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The Vugar Gashimov Memorial, is being held in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, from the 20th to 30th of April, in memory of the great Vugar Gashimov, who passed away on the 10th of January 2014. The tournament is divided into two groups. The A Group features six players: World Champion Magnus Carlsen (2881), Fabiano Caruana (2783), Sergey Karjakin (2772), Hikaru Nakamura (2772), and the two Azeri players Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2760) and Teimour Radjabov (2713). The B group consists of ten players, the top five seeds from various countries and the bottom five are all from Azerbaijan.
| Round 6 – 26.04.14 | ||
| Mamedyarov |
0-1
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Carlsen |
| Caruana |
½-½
|
Nakamura |
| Radjabov |
½-½
|
Karjakin |
An audience waiting to see if Carlsen recovered
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 0-1 Carlsen, Magnus
The game heated up from the beginning as Mamedyarov sacrificed a pawn for central control and some typical Catalan-esque compensation. However, it doesn't seem to have been quite enough, although the engines disagree with my evaluation:
[Event "Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2014"] [Site "Shamkir"] [Date "2014.04.26"] [Round "6"] [White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2760"] [BlackElo "2881"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [EventCountry "AZE"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. Nf3 {This is not really a move I can recommend, White's position isn't equipped properly, in my opinion, to deal with Black's extra pawn.} (5. cxd5) (5. a3 {are by far and away more popular alternatives.}) 5... dxc4 6. Bg5 b5 7. a4 c6 {By a very strange move order we reach a typical structure in which Black has accepted a sacrifice on c4 and will try to hold on to his extra pawn while White looks for compensation. That being said, the queen on c2 doesn't exactly look misplaced, but I get the feeling that something more useful could have been done with that tempo.} 8. g3 Bb7 9. Bg2 Nbd7 10. O-O Qb6 {Both sides have developed quite logically. White will eventually control the center, but this is not necessarily enough to justify the sacrificed pawn. The game is full of practical chances for both sides, that much is certain.} 11. e4 (11. Ne5 $5 O-O (11... Nxe5 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. dxe5 fxe5 14. Qe4 O-O-O $13 {is hard to evaluate, but Black should be ok.}) 12. Be3 {is surprisingly annoying for Black as the queen doesn't have any great retreat squares, for example:} Qc7 (12... c5 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. Bxb7 Qxb7 15. Bxc5 Nxc5 16. Nxb5 $14) 13. axb5 Nxe5 14. dxe5 Nd5 15. Nxd5 cxd5 16. Rxa7 {and now it is Black that does not have full compensation.}) 11... a6 12. Rfd1 h6 13. Be3 O-O 14. d5 c5 {Black is very close to making his pawn a free asset. If the structure in the center is simplified there will be no counterplay for Mamedyarov.} 15. a5 Qd8 (15... Bxa5 16. dxe6 fxe6 17. e5 {leaves Black pieces in a little bit of trouble, as now his kingside is open to attacks, for example} Nd5 18. Bxh6 $1) 16. dxe6 fxe6 17. Nh4 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Qe8 19. f4 {White still fights to establish a bind on the center.} Rd8 20. h3 Rf7 21. Rd6 (21. e5 Bxg2 22. Nxg2 Nd5 $17 {achieves very little, so White cannot really push e5.}) 21... e5 22. f5 Nf8 $1 {A powerful move. Black exchanges his extra pawn for positional compensation and takes over the initiative, using the fact that e4 is particularly weak.} 23. Bxc5 Rxd6 24. Bxd6 Rd7 {White is, surprisingly, already lost.} 25. Bxf8 (25. Bb4 N8h7 26. Ng6 Ng5 27. Re1 Rd3 {And White has no way of protecting all of his weaknesses, much less of creating any kind of counterplay.}) 25... Qxf8 26. Rd1 (26. Re1 Rd3 {was hardly any better. Black has threats of Qa3, Rxg3, e4 is hanging and the White knight on h4 cannot return to the game.}) 26... Qc5+ 27. Kh2 Bxe4 (27... Bxe4 28. Bxe4 Rxd1 29. Qxd1 Nxe4 {is a hopeless position for White.}) 0-1
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov lost both of his games against Carlsen,
he will need to recover soon to leave the last position
Back to popularity!
Daniel King shows the game Mamedyarov vs Carlsen
Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ Nakamura, Hikaru
Nakamura used the Open Spanish, not the most popular guest at the top level nowadays but a variation of the Spanish that has never been refuted by any means. The typical battle of whether Black's passed pawn on d3 is weak or strong has been going on for decades without a clear solution. Caruana in this game was able to capture it, but in the process he allowed Black's pieces to become very active and his own structure was ruined, giving the American enough counter-chances to secure a draw.
Fabiano Caruana might have been surprised by the American's choice of opening
Hard to predict: Hikaru Nakamura
Radjabov, Teimour ½-½ Karjakin, Sergey
Another rare guest in 1.e4 Openings: the Italian Game. After very quick exchanges Radjabov got a miniscule advantage in the form of rook activity in the endgame. Karjakin confidently sacrificed a pawn to reach a theoretically drawn endgame, and although his stalemate trick at the end was cute it was certainly not the only way to secure the draw.
[Event "Vugar Gashimov Mem 2014"] [Site "Shamkir AZE"] [Date "2014.04.26"] [Round "6"] [White "Radjabov, Teimour"] [Black "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C53"] [WhiteElo "2713"] [BlackElo "2772"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "1R6/5p2/1P5p/6kP/6p1/6P1/1r3P2/5K2 w - - 0 39"] [PlyCount "19"] [EventDate "2014.04.20"] [SourceDate "2014.01.04"] 39. Ke1 Kxh5 {Taking this pawn looks weak as Black's king will be without moves and it is possible to Zugzwang it, but Karjakin has everything under control.} 40. b7 f5 41. Kd1 {White brings his king in taking advantage of the fact that the rook cannot leave the b-file.} Rb1+ 42. Ke2 Rb2+ 43. Kd3 Rb3+ 44. Kd4 Rb4+ 45. Kd5 Rb2 46. Ke6 Rb6+ 47. Kxf5 (47. Kd7 Rb1 {is of no help for White. As soon as he enters the c-file he will be barraged with checks until the king crosses to the 3rd rank, when Black will return the rook to b1 and the process begins anew.}) 47... Rxb7 {fancy, but not the only way to draw.} ( 47... Rb2 48. Ke6 Re2+ 49. Kd6 Rd2+ 50. Kc6 Rc2+ 51. Kb5 Rb2+ 52. Kc4 Rb1 { still leaves White with no way of making progress, but of course the move in the text is clear-cut.}) 48. Rxb7 1/2-1/2
Confident in his endgame technique,
Sergey Karjakin obtained a relatively effortless draw
Teimour Radjabov's +1 score is still good for a share of first place
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| Date | Roound | English | German |
| 27.04.2014 | Round 7 | Simon Williams | Oliver Reeh/Karsten Müller |
| 28.04.2014 | Round 8 | Yasser Seirawan | Klaus Bischoff |
| 29.04.2014 | Round 9 | Yasser Seirawan | Klaus Bischoff |
| 30.04.2014 | Round 10 | Daniel King | Klaus Bischoff |
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