Baku 02: Missed Chances

by Alejandro Ramirez
10/3/2014 – An exciting second round has left four leaders with 1.5/2, though the standings could have been very different. Caruana missed a chance to win against Gelfand while Grischuk missed several finishing blows against Karjakin. Svidler and Nakamura outplayed Mamedyarov and Andreiking to join the leaders. Meanwhile Dominguez tortured Tomashevsky for 100 moves...

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

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 Two

Round 02 – October 03 2014, 15:00h
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Svidler, Peter 2732
1-0
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Andreikin, Dmitry 2598
0-1
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Dominguez, Leinier 2751
½-½
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701

Kasimdzhanov, Rustam ½-½ Radjabov, Teimur
Radjabov came up with an improvement in the recent Caruana-Negi game from the Olympiad. Even though the Berlin Endgame seemed unpleasant for him at a certain point, he was never in any real danger. The game was eventually drawn in a rook endgame.

Kasimdzhanov had an edge, but it never amounted to more than that

Svidler, Peter 1-0 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
Svidler put some pressure on Mamedyarov from the start, to which the Azeri responded aggressively by weakening his queenside to gain space. The isolated queen's pawn position was double-edged, but Mamedyarov's decision to exchange pieces was strange. His faux activity led to his rook being trapped on b2 and it was game over.

After squandering his white pieces yesterday,
Mamedyarov was punished with black today

Andreikin, Dmitry 0-1 Nakamura, Hikaru
Andreikin came up with an unusual idea against the Dutch by placing his pawn on c3 rather than on c4. He might have obtained a small edge, but Black wasn't without resources. The Russian lost the thread of the game while Nakamura made his position stronger move by move. Eventually Black's activity, with a huge bishop on e4 and powerful pressure down the g-file, proved to be too much and White's position simply fell apart.

Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ Gelfand, Boris
Gelfand's exchange sacrifice brought him plenty of activity. It allowed him in an interesting game to get back a pawn and he had a good position. However, he blundered near the end of the game. Caruana saw the winning idea, but not the winning execution! He misplayed the move-order and allowed Gelfand a miraculous perpetual drawing idea.

Caruana missed a good chance to go 2.0/2 in today's game against Gelfand

Grischuk, Alexander ½-½ Karjakin, Sergey
A game of missed opportunities. Karjakin was better at some point with a strong passed pawn on e4 and no danger on the kingside, but he underestimated Grischuk's chances and White's breakthrough on f5 was very powerful. Karjakin took this pawn and too many lines were opened against his king.

Karjakin escaped by the skin of his teeth

Grischuk's initiative was decisive, but he kept missing killing blow after killing blow... until eventually Karjakin wiggled out to a pawn down endgame that he held without problems.

Grischuk cannot be happy for letting his opponent go!

Dominguez, Leinier ½-½ Tomashevsky, Evgeny
An extremely long game. Tomashevsky equalized out of the opening but he left himself, unnecessarily, with some structural weaknesses and a bad king in a major piece endgame. He was still fine, however, but he had to suffer a long time to achieve his draw.

Tomashevsky's suffering finally granted him a draw... on move 100...

Round Two Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Standings

Round 01 – October 02 2014, 15:00h
Dominguez, Leinier 2751
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
½-½
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
0-1
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Gelfand, Boris 2748
1-0
Andreikin, Dmitry 2598
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
½-½
Svidler, Peter 2732
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Round 02 – October 03 2014, 15:00h
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Svidler, Peter 2732
1-0
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Andreikin, Dmitry 2598
0-1
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Dominguez, Leinier 2751
½-½
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
Round 03 – October 04 2014, 15:00h
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701   Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Karjakin, Sergey 2767   Dominguez, Leinier 2751
Gelfand, Boris 2748   Grischuk, Alexander 2797
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764   Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764   Andreikin, Dmitry 2598
Radjabov, Teimour 2726   Svidler, Peter 2732
Round 04 – October 05 2014, 15:00h
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706   Svidler, Peter 2732
Andreikin, Dmitry 2598   Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Caruana, Fabiano 2844   Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Grischuk, Alexander 2797   Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Dominguez, Leinier 2751   Gelfand, Boris 2748
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701   Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Round 05 – October 07 2014, 15:00h
Karjakin, Sergey 2767   Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Gelfand, Boris 2748   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764   Dominguez, Leinier 2751
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764   Grischuk, Alexander 2797
Radjabov, Teimour 2726   Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Svidler, Peter 2732   Andreikin, Dmitry 2598
Round 06 – October 08 2014, 15:00h
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706   Andreikin, Dmitry 2598
Caruana, Fabiano 2844   Svidler, Peter 2732
Grischuk, Alexander 2797   Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Dominguez, Leinier 2751   Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701   Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Karjakin, Sergey 2767   Gelfand, Boris 2748
Round 07 – October 09 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748   Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764   Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
Radjabov, Teimour 2726   Dominguez, Leinier 2751
Svidler, Peter 2732   Grischuk, Alexander 2797
Andreikin, Dmitry 2598   Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Round 08 – October 10 2014, 15:00h
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706   Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Grischuk, Alexander 2797   Andreikin, Dmitry 2598
Dominguez, Leinier 2751   Svidler, Peter 2732
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701   Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Karjakin, Sergey 2767   Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Gelfand, Boris 2748   Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Round 09 – October 12 2014, 15:00h
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764   Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764   Gelfand, Boris 2748
Radjabov, Teimour 2726   Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Svidler, Peter 2732   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
Andreikin, Dmitry 2598   Dominguez, Leinier 2751
Caruana, Fabiano 2844   Grischuk, Alexander 2797
Round 10 – October 13 2014, 15:00h
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706   Grischuk, Alexander 2797
Dominguez, Leinier 2751   Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701   Andreikin, Dmitry 2598
Karjakin, Sergey 2767   Svidler, Peter 2732
Gelfand, Boris 2748   Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764   Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Round 11 – October 14 2014, 13:00h
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764   Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Radjabov, Teimour 2726   Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Svidler, Peter 2732   Gelfand, Boris 2748
Andreikin, Dmitry 2598   Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Caruana, Fabiano 2844   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
Grischuk, Alexander 2797   Dominguez, Leinier 2751

Photos by Maria Emelianova

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.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register