Gashimov Memorial 2017: 'I wish I could annotate them all'

Gashimov Memorial 2017: "I wish I could annotate them all"

By Alex Yermolinsky

Now in its 4th edition, the Gashimov Memorial brings an attractive lineup of top players such as Wesley So, winner of pretty much anything he entered in the last many months, then Vladimir Kramnik who has been sitting pretty with his 2811 Elo since the London Classic, Sergey Karjakin, and of course last year’s winner, local hero Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.  

Vugar Gashimov (1986 - 2014)

Participants

I begin with a game that won't have any impact on who wins the event, but I liked it because it had some fortress motifs.

Sergey Karjakin vs Pavel Eljanov (annotated by Alex Yermolinsky)

Regardless of what happens tomorrow, neither player can be happy about their play in Shamkir. Sergey seems to have lost the momentum he gained from his great showing at the World Championship stage. It's a long way before the next Candidates, and Sergey needs to start winning tournaments and rating points to put fear in the hearts of his opponents. For Pavel the same blueprint of starting well and fading away as the tournament progresses is turning into a depressing pattern. Norway Chess 2016, Tata Steel earlier this year, and now this...

No one doubts his ability, but Sergey Karjakin seems to have been suffering from Post-World Championship Blues. Hopefully he will shake out of it soon and remember what a formidable warrior he can be.

Another not-too-happy customer is Kramnik. Two consecutive losses to So and Mamedyarov sandwiched around the free day (should have played soccer?) not only ended his hopes of winning the tournament, but also hurt him in the rat(ing) race for the spot in the Candidates. At least he was able to bounce back today.

The great Russian has had a challenging event, marked by wins and losses. A lack of rhythm maybe?

Vladimir Kramnik vs Michael Adams (annotated by Alex Yermolinsky)

Adams hasn't been doing too badly recently. Keeping his rating on the north side of 2750 isn't a small feat these days. Mickey just needs to survive the last game to count the event as a modest success.

Mamedyarov entered today's game as sole leader, a full point ahead of the field. It is easy to advise caution, but the tiger never changes his stripes. No matter what Shak is always going to be Shak, and that's what makes him great. He just needs to make sure he doesn't mix his lines in sharp openings anymore.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek entered round eight witha minus one score. He was armed to the teeth and pulled out the heavy artillery (preparation). A spectacular game with razor sharp tactics.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (annotated by Alex Yermolinsky)

With this win Wojtaszek climbed to fifty per cent score, which is going to be short of having any chance of winning the whole thing. The people he opened the door for actually failed to capitalize on it..

Things didn't go as planned for the leader Mamedyarov, and he will need to cover his bases in the last round

So put his trademark endgame positional squeeze on Radjabov, but Teimour refused to give in and reached a safe draw in an instructive same color bishop ending. Note how the weakness of White's K-side pawns enabled Black to escape.

Topalov also gave it a full ride against Harikrishna. Toward the end Veselin was able to win two minor pieces for Pentala's rook, but his knight got stuck in the enemy camp. In retrospect, 46.Bg3 may have been the better choice.

Veselin Topalov gave it a strong go in round eight. Should he win in round nine agianst the leader, who can say what the standings will look like?

Anyway, what is going to happen tomorrow? I, for one, do not expect a whole lot of action. Mamedyarov-Topalov is, of course, the big game, but I doubt Veselin would go all in with the black pieces. He has won enough tournaments in his illustrious career not to worry too much about another one. So is facing the unfortunate Harikrishna, but Pentala has White, and, honestly, I don't see Wesley taking any big chances. I look for Radjabov and Karjakin to be the guys to hit the bar first.

Wesley So is another player witha mathematical chance at first, though he will need to win for any chance

In short, we may have five draws again, although, I have been wrong before......

Standings after eight rounds

(click for high-res)

Photos from official site

Links

• Official tournament site
• All games in PGN or Replay them directly here (many analyzed)

You can use ChessBase 14 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.