Baku R13: Gashimov, Wang and Carlsen win Grand Prix

First FIDE Grand Prix in Baku

The first FIDE Grand Prix tournament took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from April 20th to May 6th, 2008. There were 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 thirteen report (final)

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.

Grischuk-Radjabov was a King's Indian which was drawn in 32 moves. Karjakin-Kamsky saw White "blundering" (Karjakin's feeling) at move 20 but hanging on for a 44-move draw. Adams-Gashimov was a draw by the tournament leader, achieved with the black pices and without too many problems. Wang Yue-Mamedyarov saw the other leader, Wang, also draw his game in 47 moves. It was the last game to finish.

Navara-Cheparinov brought a second victory for the Czech player who defeated his Bulgarian counterpart in a Slav Defence with white.

Navara,D (2672) - Cheparinov,I (2696) [D12]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (13), 05.05.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Be4 7.f3 Bg6 8.Qb3 Qc7 9.Bd2 Be7 10.Be2 Bh5 11.0-0-0 dxc4 12.Qxc4 a6 13.g4 b5 14.Qd3 Bg6 15.Nxg6 hxg6 16.f4 c5 17.dxc5 Qxc5 18.Kb1 Nc6 19.Ne4 Qb6 20.Nxf6+ gxf6 21.h4 Rd8 22.Qc3 Bb4 23.Qxf6 Bxd2 24.h5 Qxe3 25.hxg6

25...Qe4+?? In the press conference Navara said he had heard that the computer says Black is winning after 25...Kd7 instead of 25...Qe4+. Now he is losing. 26.Ka1 Rf8 27.gxf7+ Kd7 28.Rxd2+ Kc7 29.Rxd8 Qxh1+ 30.Rd1 Qe4 31.Bd3 Qf3 32.Rc1 Qxd3 33.Qe7+ 1-0. [Click to replay]

Svidler-Inarkiev was Peter Svidler's second win in a row, and took him up to a 50% score. Bacrot-Carlsen was also a second consecutive win, for the highest rated (and youngest) player in the tournament. "It was a good game by Magnus," his opponent Etienne Bacrot said.

Bacrot,E (2705) - Carlsen,M (2765) [E21]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (13), 05.05.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 b6 5.Bg5 Bb7 6.Nd2 h6 7.Bh4 Nc6 8.a3 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Qe7 10.e3 g5 11.Bg3 d6 12.h4 0-0-0 13.Be2 Nd7 14.Nb3 f5 15.Qc2 Rhf8 16.f3 e5 17.hxg5 hxg5 18.0-0-0 Rde8 19.Bd3 Qf7 20.Rh6 Ba6 21.Nd2 exd4 22.exd4 Na5 23.Rdh1 Re7

24.Qa4? Both players though this was a mistake, since it allowed 24...Re3 "with the idea to take on d3 at some point" (Carlsen). 25.Rh7 Qe8 26.Qc2 Nf6 27.R7h6 Kb7 28.Bf2 Rxd3 29.Qxd3 Nd5 30.Re1 Qa4 31.Qc2 Qxa3+ 32.Qb2 Qxb2+ 33.Kxb2 Nxc4+ 34.Nxc4 Bxc4 35.Be3 g4 36.fxg4 fxg4 37.Rg6

On the Playchess server Carlsen fans were looking at 37...Re8 and a forced win: 38.Bd2 Rxe1 39.Bxe1 Nf4 40.Rxg4 Nd3+ 41.Kb1 Nxe1–+. Their collective hearts stopped when Magnus played 37...a5 and the Fritz evaluation dropped from 3.00 to 0.75. They were able to quickly work out that Black would end up with an extra pawn in an opposite bishop ending, which usually spells a dead draw. But Norwegian Magni are made of sterner stuff. With precise and imaginative play the 17-year-old took the point to join the leading group in the final table of the tournament. 38.Rxg4 a4 39.Rg3 a3+ 40.Kxa3 Ra8+ 41.Kb2 Ra2+ 42.Kc1 Nxc3 43.Bd2 Ne2+ 44.Rxe2 Bxe2 45.Rg7 Ra4 46.Bc3 b5 47.g4 Bf3 48.g5 b4 49.Bb2 Ra5 50.Kc2 Bd5 51.Re7 Bc4 52.Bc1 Rf5 53.Bd2 Rf2 54.g6 Rg2 55.g7 Kc6 56.Re8 Bf7 57.Rb8 b3+ 58.Kc3 Rxg7 59.Kb2 Bc4 60.Kc3 Kd5 61.Rb7 Rg3+ 62.Kb2 Kxd4 0-1. [Click to replay]

Final standings

And the winners of the first FIDE Grand Prix in Baku are... Wang YUE! Vugar GASHIMOV! Magnus CARLSEN!

The first three prizes are 30,000, 22,500 and 20,000 Euros, coming to a total of 72,500 Euros, which is split equally amongst the three winners, giving them 24,166.67 Euros each. The Grand Prix points are 140 + 130 + 120 = 390, which is also split equally to give each of the three players 130 points. Mamedyarov and Grischuk get 13,750 Euros and 105 GP points each. Adams and Svidler get € 10,500 and 85 points each; Radjabov, Kamsky and Karjakin € 7,333.33 and 60 points each; Cheparinov and Navara € 5250 and 35 points, and Bacrot and Inarkiev € 4250 and 15 Grand Prix points. We did the match quickly in our heads, so don't blame us for any miscalculation in the above.

Addendum: here are the official prize sums and the Grand Prix points:

So that is eleven thousand plus ten thousand divided by two equals ten thousand five hundred for each of us, and ninety plus eighty equals one hundred and seventy divided by two comes to seventy five – no hang on eighty five each. Peter Svidler and Michael Adams in conversation.

Geoffrey Borg, CEO of Global Chess, chatting with Peter Svidler, Oxana Kosteniuk looks on.

No, no, no, no, come on – it is 10,500 Euros, not dollars, dear sir...

Oxana is the sister of GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, 20 years old and a student of TV journalism at the University of Moscow. For practice she went to the Baku Grand Prix, and turned out daily reports, aired nationally on Russian TV. If you understand some Russian you can watch her reports here: Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Free Day, (you can find an index of all reports here).

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. There may be a small delay though, for technical reasons, before the charge is changed from two Ducats (twenty cents) per game to free.