Gelfand and Caruana share first in Baku

by ChessBase
10/14/2014 – The final round of the Baku Grand Prix was quite appropriate all things considered. Five of the six games drew, and this was closer to par for the event than the nervy couple of rounds towards the end, while Fabiano Caruana and Boris Gelfand, both of whom headlined the event throughout shared first. The only win was Grischuk's victory over a luckless Dominguez. Last round report.

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The first stage of the 2014-2015 FIDE Grand Prix is taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan. The tournament will run from October 1st to October 15, 2014. Some of the strongest players in the world will compete in a Round Robin event. The winner and runner-up of the Grand Prix series will earn their spot at the 2016 Candidate's Tournament.

Round Eleven

Round 11 – October 14 2014, 13:00h
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Svidler, Peter 2732
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
½-½
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
1-0
Dominguez, Leinier 2751

The final round did not see that much excitement, but there were a few games that are worthy of attention.

Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar ½-½ Kasimdzhanov, Rustam
Definitely a cool game to see. Kasimdzhanov followed in Edouard's footsteps and sacrificed an early exchange in a weird variation of the Queen's Gambit Accepted. Mamedyarov did not know what to do and his position worsened gradually. Kasimdzhanov had a chance for an absolute brilliancy, but to be fair it is beyond most top grandmaster's grasps to see the computer recommendation. Missing this chance, he simplified the game to a simple draw. Definitely an opening success, white players are going to have to be sharper against this variation if he wants an advantage.

Kasimdzhanov and Karjakin sharing a joke before the final round

Mamedyarov carried a -1 score throughout the tournament and finished there

Radjabov, Teimour ½-½ Nakamura, Hikaru
Following an old (old!? it was 2001!) game between Nikolic and Polgar the players reached a known King's Indian Fianchetto variation structure that is difficult to say really benefits White very much. Nakamura equalized comfortably and brought home a nice half point without too many troubles.

Radjabov's 50% in home court was not a bad result

Nakamura was part of the big tie for third with 6.0/11

Svidler, Peter ½-½ Gelfand, Boris
Svidler sacrificed a pawn for some initiative in a sharp Najdorf, but Gelfand showed excellent understanding of the position. By counter-sacrificing the pawn and forcing a queen trade his problems were basically solved, and an inaccurate move by Svidler made sure that White was not playing for a win. Gelfand keeps showing great preparation in both of his pet Sicilians, the Najdorf and the Sveshnikov.

A good last round draw allows Gelfand to tie for first in the tournament

Andreikin, Dmitry ½-½ Karjakin, Sergey
Karjakin's understanding of the hedgehog structures might be the best in the chess world. He had no problems defending his position against Andreikin's attempts to create any danger and simplifications kept making his task easier and easier. A draw was all either side could hope for once they entered the endgame.

Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ Tomashevsky, Evgeny
Caruana tried to go into a quick anti-Marshall variation of the Spanish, but Tomashevsky keeps proving that all of these anti-Marshalls are his home field. He never had any real problems in the position and he knew exactly how to neutralize any attempt at an attack by Caruana.

Solid Tomashevsky finished with a good +1 score
(ten draws and a win against Andreikin) and a tie for third

Grischuk, Alexander 1-0 Dominguez, Leinier
A lovely attacking game. Despite the early trade of queens it was clear that Black's king was in serious danger. The structure was too dangerous for the black monarch and a swift doubling of rooks on the h-file proved deadly to it. Despite Grischuk missing mate (!) he was still sufficiently ahead in the position to force resignation.

A disastrous event for Dominguez, who will need to recover for the future GP events

Tomorrow we will be bringing you a full report on the closing ceremony, what this tournament means to the World Championship qualification cycle, and an updated on the new top 10 of the World in the live rating list, a list that was influenced heavily by this event and the Millionaire Chess tournament in Las Vegas!

Round Eleven Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

Standings

Schedule

Round 01 – October 02 2014, 15:00h
Dominguez, Leinier 2751
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
½-½
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
0-1
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Gelfand, Boris 2748
1-0
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
½-½
Svidler, Peter 2732
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Round 02 – October 03 2014, 15:00h
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Svidler, Peter 2732
1-0
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
0-1
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Dominguez, Leinier 2751
½-½
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
Round 03 – October 04 2014, 15:00h
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
1-0
Dominguez, Leinier 2751
Gelfand, Boris 2748
1-0
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
½-½
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
½-½
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Svidler, Peter 2732
Round 04 – October 05 2014, 15:00h
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
½-½
Svidler, Peter 2732
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
1-0
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Dominguez, Leinier 2751
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Round 05 – October 07 2014, 15:00h
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Gelfand, Boris 2748
½-½
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
½-½
Dominguez, Leinier 2751
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
½-½
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Svidler, Peter 2732
½-½
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Round 06 – October 08 2014, 15:00h
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
1-0
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
1-0
Svidler, Peter 2732
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
0-1
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Dominguez, Leinier 2751
½-½
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Round 07 – October 09 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
0-1
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
½-½
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Dominguez, Leinier 2751
Svidler, Peter 2732
½-½
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
1-0
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Round 08 – October 10 2014, 15:00h
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
½-½
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
½-½
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Dominguez, Leinier 2751
0-1
Svidler, Peter 2732
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
½-½
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Gelfand, Boris 2748
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Round 09 – October 12 2014, 15:00h
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
1-0
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
1-0
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Svidler, Peter 2732
½-½
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
1-0
Dominguez, Leinier 2751
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
0-1
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
Round 10 – October 13 2014, 15:00h
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
0-1
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
Dominguez, Leinier 2751
0-1
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
1-0
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
½-½
Svidler, Peter 2732
Gelfand, Boris 2748
1-0
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
½-½
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Round 11 – October 14 2014, 13:00h
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Svidler, Peter 2732
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
½-½
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2701
Grischuk, Alexander 2797
1-0
Dominguez, Leinier 2751

Links

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