Russian Chess Talent Dmitry Andreikin wins Tashkent Chess Grand Prix

Hello chess blog friends, Russian chess talent Dmitry Andreikin has won the chess Grand Prix in Tashkent. The second stage of the FIDE chess grand prix series was held from Oct 20 - Nov 3. He scored 7/11 points. Right behind him were Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Hikaru Nakamura who finished half a point behind. Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana achieved wins in the last round, while four games were drawn.

Final crosstable is here. Visit also the photo gallery and replay the games at the official website.

The last round witnessed a sharp fight between Jobava and Mamedyarov in the Benoni, but White had to settle for a draw despite being a piece up. The Andreikin - Giri game took the course of the Queen's Gambit Declined and meandered into the Moscow Semi-Slav and ended in a draw. The Ruy Lopez between Vachier-Lagrave - Nakamura also had only a draw to offer. 

Russians had something to cheer as Karjakin beat Kasimdzhanov in an English and a complicated middlegame. Radjabov and Gelfand also settled for a draw. However, Jakovenko lost to Caruana but the win was not enough for the latter to be the top scorer. 

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Tashkent Chess Grand Prix R9: Dmitry Andreikin in Lead

Hello chess blog friends, the FIDE Tashkent Chess Grand Prix has Dmitry Andreikin in the lead after ninth rounds. He beat Baadur Jobava. who misplayed the opening. In another decisive game Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won against Dmitry Jakovenko, who blundered in time trouble. After 9 rounds Shakhriyar shares the second place together with Hikaru Nakamura, who drew with Sergey Karjakin. Teimour Radjabov keeps on playing Berlin Defence with both colors but the outcome remains the same so far - draw against Fabiano Caruana today. Vachier-Lagrave-Giri and Kasimdzhanov-Gelfand were draws.

Photo: Official website

Dmitry Jakovenko managed to get clear advantage in strategically risky variation of Dutch defence, played by Shakhriyar. Inaccurate choices 8...de5?! ( 8...Nc6 ) and 9...Qe7?! ( 9...0-0! when 10. Qd5+ Kh8 11. Ne5? doesn't work in view of 11...c6! ) brought Black in a very difficult position.

Trying to surprise his opponent, Baadur played 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3!? It's not surprising that Baadur plays risky chess but some of his decisions turned to be too risky today. After 10.gh5?! and 13.Na4? it was only Black, who was fighting for victory in that game.

Rustam's preparation at his best! The opponents followed the game Ivanchuk-Gelfand, 2008, and 19.Qb6! was White's improvement. Boris spent a lot of time, trying to solve new problems and ended up with 10 minutes for 15 moves! Newertheless, with energetic play Boris created serious counterplay and after some simplifications this exciting game ended in a draw.
In King's Indian defence Hikaru chose with 7...Nh5!?, which is not a main line here. A very complex and hard-to-play position arised from the opening and Sergey Karjakin spent too much time trying to find a good plan for White. Perhaps, White could have tried to advance on the Queenside with a3 and b4, but this plan was obviously considered as too risky by Sergey. (A detailed report is available at the official website)

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Tashkent Chess Grand Prix Round 1: Andreikin, Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave begin with Wins

Hello chess blog friends, the Tashkent Chess Grand Prix has begun with chess stars Andreikin, Nakamura and Vachier-Lagrave scoring in the first round. Dmitry Andreikin, Hikaru Nakamura and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated their opponents, perhaps, inspired by the great Champions Bobby Fischer, Tigran Petrosian and Mikahil Tal (whose portraits are on the background of the photo from the opening ceremony). Maxime Vachier-Lagrave started the Grand Prix series with victory over the top seed of the tournament Fabiano Caruana. 

Photo: FIDE/Yulia Monakova

In a “must see” game Nakamura vs Jobava, the Georgian player sacrificed a rook for three pawns but blundered in a very complex position being short of time. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov unexpectedly lost in the endgame with pawn up against Dmitry Andreikin. Three other games Giri-Gelfand, Kasimdzhanov-Jakovenko, Radjabov-Karjakin were drawn. 

Round 1 resultsSNo. Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg SNo.
1 GM Giri, Anish 2768 ½ - ½ GM Gelfand, Boris 2748 12
2 GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764 0 - 1 GM Andreikin, Dmitry 2722 11
3 GM Nakamura, Hikaru 2764 1 - 0 GM Jobava, Baadur 2717 10
4 GM Caruana, Fabiano 2844 0 - 1 GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757 9
5 GM Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706 ½ - ½ GM Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747 8
6 GM Radjabov, Teimour 2726 ½ - ½ GM Karjakin, Sergey 2767 7

You can find lots of lovely photos and a detailed report at the official website.

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Tashkent Chess Grand Prix: Karjakin, Morozevich, Wang Hao Joint Winners

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

 

Sergey Karjakin, Alexander Morozevich and Wang Hao have jointly won the second stage of the FIDE Grand Prix in Tashkent. The results were clear only after the final round thanks to big fights on all the boards throughout the tournament. In the final round, Rustam Kasimdzhanov decided to enter Sveshnikov, but Boris Gelfand once again proved to be absolutely ready in this opening and managed to equalize the position without much trouble. Shakhriyar Mamedjarov and Wang Hao finished the game after four hours of play. Chinese player not only outplayed one of the leaders but got quite good theoretical chance for the sole victory in the tournament if Morozevich would lose against Svidler and other players with +1 would fail to win. Wang Hao said at the press-conference he felt he was going to play good in this tournament: Last period in my life was so difficult, I suffered so much, that I had feeling I deserve some luck! Nevertheless, Alexander Morozevich pulled off a draw and caught Wang Hao.

The game between two Russian players - Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich - turned to be spectacular despite the final result of a draw. Check out the game with Chess King.

Sergey Karjakin got a huge advantage but Ruslan Ponomariov was stoically defending till the end and had some chances to save half a point. After 6,5 hours of play Sergey finally defeated his opponent to share the first place in Grand Prix. Fabiana Caruana and Peter Leko made a draw after the long struggle in Scandinavian Defence, so Fabiano lost his chance to join the group of winners. Lienier Dominguez succeeded to win one game in the tournament. His opponent Gata Kamsky played a bit risky today and Cuban player got a decisive advantage.

Earlier, the tenth round was equally exciting. Three decisive games were played bringing new leaders to the top of the table. Sole overnight leader of the tournament, after the ninth round, Sergey Karjakin was defeated by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who replaced his opponent on the top of the table. Alexander Morozevich rejoined the lead once again after his victory over Peter Leko. Ruslan Ponomariob outplayed Lenier Domingues and shared the third place with Caruana Fabiano, Sergey Karjakin, Wang Hao and Rustam Kasimdzhanov.

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Tashkent Chess Grand Prix Round 9: Sergey Karjakin in Lead

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

 

Nine rounds have been played at the Tashkent Chess Grand Prix. In the seventh round, tournament leader Alexander Morozevich unexpectedly lost in the equal rook ending against his compatriot Sergey Karjakin. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was luckier as he managed to make a draw in a slightly worse rook endgame against Kamsky. The game could have ended on favor of American player but he missed his winning chance in the critical moment. Fabiano Caruana defeated Lenier Dominguez to take the lead together with Sergey Karjakin. Both leaders will face each other tomorrow in the eighth round. 

In the eighth round, five out of six games finished in a draw. The only decisive result happened in the game Kamsky-Leko. THe Hungarian player managed to win the first game in the tournament after seven draws. Before the second free day (1st of December) the situation in the tournament didn’t change significantly – Caruana and Karjakin maintained the lead with five out of eight points. Alexander Morozevich, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Peter Leko were half a point behind.

In the ninth round, only one game was decisive – Wang Hao managed to outplay one of the leaders Fabiano Caruana. Sergey Karjakin has become the sole leader with two rounds to go. The group of players including Alexander Morozevich, Fabiano Caruana, Wang Hao, Rustam Kasimdzanov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Peter Leko are half a point behind the leader.


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Tashkent Chess Grand Prix R6: Morozevich Beats Dominguez, Regains Lead

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

 

The sixth round at the Tashkent Chess Grand Prix witness only one decisive game. Alexander Morozevich won against Leinier Dominguez and regained the sole lead in the tournament. Boris Gelfand and Pete Leko got promising positions playing against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Wang Hao respectively, but could not convert. Everyone settled for a draw.

The second stage of the 2012-2013 FIDE Grand Prix Series is taking place from November 21 to December 5 in the Gallery of Fine Art in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Replay the Morozevich-Leinier game with Chess King in the extended post.

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Tashkent Chess Grand Prix 2012 Round 4: Morozevich Leads

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

Svidler on his way to beating Ponomariov in Tashkent.

Four rounds have been played at the FIDE Grand Prix in Tashkent. The fourth round witnessed the maximum number of decisive games so far - three! But, the draws have not been without a fight. The rating favorite of the tournament Fabiano Caruana managed to win his second game in a row whilst Wang Hao outplayed Gata Kamsky in the deep endgame and Peter Svidler won his first game in the tournament against former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov. The main game of the fourth round was clearly between the sole leader of the tournament Alexander Morozevich and the in-form Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who was in second place, and ultimately finished in a draw. As a result, Morozevich still keeps leading with half a point ahead of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Sergey Karjakin, Wang Hao and Fabiano Caruana.

The third round witnessed two decisive games. Fabiano Caruana outplayed Gata Kamsky and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeated Peter Svidler. Chinese player Wang Hao was very close to gain the first victory in the tournament but failed to find the winning idea in the opposite color bishops endgame. Alexander Morozevich made a draw against Boris Gelfand and keeps leading in the tournament. You can replay the Morozevich-Caruana game with Chess King.

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Tashkent Chess Grand Prix Round 1: Morozevich, Karjakin Begin with Wins

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012 

Hi everyone, 

The opening ceremony of the 2nd stage of FIDE Grand Prix Series 2012-2013 took place at the Gallery of Fine Art in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on the 21st of November. The event was attended FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Deputy Prime-Minister of Uzbekistan Adham Ikramov, the Chairperson of Fund Forum's Board of Trustees Gulnara Karimova and other eminent guests. The organizers of the Tashkent tournament include FIDE (the World Chess Federation) in collaboration with Agon, the Chess Federation of Uzbekistan and Fund Forum.

The Chief Arbiter of the tournament IA Husan Turdialiev conducted the ceremony of drawing of lots. Each participant was proposed to choose one of 12 dolls with a number. 

The tournament will be held from November 22 to December 4, with each round scheduled to start at 2 pm local time (10 a.m. European time) at the Gallery of Fine Art. The players will have twwo days of days off on November 26 and December 1. Average rating of event is 2747.1 based on November 2012 list. The second leg of the Grand Prix series hosts a very strong event with 12 of the World's strongest Grandmasters including two former World Champions - Ruslan Ponomariov and Rustam Kasimdzhanov.

The first round was held on Thursday. Alexander Morozevich and Sergey Karjakin began with a nice win over Gata Kamsky and Leinier Dominguez Perez.

Round 01
Alexander Morozevich - Gata Kamsky 1-0
Boris Gelfand - Peter Leko ½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Peter Svidler ½-½
Leinier Dominguez Perez - Sergey Karjakin 0-1
Ruslan Ponomariov - Hao Wang ½-½
Shakriyar Mamedyarov - Rustam Kasimdzhanov ½-½

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