Baku 08: Svidler saves the day

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 Eight

A young spectator taking notes!

Kasimdzhanov, Rustam ½-½ Caruana, Fabiano
A million moves of theory left the players in an equal endgame. Caruana draws with ease in his Grunfeld.

Kasimdzhanov didn't surprise anyone. Easy to draw for Caruana.

Grischuk, Alexander ½-½ Andreikin, Dmitry
The Berlin Endgame rears its ugly head once more. The opposite colored bishops gave Grischuk some winning chances since Black's pawn structure was very accessible and hard to defend. That being said, once he did win a pawn, it was almost impossible to convert. After a long defense Andreikin held the draw.

Andreikin had to endure significant torture, but he held

Dominguez, Leinier 0-1 Svidler, Peter
The Cubans opening was bad and Svidler's position was strong and dangerous. This cost Dominguez a pawn, and in the double rook endgame it was White's turn to suffer. Dominguez did not defend the best, and after a very, very long game Svidler managed to convert his pawn into a win. A decisive game, even if it wasn't thrilling.

Svidler saved the tournament from the second all-draw round in a row

Tomashevsky, Evgeny ½-½ Radjabov, Teimour
The most exciting game of the round. Tomashevsky sacrificed a piece for initative. The two pawns combined with White's piece activity and Black's awkward and weak king gave him more than enough compensation, and Radjabov was in real problems. Tomashevsky cashed in his chips way too early. And although he got his piece back, his attack evaporated and Radjabov escaped to a draw.

Tomashevsky fell for materialistic temptation and lost the thread of the attack

Karjakin, Sergey ½-½ Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
Kajrakin's slight edge persisted through-out the game. Mamedyarov's d-pawn was always weak, and it needed consistent defending, but that was the only problem in his position. In the moment they agreed to a draw White had an edge, but it seemed very hard to do anything with it.

Mamedyarov's isolated pawn was the only problem he had in the game

Gelfand, Boris ½-½ Nakamura, Hikaru
Gelfand put strong pressure on Nakamura's Dutch defense. He was positionally better as his central pressure was undisputed and Black was somewhat passive. However, kind of like Tomashevsky, he cashed in his chips too early and instead of obtaining long-lasting positional pressure he allowed Nakamura to simplify to a draw.

Nakamura has reverted to the Dutch, but it has not been impressive this tournament

Round Eight Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Standings

Schedule

Links Official tournament site All Games in PGN 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.