Bc5 Qf6 39.Qxf6 gxf6 40.Kf2 Kf7 1/2-1/2

                      Round 6, Apr. 27, 2017
                      Topalov, Veselin – Eljanov, Pavel
                      E17 Queen’s Indian, Opocensky variation

                      1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bd2 Bf6 8.Qc2 Nxd2 9.Qxd2 d6 10.h4 Nd7 11.Rd1 O-O 12.Qc2 c6 13.e4 Qc7 14.Ng5 e5 15.d5 h6 16.Nf3 a6 17.dxc6 Qxc6 18.Bf1 Rfc8 19.a4 Nc5 20.Nd2 Ne6 21.Qb1 Nd4 22.Bh3 Rf8 23.Rc1 Bd8 24.O-O f5 25.Kh2 f4 26.Qd3 Kh8 27.b3 Bc8 28.Bxc8 Qxc8 29.Ne2 Nxe2 30.Qxe2 Ra7 31.Rc3 b5 32.Rd3 bxa4 33.bxa4 Raf7 34.Rxd6 Bxh4 35.Rd5 f3 36.Qd3 Qg4 37.Rh1 Bg5 38.c5 Rb8 39.Nc4 Rfb7 40.Nb6 Rxb6 41.cxb6 Rxb6 42.Rxe5 Bh4 43.Qc3 Rg6 44.Qe1 Bg5 45.Rf5 Rd6 46.Rf8+ Kh7 47.e5 Rd3 48.e6 Be7 49.Rf4 Qh5+ 50.Kg1 Qd5 51.Qe4+ Qxe4 52.Rxe4 Kg6 53.Kh2 Rd2 54.Rf1 Kf5 55.Re3 Kg4 56.Kg1 g5 57.Rc1 Ra2 58.Kf1 Rxa4 59.Rc7 Bb4 60.Rc4+ 1-0

                      Round 6, Apr. 27, 2017
                      Kramnik, Vladimir – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
                      C50 Giuoco Piano

                      1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.c3 d6 7.Re1 Ba7 8.a4 h6 9.Be3 Bxe3 10.Rxe3 O-O 11.Nbd2 Re8 12.d4 exd4 13.cxd4 Bg4 14.Qb3 Qd7 15.Bd3 d5 16.e5 Nh5 17.g3 f5 18.Ree1 a5 19.Rac1 Nb4 20.Bf1 f4 21.e6 Bxe6 22.Ne5 Qd6 23.Qf3 Nf6 24.Qxf4 c6 25.f3 Nd7 26.Nb3 Rf8 27.Qe3 Bf5 28.Qd2 Na2 29.Ra1 Nb4 30.Nxd7 Bxd7 31.Qc3 b6 32.Re5 Rae8 33.Rae1 Qg6 34.Nd2 Qc2 35.f4 Rxe5 36.dxe5 Be6 37.Qxc2 Nxc2 38.Rc1 Nb4 39.Nf3 c5 40.h4 Kf7 41.h5 Bg4 42.Nh4 Bxh5 43.Nf5 Bg4 44.Ne3 Bd7 45.Bg2 d4 46.Nc4 Bxa4 47.Nxb6 Bc2 48.Nc4 d3 49.Nd2 a4 50.Kf2 c4 51.Ke3 Rc8 52.Ne4 Kf8 53.Nc3 Rb8 54.Rf1 Na6 55.f5 Rxb2 56.f6 Nc7 57.Bh3 d2 58.Bg4 a3 59.e6 gxf6 60.Rxf6+ Kg8 61.e7 a2 62.Ra6 d1=Q 63.Nxd1 Bxd1 64.Ra8+ Kg7 65.Bxd1 Rb1 66.Rxa2 Rxd1 67.Ra7 Ne8 68.Ra4 Rd3+ 69.Kf4 c3 0-1

                      Round 6, Apr. 27, 2017
                      So, Wesley – Karjakin, Sergey
                      D40 QGD, Semi-Tarrasch, symmetrical variation

                      1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.e3 e6 5.d4 d5 6.a3 a6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.b4 Ba7 9.Bb2 O-O 10.h3 h6 11.Rc1 Re8 12.Bd3 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Qxd1+ 14.Rxd1 b5 15.Bd3 Bb7 16.Ke2 Kf8 17.Rhg1 Rad8 18.Bb1 Ne7 19.Nd2 Bb6 20.g4 Ned5 21.Nxd5 Nxd5 22.Nb3 f6 23.Bg6 Re7 24.Rc1 Red7 25.Rgd1 Ne7 26.Rxd7 Rxd7 27.Bb1 Rc7 28.Rxc7 Bxc7 29.Nc5 Bc8 30.Ba2 Nd5 31.f4 Bd6 32.Bd4 Kf7 33.Kd3 Ne7 34.Ne4 Bc7 35.f5 Nc6 36.fxe6+ Bxe6 37.Bxe6+ Kxe6 38.Nc5+ Ke7 39.Nxa6 Bd6 40.Bc5 Ne5+ 41.Ke4 Nc4 42.Kd5 Bxc5 43.Kxc5 Nxa3 44.Nc7 Kd7 45.Nxb5 Nc2 46.Nd4 Nxe3 47.Nf5 Nd1 48.Kb6 g6 49.Nxh6 Ne3 50.b5 f5 51.Ka6 fxg4 52.hxg4 Nd5 53.b6 Kc6 54.b7 Nc7+ 55.Ka7 Nb5+ 56.Ka8 Nc7+ 57.Kb8 Nb5 58.Ka8 Nc7+ 59.Kb8 Nb5 60.Nf7 Kb6 61.g5 Ka6 62.Nd8 Kb6 63.Kc8 Nd6+ 64.Kd7 1-0

                      Round 6, Apr. 27, 2017
                      Adams, Michael – Harikrishna, Pentala
                      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 Nb8 10.Re1 Nbd7 11.Ne2 Nc5 12.Ba2 Be6 13.Bxe6 Nxe6 14.Ng3 g6 15.c3 c5 16.d4 exd4 17.cxd4 d5 18.e5 Ne4 19.Bh6 Re8 20.dxc5 Nxg3 21.hxg3 Bxc5 22.Rc1 d4 23.Ng5 Qd5 24.Ne4 Be7 25.Qf3 Qxe5 26.Nc5 Qf6 27.Nxe6 Qxf3 28.gxf3 fxe6 29.Rxe6 Bf8 30.Rxe8 Rxe8 31.Bxf8 Kxf8 32.Kf1 d3 33.Rd1 Rd8 34.Ke1 Re8+ 35.Kf1 Rd8 36.Ke1 Re8+ 37.Kf1 Rd8 1/2-1/2

                      Standing after Round Six

                      1 Mamedyarov 4.5
                      2-4 Topalov, So, Adams 3.5
                      5 Eljanov 3.0
                      6-9 Karjakin, Kramnik, Radjabov, Wojtaszek 2.5
                      10 Harikrishna 2.0

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Shamkir 2017

                        Shamkir 2017

                        April 28, 2017

                        Round Seven

                        The commentators are still Ljubomir Ljubojevic and Igor Khenkin.

                        The first two games to finish with draws as the result are Radjabov-Topalov and Mamedyarov-Adams.

                        Ljubo asks Veselin if he believes in astrology and he says that he does not. Just where is this question going? Well, it seems that in the huge hotel restaurant, Ljubo has observed Kramnik eating at a certain table and when he had finished and gone, Topalov coming in and going to sit and eat at that exact same table. Ljubo thinks it has been ordained by the stars!

                        He tells us that Mickey Adams has the nickname “Spider”. It came from Garry Kasparov saying that he believes Adams weaves a web around his opponents. Ljubo asks Mickey what he thinks about the nickname and Adams says that he is not unhappy with the designation. In fact, he has a cartoon on his wall at home of himself as Spiderman at Dortmund taking the trophy away from Kramnik!

                        Ljubo’s follow-up question is odd too.

                        Stanley Kubrick, the great film director, was known to love chess and he would often watch big events with Tim Rice. His difficulty was how to portray chess the way he saw it in his mind on the screen.

                        Mickey, did you ever meet Stanley Kubrick and have you ever been an advisor on a chess film?

                        Mickey says that he never met Kubrick and the only person he knows who has been an advisor on a film was Jonathan Speelman who acted as a consultant on the film Luzhin’s Defence (2000) to the Dutch director Marleen Gorris.

                        There is an article about Kubrick and Chess in The New York Review of Books at:

                        http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2010/04...-with-kubrick/

                        (See below for more Kubrick and chess)

                        Each player is asked if there has been a film made about them. Shakh says that there have been four television documentaries made about him but he doesn’t remember the names nor could he tell us how to find them online.

                        Pavel and Wesley come on and Wesley congratulates Pavel on his good prep, 19.Na7 being singled out as a particularly good move.

                        No documentaries have been made so far about either So or Eljanov. Wesley has enjoyed the Bobby Fischer movies that have appeared but Ljubo says that Pawn Sacrifice (2014) had exaggerations of what real chess is like.

                        Radoslaw Wojtaszek commenting on the film in the next post-mortem says that it was odd seeing Tobey Maguire, who was Spiderman, playing Bobby Fischer.

                        Wesley is not satisfied with his play. He singles out Shakh and Mickey as not only playing well but being the only unbeaten players.


                        The games:

                        Round 7, Apr. 28, 2017
                        Harikrishna, P. – Wojtaszek, Radoslaw
                        E53 Nimzo-Indian

                        1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 c5 6.Nf3 d5 7.cxd5 exd5 8.dxc5 Nbd7 9.O-O Nxc5 10.Ne2 Bg4 11.Nfd4 Nxd3 12.Qxd3 Bxe2 13.Nxe2 Bd6 14.Bd2 Be5 15.Bc3 Qd6 16.Bxe5 Qxe5 17.Qd4 Qxd4 18.Nxd4 Rfc8 19.Rac1 Kf8 20.f3 h5 21.Rfd1 a6 22.Kf2 g6 23.Ne2 Ke7 24.Nc3 b5 25.Rd4 Rc5 26.Rcd1 Rac8 27.Ke1 Ke6 28.a4 bxa4 29.Rxa4 a5 30.Ne2 Ke7 31.Nd4 Nd7 32.Rda1 Ne5 33.Rxa5 Nd3+ 34.Ke2 Nxb2 35.Ra7+ R8c7 36.R1a5 Rxa7 37.Rxc5 Rd7 38.f4 Na4 39.Ra5 Nb6 40.Nc6+ Kd6 41.Ne5 Rc7 42.Ra6 Kc5 43.Kd3 Nc4 44.Ra8 Kd6 45.Rd8+ Ke6 46.Nf3 Nb2+ 47.Kd2 Nc4+ 48.Ke2 Re7 49.Nd4+ Kf6 50.Nc2 Rb7 51.Kd3 Rb3+ 52.Kd4 Rb2 53.Kc3 Rxc2+ 54.Kxc2 Nxe3+ 55.Kd2 Nxg2 56.Rxd5 1/2-1/2

                        Round 7, Apr. 28, 2017
                        Eljanov, Pavel – So, Wesley
                        A07 Reti, King’s Indian Attack

                        1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Bg4 3.Bg2 c6 4.O-O Nd7 5.h3 Bh5 6.d4 e6 7.c4 Be7 8.Nc3 dxc4 9.b3 cxb3 10.Qxb3 Ngf6 11.Qxb7 O-O 12.Bf4 Qa5 13.g4 Bg6 14.g5 Nh5 15.Bd2 Rfd8 16.Qxc6 Rac8 17.Qb5 Qxb5 18.Nxb5 a6 19.Na7 Rc7 20.Ba5 Rxa7 21.Bxd8 Bxd8 22.Rfc1 Kf8 23.e3 Be4 24.Rc8 Ke7 25.Nd2 Bxg2 26.Kxg2 f6 27.h4 g6 28.Ne4 f5 29.Nc5 Nxc5 30.dxc5 Rc7 31.Ra8 Rxc5 32.Rd1 Bc7 33.Rh8 Be5 34.Rhd8 Rc7 35.Ra8 f4 36.e4 Rc3 37.f3 Ng3 38.Rxa6 Rc2+ 39.Kh3 Rc3 40.Kg2 Rc2+ 41.Kh3 Rc3 1/2-1/2

                        Round 7, Apr. 28, 2017
                        Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar – Adams, Michael
                        D37 QGD, Hastings variation

                        1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.a3 Nc6 11.Bd3 Bd6 12.Qa4 Bxf4 13.Qxf4 d4 14.O-O dxe3 15.Rad1 Qf6 16.fxe3 Qxf4 17.exf4 Re8 18.Bb5 Be6 19.Ne5 Rac8 20.Rfe1 Kf8 21.b4 Re7 22.Nxc6 bxc6 23.Ba6 Rce8 24.Kf2 Bd5 25.Rxe7 Kxe7 26.Re1+ Kd7 27.Rxe8 Kxe8 28.g3 Kd7 29.Ke3 Kd6 30.Kd4 f6 31.Bd3 h6 32.Bc4 Bf3 33.Bd3 Bd5 34.Bc4 Bf3 35.Bd3 Bd5 36.Bc4 1/2-1/2

                        Round 7, Apr. 28, 2017
                        Radjabov, Teimour – Topalov, Veselin
                        B87 Sicilian, Sozin

                        1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 b5 8.Bg5 Be7 9.Qf3 Qc7 10.e5 Bb7 11.exd6 Bxd6 12.Qe3 Bc5 13.O-O-O Nc6 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Nd5 Qe5 16.Qxe5 Nxe5 17.Nc7+ Ke7 18.Nxa8 Bxg2 19.Rhe1 Bxd4 20.Rxd4 Nf3 21.Rxe6+ fxe6 22.Rg4 Rxa8 23.Rxg2 Kf7 24.Rg3 Nd4 25.Rh3 Kg6 26.Rg3+ Kf7 27.Rh3 Kg6 28.Rg3+ Kf7 1/2-1/2

                        Round 7, Apr. 28, 2017
                        Karjakin, Sergey – Kramnik, Vladimir
                        C50 Giuoco Piano

                        1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 O-O 6.a4 h6 7.c3 a5 8.h3 d6 9.Re1 Ba7 10.Nbd2 Ne7 11.Nf1 Ng6 12.Ng3 c6 13.d4 exd4 14.Nxd4 Re8 15.Bd2 d5 16.exd5 Rxe1+ 17.Bxe1 Nxd5 18.Nb5 Bb6 19.Bxd5 Qxd5 20.Qxd5 cxd5 21.Ne2 Bd7 22.Nbd4 Re8 23.Kf1 Ne5 24.Bd2 Nc4 25.Bc1 g5 26.b3 Nd6 27.Ba3 Ne4 28.Rd1 f5 29.f3 Nf6 30.Ng3 Bxd4 31.Rxd4 f4 32.Ne2 b5 33.axb5 Bxb5 34.c4 Ba6 35.Nc3 a4 36.Kf2 axb3 37.cxd5 Rc8 38.Bb2 Nd7 39.d6 Rc6 40.g3 fxg3+ 41.Kxg3 Kf7 42.f4 Kg6 43.fxg5 hxg5 44.h4 gxh4+ 45.Kxh4 Rc4 46.Rxc4 Bxc4 47.Ne4 Kf5 48.Nd2 Bd5 1/2-1/2

                        Standing after Round Seven

                        1 Mamedyarov 5
                        2-4 Topalov, So, Adams 4
                        5 Elajanov 3.5
                        6-9 Karjakin, Kramnik, Radjabov 3
                        10 Harikrishna 2.5
                        ________

                        Additional Notes on Kubrick and chess:

                        I had never met a movie mogul and had no idea what to expect. But as soon as Kubrick opened the door I felt an immediate kindred spirit. He looked and acted like every obsessive theoretical physicist I have ever known. His obsession at that moment was whether or not anything could go faster than the speed of light. I explained to him that according to the theory of relativity no information-bearing signal could go faster. We conversed like that for about an hour when I looked at my watch and realized I had to go. “Why?” he asked, seeing no reason why a conversation that he was finding interesting should stop.

                        I told him I had a date with a chess hustler in Washington Square Park to play for money. Kubrick wanted the name. “Fred Duval” I said. Duval was a Haitian who claimed to be related to Francois Duvalier. I was absolutely positive that the name would mean nothing to Kubrick. His next remark nearly floored me. “Duval is a patzer,” is what he said. Unless you have been around chess players you cannot imagine what an insult this is. Moreover, Duval and I were playing just about even. What did that make me?

                        Kubrick explained that early in his career he too played chess for money in the park and that Duval was so weak that it was hardly worth playing him. I said that we should play some time and then left the apartment. I was quite sure that we would never play. I was wrong.

                        I wrote a Talk of the Town on my meeting with Kubrick, which he liked. I was thus emboldened to ask if I could write a full scale profile of him. He agreed but said that he was about to leave for London to begin production of what became 2001: A Space Odyssey. Still better, I thought: I could watch the making of the film. Our first meeting was at the Hotel Dorchester in London where he was temporarily living with his family. Kubrick brought out a chess set and beat me promptly. Then we played three more games and he beat me less promptly. But I won the fifth game!

                        Seizing the moment I told him that I had been hustling him and had deliberately lost the first four games. His response was that I was a patzer. All during the filming of 2001 we played chess whenever I was in London and every fifth game I did something unusual. Finally we reached the 25th game and it was agreed that this would decide the matter. Well into the game he made a move that I was sure was a loser. He even clutched his stomach to show how upset he was. But it was a trap and I was promptly clobbered. “You didn’t know I could act too,” he remarked.

                        From: Playing Chess with Kubrick, The New York Review of Books, April 5, 2010
                        by Jeremy Bernstein.

                        See also:

                        https://www.chess.com/blog/ollie/a-new-members-thoughts

                        Stanley Kubrick died in March of 1999.
                        Last edited by Wayne Komer; Sunday, 30th April, 2017, 12:56 AM.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Shamkir 2017

                          Shamkir 2017

                          April 29, 2017

                          Round Eight

                          Wojtaszek used some prep to knock off Mamedyarov. 17…Nxd4 lets loose white’s attack. Adams went down to Kramnik, so both of the unbeaten players didn’t survive the round.

                          Sergey Karjakin also won, converting an endgame against Pavel Eljanov with two bishops vs. rook and two pawns.

                          Wesley So also pushed for a while against Teimour Radjabov and even managed to win a pawn, but it wasn't enough to win in a same-color bishop endgame.

                          Lastly, Veselin Topalov could not make much progress against Pentala Harikrishna, but a draw does bring him to 4.5/8, within striking distance going into the last round

                          https://www.chess.com/news/view/bril...n-shamkir-8594

                          The games:

                          Shamkir, AZE
                          Round 8, Apr. 29, 2017
                          Karjakin, Sergey - Eljanov, Pavel
                          C67 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence, open variation

                          1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 O-O 9.d4 Ne8 10.d5 Bc5 11.Re1 d6 12.Nc3 Bf5 13.Bd3 Qh4 14.g3 Qh3 15.Ne4 Bxe4 16.Rxe4 Bxf2+ 17.Kxf2 Qxh2+ 18.Kf3 Qh5+ 19.g4 Qh3+ 20.Ke2 Qg2+ 21.Ke1 Nf6 22.Qe2 Qg3+ 23.Qf2 Nxe4 24.Qxg3 Nxg3 25.Kf2 Rfe8 26.Kxg3 Re5 27.Bc4 Re1 28.b3 f6 29.Bb2 Rxa1 30.Bxa1 Kf7 31.Bd4 a6 32.a4 Rh8 33.Be2 Re8 34.Kf2 Ke7 35.a5 Rf8 36.Kg3 Kd7 37.b4 Re8 38.Bd3 Ke7 39.Bxh7 Kd8 40.g5 fxg5 41.Bxg7 Re3+ 42.Kg4 Ra3 43.Bd4 c5 44.dxc6 bxc6 45.Bb6+ Kc8 46.Be4 Ra4 47.c3 c5 48.Bc2 Ra3 49.bxc5 dxc5 50.c4 Ra2 51.Bf5+ Kb7 52.Be4+ Kc8 53.Bc6 Rc2 54.Bd5 Ra2 55.Kxg5 Kd7 56.Bb7 Rb2 57.Bxa6 Kc6 58.Kf6 1-0

                          Round 8, Apr. 29, 2017
                          Kramnik, Vladimir – Adams, Michael
                          C50 Giuoco Piano

                          1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 h6 7.Re1 O-O 8.Nbd2 a6 9.Nf1 Re8 10.a4 Ba7 11.b4 Be6 12.Bxe6 Rxe6 13.Be3 Qd7 14.b5 Ne7 15.bxa6 bxa6 16.Bxa7 Rxa7 17.Qb3 c6 18.Rab1 Ng6 19.g3 a5 20.Ne3 Re8 21.Nc4 Kh7 22.Qc2 Qe6 23.Ne3 d5 24.Kg2 Kg8 25.h4 Rd7 26.c4 Red8 27.cxd5 cxd5 28.Rb5 Ne7 29.Rc5 Rd6 30.Rc1 Ra6 31.Qb2 Ng6 32.Qb7 Ne7 33.Nf5 Rd7 34.Rc7 Rb6 35.Qa7 Ra6 36.Qb8+ Kh7 37.Rc8 Ng6 38.Rh1 Nh5 39.Ng5+ hxg5 40.hxg5 Nf4+ 41.gxf4 1-0

                          Round 8, Apr. 29, 2017
                          Wojtaszek, Radoslaw, - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
                          A16 English

                          1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Qb3 Nb6 6.d4 Bg7 7.e4 Bg4 8.Bb5+ c6 9.Ng5 O-O 10.Be2 Bxe2 11.Nxe2 Na6 12.Qh3 h6 13.Nf3 h5 14.Rg1 Nb4 15.g4 Qd7 16.Qh4 Nc2+ 17.Kf1 Nxd4 18.Nexd4 Bxd4 19.gxh5 Bf6 20.Bg5 Bxb2 21.Re1 Qd3+ 22.Kg2 f6 23.Bh6 g5 24.Nxg5 Rf7 25.Nxf7 Kxf7 26.Re3 Qc2 27.Rg3 Bd4 28.Rg7+ Ke6 29.Qg4+ Kd6 30.Be3 Bxe3 31.Qg3+ 1-0

                          Round 8, Apr. 29, 2017
                          So, Wesley – Radjabov, Teimour
                          A30 English, symmetrical

                          1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.e3 e6 4.d4 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bb5 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Bd7 8.O-O Nf6 9.b3 Bd6 10.Bb2 O-O 11.Nd2 Re8 12.Rc1 Rc8 13.N2f3 Qe7 14.Qe2 Bb8 15.Rfd1 Qd6 16.Nxc6 bxc6 17.Ba6 Rcd8 18.Bd3 Ne4 19.Bxe4 Rxe4 20.Qc2 Rde8 21.g3 Bg4 22.Ng5 Bxd1 23.Nxe4 Bxc2 24.Nxd6 Bxd6 25.Rxc2 Rc8 26.Kf1 f5 27.f3 Kf7 28.e4 fxe4 29.fxe4 dxe4 30.Rc4 c5 31.Rxe4 Rc6 32.Ra4 a6 33.Ke2 g5 34.Bc1 h6 35.Re4 Be7 36.Be3 Re6 37.Rc4 g4 38.Kd2 Rd6+ 39.Kc1 h5 40.Rxc5 Re6 41.Rc3 Bb4 42.Rd3 Rd6 43.Kc2 Ke6 44.Bd4 Kd5 45.Ba7+ Kc6 46.Rxd6+ Kxd6 47.Kd3 Kd5 48.a4 Be7 49.Bf2 Bb4 50.Bb6 Be7 51.Kc3 h4 52.gxh4 Bxh4 53.Bc7 Be1+ 54.Kd3 Bf2 55.b4 Bd4 56.Ke2 Kc4 57.Bd6 Bg1 58.a5 Bxh2 59.Bxh2 Kxb4 1/2-1/2

                          Round 8, Apr. 29, 2017
                          Topalov, Veselin, Harikrishna, Pentala
                          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.a4 Bd7 9.c3 Na5 10.Ba2 bxa4 11.Nbd2 O-O 12.Re1 c5 13.Bb1 Qc7 14.Bc2 c4 15.Nxc4 Nxc4 16.dxc4 Qxc4 17.Bxa4 Be6 18.Nd2 Qc7 19.Bb3 Bxb3 20.Qxb3 Rfb8 21.Qc4 Qb7 22.Qe2 Qb5 23.Nc4 Rc8 24.Ne3 Qxe2 25.Rxe2 g6 26.Ra4 Rc5 27.Rc2 Rac8 28.Kf1 a5 29.Rd2 Kf8 30.Rd1 Ke8 31.f3 h5 32.Ke2 Kd7 33.Bd2 Ke6 34.Be1 Rb8 35.b4 axb4 36.cxb4 Rc6 37.Rda1 d5 38.Ra6 Rd6 39.R1a5 dxe4 40.Nc4 exf3+ 41.gxf3 Rxa6 42.Rxa6+ Kf5 43.Ra5 Ke6 44.Rxe5+ Kd7 45.b5 Bd8 46.Bh4 Bc7 47.Bxf6 Bxe5 48.Nxe5+ Kd6 49.Bh4 Rb7 50.Bg3 Ke6 51.Nc6 Kd5 52.Nd8 Rxb5 53.Nxf7 Ke6 54.Nd8+ Kd7 55.Nf7 1/2-1/2

                          Standing after Round Eight

                          1 Mamedyarov 5
                          2-3 So, Topalov 4.5
                          4-7 Karjakin, Kramnik, Wojtaszek, Adams 4
                          8-9 Eljanov, Radjabov 3.5
                          10 Harikrishna 3

                          Last Round Pairings

                          1. Eljanov-Kramnik
                          2. Radjabov-Karjakin
                          3. Harikrishna-So
                          4. Mamedyarov-Topalov
                          5. Adams-Wojtaszek

                          Round Nine is scheduled to start
                          at 14:00 with possible playoffs afterwards.

                          This is 6:00 a.m. Toronto/Montreal time

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Shamkir 2017

                            Shamkir 2017

                            April 30, 2017

                            Round Nine

                            Alex Yermolinsky writing about yesterday’s Round Eight games, wishes he could annotate them all.

                            See:

                            http://en.chessbase.com/post/gashimo...otate-them-all

                            Great praise for a round.

                            At the moment there are four drawn games and the only match still going on is Eljanov–Kramnik which will decide if big Vlad shares second place.

                            Earlier, Adams and Wojtaszek came in for the post-mortem and went through a long analysis. Then Ljubo asked them if there was anyone on the chess world that they really hated. The answer was no. Ljubo said you could also include organizers and officials but the answer was still in the negative.

                            Ljubo said that Korchnoi once said that there were some people he really hated. On the other hand, Gligoric said he never played people, he played the pieces. In fact he wrote a book with just that title I Play Against Pieces (2003).

                            One review said:

                            The 130(!) games in this collection range from 1939 to 2001 and include battles with world-champions Botvinnik, Euwe, Smyslov, Petrosian, Tal and Fischer as well as high-class grandmasters such as Keres, Korchnoi, Geller, Portisch, Taimanov and Larsen. As Gligoric himself asserts, he has maybe played more tournament games than any other grandmaster during his long career, battling it out with veterans Vidmar and Stahlberg in the 1940's as well as youngsters Sakaev and Jenni in the 1990's.

                            If you see a copy in a used bookstore, pick it up. Used copies are getting premium prices these days.
                            ________

                            Back to Eljanov-Kramnik. Just after the first time control Eljanov appeared to have the advantage. Ljubo analyzing by himself kept saying how complex the position was. Igor Khenkin comes in and they both explore the possibilities. It looks like Pavel misplayed the ending. He should have pushed the a-pawn and instead moved his knight to e5 (move 43).

                            The kibitzers are having a good time now:

                            - psychologically Eljanov is in a very difficult position. Kramnik has managed to invert the trend and rather than defending from a potentially queening a5 pawn is threatening to queen his once c5 pawn. What a game!

                            With seven minutes left, Eljanov cannot believe that he has to fight for a draw. He blocks the black pawn on c2 with 46. Rc1. On move 47 he takes the pawn and throws away the game.

                            The next time control is move 60 with the players almost there. It is predicted that when they do, Eljanov will resign.
                            But Pavel is still sitting at the board. They now get 15 minutes for all moves and a 30 second per move increment.

                            Finally, Pavel resigns at move 63.

                            They are late for the closing ceremony so there may not be a final press conference.

                            Shakhriyar Mamedyarov wins the tournament.

                            The games:

                            Round 9, Apr. 30, 2017
                            Adams, Michael – Wojtaszek, Radoslaw
                            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.d3 d6 10.a5 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Nbd2 Rb8 13.c3 Rb5 14.c4 Rb8 15.Nb3 Qc8 16.Qe2 Nd7 17.d4 exd4 18.Nbxd4 Nxd4 19.Nxd4 Ne5 20.f4 c5 21.Nb3 Nc6 22.Be3 e5 23.f5 Bf6 24.Qd3 Nd4 25.Rf1 Qd8 26.Nd2 Bg5 27.Bxg5 Qxg5 28.Nf3 Qf6 29.b3 Rbe8 30.Ra2 g5 31.Qd1 Kf7 32.h3 Rh8 33.g3 h5 34.Ne1 h4 35.g4 Rh6 36.Ng2 Qd8 37.Ne3 Rf6 38.Nd5 Kg7 39.Kg2 Kh6 40.Rff2 Ref8 41.Qd3 R8f7 42.Kh2 Rf8 43.Ne3 Rg8 44.Nd5 1/2-1/2

                            Round 9, Apr. 30, 2017
                            Harikrishna Pentala – So, Wesley
                            E05 Catalan, open, Classical line

                            1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 e6 4.O-O Be7 5.c4 O-O 6.d4 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bg5 Nbd7 11.Nbd2 Rc8 12.Bxf6 Nxf6 13.Nb3 Be4 14.Qc1 c5 15.dxc5 Qc7 16.Rd1 a5 17.c6 Bxc6 18.Nfd4 Bxg2 19.Qxc7 Rxc7 20.Kxg2 a4 21.Nxb5 Rb7 22.N3d4 Bc5 23.Nc3 Bxd4 24.Rxd4 Rxb2 25.Rxa4 Rc2 26.Ne4 Rxe2 27.Nxf6+ gxf6 28.Rg4+ Kh8 29.a4 Rb8 30.Rc1 f5 31.Rf4 Rbb2 32.g4 Kg7 33.Rc3 Kf6 34.Kg3 Rbc2 35.Rxc2 Rxc2 36.gxf5 e5 37.Rh4 Ra2 38.Rh6+ Kxf5 39.Rxh7 Ke6 40.Rh8 Rxa4 41.Re8+ Kf5 42.f3 Ra6 43.Re7 Rg6+ 44.Kf2 Rh6 45.Rxf7+ 1/2-1/2

                            Round 9, Apr. 30, 2017
                            Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar – Topalov, Veselin
                            B45 QGD, Semi-Slav

                            1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 O-O 8.O-O e5 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.e4 exd4 11.Nxd5 Nxd5 12.exd5 h6 13.Nxd4 Qh4 14.Nf3 Qh5 15.Bh7+ Kh8 16.Qf5 Qxf5 17.Bxf5 Nf6 18.Bc2 b6 19.Rd1 Bb7 20.Bb3 Rad8 21.Be3 Be7 22.Rd3 Nxd5 23.Rad1 Nxe3 24.fxe3 Rxd3 25.Rxd3 Bxf3 26.gxf3 Rd8 27.Rxd8+ Bxd8 28.Bxf7 g5 29.f4 gxf4 30.exf4 Kg7 31.Bd5 Bc7 32.Kg2 Bxf4 33.h3 Kf6 34.Kf3 Be5 35.b3 a5 36.a4 Bd6 37.Ke4 Be5 38.Kf3 Bd6 39.Ke4 Be5 40.Kf3 Bd6 41.Ke4 1/2-1/2

                            Round 9, Apr. 30, 2017
                            Radjabov, Teimour – Karjakin, Sergey
                            D41 QGD, Semi-Tarrasch

                            1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 O-O 11.Bc4 Nd7 12.O-O b6 13.a4 Bb7 14.Rfe1 Nf6 15.Bd3 h6 16.a5 bxa5 17.Rxa5 Qc7 18.Rc1 Qd8 19.Re1 Qc7 20.Qb4 Rfb8 21.Qa3 Rc8 22.h3 Qf4 23.d5 exd5 24.e5 Ne4 25.Qe7 Bc6 26.e6 Rf8 27.exf7+ Rxf7 28.Qb4 Re8 29.Qd4 Ng5 30.Rxe8+ Bxe8 31.Qxf4 Rxf4 32.Nxg5 hxg5 33.Rxd5 g4 34.Rd8 Kf7 35.Ra8 gxh3 36.Rxa7+ Kf6 37.gxh3 Bf7 38.Be2 Be6 39.Ra6 Ke7 40.Ra7+ Kf6 41.Ra6 Ke5 1/2-1/2

                            After this game Karjakin tweeted: 2 brilliant wins, 2 stupid loses and 5 ultra-solid draws! This is what happened with me in Shamkir.

                            Round 9, Apr. 30, 2017
                            Eljanov, Pavel – Kramnik, Vladimir
                            E05 Catalan, open, Classical line

                            1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bf4 Nbd7 11.Nc3 Bd6 12.e3 Nb6 13.Qb3 Bxf4 14.gxf4 a5 15.Ne5 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Nbd5 17.Rg1 Rc8 18.Rac1 Nb4 19.Qc4 g6 20.Rgd1 c6 21.Qe2 Qe7 22.Nc4 Qc7 23.Qf3 Nbd5 24.h4 Rfd8 25.b3 Nxc3 26.Rxc3 Qe7 27.Ne5 Kg7 28.Kh3 c5 29.Rdc1 b6 30.dxc5 Rxc5 31.Rxc5 bxc5 32.Nc6 Qb7 33.Kg2 Rd5 34.Nxa5 Qb4 35.Nc4 Qxb3 36.a5 Qa2 37.Kf1 Rh5 38.Qe2 Qb3 39.Qc2 Qb7 40.Qb2 Qa8 41.Ke2 Rxh4 42.Rb1 Qg2 43.Ne5 c4 44.Qd4 c3 45.a6 c2 46.Rc1 Rh1 47.Rxc2 Qf1+ 48.Kd2 Qd1+ 49.Kc3 Qa1+ 50.Kb3 Qxa6 51.Nc4 Rb1+ 52.Nb2 Ra1 53.Rc5 Ra3+ 54.Kb4 Ra2 55.Qc3 Qb6+ 56.Rb5 Qd6+ 57.Rc5 Ra8 58.Nd3 Rb8+ 59.Ka4 Qa6+ 60.Ra5 Qb7 61.Nc5 Qb1 62.Ka3 Kg8 63.Nb3 Nd5 0-1

                            Final Standings

                            1 Mamedyarov 5.5
                            2-4 Kramnik, So, Topalov 5
                            5-7 Karjakin, Wojtaszek, Adams 4.5
                            8 Radjabov 4
                            9-10 Eljanov, Harikrishna 3.5

                            ________

                            Eljanov first led the tournament, then weakened and Shakh took over. Four of the participants could be in the Moscow Grand Prix which starts in 12 days and this would be good practice for them.

                            This is the last big tournament until then.

                            Comment

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