Baku R7: Four wins in a fighting round

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 seven 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.

Gashimov-Kamsky gave Gata Kamsky his first loss and put an end to his lead in this tournament. On the other hand it gave the local boy Vugar Gashimov, playing his first top tournament, a taste of being on the top of the table. Gashimov simply outplayed the US grandmaster.

Gashimov,V (2679) - Kamsky,G (2726) [C88]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (7), 28.04.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Qd7 11.Nbd2 Rfe8 12.Nf1 Nd8 13.Ng3 Ne6 14.Ba2 c5 15.Bd2 Bf8 16.b4 h6 17.c4 Nf4 18.Re3 bxc4 19.dxc4 Ne6 20.Bb1 g6 21.Re1 Qc7 22.Bd3 Bg7 23.Rb1 Nd7 24.Ne2 Nd4 25.Nc3 Rec8 26.Rc1 Qd8 27.Nd5 Bc6 28.Bf1 Nf8 29.Nxd4 exd4 30.f4 Nd7 31.Qf3 Rcb8 32.Qg3 cxb4 33.axb4 a5 34.b5 Bxd5 35.cxd5 Nc5 36.e5 a4 37.Bb4

Black is under tremendous pressure, but he can still hope to survive, until he blows it all with 37...a3? 38.Bxa3 d3 39.Bxc5 d2 40.Bxd6 Rb7 41.Red1 dxc1Q 42.Rxc1. Black has won an exchange but White has three pawns for it. Now there is no longer hope in the position. 42...Rba7 43.Qb3 Ra1 44.Bc7 Qh4 45.Rxa1 Rxa1 46.Qf3 Qe1 47.b6 Qb4 48.d6 Qd4+ 49.Kh2 Rb1 50.b7 Rxb7 51.Qxb7 Qxf4+ 52.g3 1-0. [Click to replay]

Radjabov-Carlsen thrilled the public in Baku and on the Internet all over the world by following one of the sharpest possible lines of the Sicilian Dragon. It was a surprising choice by Carlsen – "apparently the fire-spitting animal isn’t as calm and gentle as GM Sergey Shipov described yesterday," we are informed by the tournament bulletin. The Norwegian was clearly out to win and took a number of risks to achieve this end. But just when he was about to reap the rewards for his bravery he ran into trouble.

Radjabov,T (2751) - Carlsen,M (2765) [B77]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (7), 28.04.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.Bb3 Rc8 11.h4 h5 12.0-0-0 Ne5 13.Bg5 Rc5 14.Kb1 Re8 15.g4 hxg4 16.h5 Nxh5 17.Rxh5 gxh5 18.Qh2 Ng6 19.Qxh5 Qa5 20.f4 Rxg5 21.fxg5 e6 22.Nf5 exf5 23.Qxg6 Be6 24.Qh5 fxe4 25.Rf1 Qe5 26.Rxf7 Bxb3 27.axb3 g3 28.Ka2 Rf8 29.Rxf8+ Kxf8 30.Qg4 e3 31.g6

Black is a pawn up well on the way to victory. But in time touble he blunders: 31... e2?? Carlsen only calculated lines with 32.Qc8+, overlooking the white defence 32.Qd7! That simply forces a draw: 32...Qe7 33.Qc8+ Qe8 34.Qf5+ Kg8 35.Qd5+ Kh8 36.Qh1+ Kg8 37.Qd5+ etc. However his opponent was also in time trouble and overlooked this resource. 32.Qf3+?? After this the younger of the two former child prodigies made no mistakes, got himself a second queen and took a second full point in this tournament. 32...Ke8 33.Qf7+ Kd8 34.Qg8+ Kd7 35.Qf7+ Qe7 36.Qf5+ Kd8 37.Qa5+ b6 38.Qd5 e1Q 39.Qa8+ Kd7 40.Qb7+ Ke8 0-1. [Click to replay]

Cheparinov-Mamedyarov saw the remarkable comeback of the Bulgarian grandmaster continue. We recall: Cheparinov lost the first four games of this event, drew number five and has now won six and seven. If he wins eight and nine what will happen in game ten? You can speculate to your heart's content – modern science has no clear answer to this question.

Cheparinov,I (2696) - Mamedyarov,S (2752) [D43]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (7), 28.04.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 0-0 7.Qc2 Nbd7 8.a3 h6 9.Bh4 a6 10.Rd1 b6 11.Bd3 Bb7 12.0-0 Rc8 13.Bg3 dxc4 14.Bxc4 b5 15.Ba2 c5 16.d5 exd5 17.Nxd5 Nxd5 18.Bxd5 Bxd5 19.Rxd5 Qe8 20.Bd6 c4 21.Rfd1 Bxd6 22.Rxd6 Nc5 23.Nd4 g6 24.h4 h5 25.Nf3 Qe7 26.Ng5 Rcd8

Let the fun begin: 27.Nxf7 Rxd6 28.Nxd6. In the press conference Cheparinov said he though that White was winning. 28...Kh7. Mamedyarov thought that 28...Qe6 or 28...Rf6 were more sound. 29.Rd4 Nd3? This is a mistake – 29...Rd8 would probably still have held the draw. 30.Ne4 Kh6 31.Qd2? Qxh4 32.f4 Rd8 33.Rxd8 Qxd8 34.Qc3.

Once again Black has fought his way back into the drawing margin, but now, five moves before the time control, he makes the final mistake: 34...Qe7?? Abandoning the critical h8-square. 34...Qf8 was the move to play. 35.Qh8+ Qh7 36.Qd8 Qa7 37.Kh2 h4 38.Qxh4+ Kg7 39.Qf6+ Kh6 40.Nd6 Kh7 1-0. [Click to replay]

Karjakin-Inarkiev proved that the 18-year-old Ukrainian is made of fairly stern stuff. After two losses he bounced back to win a game and balance his score at 50%. Ernesto Inarkiev has now taken over the bottom of the table (from Cheparinov), with four losses, two draws and one victory.

Karjakin,Sergey (2732) - Inarkiev,E (2684) [C99]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (7), 28.04.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Nc6 14.Nb3 a5 15.Be3 a4 16.Nbd2 Bd7 17.Rc1 Qb7 18.Nf1 Rfe8 19.Ng3 Bd8 20.Qe2 h6 21.Bd3 Rb8 22.dxe5 Nxe5 23.Nxe5 dxe5 24.b4 axb3 25.axb3 Bb6 26.b4 Rec8 27.Kh2 Be6 28.Rxc8+ Qxc8 29.Rc1 Qd8 30.Bxb6 Rxb6 31.Qe3 Qb8 32.Qc5 Bd7 33.Ra1 Rc6 34.Qe3 Rd6 35.Ne2 Bc6 36.f3 Nd7 37.Ra5 Rd4 38.Qd2 Rd6 39.Ng3 Nf8 40.Qc3

Here the time trouble king of the tournament falters, on the last move before the time control: 40...Qb6? Tournament analyst Sergey Shipov gives 40…g5! 41.Qxe5 Nd7 42.Qc3 h5! as the better line. 41.Nf5 Rd7 42.Bxb5 Rd1 43.Ne3 1-0. Shipov writes: "The problem lies in Ernesto’s psychological state of mind. He has to forget whom and where he is playing! He has to play the way he can, and his fans know that he can do much better." [Click to replay]

Navara-Svidler, Grischuk-Wang Yue and Adams-Bacrot were all ½-½. There are summaries of these games on the round seven report page of the official tournament site.

Chinese GM Wang Yue leads (with Gashimov and Grischuk) after seven rounds

A mysterious substance that Wang Yue applies under his eyes before each round

Insiders will recognize it as Tiger Balm, a heat rub invented by herbalist Aw Chu Kin in the 1870s and manufactured by his sons Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, who became so so wealthy from this single product that they built the unbelievable Tiger Balm Gardens in Hong Kong and Singapore. Wang Yue is using Tiger Balm White, which is for headaches, nasal congestion, stuffy nose, insect bites and itchiness – and not for enhancing your ability to calculate chess combinations.

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

Standings after seven 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.