FIDE Grand Prix - Geneva: Alexander Grischuk joins the lead

The Grand Prix is being organized by Agon Limited, the commercial partner of the World Chess Federation, the game’s governing body. Agon has the exclusive commercial rights to organize the cycle of the World Championship.

Each Grand Prix has a prize fund of 130,000 euros, and the Geneva Grand Prix is supported by EG Capital Advisors, Kaspersky Lab and S.T. Dupont.

Twenty-four of the world’s best players are competing in the Grand Prix, with 18 of them participating in each of the tournaments. They will play a nine round swiss open played at 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move one.

The tournament runs from June 6-15, with a rest day on June 11 after round five. Each round starts at 2 pm local time (8 am New York time).

Round five

Photos by World Chess

Superficially, one might be dismayed to see a third straight round fairly light on the action, with a number of listless draws, and only one win having a direct bearing on the events standings. However, for a lot of those players, at least those who have not given up on their ambitions, these quick draws are the least desirable outcome possible. Let’s take a look at the Grand Prix standings table below, pruned down to only the candidates who have realistic chances.

It was a quick draw between the two Azeri players, Mamedyarov and Radjabov, but an expected one

This is not to exclude any great underdog tales from taking place, and we’ll be the first to cheer should any happen, but until such a scenario unfolds, let’s stick with likely scenarios and their permutations.

The clearest candidates for the two top spots in the Grand Prix are of course Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Ding Liren. Mamedyarov has a total of 280 points, and should he get a piece of first or sole second as he did in Moscow, his place is guaranteed. The point is ‘if’ he does this. If he does not, and scores some 70-71 points, then a lot of things could happen, and he might find himself outside, even if unlikely. Ding Liren’s situation is a bit less secure, though he did wonders for his chances by winning the Moscow GP outright, and the only way he could guarantee his place would be with another win in his third event in Palma de Mallorca. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alexander Grischuk are the ones who are sweating here. Not only do they need to hope one of those two players sips up a bit, but they absolutely need to win their own respective third events as well. MVL is not playing here, so it is really a matter for Grischuk.

Richard Rapport and his wife enjoy some time together before the game

Alexander Grischuk has 211 points, and 140 is unlikely to be enough, especially if that means sharing those 140 with Mamedyarov. By winning his game today, he moved into shared first with Teimour Radjabov, making his chances for a sole first much more real, and placing pressure on his other rivals to not underperform. As cruel as it might seem to say, it is not enough to run two thirds of a great race. It is still the finish line that counts.

Alexander Grischuk's win in the fifth round was more than simply sporting interest. He transformed an English into a reversed Accelerated Dragon with some fascinating play. First take a look at the standard Accelerated Dragon with which to compare it to:

Now see the English Opening that became of the game in Eljanov-Grischuk:

Pavel Eljanov - Alexander Grischuk (annotated by GM Krikor Mekhitarian)

What about players such as Anish Giri, Peter Svidler, Teimour Radjabov and Dmitry Jakovenko? Having only played one event so far out of three, they are under the most pressure to win the event outright, and tie with Ding Liren. Radjabov’s great start with 2/2 seems to have cooled off some, but there are still four rounds to go, and the Azeri has unquestionably put added his name to the hat.

So what about Levon Aronian for example? Needless to say, even two clear wins might not be enough, and he would still need for favorable conditions with one of the others to score worse. However, being the great competitor he is, he will no doubt just do what he can to ensure his part, and then cross his fingers.

Levon Aronian and Peter Svidler enjoying the beauty of Geneva

Hikaru Nakamura’s situation relative to the Grand Prix standings is no longer in his hands right now, and he will know by the end of this tournament whether he can still fight for a spot or not in Palma, or whether he will be fighting just for that tournament’s laurels.

Be sure to follow the action in the latter half of the event after the rest day on Tuesday, as the stakes are at their highest and players will show their mettle.

Standings after five rounds

Links

• Official tournament site
• All games in PGN or Replay them directly here (many analyzed)

You can use ChessBase 14 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.