Baku R8: Inarkiev and Mamedyarov win

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 eight 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.

Inarkiev-Navara reached a typical Archangelsk Ruy Lopez position from an Anti-Marshall. This time it was Navara who got into time trouble and lost (normally this is an area where Inarkiev excels).

Inarkiev,E (2684) - Navara,D (2672) [C88]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (8), 29.04.2008
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 Re8 10.Nc3 h6 11.Bd2 Bc5 12.a4 Nd4 13.axb5 Nxb3 14.cxb3 axb5 15.Rxa8 Bxa8 16.Nxb5 d5 17.Qc2 Bb6 18.Nc3 dxe4 19.dxe4 Bb7 20.Be3 Bd4 21.Nd2 c5 22.Na4 Nd7 23.Nc4 Qe7 24.Ra1 Nf6 25.f3 Ba6 26.Bf2 Rd8 27.Ne3 Bc8 28.Rc1 Nh5 29.Nd5 Qg5

30.Nxc5 Bxh3 31.Bxd4 exd4 32.Rd1 Be6 33.Rxd4 Bxd5 34.Qd2 Qxd2 35.Rxd2 Nf6 36.b4

Navara is down to less than a minute on his clock and decides to abandon the bishop. 36...Rb8 37.exd5 Kf8 38.d6 Ke8 39.Re2+ Kd8 40.Re7 Rxb4 41.Nb7+ Kc8 42.Rc7+ Kb8 43.Na5 1-0. [Click to replay]

Mamedyarov-Karjakin was the longest game of the round, but ended with the local boy scoring a well-deserved victory after he had been much better (and a pawn up) for the biggest part of the game. The endgame with queen and three pawns vs queen and two pawns is worth watching.

Mamedyarov,S (2752) - Karjakin,Sergey (2732) [E15]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (8), 29.04.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qa4 Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nc3 Be7 10.Rd1 d6 11.Bf4 a6 12.Qa3 Ne8 13.b4 Nd7 14.Qb3 Qb8 15.Rd2 h6 16.Rad1 Qa7 17.Qa4 Ndf6 18.Nd4 Rc8 19.Nc6 Bxc6 20.Bxc6 Ng4 21.Nb5 Qb8 22.Nxd6 Bxd6 23.Bxd6 Nxd6 24.Rxd6 Ne5 25.b5 axb5 26.cxb5 Rfd8 27.Rxd8+ Rxd8 28.h3 g5 29.Rd4 Qc7 30.e3 Rc8 31.Kg2 Nxc6 32.Rc4 Qa7 33.Qc2 Ne7 34.Rxc8+ Nxc8 35.Qxc8+ Kg7 36.Qc4 Qa8+ 37.Kg1 Qa5 38.a4 h5 39.Qd4+ Kg6 40.Qe4+ Kg7 41.h4 gxh4 42.Qxh4 f6 43.Qc4 e5 44.Kf1 Qd2 45.Kg2 Qd8 46.Qc6 Kg6 47.e4 Qd1 48.Qxb6 h4 49.Qe6 hxg3 50.Qg8+ Kh6 51.Qxg3 Qxa4 52.Qd3 Qb4 53.Qd5 Qb2 54.Qc6 Kg5 55.b6 Qe2 56.Qc1+ Kg6 57.Qb1 Qg4+ 58.Kf1 Qf3 59.Qc2 Qa3 60.Kg2 Qb4 61.Qc6 Kg5 62.b7 Qb1 63.Qd5 Kf4 64.Qd2+ Kxe4 65.f3+ Kf5 66.Qd7+ 1-0. [Click to replay]

After the game match commentator GM Sergey Shipov said: "Sergey [Karjakin] is like a fish out of the water. I cannot remember any cases in the past several years where he played so unconfident. This is an effect of an excessive number of tournaments and as a result, lack of strength."

Carlsen-Cheparinov did not look too exciting, until after the game, when they discovered that White had overlooked a good opportunity.

Shake his hand? Sure, no problem. Cheparinov confers with arbiter Faik Gasanov

See, everything is hunky dorey – and Magus has a full supply of OJ for the game

Carlsen,M (2765) - Cheparinov,I (2696) [A29]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (8), 29.04.2008
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.0-0 Be7 8.a3 0-0 9.b4 Be6 10.d3 f6 11.Rb1 Nd4 12.Nd2 c6 13.e3 Nb5 14.Qc2 Nxc3 15.Qxc3 Qd7 16.Nb3 Rad8 17.Rd1 Bg4 18.Rd2 Kh8 19.Nc5 Qc8 20.Bb2 Nd5 21.Qc2 Nc7 22.Rc1 Ne6

23.h4. The petite combinaison 23.Nxb7! Qxb7 24.Qc4 (attacking the bishop and knight, which cannot be defended: 24...Bf5 25.g4) leaves White with an extra pawn and a big advantage. With the text move the Norwegian got a small edge which was not enough to overcome the Bulgarian talent. 23...Nxc5 24.bxc5 Qe6 25.d4 exd4 26.Bxd4 Rd7 27.Qe4 Qxe4 28.Bxe4 Re8 29.Bg2 Bf8 30.Rb2 Kg8 31.Rcb1 Ree7 32.Rb4 h5 33.R1b2 Kf7 34.f3 Be6 35.Kf2 g6 36.Bf1 Bg7 37.Ra4 a6 38.Rab4 f5 39.Bxg7 Kxg7 40.e4 fxe4 41.Rxe4 Bf5 42.Rxe7+ Rxe7 43.Bc4 Kf6 44.Be2 Bc8 45.Rd2 Re5 46.Rc2 a5 47.Rc3 Rd5 48.Ke3 Re5+ 49.Kf2 Rd5 50.Ke3 Re5+ 51.Kf2 ½-½. [Click to replay]

Wang Yue-Adams was a logical quick draw in a theoretical line of a Queen's/Nimzo Indian hybrid. Gashimov-Radjabov, the Azeri derby, ended in a draw when Gashimov avoided Radjabov's Jänisch with 3.Bc4 and reached a slightly better ending. Svidler-Grischuk was quite an exciting battle, starting with the rare but interesting Yandemirov Variation of the Ruy Lopez ("Another day, another opening surprise," as Svidler put it in the press conference). Kamsky-Bacrot was drawn, but also a good fighting game.

You have been following our reports, haven't you? You do know what Wang Yue is doing?

He's applying Tiger Balm White (World Famous Pain Relieving Ointment for Sore Muscles and Overexertion. Provides soothing relief for aches and pains due to backaches, arthritis, overexertion, joint pains, stiffness, sprains and cerebral numbness caused by calculating super-complicated chess lines)

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

Standings after eight 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.