Chess Classic: Mamedyarov wins Ordix Open

by ChessBase
8/4/2009 – As always, the ORDIX Open at the Chess Classic in Mainz was decided in the final rounds, with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beating Hikaru Nakamura, USA, in a critical penultimate game. The Azeri grandmaster won the event with a record-breaking ten points from eleven games. Vugar Gashimov, Vladimir Akopian and Arkadij Naiditsch followed with 9.5 points. Illustrated report.
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Chess Classic Mainz 2009

The 2009 Chess Classic took place from July 27 to August 2 in the Rheingoldhalle of the Congress Centre, Hilton Hotel in Mainz, Germany. The event included tournaments and Opens in traditional and Random Chess, with stars like the current World Champion Vishy Anand, Levon Aronian of Armenia, strong Russian junior GM Ian Nepomniachtchi and top German GM Arkadij Naiditsch.

It’s a beautiful day for Mamedyarov

By Eric van Reem

Finally he made it! He has tried six times to win one of the Opens in Mainz, but this year the Azeri grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won the ORDIX Open with a fantastic score. After 11 incredibly tough rounds he scored a record-breaking 10 points. Never before has a winner scored 10 points in the ORDIX in Mainz. Vugar Gasimov, Vladimir Akopian and Arkadij Naiditsch scored 9.5 points.


The winner of the Ordix Open: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan

Immediately after the last game against Akopian, Mamedyarov spoke about the Chess Classic to the press officers Harry Schaack and Eric van Reem. A few statements from the 24-year-old, who won the World Junior Chess Championship in 2003:

“I am very happy that I finally won one of the Open tournaments here in Mainz. I have played in six tournaments and I always had a very good start. I often won the first five or six games in a row, but when I lost one game, things went from bad to worse. It is a probably a psychological problem, because the same thing also happened in other tournaments. I can remember that I played the Tal Memorial blitz tournament and started with with 8/8. I won every game, against Anand, Polgar, you name it. Then I lost a game against Karpov, although I had a completely winning position. After that game I lost track and lost 16 games in a row! Incredible, but I am working on it. Therefore, this victory is very important for me.”


Mamedyarov vs Gabriel Sargissian in round eight (Mamedyarov won in 42 moves)

“I like to play Chess960. I enjoy the FiNet Open in which I can play Chess960. This year Grischuk was unbeatable in Chess960. It is a pity that I can only play it once a year on top level here in Mainz. I get bored from playing openings like the Slav over and over again. I think that in about 15 or 20 years we will only be playing Chess960.”

“My best game was against Evgeniy Najer and in the fourth round I played a good game against Stanislav Novikov as well. The crucial game against Nakamura was a normal game for me. Well, maybe not a good game, but still very interesting. I had a lost position in my game against Sargissian, but somehow I even managed to win the game. You need a little luck to win an Open like this. I think that you can afford to lose one game in the Open, but not more than one.”

After eight rounds in the ORDIX Open, three players were on top with 7.5 points. Arkadij Naiditsch won against Landa and Ivan Sokolov and drew against Grischuk. Mamedyarov started on Sunday with a draw, but won two games against Sargissian and a really beautiful attacking game against Najer. The newly crowned Chess960 champ Hikaru Nakamura won three games on Sunday morning against Andrei Sokolov, Gyimesi and Sasikiran. The Indian grandmaster had a completely winning position against the American but lost on time. A tragic loss.

For your pleasure, we show you the game of the winner against Najer from the seventh round:

Mamedyarov,S. (5.5) - Najer,E. (5.5)
ORDIX Open Chess Classic Mainz 2009 (7.3), 02.08.2009
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.g4 h6 8.h3 e5 9.Bd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 Re8 11.g5 hxg5 12.Nxg5 exd4 13.exd4 Nf8 14.Rg1 b5 15.c5 Bc7 16.Bd3 a5 17.Rg2 b4 18.Ne2 Ba6 19.Rdg1 Bxd3

20.Nxf7 Ne6 21.Nh6+ Kh8 22.Nf7+ Kg8 23.Nxd8 Bxc2 24.Nxe6 Rxe6 25.Rxg7+ Kh8 26.Rxc7 Rxe2

27.Rxc6 Rxf2 28.Kxc2 Rg8 29.Rxg8+ Kxg8 30.Kd3 Ne4 31.Bc1 Rf1 32.Be3 Kf7 33.Rh6 Rd1+ 34.Kc2 Re1 35.Bf4 Re2+ 36.Kb3 a4+ 37.Kxb4 Rxb2+ 38.Ka3 Rb5 39.Rb6 Nc3

40.Bd2 Nb1+ 41.Kxa4 Rxb6 42.cxb6 Nxd2 43.b7 1-0.

As always, the ORDIX Open was decided in the last three rounds. In the 9th round, Naiditsch lost a crucial game against Nakamura. The American played the Scandinavian Defence, which is not seen very often on grandmaster level. Mamedyarov won against Malakhov and Alexander Grischuk had to give up his goal of winning the FiNet and ORDIX in one year. He lost against Boris Grachev. Akopian, Bacrot and Gashimov won their games and waited for a mistake of the leaders after nine rounds, Nakamura and Mamedyarov. Both players had 8.5 points.


Playing Nakamura in round ten (Mamedyarov won in 48 moves)

In the penultimate round the leaders had to play a crucial game against each other. A very original game developed, not correct but interesting. The American seemed to have the upper hand, but Mamedyarov had enough counterplay to win one of the most important games in his career.


Mamyedarov in his game against Vladimir Akopian in the final round (draw in 23 moves)

In Mainz, 9.5 points used to be enough to secure first place, and this year three players scored 9.5 points: Arkadij Naiditsch, Vladimir Akopian and Vugar Gashimov. It was not enough to surpass the proud winner Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. In the final round a draw against Akopian was enough to secure first place with an incredible score: ten points out of eleven games! In the Chess Classic history only German GM Eric Lobron scored 10/11 games, but that was back in 1996 in Frankfurt in a field with 263 players. A beautiful day for the Azeri, and a beautiful ORDIX Open ended.


Best female player: GM Kateryna Lahno, with Victorija Cmilyte in the background left

In the ORDIX, Kateryna Lahno won the women section with eight points, Marie Sebag and Victorija Cmilyte landed on the winner’s podium as well. In the senior section, IM Rigo won with 7.5 points, just ahead of Vlastimil Hort and IM Donchenko. Mamedyarov won the combined FiNet/ORDIX event with 18.5 points, Naiditsch scored 18 points, Grischuk 17.5.

To end the coverage of the ORDIX Open 2009, we like to present the most spectacular game of the week. A textbook example of a king hunt, played in the 7th round of the ORDIX.

Sargissian,G. (5.5) - Meier,G. (5.5)
ORDIX Open Chess Classic Mainz 2009 (7.7)
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.a3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.e3 Nc6 9.Qc2 Qa5 10.0-0-0 Be7 11.h4 a6 12.Be2 dxc4 13.Ng5 h6 14.g4 Rd8

15.Nxf7 Kxf7 16.g5 Rxd1+ 17.Rxd1 Qf5 18.Qxf5 exf5 19.Bxc4+ Kg6 20.gxf6 Bxf6 21.h5+

21...Kxh5 22.Bf7+ Kg4 23.Rg1+ Kf3 24.Bd5+ Kxf2 25.Rg2+ Kf1

26.Nb1 1-0.

Final standings (8.0 points or higher)

# Player Rtng Nat.
+
=
–
Pts
 TB1 TB2
1. GM Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar 2717 AZE
9
2
0
10.0
 62.5 71.0
2. GM Naiditsch,Arkadij 2697
9
1
1
9.5
 60.5 69.0
3. GM Akopian,Vladimir 2712 ARM
8
3
0
9.5
 58.5 67.5
4. GM Gashimov,Vugar 2740 AZE
9
1
1
9.5
 56.0 69.0
5. GM Moiseenko,Alexander 2682 UKR
8
2
1
9.0
 55.5 68.5
6. GM Guliyev,Namig 2555 AZE
9
0
2
9.0
 53.0 62.0
7. GM Riazantsev,Alexander 2647 RUS
8
2
1
9.0
 51.5 63.0
8. GM Nakamura,Hikaru 2710 USA
8
1
2
8.5
 59.5 71.5
9. GM Sargissian,Gabriel 2683 ARM
8
1
2
8.5
 57.0 70.0
10. GM Bacrot,Etienne 2721 FRA
7
3
1
8.5
 56.0 70.5
11. GM Grachev,Boris 2669 RUS
8
1
2
8.5
 55.5 66.5
12. GM Lysyj,Igor 2617 RUS
8
1
2
8.5
 55.0 67.0
13. GM Jovanovic,Zoran 2539 CRO
7
3
1
8.5
 54.5 68.5
14. GM Malakhov,Vladimir 2707 RUS
8
1
2
8.5
 54.5 66.5
15. GM Khalifman,Alexander 2635 RUS
8
1
2
8.5
 53.0 64.0
16. GM Azarov,Sergei 2630 BLR
7
3
1
8.5
 52.5 64.5
17. GM Najer,Evgeniy 2663 RUS
8
1
2
8.5
 52.0 66.0
18. GM Almasi,Zoltan 2691 HUN
7
3
1
8.5
 52.0 66.0
19. GM Horvath,Adam 2506 HUN
8
1
2
8.5
 52.0 64.0
20. GM Stevic,Hrvoje 2624 CRO
7
3
1
8.5
 52.0 63.0
21. GM Lalic,Bogdan 2517 CRO
7
3
1
8.5
 51.5 62.5
22. GM Erdös,Viktor 2565 HUN
8
1
2
8.5
 51.0 58.0
23. GM Grischuk,Alexander 2733 RUS
7
2
2
8.0
 56.5 71.5
24. GM Navara,David 2709 CZE
7
2
2
8.0
 56.0 68.5
25. GM Shomoev,Anton 2580 RUS
6
4
1
8.0
 54.5 65.5
26. GM Potkin,Vladimir 2619 RUS
7
2
2
8.0
 54.0 65.0
27. GM Sokolov,Ivan 2655 BIH
7
2
2
8.0
 53.5 67.0
28. GM Meier,Georg 2658
6
4
1
8.0
 53.5 65.0
29. GM Movsesian,Sergei 2716 SVK
7
2
2
8.0
 53.0 69.0
30. GM Zvjaginsev,Vadim 2635 RUS
6
4
1
8.0
 53.0 66.5
31. GM Gyimesi,Zoltan 2595 HUN
7
2
2
8.0
 53.0 65.0
32. GM Bologan,Victor 2689 MDA
7
2
2
8.0
 52.5 68.0
33. IM Gharamian,Tigran 2615 FRA
7
2
2
8.0
 52.5 64.5
34. GM Grigoriants,Sergey 2580 RUS
7
2
2
8.0
 52.5 63.5
35. GM Novikov,Stanislav 2540 RUS
8
0
3
8.0
 52.0 65.5
36. GM Cvitan,Ognjen 2521 CRO
8
0
3
8.0
 52.0 63.5
37. IM Bokros,Albert 2501 HUN
7
2
2
8.0
 52.0 63.0
38. GM Fridman,Daniel 2665
7
2
2
8.0
 51.5 63.0
39. GM Bischoff,Klaus 2551
7
2
2
8.0
 51.5 62.5
40. GM Siebrecht,Sebastian 2458
7
2
2
8.0
 51.0 62.5
41. GM Kasimdzhanov,Rustam 2685 UZB
6
4
1
8.0
 50.0 64.5
42. IM Seel,Christian 2493
7
2
2
8.0
 50.0 64.0
43. IM Heimann,Andreas 2435
6
4
1
8.0
 50.0 62.0
44. IM Gasthofer,Alexander 2458
7
2
2
8.0
 49.0 63.0
45. GM Lahno,Kateryna 2481 UKR
8
0
3
8.0
 49.0 62.0
46. GM Andersson,Ulf 2581 SWE
7
2
2
8.0
 48.5 58.5
47. GM Ginsburg,Gennadi 2537
7
2
2
8.0
 48.0 58.5
48. WGM Sebag,Marie Rachel 2531 FRA
8
0
3
8.0
 47.0 56.5
49. Gashimov,Sarkhan 2351 AZE
8
0
3
8.0
 44.0 56.5

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