Baku R5: Wang Yue beats Karjakin with the Berlin

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 five report

Guns? Explosives? Wireless Bluetooth receiving devices? Alexander Grischuk is checked at the entrance to the playing venue, Michael Adams waits for his turn.

Go on, Sasha, tell us: what did they find? Peter Svidler (the skinny guy in the middle) want to know.

You keep grilling him, Peter, while I check the board for suspicious devices...

Gashimov-Mamedyarov, the local derby, was the first game to end in a peaceful 26-move draw – by repetition, how else? We are sure that our never-ending draw debate will come up with numerous imaginative solutions to this residual problem.

Experience vs youth – remember when the first epithet used to automatically apply to Gata?

Carlsen-Kamsky was a topical line of the Caro-Kann, with Carlsen popping a very interesting novelty, 19.g4, into play. Things were looking good for the Norwegian, but the experienced Kamsky wisely decided to return the pawn and held the draw. "White was pressing all the time but Black was solid enough to hold it," said the American GM. There is an extensively annotated version of the game by GM Sergey Shipov on the tournament site.

Radjabov-Inarkiev started quite originally. "If I had seen these moves in an amateur game, I would have told the players that they didn't know the opening principles," GM Sergey Shipov remarked. But a more profound analysis showed that the two GMs actually played quite reasonable and accurately. A sharp series of moves resulted in an extra pawn for Black, but White had good compensation. The game ended on move 39 with a – you guessed it – repetition of moves.

Going for a draw from move one: Ivan Cheparinov scored his first half-point in this event

Cheparinov-Svidler was the last game to finish. The Bulgarian went for the draw from move one, "to get rid of that annoying zero in the standings," the tournament bulletin says. And Ivan the Unlucky succeeded. At some point he even seemed close to a win. Congratulations to Cheparinov for breaking the frightening chain of four consecutive losses in the first four rounds.

Karjakin-Wang Yue saw the Chinese GM go for the notorious Berlin Defence in the Ruy Lopez. That normally indicates that Black is going to defend and try to hold a draw. But soon Wang Yue had managed to equalize and then Karjakin started to play dubious moves.

Watching him suffer: the Chinese GM won a point on the black side of the Berlin Defence

Karjakin,Sergey (2732) - Wang Yue (2689) [C67]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (5), 25.04.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 Ke8 10.h3 Be7 11.g4 Nh4 12.Nxh4 Bxh4 13.Bf4 Be6 14.Kg2 Be7 15.Rfd1 Rd8 16.f3 h5 17.b3 a5 18.Ne2 a4 19.Nd4 Ra8 20.Nxe6 fxe6 21.Bg3 g6 22.Be1 c5 23.c4 b6 24.Bc3 Kf7 25.Rd2 axb3 26.axb3 Rxa1 27.Bxa1 Ra8 28.Bb2

28...Bg5! 29.f4 Bxf4 30.Rf2 g5 31.Bc1 hxg4 32.hxg4 Kg6 33.Bxf4 gxf4 34.Rxf4 Kg5 35.Rf6 Kxg4

36.Rxe6? Experts in Baku suggested that 36.Kf2! Ra3 37.Ke3! Rxb3+ 38.Ke4 Rc3 39.Rg6+! Kh5 40.Rxe6 Rxc4+ 41.Kf5 should be enough to draw. 36...Kf5 37.Re7 Ra3 38.e6 Rxb3 39.Kf2 Rb4 40.Rxc7 Kxe6 41.Rh7 Rxc4 42.Rh6+ Kd5 43.Rxb6 Re4 44.Rb1 c4 45.Re1 c3 46.Rxe4 Kxe4 47.Ke1 0-1. [Click to replay]

Navara-Bacrot was a Chebanenko Slav in which the French GM produced a strong novelty (12...Be7!) and standing better after the opening. But then Navara just played very accurately and a dead drawn position was reached in which the players had to make many more moves, to "obey the local law". "I just decided to play on and create some little threats. The Sofia rule isn't bad, but sometimes it's a bit ridiculous," Navara said. "But we always find a way to draw anyway." Etienne Bacrot could only agree with those words.

Grischuk-Adams was a close call for the British GM, who mixed up two systems and thought that his position was on the verge of collapse. But somehow Grischuk was not able to make the full point.

Grischuk,A (2716) - Adams,Mi (2729) [A17]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (5), 25.04.2008
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3 6.Qxc3 b6 7.e3 c5 8.Be2 d6 9.0-0 Bb7 10.b4 e5 11.bxc5 bxc5 12.d4 exd4 13.exd4 Re8 14.Re1 cxd4 15.Nxd4 Nc6 16.Nxc6 Bxc6 17.Be3 Ne4 18.Qd4 Nc5 19.Rad1 Ba4 20.Rb1 Rc8 21.h3 Rc7 22.Qc3 Rce7 23.Bf3 h6 24.Bd5 Qc7 25.Bd4 Rxe1+ 26.Rxe1

Optically this looks crushing for White, doesn't it. But: 26...Ne6 27.Bxe6 Rxe6 28.Rxe6 fxe6 29.c5 dxc5 30.Bxc5 a6 31.Qd4 Qd7 32.Qxd7 Bxd7 33.Bd4 Kf7 34.Kh2 g5 35.g4 Kg6 36.Kg3 h5 37.gxh5+ Kxh5 38.Bf6 Kg6 39.Bd8 Kf5 40.h4 gxh4+ 41.Bxh4 ½-½. GM Sergey Shipov couldn’t find a better way to play for White in this game: "For this we probably need somebody like Kramnik." [Click to replay]

Standings after five 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