Tashkent 07: Much needed air

by Alejandro Ramirez
10/28/2014 – Two luckless players in this tournament have finally found some relief. Caruana, the winner of the previous Grand Prix and the man who was on an absolute tear through the chess world, had a mediocre start in Tashkent but he finally found a full point against Gelfand, who is now last. Karjakin recovered from two consecutive losses with an attacking win against Giri.

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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.

Round Seven

Round 07 – October 28 2014, 15:00h
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
1-0
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
1-0
Giri, Anish 2768
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
½-½
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
½-½
Jobava, Baadur 2717

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Caruana, Fabiano 1-0 Gelfand, Boris
Gelfand obtained a good position from the opening. The strategically complex position pitched a good position from Black with a nice amount of space against White's pressure against b7. Gelfand went wrong somewhere and underestimated a capture on c5. Despite how obviously weak this pawn was on c5, it was almost impossible to take it!

Caruana scores his first win of the event, putting him at 50%

Caruana nursed his advantage and a further mistake by the Israeli left Black in a queen and rook endgame that was simply hopeless.

Meanwhile Gelfand shares the bottom position with Kasimdzhanov

Kasimdzhanov, Rustam ½-½ Nakamura, Hikaru
A struggle in the Dutch. Both sides had difficulties executing their plans, until Kasimdzhanov traded off his dark-squared bishop for Nakamura's knight on c5. The Uzbekistani player went pawn hunting on the queenside while Black expanded on the kingside for a fierce attack. Kasdimzhanov had it under control, but Black's activity was sufficient when rather suddenly they agreed to a draw.

The start of a strange and sharp game

Radjabov, Teimour ½-½ Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
A predictable draw. This time they just traded off all the pieces into a drawn opposite colored bishop endgame.

The Radjabov-Mamedyarov duels are not hard to predict

Karjakin, Sergey 1-0 Giri, Anish
A brutal affair in the Paulsen Sicilian. Using a very are line Karjakin got the opening advantage with much superior development and sacrificial chances to expose the opponent's king. Karjakin did not fully take advantage of his resources and somehow Giri escaped being down only a pawn. However, almost immediately, he became too optimistic of his position, blundered an exchange and lost.

Karjakin scored a much needed win after two losses

Firuza Kasimdzhanova, Sergey Karjakin, Galina Karyakina, and Rustam Kasimdzhanov

Jakovenko, Dmitry ½-½ Andreikin, Dmitry
The Dmitrys played over 20 moves of a game that Jakovenko had against Onischuk last year (except Jakovenko was black in that game) and after some trades the game was drawn.

Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime ½-½ Jobava, Baadur
Leave it up to Jobava to mix it up! His unusual expansion on the kingside was maybe not completely unsound, but if that was not enough he sacrificed a piece for no apparent reason! He obtained one pawn, an open g-file and some pressure against d4. MVL might have kept all his advantages had he defended perfectly, but that was hard to do.

"What is he doing?!" must be the reaction of every
player that has ever played against Jobava

In the game MVL returned two pawns to reach an endgame in which his piece was worth more than the opponent's pawns. He kept ramping his resources until Jobava had a lot of trouble holding his position together. When the time was right to play a winning combination, MVL missed it and he let Jobava escape with a draw.

Old friends: Jobava and Mamedyarov

Photos by Yulia Manakova and Anastasiya Karlovich from the official website

Standings

Round Seven Games

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Schedule

Round 01 – October 21 2014, 15:00h
Giri, Anish 2768
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
0-1
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
1-0
Jobava, Baadur 2717
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
0-1
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
½-½
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Round 02 –October 22 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
1-0
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Jobava, Baadur 2717
½-½
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Giri, Anish 2768
½-½
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Round 03 – October 23 2014, 15:00h
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
1-0
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
½-½
Giri, Anish 2768
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
½-½
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
0-1
Jobava, Baadur 2717
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
1-0
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Round 04 – October 24 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748
½-½
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Jobava, Baadur 2717
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Giri, Anish 2768
½-½
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Round 05 – October 26 2014, 15:00h
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
1-0
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
½-½
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
½-½
Giri, Anish 2768
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
0-1
Jobava, Baadur 2717
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Round 06 – October 27 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Jobava, Baadur 2717
½-½
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
1-0
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Giri, Anish 2768
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
1-0
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
½-½
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Round 07 – October 28 2014, 15:00h
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
1-0
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
1-0
Giri, Anish 2768
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
½-½
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
½-½
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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