Stage set in Tashkent

by Alejandro Ramirez
10/21/2014 – The second stage of the 2014-2015 FIDE Grand Prix is taking place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The tournament will run from October 20th to November 3rd, 2014. Some of the strongest players in the world will compete in a Round Robin event. Gelfand and Caruana currently lead the race for the Candidate's tournament, but with three more GPs everything is still anyone's qualification spot.

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The second stage of the 2014-2015 FIDE Grand Prix is taking place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The tournament will run from October 20th to November 3rd, 2014. Some of the strongest players in the world will compete in a Round Robin event. The winner and runner-up of the Grand Prix series will earn their spot at the 2016 Candidate's Tournament.

Tashkent Grand Prix

Despite the fact that the Grand Prix in Baku finished not even a week ago, the top players in the world are ready to go at it again. Caruana and Gelfand come in as the winners of the previous event and they currently lead the Grand Prix standings, but they are definitely many people following them closely:

  Player
FIDE rating
Sep 2014
Baku
Tashkent
Tblisi
Moscow
Total
1  Fabiano Caruana (ITA)
2801
155
x
 
x
155
1  Boris Gelfand (ISR)
2748
155
x
 
x
155
3  Sergey Karjakin (RUS)
2777
82
x
 
x
82
3  Alexander Grischuk (RUS)
2789
82
 
x
x
82
3  Peter Svidler (RUS)
2732
82
 
x
x
82
3  Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS)
2701
82
 
x
x
82
3  Hikaru Nakamura (USA)
2782
82
x
 
x
82
8  Teimur Radjabov (AZE)
2717
50
x
x
 
50
9  Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)
2756
35
x
x
 
35
9  Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB)
2706
35
x
x
 
35
11  Dmitry Andreikin (RUS)
2722
20
x
x
 
20
12  Leinier Dominguez (CUB)
2756
10
 
x
x
10
13  Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)
2768
 
x
x
x
0
13  Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS)
2747
 
x
x
x
0
13  Baadur Jobava (GEO)
2717
 
x
x
x
0
13  Anish Giri (NED)
2758
 
x
x
x
0

Out of the people that tied for third place in Baku, two of them will be making an appearance in Tashkent. Nakamura and Karjakin are the closest suitors to the leaders, while Tomashevsky, Svidler and Grischuk are skipping Tashkent to play in the other two events.

Tashkent is Uzbekistan's capital and by far the most urban city in that country. In 2007, Tashkent was named the cultural capital of the Islamic world as the city is home to numerous historic mosques and Islamic locations of interest. Tashkent also houses the earliest written Qur'an which has been in Tashkent since 1924.

Uzbekistan boasts several grandmasters, though not many of them are active. Their representative in the Grand Prix is Kasimdzhanov, though he currently resides in Hamburg, Germany. Despite his performance in Baku, Kasimdzhanov showed that he is still a very dangerous opponent to anyone as he demolished his competition in the Olympiad. A painful last round wipe-out by the Indian team meant that Uzbekistan's final standings in that tournament was not as high as it should have been; had Uzbekistan cleaned up the Indians instead of what happened they had a great shot at a medal.

Tashkent is no stranger to hosting Grand Prix as it had already hosted one for the women in the previous cycle.

Opening Ceremony

The second stage of FIDE Grand Prix series 2014-2015 was officially opened on Monday evening at the Gallery of Fine Arts in Tashkent. The tournament's opening ceremony was attended by chess officials, sponsors, national and international media. 

What would a GP opening be without local dancers?

The opening ceremony started with speeches. The Chairman of the Chess Federation of Uzbekistan Alisher Saidabbasovich Sultanov (Above) took the floor to welcome all participants and guests.

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov (Above) expressed his gratitude to the government of the country for their huge support and decisive contribution into development of chess.

Giri drew pairing number one

The Chief Arbiter of the tournament IA Husan Turdialiev conducted the ceremony of drawing of lots. Each participant was proposed to choose one of the 12 bottles of cognac with the number inside of each. By coincidence the name of the cognac “Filatov” turned to be same as the name of the President of Russian Chess Federation Andrey Filatov.

The first symbolic moves were made by Rustam Kasimdzhanov, former FIDE World Champion,
and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

The action starts tomorrow as things are heating up in the race for the Candidate's tournament.

Photos and information taken from the official website

Schedule

Round 01 – October 21 2014, 15:00h
Giri, Anish 2768   Gelfand, Boris 2748
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764   Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764   Jobava, Baadur 2717
Caruana, Fabiano 2844   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706   Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Radjabov, Teimour 2726   Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Round 02 –October 22 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748   Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747   Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757   Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Jobava, Baadur 2717   Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722   Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Giri, Anish 2768   Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Round 03 – October 23 2014, 15:00h
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764   Gelfand, Boris 2748
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764   Giri, Anish 2768
Caruana, Fabiano 2844   Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706   Jobava, Baadur 2717
Radjabov, Teimour 2726   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Karjakin, Sergey 2767   Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Round 04 – October 24 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748   Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757   Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Jobava, Baadur 2717   Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722   Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Giri, Anish 2768   Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764   Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Round 05 – October 26 2014, 15:00h
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764   Gelfand, Boris 2748
Caruana, Fabiano 2844   Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706   Giri, Anish 2768
Radjabov, Teimour 2726   Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Karjakin, Sergey 2767   Jobava, Baadur 2717
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Round 06 – October 27 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Jobava, Baadur 2717   Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722   Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Giri, Anish 2768   Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764   Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764   Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Round 07 – October 28 2014, 15:00h
Caruana, Fabiano 2844   Gelfand, Boris 2748
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706   Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Radjabov, Teimour 2726   Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Karjakin, Sergey 2767   Giri, Anish 2768
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747   Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757   Jobava, Baadur 2717
Round 08 – October 29 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748   Jobava, Baadur 2717
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Giri, Anish 2768   Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764   Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764   Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Caruana, Fabiano 2844   Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Round 09 – October 31 2014, 15:00h
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706   Gelfand, Boris 2748
Radjabov, Teimour 2726   Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Karjakin, Sergey 2767   Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747   Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757   Giri, Anish 2768
Jobava, Baadur 2717   Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Round 10 – November 01, 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748   Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Giri, Anish 2768   Jobava, Baadur 2717
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764   Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Caruana, Fabiano 2844   Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706   Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Round 11 – November 02, 2014, 13:00h
Radjabov, Teimour 2726   Gelfand, Boris 2748
Karjakin, Sergey 2767   Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747   Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757   Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Jobava, Baadur 2717   Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722   Giri, Anish 2768

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 12 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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