Baku R10: Heavy rain and six draws in FIDE Grand Prix

First FIDE Grand Prix in Baku

The first FIDE Grand Prix tournament is taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from April 20th to May 6th, 2008. There are thirteen rounds and two rest days (April 26 and May 1st). The event, organised by Global Chess, is part of a series of six tournaments to be held over two years (2008-2009). 21 top world players are selected to compete in these tournaments, with each player contracting to participate in exactly four of these tournaments. The winner of the Grand Prix series at the end of 2009 will play the winner of the World Cup held in 2009 in an eight game match to become the challenger to the World Champion in a match to be held in the third quarter of 2010.

Round ten report

Please note that the games are being annotated in the Chess Media System by GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili, who is also a Vice President of FIDE. Instructions on how to view these files is given at the bottom of this page.

Today, as a dramatic change from our usual pictorial coverage, we will show you no games of players sitting at chessboards. They look pretty much the same every round, with the occasional change of sweater or jacket (though some will retain a "lucky" shirt for many rounds). No, today's theme is rain in Baku and players charging into the tournament hall. Unusual. Enjoy.

Arriving in the rain: the two top Azeri players Mamedyarov and Radjabov

Michael Adams and Peter Svidler dash in without umbrellas

Chinese GM Wang Yue knows all about full protection from the rain

Sergey Karjakin and Vugar Gashimov (who face each other today) are enjoying it

In Paree, for us, a little rain is nothing (read with French accent): Etienne Bacrot arrives

Iron Man Alexander Grischuk catches the eye of a TV crew

Maybe not such a good idea, eh, Sasha?

Russian umbrella – I've got to get me one of those

Later that evening one of the players (Adams, we believe) was caught really enjoying the rain in the old part of Baku town. Or is this something else? Well: doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo, doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo-doo...

The games

Kamsky-Wang Yue was a Ruy style Rossolimo Sicilian in which the Chinese GM was able to minimize the advantage of his rival. The game was drawn in 44 moves.

Svidler-Bacrot was, according to Svidler, "the worst game of the tournament so far". In spite of being two pawns down for much of the game (and "totally lost", in his own words) Svidler, who is not 100% fit, managed to survive the French GM's attack and draw in 53 moves.

Inarkiev-Adams was a Petroff in which White "had some initiative but still it's about equal everywhere" (Inarkiev). Tournament annotator GM Sergey Shipov praised Adams' endgame play: "Black showed some amazingly exact defence (41…f5!, 46...d5!) to reach the draw."

Mamedyarov-Grischuk was a Semi-Slav with some similarities to the Tarrasch. The wild complications in the opening seemed to favour White, who at some point was an hour up on the clock. But with a series of exact moves Grischuk simplified the position and achieved a draw in 42 moves.

Carlsen-Navara saw the young Norwegian, who is the top seed in this tournament, trying very hard to win against the Czech GM David Navara, who surprised him by playing the Zaitsev Ruy Lopez. The game ended in a draw after 45 moves.

Gashimov-Karjakin was a disappointment for Sergey Karjakin, who became a grandmaster at the age of twelve and was working as a second to the FIDE world champion (Ponomariov) at the time. In round ten in Bakuk Serge was close to winning with the black pieces, a result that would have given him a big psychological boost. But local boy Vugar Gashimov played the ending very well and held the Ukrainian to a 56-move draw.

Radjabov-Cheparinov turned into a rainy day for the Azeri GM, as the tournament bulletin says. "For some reason he was just completely out of form, and Cheparinov profited from that." The Bulgarian GM, second to Veselin Topalov, surprised his opponent by playing the Caro-Kann. "At some point," he said, "I was slightly better and then I was suddenly winning. It was not his day, he just played badly."

Okay, one picture: the start of the only decisive game in round ten

Radjabov,T (2751) - Cheparinov,I (2696) [B10]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (10), 02.05.2008
1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 g6 4.Ngf3 Bg7 5.g3 e5 6.Bg2 Ne7 7.0-0 0-0 8.b4 a5 9.bxa5 Qxa5 10.Bb2 d4 11.Nb3 Qc7 12.c3 dxc3 13.Bxc3 c5 14.Nfd2 b5 15.Qc2 Na6 16.Rfc1 Be6 17.Nf1 Nc6 18.Ne3 c4 19.dxc4 bxc4

White is already in trouble, and his last chance to survive, according to tournament commentator Sergey Shipov was 20.Nd2 Nab4 21.Bxb4 Nxb4 22.Qb1 Rfb8 23.Ndxc4 Nxa2 24.Rxa2! Fritz explains further: 24...Rxb1 25.Rxa8+ Rb8 26.Nd5 Bxd5 27.Rxb8+ Qxb8 28.exd5 and White has a tough struggle ahead, with rook and knight against the black queen, but all is not completely lost. However, Radjabov's attempt to counter with a tactical knight push goes badly astray: 20.Nd5? cxb3 21.Nxc7 bxc2 22.Nxa8 Nd4 23.Nb6 Rb8. White is an exchange up but already lost. The protected black pawn on c2, which has a bishop to control its queening square, is a poisonous fang which is White's undoing. 24.Ba5 Bh6 25.Bf1 Bxc1 26.Rxc1 Nc6 27.Rxc2 Nxa5 28.Nd5 Nb4 29.Rc5 Nbc6. Black has ended up with a knight for a pawn and a well-consolidated position. The rest is not difficult for a player of Cheparinov's calibre. 30.a4 Kg7 31.Kg2 Rb7 32.h4 Ra7 33.Nc3 Bd7 34.Bb5 Nb3 35.Rd5 Nbd4 36.f4 exf4 37.gxf4 Nxb5 38.axb5 Ne7 39.Rc5 Rb7 40.h5 Nc8 41.hxg6 hxg6 42.Kg3 Na7 43.f5 Nxb5 0-1.

All video press conferences are available as videos on the official tournament page.
All pictures and videos by courtesy of FIDE.com.

Standings after ten rounds

Schedule and results

Links FIDE Global Chess Grand Prix Home Page Tournament web site for Baku Grand Prix 2008 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 ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use it to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. Download free PGN reader ChessBase Light

Multimedia Commentary on Playchess

Currently FIDE and Global Chess are producing live wrap-up commentary of the games of the Grand Prix in Baku. This is done using the Chess Media System developed by ChessBase, which allows the annotator to move the pieces, draw coloured arrows or highlight squares while he or she is speaking. In Baku grandmaster (and FIDE Vice President) Zurab Azmaiparashvili is commenting on the games.

To watch the audio-video chess commentary you should log into the Playchess server. You can do this with many ChessBase products: Fritz, Shredder, Hiarcs, ChessBase 9.0, etc. If you have none of these you can download ChessBase Light using the link given above. Even if you do not have an account on Playchess you can use this program to log in as a "Guest".

On Playchess you should go into the area reserved for Audio/Video Training on Demand, where there is a special room for FIDE and the Grand Prix tournaments. Click on this to enter the room.

The FIDE Grand Prix room displays the Grand Prix web site when you enter the room.

Click on the tab "Games" on the top left to get a list of the files available for viewing.

Double-click an entry, sit back and enjoy the game commentary by GM Azmaiparashivili. There is no charge for this service – you can watch as many game commentaries as you like.