Gashimov R2: Clear leader already

The Vugar Gashimov Memorial, is being held in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, from the 20th to 30th of April, in memory of the great Vugar Gashimov, who passed away on the 10th of January 2014. The tournament is divided into two groups. The A Group features six players: World Champion Magnus Carlsen (2881), Fabiano Caruana (2783), Sergey Karjakin (2772), Hikaru Nakamura (2772), and the two Azeri players Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2760) and Teimour Radjabov (2713). The B group consists of ten players, the top five seeds from various countries and the bottom five are all from Azerbaijan.

Round Two

Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar ½-½ Radjabov, Teimour
The Azeri players battled it out in a Meran System of the Semi-Slav. The game followed the recent Wojtaszek-Motylev encounter from the European Championship in Yerevan earlier this year. Mamedyarov, who had employed this system with Black previously, came up with a small improvement with the move 15.Ba3!?

Radjabov however kept his cool and he quickly counter-sacrificed his extra pawn to rid himself of weaknesses before White finished his development. The resulting passed pawn was certainly an asset for White, but Mamedyarov had to deal with Black's passed pawn on the a-file as well. These pawns balanced each other and when they were swapped the game became an obvious draw.

Teimour Radjabov's counter-sacrifice was enough for equality and a draw

Did we mention chess is popular in Azerbaijan?

Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ Karjakin, Sergey
Karjakin has lately added the Berlin Wall as his main defense against 1.e4. The solid approach suits him perfectly and he has no quarrels with defending a passive position, and counter-attacking when the time is right. Caruana seemed to not be able to even put the slightest problems on Karjakin, as the quick trade of pieces and the opposite colored bishops secured Black's position.

Fabiano Caruana could not break Sergey Karjakin's Berlin, and the press wants to know why

A short but mandatory press conference to analyze a relatively short draw

Karjakin, like Radjabov and Caruana, starts with two draws

Carlsen, Magnus 1-0 Nakamura, Hikaru
Lately there has been some slight banter between these two stars over the Internet, and this was thought as an interesting grudge match in which Nakamura would try to finally topple Carlsen. However, this was not to be. The World Champion took a slight advantage and he made it grow, and grow, and grow! Every move was precise and striking, and it set back the American every time more and more. Eventually Nakamura despaired and he could not hold his position together anymore.

2889 in the live rating list. Not bad.

Nakamura just can't seem to keep up with Carlsen's style

Nakamura was very gracious in the press conference,
giving plenty of analysis and showing a great attitude despite a tough loss

Daniel King shows the game Carlsen vs Nakamura

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Standings

Images from the official web site

Video of round 2

Schedule and results

Live commentary on Playchess

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN: Group A – Group B 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 a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.