2016 Shamkir Rd1: A lukewarm start
5/26/2016 – It wasn't the most thrilling start with three draws in which there were never any doubts as to the result. It wasn't all dull though, with a rollercoaster game between Safarli and Eljanov that saw the Ukrainian dead won, then blew it to be lost, and by the time control it was equal and drew. Caruana pressed an advantage against Harikrishna for a long time, but drew. Round one report.
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Third Shamkir Tournament in memory of Vugar Gashimov
The Vugar Gashimov Memorial, is being held in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, from the May 26 to June 4, 2016, in memory of the great Vugar Gashimov, who passed away on the 10th of January 2014. The tournament features ten world-class players: Fabiano Caruana (2795), Anish Giri (2790), Sergey Karjakin (2779), Pavel Eljanov (2750), Pentala Harikrishna (2763), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2750), Teimour Radjabov (2726), Eltaj Safarli (2664), Hou Yifan (2663) and Rauf Mamedov (2650). The time control is 120/40 moves + 60/20 moves + 15 minutes + 30 seconds/move at 61st move.
All games start at 3 p.m. local time = 1 p.m. in Europe (CEST), one hour earlier in Britain, and 2 p.m. in Moscow. You can find the starting time at your location here. Today's pairings:
| Round 1 – May 26, 2016 | ||
| Rauf Mamedov |
½ - ½
|
Anish Giri |
| Teimour Radjabov |
½ - ½
|
Hou Yifan |
| Eltaj Safarli |
½ - ½
|
Pavel Eljanov |
| Fabiano Caruana |
½ - ½
|
Pentala Harikrishna |
| Shak Mamedyarov |
½ - ½
|
Sergey Karjakin |
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Round One
Definitely not the start that the fans were expecting, but there were some fighting games in Shamkir. The most interesting one, bar none, was the game between Safarli-Eljanov
The playing stage for round one
Safarli, Eltaj ½-½ Eljanov, Pavel
Miss of the day, no doubt
Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ Harikrishna, Pentala
Caruana essayed the vogue 7.Qf3 move against the Paulsen/Tajmanov Sicilian. Harirkishna replied in turn with an interesting new idea of trading knights on d4 and pushing an early e5. The game was close to becoming a Sicilian bloodfest, with both sides attacking on opposite flanks and the first person to push through winning, but unfortunately a timely queen trade left Caruana with a very tiny advantage in an endgame, which fizzled out into a draw.
This game was almost, almost very interesting, but then the queens came off
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar ½-½ Karjakin, Sergey
Karjakin came to the board and simply repeated his preparation against Mamedyarov to get a very comfortable draw. Mamedyarov's knight went all the way to b8 (!) but it was never in any real danger of getting caught. After the trade of several pieces a draw became inevitable.
Karjakin's preparation is one of his strongest suits,
and sometimes he can kill a game before it even begins
Mamedov, Rauf ½-½ Giri, Anish
If you are wondering why the 2.c3 Sicilian is never seen at the top level, well, this game and several others might convince you as to why. There are several variations that black can choose to make the game rather dull and drawish. Giri's choice forced an early trade of queens and eliminated most of White's initiative. In the ensuing rook endgame perhaps Giri was the one doing a bit of pressing, but the draw was never in question.
Giri showed why the 2.c3 Sicilian is not popular
Mamedov tried to surprise his opponent, but it was to no avail
Radjabov, Teimour ½-½ Hou Yifan
Even though the style of position is well known - that is to say a Catalan type situation in which the central pawns are traded - I cannot seem to find any instance of this particular variation being played in my database. Yifan perfectly understood how to force the equalization, however, and a very creative and precise rook swing starting with the bizarre looking 20...Rg8! meant that White's small initiative was reduced to nothing.
Radjabov is known for squeezing his opponent's with minimal, but safe, advantages. Today that paid no dividends.
Round One Games
Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games
Standings
Schedule and results
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Live commentary on Playchess
| Date | Round | English | German |
| 26.5.2016 | Round 1 | Daniel King | Klaus Bischoff |
| 27.5.2016 | Round 2 | Simon Williams | Klaus Bischoff |
| 28.5.2016 | Round 3 | Simon Williams | Klaus Bischoff |
| 29.5.2016 | Round 4 | Daniel King | Klaus Bischoff |
| 30.5.2016 | Round 5 | Yasser Seirawan | Klaus Bischoff |
| 01.6.2016 | Round 6 | Daniel King | Klaus Bischoff |
| 02.6.2016 | Round 7 | Simon Williams | Klaus Bischoff |
| 03.6.2016 | Round 8 | Yasser Seirawan | Klaus Bischoff |
| 04.6.2016 | Round 9 | Daniel King | Klaus Bischoff |
LinksThe 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. |
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Discussion and Feedback
Join the public discussion or submit your feedback to the editors
@scoobeedo: chill!
At c3 not being seen at top level: it still forced a result though! Giri was playing an opponent who is more than 100 elo points lower rated, and still, from move 12 onwards, and with white having established a dev advantage and ready to take over the initiative, Giri just begins the liquidations, obviously aiming for a draw! I'm sure if Magnus was playing that game as black, he'd want more than that, and that is one more demonstration of why Giri is no World Champion material
At c3 not being seen at top level: it still forced a result though! Giri was playing an opponent who is more than 100 elo points lower rated, and still, from move 12 onwards, and with white having established a dev advantage and ready to take over the initiative, Giri just begins the liquidations, obviously aiming for a draw! I'm sure if Magnus was playing that game as black, he'd want more than that, and that is one more demonstration of why Giri is no World Champion material
It is so nice that Pentala Harikrishna get finally the tournament invitations that he needs.
He is a superstrong GM, reached still not his peak and plays a chess which reminds me on Indian curry. He will slowly become the leading Indian GM.
Vishy did more then enough for his country and should enjoy to watch the rise of his kids. I call every Indian chess player a kid from Anand, because he started practically as a "One Man Show" this Chess Tsunami in India.
We remember, Anand became 1988 the first Indian Chess Grandmaster. It was in the newspapers a 4 line report. Nobody was interested in this strange game. In the ELO list of the FIDE was 80 Indians included. The most players was between 2350 and 2000.
India have now 32 GM and a end of this chess boom is not to expect. In the latest ELO List of the FIDE are now 20163 Indians included. And this are only the international listed players. India have another 33400 national listed club players. And we should not forget the millions of chess players on the streets, in the parks, and so on,
What Anand did set in motion ... there exist no comparision for this, not in chess and not in any other sport. I classify Anand at the same level as Freddy Merckx, Mark Spitz, Michael Phelps, Carl Lewis, Muhammed Ali and Usain Bolt.
Or better said (2015-1988=27 years). Anand is without any question a national hero of India. He is the ambassador of chess for India. The FIDE registered every year around 2090 new Indian Chess players, and this since 27 years.
Hey Vishy, this are all your kids! Wow! After all this success is it now the time to relax.
Remember, at home wait one kid who want his papa for him.
And now ... Pentala will take over. And he does this slowly, it happens at AN ANDante pace.
He is a superstrong GM, reached still not his peak and plays a chess which reminds me on Indian curry. He will slowly become the leading Indian GM.
Vishy did more then enough for his country and should enjoy to watch the rise of his kids. I call every Indian chess player a kid from Anand, because he started practically as a "One Man Show" this Chess Tsunami in India.
We remember, Anand became 1988 the first Indian Chess Grandmaster. It was in the newspapers a 4 line report. Nobody was interested in this strange game. In the ELO list of the FIDE was 80 Indians included. The most players was between 2350 and 2000.
India have now 32 GM and a end of this chess boom is not to expect. In the latest ELO List of the FIDE are now 20163 Indians included. And this are only the international listed players. India have another 33400 national listed club players. And we should not forget the millions of chess players on the streets, in the parks, and so on,
What Anand did set in motion ... there exist no comparision for this, not in chess and not in any other sport. I classify Anand at the same level as Freddy Merckx, Mark Spitz, Michael Phelps, Carl Lewis, Muhammed Ali and Usain Bolt.
Or better said (2015-1988=27 years). Anand is without any question a national hero of India. He is the ambassador of chess for India. The FIDE registered every year around 2090 new Indian Chess players, and this since 27 years.
Hey Vishy, this are all your kids! Wow! After all this success is it now the time to relax.
Remember, at home wait one kid who want his papa for him.
And now ... Pentala will take over. And he does this slowly, it happens at AN ANDante pace.
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