7/23/2019 – After a quick loss in game one, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave evened the score of the final with a 32-move win out of an Italian Opening at the Grand Prix in Riga. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov did not react well to his opponent's unhurried approach, which provoked his position to collapse rapidly. The winner of the event will be decided on Wednesday's tiebreaks, starting at 12:00 UTC (14:00 CEST, 8:00 AM EDT). | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess
new: ChessBase 16 - Mega package Edition 2022
Your key to fresh ideas, precise analyses and targeted training!
Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.
Your key to fresh ideas, precise analyses and targeted training! Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.
The current openings theory with 1.7 million games
€69.90
Playing it cool
Instead of lashing out with some excessively aggressive opening, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave correctly predicted that his opponent would not be ready to face a quieter system and played an Italian to tie the score after his loss with the black pieces. It seems only fair for the final match-up to go to tiebreaks, as the Frenchman has accumulated enough merits in Riga to get an extra chance to claim tournament victory.
For Shakhriyar Mamedyarov — who also showed great chess throughout the event — perhaps it will be tougher to face the tiebreaker after having won the first encounter with such ease. On the other hand, he has already dealt with the pressure of playing rapid chess to break a tie in Riga (against Jan-Krzysztof Duda), a factor that might favour him on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, given the level both players have shown so far in the Latvian capital, we can only expect this to be an exciting showdown.
Match results
Click or tap any result to open the game via Live.ChessBase.com
Executive Director of the Riga City Council Juris Radzevich wanted to see an elite game starting with 1.b4 | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess
Vachier-Lagrave followed an approach in the Italian previously employed by the likes of Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen until move 14, when Mamedyarov deviated from previous encounters with 14...♜ad8. Contrary to what might be expected of someone in need of a win, the Frenchman immediately offered an exchange of bishops:
The Italian Powerbook 2019 will consist predominantly of engine games (1.026 000), with in addition top class material from Mega and a small number of correspondence games (14 000).
White played 15.♗c4, and after 15...♝xc4 16.♘xc4 Mamedyarov already made an inaccuracy with 16...♞d7. In their post-game interviews, both players were very critical of this knight retreat, as it permitted White to go for the central break 17.d4 — 16...♞g6 or the quiet 16...♜fe8 were better alternatives.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov alone on the stage | Photo: World Chess
Black's 17...♛a6 did not completely solve the problem of the queen's inactivity on the side of the board, and White did not take long to put one of his knights on the strong f5-outpost. By move 22, White's position was already highly preferable, but another knight retreat only worsened Black's position:
When Evegny Miroshnichenko asked Vachier-Lagrave at which point he felt he had a winning position, France's number one responded that he got that feeling after 22...♞c8 23.f3, when he had everything under control in the centre and imminent prospects to use his initiative on the kingside. The game continued 23...d5 24.♕f2 ♜e6 25.♕g3:
Mamedyarov had nothing better than, once again, going backwards with one of his knights — 25...♞e8. White proceeded to gain a pawn with 26.exd5 cxd5 27.♘xd5 and after 27...♚f8 he increased the pressure with 28.♕h4. Five moves later, Mamedyarov stopped the clocks, which meant rapid and blitz (if necessary) will settle the dispute.
In the actual DVD Bologan covered all answers by Black against 3.Bc4, especially 3...Bc5, presenting all relevant possibilities for White.
Mamedyarov was not overly discouraged after his loss in game two:
Of course I wanted to win without tiebreaks, but he also played very good today. For me it's okay, I mean, it's not a catastrophe. [...] Yesterday I won a good game and today he [did the same]. Tomorrow we will play again an interesting rapid match.
Meanwhile, Vachier-Lagrave pointed out the fact that he has never faced this situation — to reach tiebreaks in a knock-out tournament after "an exchange of blows". He added:
In both games, one player played well and the other didn't, so I hope we will be fresh and ready for some fight — of course the best games are games when both players play well and give a great fight.
Vachier-Lagrave has his mind set on reaching the 2020 Candidates Tournament | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess
At first glance, the Hedgehog setup might appear somewhat passive but in fact Black is always waiting to launch a counterattack. Let Yannick Pelletier provide you with a complete repertoire against the English and the Reti!
Commentary webcast
Commentary by GMs Evgeny Miroshnichenko and Arturs Neikans
Antonio PereiraAntonio is a freelance writer and a philologist. He is mainly interested in the links between chess and culture, primarily literature. In chess games, he skews towards endgames and positional play.
The new Komodo Dragon 3 engine has gained 100 Elo points in playing strength over its predecessor when using a processor core in blitz. That's a huge improvement for a program that already reached at
an Elo level of over 3500!
FIDE Grand Prix 2022: Esipenko, Giri, Vidit, Oparin, Predke, Shankland, So and Vitiugov comment + videos by Rogozenco. "Special" on Bent Larsen. Opening videos by Kasimdzhanov, Ragger and Marin. 11 opening articles with new ideas for your repertoire!
The new Opening Encyclopaedia offers fast access to all openings. Openings are sorted via the menu by name & ECO Code for fast and easy access to your favorite openings.
Throughout my playing career I have found the Hedgehog one of the most difficult type of positions to master. The basic aim of this video is to improve understanding of these complex positions and to help tournament players score better.
Studying this video course should greatly improve the viewer’s handling of dynamic pawn positions! As with all my other video courses material here is predominantly aimed at improving players and tournament players.
€29.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.