Baku 01: Caruana, Gelfand strike first

by Alejandro Ramirez
10/2/2014 – The tournament has started with some exciting games, even if some of the most important variations in plenty of games were not executed on the board. Two decisive games kicked things off: Gelfand overwhelmed Andreikin by following a new trend in the QID that the Russian wasn't familiar with while Caruana took advantage of an overpress by Karjakin. Round one analysis and impressions.

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The first stage of the 2014-2015 FIDE Grand Prix is taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan. The tournament will run from October 1st to October 15, 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 One

Round 01 – October 02, 2014 - 15:00
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
½-½
Radjabov, Teimur 2726
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
0-1
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
½-½
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
Gelfand, Boris 2748
1-0
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
½-½
Svidler, Peter 2732
Dominguez, Leinier 2751
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706

Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar ½-½ Radjabov, Teimur
edit: As was pointed out by many of our readers, this game was simply following a theoretically well known variation, that while flashy it lead to a known draw.

The Azeris simply repeated a well known draw to cirumvent the 30-move rule

Karjakin, Sergey 0-1 Caruana, Fabiano
Things simply seem to keep going in Caruana's way. Karjakin obtained a small edge from the Carlsbad structure and certainly he was better at a point. However a couple of inaccurate moves let it slip away. After an exchange sacrifice from Karjakin, White had compensation, but it was now double edged. Many commentators might point to the obvious 35.a4?? as the turning point of the game, but thanks to some spectacular Komodo 8 analysis by Albert Silver (which you can find in the game annotations) it was clear that Karjakin was lost even before that!

Karjakin overpressed, and although he blundered he might
have already been in too difficult of a situation

Tomashevsky, Evgeny ½-½ Grischuk, Alexander
Tomashevsky repeated some Grunfeld variation he played last year in the European Team Championship, but obviously Grischuk knew it, prepared a novelty and equalized easily. Not the best effort from Tomashevsky.

Grischuk was not as surprised of Tomashevsky's opening as he looks

Gelfand, Boris 1-0 Andreikin, Dmitry
Like Tomashevsky, Andreikin's opening was far from impressive. Gelfand followed a new trend in the Queen's Indian Defense that involves an earlier pawn sacrifice on d5. This had been successfully essayed a few times and surely any top player in the World that employs the QID (in particular if they play this line) should be familiar with it. Andreikin wasn't and his kingside fell apart before move 25.

Andreikin was theoretically crushed, not something that happens to him often

Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ Svidler, Peter
The American was unable to make any headway into Svidler's solid Ruy Lopez. If anything it was Black that was better in the middlegame, but it seemed as if Svidler was happy with keeping his solid position equal and finishing with a draw.

Nakamura will fight hard to regain his place in the top five in the World

Dominguez Perez, Leinier ½-½ Kasimdzhanov, Rustam
Perhaps the most difficult game to explain. Dominguez's opening was bad and left his pieces in awkward positions, but Kasimdzhanov didn't capitalize in the most aggressive form, letting the Cuban back in the game with approximate equality. The Uzbek player horribly blundered... but the Cuban player didn't spot it! The game ended in a strange draw as there was still plenty of life left in the position.

A baffling first round game between Dominguez and Kasimdzhanov

The full pairing schedule will be published once FIDE releases it on their official website

Round One Games

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,165,57054%2421---
1.d4946,47455%2434---
1.Nf3281,31256%2441---
1.c4181,93756%2442---
1.g319,68856%2427---
1.b314,23654%2427---
1.f45,88648%2377---
1.Nc33,79651%2384---
1.b41,75348%2380---
1.a31,19754%2403---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d394850%2378---
1.g466246%2361---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c342651%2425---
1.h327956%2416---
1.a410860%2468---
1.f39147%2431---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
Things simply seem to keep going in Caruana's way. Karjakin obtained a small edge from the Carlsbad structure and certainly he was better at a point. However a couple of inaccurate moves let it slip away. After an exchange sacrifice from Karjakin, White had compensation, but it was now double edged. Many commentators might point to the obvious 35.a4?? as the turning point of the game, but thanks to some spectacular Komodo 8 analysis by Albert Silver (which you can find in the game annotations) it was clear that Karjakin was lost even before that! 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.Rc1 This line has become more popular in order to stop the Aronian variations with a quick Nh5. Nbd7 7.cxd5 exd5 8.e3 c6 9.h3 Ne4 10.Bd3 Ndf6 11.0-0 Bf5 12.Ne2 Nd7 13.Qb3 A relatively unremarkable Carlsbad structure. Black is solid but a little passive. He does have control over e4, however, something that not always happens. Qb6 14.Qc2 Bg6 15.Bh2 Rfe8 16.Nf4 Bd6! It is usual in most positions that when you are faced with losing one of your bishops, you want to trade off your remaining bishop for your one of your opponent's so as to deprive them of the "pair of bishops" advantage. 17.Nxg6 Bxh2+ 18.Kxh2 hxg6 19.g3 Qd8 20.Kg2 g5 21.Rh1 Qe7 22.b4 22.h4 g4 23.Ng5 f5∞ 22...a5 23.b5 c5 24.h4 g4 25.Ng5! A strong move that Caruana might have underestimated. Rac8 25...Nxg5 26.hxg5 Qxg5 27.Bh7+ Kf8 28.Bf5!+- 26.Bxe4 dxe4 27.Qb3 27.Rhd1! It was time to switch gears into the center as the kingside is locked. 27...g6 28.Rc4 b6 29.Rhc1 Rcd8 30.dxc5 Nxc5 31.Rxc5!? White obtains a passed pawn and some activity for the exchange. Not enough for an adavntage, but not a bad idea. bxc5 32.Rxc5 Rc8 33.Re5 Qf6 34.Rd5?! 34.Rxe8+ Rxe8 35.Qd1= 34...Red8 35.a4? A clear blunder, however things were already not easy. As computer expert Albert Silver noted: "Obviously, there will be a lot of commentary on Karjakin's sudden blunder, but things may not be so clear. I had Komodo 8 analyze the position before the blunder on my quad 3.3GHz and after two minutes it thought Black was better, but nothing too bad: 35.Rxd8+ Rxd8 36.Qc2 Kg7 37.a4 Rd3 38.Qc7 Rc3 39.Qxa5 Rc2 40.Qe1 and a line that ended with a modest =/+ (-0.45) Depth: 28 00:01:47 644MN. However I was at the open market buying produce and left the engine analyzing this far, and when I came back a half hour later found this, showing the position was in fact mathematically won." Qb2 41.Nxe4 f5! 42.Ng5 Kh6 43.Nf7+ Kh5 44.e4 There is little choice actually. After 44.Ng5 for example Rc1 45.Qa5 White gets mated with Qe2 46.Qa8 Qf1+ 47.Kh2 Qg1# 44...Re2 45.Qf1 fxe4 46.Ne5 Rc2 47.Nxg4 Rc1 48.Nf6+ Kh6 49.Qxc1+ Qxc1 It is obviously game over. 35...Rxd5 36.Qxd5 Rc2 Now it's obviously over as f2 cannot be defended. 37.Kh1 Rxf2 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Karjakin,S2767Caruana,F28440–12014D37Baku FIDE Grand Prix 20141.2
Mamedyarov,S2764Radjabov,T2726½–½2014A20Baku FIDE Grand Prix 20141.1
Tomashevsky,E2701Grischuk,A2797½–½2014D97Baku FIDE Grand Prix 20141.3
Gelfand,B2748Andreikin,D27221–02014E15Baku FIDE Grand Prix 20141.4
Nakamura,H2764Svidler,P2732½–½2014C84Baku FIDE Grand Prix 20141.5
Dominguez Perez,L2751Kasimdzhanov,R2706½–½2014A15Baku FIDE Grand Prix 20141.6

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Photos by Maria Emelianova

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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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