Baku R2: Adams, Radjabov and Inarkiev win

First FIDE Grand Prix in Baku

The first FIDE Grand Prix tournament is taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from April 20th to May 6th, 2008. There are thirteen rounds and two rest days (April 26 and May 1st). The event is part of a series of six tournaments to be held over two years (2008-2009). 21 top world players are selected to compete in these tournaments, with each player contracting to participate in exactly four of these tournaments. The winner of the Grand Prix series at the end of 2009 will play the winner of the World Cup held in 2009 in an eight game match to become the challenger to the World Champion in a match to be held in the third quarter of 2010.
 

Round two report

The stage with round two of the FIDE Grand Prix in Baku under way

Grischuk-Karjakin started promising, with another Nxf7 sacrifice in the Anti-Moscow Variation, but then suddenly ended in a perpetual.

Grischuk,A (2716) - Karjakin,Sergey (2732) [D43]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (2), 22.04.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Ne5 Bb7 10.h4 Rg8 11.hxg5 hxg5

12.Nxf7 Kxf7 13.e5 Nd5 14.Rh7+ Bg7 15.Qh5+ Kf8 16.Qf3+ Ke8 17.Qh5+ Kf8 18.Qf3+ Ke8 19.Qh5+ ½-½. [Click to replay]

Hang on, were the special rules for the Grand Prix not supposed to rule this kind of short draw out? At the press conference after the game there was discussion initiated by Global Chess CEO Geoffrey Borg and FIDE Vice President Zurab Azmaiparashvili, who argued that there's no point in having anti-draw measures and even a technical advisor present at the tournament, when players avoid moves that continue the fight but instead go for perpetual.

Grischuk didn't agree said that in the game he had felt like he was playing a football match "with two or maybe even three players with a red card". That to describe the handicap he felt of being less well prepared than his opponent. He saw the possibility to continue with Ne4, with or without check, but he "saw no reason not to expect his opponent to play perfectly". Grischuk argued that he was punished enough for having prepared worse, with a quick draw with White.

Grischuk and Karjakin in the press conference after the game. The last third of the interview is interesting since it contains the discussion on players using a perpetual to circumvent the anti-draw rules. Grischuk calls that bullsh*t.

FIDE is producing videos of all the press conferences which you can view here.

Inarkiev-Mamedyarov was the first decisive game of the round. The Russian GM chose a very solid set-up with White against Mamedyarov's Pirc Defence.

Inarkiev,E (2684) - Mamedyarov,S (2752) [B08]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (2), 22.04.2008
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 0-0 6.0-0 c6 7.a4 Nbd7 8.h3 e5 9.Be3 exd4 10.Bxd4 Re8 11.Re1 Nxe4 12.Bxg7 Kxg7 13.Nxe4 Rxe4 14.Qxd6 Qf6 15.Qxf6+ Nxf6 16.Bd3

16...Rf4? Far too risky. 16…Rxe1+ 17.Rxe7 Bd7 would have been equal. "I wanted to play for a win," Mamedyarov said afterwards. 17.c3! Excellent move. Black loses an exchange and becomes a victim of his ambitions. Bxh3 18.Ne5 Bf5 19.g3 Bxd3 20.gxf4 Bf5 21.a5 a6 22.Rad1 Nh5 23.Rd4 c5 24.Rc4 Rc8 25.b4 cxb4 26.cxb4 Rf8 27.Rd4 Nf6 28.Rc1 Be6 29.f3 Rb8 30.Kf2 h5 31.Rc7 Nd5 32.Rd7 Nf6 33.Rd8 Rxd8 34.Rxd8 Nd5 35.Nd3 h4 36.f5 1-0. A strong game by Inarkiev. [Click to replay]

Svidler-Carlsen was an interesting draw, in which White chose a rare line against Black's Open Ruy Lopez. "I expected Magnus to be well prepared against the line I played against Sutovsky recently," Svidler said.

Adams-Cheparinov was a fine, positional game, in fine Mickey Adams style we could say. He felt he had a slight edge all the time, but wasn't sure where Black went wrong.According to Cheparinov it was the move 28…Nb4. Adams added that he had expected 28…Qe5 there. A series of strong moves (30.Qf6!, 31.e5!) led to a very good rook ending that was soon coverted to victory.

Wang Yue-Gashimov was a rather difficult Modern Benoni. In the first half of the game, the Chinese player got some activity on both flanks with the moves 14…g5, 20…h5 and 26…b5, but the Azeri GM responded well with 26.b4! and 30.g4!. The pawn structure became fixed, which had a paralyzing effect on the game. A draw was reached soon afterwards. Both players were quite satisfied about their play.

Kamsky-Navara was a great example of chess defence. David Navara was slightly worse throughout the game, but managed to save himself. Or, as he put it, "I managed not to blunder anything today." Kamsky was a bit puzzled during the press conference, and wasn't sure where he could have gained more chances for a win. "I thought the knight ending would be very unpleasant for Black." But even there Navara reacted very well, and all of Kamsky’s efforts to confuse his opponent in the endgame were fruitless.

Bacrot-Radjabov was the longest game of the day, which started off as a theoretical discussion in the Sveshnikov Sicilian.

Bacrot,E (2705) - Radjabov,T (2751) [B33]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (2), 22.04.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 Bg5 12.Nc2 Rb8 13.a4 bxa4 14.Ncb4 Nxb4 15.cxb4 0-0 16.Rxa4 a5 17.b5 Bd7 18.Nc3 Qb6 19.Be2 Rbc8 20.0-0 Be6 21.Qd3 Bd8

22.Nd5. White decides to sacrifice a pawn because the opposite-coloured bishops would perhaps give some drawing chances. 22...Bxd5 23.Qxd5 Rc2 24.Bc4 Rxb2 25.Ra2 Rb4 26.Rd1 Qb8 27.Bf1. Both players agreed that 27.Bf1 is a bad move, after White is in real danger. But even after a different move (e.g. 27.Ra3), Black would have had an easy but dangerous plan with Bb6-c5 and Qb6. 27...Bb6 28.Qxd6 Rxe4 29.Qxb8 Rxb8 30.g3 Kf8 31.Rd6 Rd4 32.Rc6 Ke7 33.Kg2 Rd6 34.Rac2 Rbd8 35.Bc4 f5 36.Kf1 Rxc6 37.bxc6 Kd6 38.Ke2 g6 39.h3 Kc7 40.g4 e4 41.f3 Rd4 42.gxf5 gxf5 43.Bg8 Rd3 44.fxe4 Rg3 45.Bd5 f4 46.e5 Re3+ 47.Kf1 f3 48.Rd2 Rc3 49.Rd1 Rc2 50.e6 Rg2 51.Ke1 Rg1+ 52.Kd2 f2 53.Bc4 Kxc6 54.Ke2 Bc5 55.Bb3 Rg5 56.Kf1 Re5 57.Ba4+ Kb6 58.Bb3 h6 59.Kg2 Re1 60.Ba4 f1Q+ 0-1. [Click to replay]

• Wrap-up of round two on the tournament web site
• Live commentary on Grischuk, Alexander-Karjakin by GM Sergey Shipov

Video interviews from FIDE

The first video gives us an overview of the round two starting phase. The second is an interview with the young and rising star from France, GM Etienne Bacrot.

One of the tournament favourites is GM Teimour Radjabov. For a long time, Temour has been in the chess limelight as one of the world's top players. In this interview, Teimour speaks frankly and openly and gives his views on a number of hot topics in the chess world today. FIDE has published this long interview in two sections, on the day Teimour scored a victory against French star GM Etienne Bacrot.

Schedule and results

Links FIDE Global Chess Grand Prix Home Page Tournament web site for Baku Grand Prix 2008 All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use it to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. Download free PGN reader ChessBase Light