Shamkir Rd6: Caruana only winner

by Alejandro Ramirez
4/23/2015 – Fabiano Caruana was the only winner of today's round in Shamkir. Vladimir Kramnik was a little overeager with his position, and his breakthrough in the center backfired badly. Black sacrificed an exchange and won a pretty game. The other players seemed to want a solid day after the rest day, which resulted in draws on all the other boards. Carlsen still leads.
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The Vugar Gashimov Memorial, is being held in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, from the 17th to the 26th of April, in memory of the great Vugar Gashimov, who passed away on the 10th of January 2014. The tournament consists of some of the strongest players in the World: reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen, former World Champions Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, as well as, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Michael Adams, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Rauf Mamedov will compete in this prominent event. 

Round Six

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Adams Michael 2746
½-½
 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
Giri Anish 2790
½-½
 Carlsen Magnus 2863
Kramnik Vladimir 2783
0-1
 Caruana Fabiano 2802
So Wesley 2788
½-½
 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
Mamedov Rauf 2651
½-½
 Anand Viswanathan 2791

Video by Vijay Kumar

Play of the day by Daniel King

Round six was the least exciting of them all so far

Adams, Michael ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
Adams was able to win a pawn, but with the opposite colored bishops on the board it was very difficult to make progress. MVL had to endure a long defense but the draw was never in question.

A little suffering down a pawn, but a solid draw at the end

Giri, Anish ½-½ Carlsen, Magnus
After 20 moves it was very obvious this game was going towards a draw. They played it out for a while, but to no avail.

No problems for the World Champion holding a draw

Kramnik, Vladimir 0-1 Caruana, Fabiano

Vladimir Kramnik was a bit too overeager

Team Caruana scored their first full point of the tournament

[Event "Vugar Gashimov Mem 2015"] [Site "Shamkir AZE"] [Date "2015.04.23"] [Round "6"] [White "Kramnik, V."] [Black "Caruana, F."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A48"] [WhiteElo "2783"] [BlackElo "2802"] [PlyCount "108"] [EventDate "2015.04.17"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. c3 O-O 5. Nbd2 d5 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Be2 c5 8. O-O b6 9. a4 a6 10. b4 Bb7 11. a5 cxb4 12. cxb4 b5 13. Rc1 Ne8 14. Nb3 Nd6 15. Ne1 Nc4 16. Nd3 Ra7 17. Bh4 Ba8 18. Bf3 {Up until now it seems that Kramnik has been able to outplay his opponent. He has the better bishops and when he has access to c5 he will attack a6.} Nf6 19. Qe2 Ne8 20. g4 $5 {Gaining space on the kingside, but perhaps a little unnecessary.} Ned6 21. Bg2 Qc8 22. Nbc5 Re8 23. Bg3 Qd8 24. Rcd1 e6 25. f3 {White's plan is to push e4 at some point, but he doesn't seem particularly well placed to do so. After all, d4 will be very weak.} Qe7 26. Kh1 Bh6 27. Nf4 Nb7 28. Ncd3 Nd8 29. e4 $2 {Kramnik felt prepared force this advance, but he is far from. d4 is not the only weakness, b4 is also going to be difficult to defend. If anything the break seems to simply help Black.} Nc6 30. exd5 Nxb4 {The awkward moment for White. His structure is horrible and he has to somehow justify it.} 31. dxe6 (31. Nxb4 Qxb4 32. dxe6 Bxf4 33. Bxf4 Rxe6 $19 {Black's pieces are swarming, has the better structure and much better coordination.}) 31... Nxd3 32. Rxd3 (32. Nxd3 Qxe6 33. Qxe6 fxe6 {looks pretty bad for White also. The structure is very good for Black, Ne3 is a threat, a5 is also hanging...}) 32... fxe6 33. Qe1 Qd8 34. h4 Rf7 (34... Bxf4 35. Bxf4 Bd5 {is also unpleasant for Kramnik.}) 35. g5 Bg7 36. Bh3 Rxf4 $1 {A nice exchange sacrifice. This takes advantage of the speceific placement of the pieces now to maximize the activity of Black's minor pieces.} 37. Bxf4 e5 38. Bg3 e4 $1 39. Rd1 (39. fxe4 Bxe4+ {is completely winning.}) 39... Bd5 {Black's down the exchange. But it's obvious that White has nothing to play for, his pieces don't coordinate at all and his king is weak.} 40. Be5 exf3 41. Qf2 Qxa5 {two pawns and the position has not improved for White.} 42. Bg4 Rf8 43. Rd3 Qb4 44. Bg3 h5 $1 45. gxh6 Bxh6 46. Kh2 Nd2 $19 47. Ra1 Ne4 48. Qc2 Nxg3 49. Rxa6 (49. Kxg3 Qd6+ 50. Kh3 Be6 $19) 49... Be4 50. Bxf3 Qe1 51. Qb3+ Kh8 52. Bxe4 Rf2+ 53. Kh3 Qf1+ 54. Kg4 Rf4+ 0-1

So, Wesley ½-½ Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
A sharp line of the Slav that hasn't been seen as much in the past few years. So had a sizeable advantage, but had to keep an unbelievable level of accuracy to retain his advantage. But at some point he made a small error, allowing Mamedyarov into the game and with equality.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's position was not the best for a while, but he pulled through

Mamedov, Rauf ½-½ Anand, Viswanathan
Mamedov played, as usual for him in this tournament, very solidly. Anand didn't mind the draw with Black and peace was reached before move 30.

Well, if a draw is fine a draw is fine...

The most solid so far is probably Rauf Mamedov

Replay Round Six Games

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Photos taken from the official website

Standings

Schedule

Round 1

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Kramnik Vladimir 2783
1-0
 Adams Michael 2746
So Wesley 2788
1-0
 Giri Anish 2790
Mamedov Rauf 2651
½-½
 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
Anand Viswanathan 2791
½-½
 Carlsen Magnus 2863
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
½-½
 Caruana Fabiano 2802

Round 2

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Adams Michael 2746
½-½
 Caruana Fabiano 2802
Carlsen Magnus 2863
1-0
 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
½-½
 Anand Viswanathan 2791
Giri Anish 2790
½-½
 Mamedov Rauf 2651
Kramnik Vladimir 2783
½-½
 So Wesley 2788

Round 3

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
So Wesley 2788
1-0
 Adams Michael 2746
Mamedov Rauf 2651
½-½
 Kramnik Vladimir 2783
Anand Viswanathan 2791
½-½
 Giri Anish 2790
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
½-½
 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
Caruana Fabiano 2802
0-1
 Carlsen Magnus 2863

Round 4

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Adams Michael 2746
½-½
 Carlsen Magnus 2863
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
½-½
 Caruana Fabiano 2802
Giri Anish 2790
½-½
 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
Kramnik Vladimir 2783
½-½
 Anand Viswanathan 2791
So Wesley 2788
1-0
 Mamedov Rauf 2651

Round 5

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Mamedov Rauf 2651
½-½
 Adams Michael 2746
Anand Viswanathan 2791
1-0
 So Wesley 2788
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
1-0
 Kramnik Vladimir 2783
Caruana Fabiano 2802
½-½
 Giri Anish 2790
Carlsen Magnus 2863
1-0
 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762

Round 6

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Adams Michael 2746
½-½
 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
Giri Anish 2790
½-½
 Carlsen Magnus 2863
Kramnik Vladimir 2783
0-1
 Caruana Fabiano 2802
So Wesley 2788
½-½
 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
Mamedov Rauf 2651
½-½
 Anand Viswanathan 2791

Round 7

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Anand Viswanathan 2791 - Adams Michael 2746
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754 - Mamedov Rauf 2651
Caruana Fabiano 2802 - So Wesley 2788
Carlsen Magnus 2863 - Kramnik Vladimir 2783
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762 - Giri Anish 2790

Round 8

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Adams Michael 2746 - Giri Anish 2790
Kramnik Vladimir 2783 - Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
So Wesley 2788 - Carlsen Magnus 2863
Mamedov Rauf 2651 - Caruana Fabiano 2802
Anand Viswanathan 2791 - Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754

Round 9

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754 - Adams Michael 2746
Caruana Fabiano 2802 - Anand Viswanathan 2791
Carlsen Magnus 2863 - Mamedov Rauf 2651
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762 - So Wesley 2788
Giri Anish 2790 - Kramnik Vladimir 2783

Commentary on Playchess

One of the major tournaments of the year, you can count on www.playchess.com to deliver quality commentary every round!

Day Date Round English German
Friday April 17 Round 1 GM Daniel King GMs Oliver Reeh/Dorian Rogozenco
Saturday April 18 Round 2 GM Simon Williams GM Klaus Bischoff
Sunday April 19 Round 3 GM Simon Williams GM Klaus Bischoff
Monday April 20 Round 4 GM Daniel King GM Klaus Bischoff
Tuesday April 21 Round 5 GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov GM Klaus Bischoff
Wednesday April 22 Free    
Thursday April 23 Round 6 GM Daniel King GM Klaus Bischoff
Friday April 24 Round 7 GM Simon Williams GM Klaus Bischoff
Saturday April 25 Round 8 GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov GMs Oliver Reeh/Karsten Müller
Sunday April 26 Round 9 GM Daniel King GM Klaus Bischoff

English Commentators

Links

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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

 

Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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