
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 4 – May 29, 2016 |
Anish Giri |
1-0
|
Pentala Harikrishna |
Pavel Eljanov |
½-½
|
Sergey Karjakin |
Hou Yifan |
½-½
|
Shak Mamedyarov |
Rauf Mamedov |
0-1
|
Fabiano Caruana |
Teimour Radjabov |
½-½
|
Eltaj Safarli |

Watch it live on Playchess!
Round Four
The Caruana train does not seem to deacelerate, while Giri keeps up the pace by inflicting Harikrishna's second loss in a row. The remaining games were filled with interesting chess, sans the game between Azerbaijanis, as seems to be tradition.

Round four, fight!
Giri, Anish 1-0 Harikrishna, Pentala
Harikrishna trusted his pet defense, but Giri simply tore it apart:

Fabiano might be stealing the show, but Anish is having a great tournament as well
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 0-0 11.Rc1 11.Bc4 11...b6 11...Nc6 12.Bd3 Bb7 13.0-0 h6 14.Qe3 Nc6 15.h4!? Rc8 16.h5 Qe7 17.Bb1 Rfd8 18.d5! exd5 19.e5 Ba6 20.Rfe1 Qd7 21.Qf4 Ne7 22.Nd4 Rxc1 23.Qxc1 Qa4? 24.e6! Qxd4 24...Rf8 25.exf7+?! 25.Qe3! 25.exf7+ Kxf7 26.Qc7 Re8 26...Rf8 27.Qxe7+ Kg8 28.Bh7+ Kxh7 29.Qxf8 27.Bg6+ 1–0
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Giri,A | 2790 | Harikrishna,P | 2763 | 1–0 | 2016 | D41 | Vugar Gashimov Mem 2016 | 4.1 |
Please, wait...

Pentala trying to figure out how to revive his pet line
Eljanov, Pavel ½-½ Karjakin, Sergey
The eternal dilemma: the more a passed pawn pushes, the stronger and weaker it becomes. The pawn on d7 was always a problem for black, unable to capture it but solidly blockaded. On the other hand White's game revolved entirely around his pawn and he was unable to push it. There were a couple of sacrificial ideas that Eljanov might've tried to gain a slight edge, but Karjakin was never in trouble.

Sergey sits at 50% with one win, one loss and two draws
Somehow, somewhat surprisingly, Eljanov managed to sacrifice a piece for three pawns and the resulting liquidation landed them in a dead drawn endgame.
Hou Yifan ½-½ Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
Quite an intersting struggle. Yifan's excellent pawn sacrifice netted her an initiative against Black's weakened king and pawn structure. Black kept holding on in an unpleasant queen endgame, and the threats of perpetuals gave black excellent drawing chances. Had Yifan played like a super computer she might've put real pressure on her opponent, but the maneuvers that Komodo and Stockfish recommend are beyond anything a human can understand. Yifan's human play allowed Shakh to find a drawing variation just as White's c-pawn was about to promote.

Yifan with one of the commentators, legendary GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic
Mamedov, Rauf 0-1 Caruana, Fabiano
Caruana is, simply put, on a roll:

Fabiano's thid victim in a row: Rauf Mamedov
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.0-0 d6 7.a4 Ba7 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3 Ne7 11.d4 Nxe4 12.Nxe5 0-0 12...dxe5 13.Bxe5 Rh7 14.Re1 f5 15.Nd2! Nxd2 16.Qxd2 13.Nxf7? 13.Ng4 d5! 14.Bd3 Bxg4 15.Qxg4 f5 13...Rxf7 14.Bxf7+ Kxf7 15.f4 g4 15...Nf5! 16.fxg5 Kg6! 17.gxh6 Ne3 16.f5 Nxg3 17.hxg3 Ng8! 17...Qg8 18.Qxg4 Qg5! 19.Qxg5 hxg5 20.Nd2 Nf6 20...c5! 21.Nf3 Nh7 22.g4 Bd7 23.Rfe1 Rg8 24.Kf2 Nf6 25.Kg3 c5 26.Re2 cxd4 27.cxd4 Bb6 28.b3 Bc6 29.Rae1? 29.Rc1 29...Ba5! 30.Re7+ Kf8 31.R1e2 Bd8 32.R7e6 Bd7 33.R6e3 Nd5 34.Re4 Nc3 35.d5 Bf6 36.Nd2 Rg7 37.Re1 Nxe4+ 38.Nxe4 Re7 39.Kf3 Kg7? 40.Rh1 Be8 41.Nxd6 Bf7 42.Nxf7 Kxf7 43.Rc1 Bd4 44.Rc4 Bb6 45.Re4 Rxe4 46.Kxe4 Ke7 47.b4 Bd8 48.a5 Kd6 49.Kd4 Bf6+ 50.Kc4 Bg7 51.b5 Bf6 0–1
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
- Create an account to access the games cloud.
Mamedov,R | 2655 | Caruana,F | 2804 | 0–1 | 2016 | C53 | Vugar Gashimov Mem 2016 | 4.3 |
Please, wait...
Radjabov, Teimour ½-½ Safarli, Eltaj
The game seemed pretty interesting on move 17. Five moves later all the pieces had disappeared and the dead draw result was clear to everyone.

The pieces kind of all came off again in a Radjabov game
Standings after four rounds

Schedule and results
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 |
Round 3 – May 28, 2016 |
Teimour Radjabov |
½-½
|
Anish Giri |
Eltaj Safarli |
½-½
|
Rauf Mamedov |
Fabiano Caruana |
1-0
|
Hou Yifan |
Shak Mamedyarov |
1-0
|
Pavel Eljanov |
Sergey Karjakin |
1-0
|
Pentala Harikrishna |
Round 5 – May 30, 2016 |
Eltaj Safarli |
-
|
Anish Giri |
Fabiano Caruana |
-
|
Teimour Radjabov |
Shak Mamedyarov |
-
|
Rauf Mamedov |
Sergey Karjakin |
-
|
Hou Yifan |
Pentala Harikrishna |
-
|
Pavel Eljanov |
Round 6 – June 1, 2016 |
Anish Giri |
-
|
Pavel Eljanov |
Hou Yifan |
-
|
Pentala Harikrishna |
Rauf Mamedov |
-
|
Sergey Karjakin |
Teimour Radjabov |
-
|
Shak Mamedyarov |
Eltaj Safarli |
-
|
Fabiano Caruana |
Round 8 – June 3, 2016 |
Anish Giri |
-
|
Hou Yifan |
Rauf Mamedov |
-
|
Pavel Eljanov |
Teimour Radjabov |
-
|
Pentala Harikrishna |
Eltaj Safarli |
-
|
Sergey Karjakin |
Fabiano Caruana |
-
|
Shak Mamedyarov |
|
|
Round 2 – May 27, 2016 |
Anish Giri |
1-0
|
Sergey Karjakin |
Pentala Harikrishna |
1-0
|
Shak Mamedyarov |
Pavel Eljanov |
0-1
|
Fabiano Caruana |
Hou Yifan |
½-½
|
Eltaj Safarli |
Rauf Mamedov |
½-½
|
Teimour Radjabov |
Round 4 – May 29, 2016 |
Anish Giri |
1-0
|
Pentala Harikrishna |
Pavel Eljanov |
½-½
|
Sergey Karjakin |
Hou Yifan |
½-½
|
Shak Mamedyarov |
Rauf Mamedov |
0-1
|
Fabiano Caruana |
Teimour Radjabov |
½-½
|
Eltaj Safarli |
May 31, 2016
|
Free day
|
Round 7 – June 2, 2016 |
Fabiano Caruana |
-
|
Anish Giri |
Shak Mamedyarov |
-
|
Eltaj Safarli |
Sergey Karjakin |
-
|
Teimour Radjabov |
Pentala Harikrishna |
-
|
Rauf Mamedov |
Pavel Eljanov |
-
|
Hou Yifan |
Round 9 – June 4, 2016 |
Shak Mamedyarov |
-
|
Anish Giri |
Sergey Karjakin |
-
|
Fabiano Caruana |
Pentala Harikrishna |
-
|
Eltaj Safarli |
Pavel Eljanov |
-
|
Teimour Radjabov |
Hou Yifan |
-
|
Rauf Mamedov |
|
Live commentary on Playchess
Date |
Round |
English |
German |
28.5.2016 |
Round 3 |
Daniel King |
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 |