Grandmaster Chef: Alexander Grischuk

by Alexey Root
10/31/2020 – To honor Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk on his 37th birthday, October 31, National Master Mike Walder shares a recipe for a dish that Grischuk might enjoy. Walder also annotates one of Grischuk’s favorite wins, over Grandmaster Vugar Gashimov. WIM Alexey Root tells why Grischuk is a Grandmaster Chef honoree. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

Candidate Grischuk

In the 2020 Candidates Tournament, which was suspended on March 25, Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk is in fourth place (of eight players) with seven draws in seven rounds. Grischuk has played in four previous Candidates Tournaments, in 2007, 2011, 2013, and 2018.

Unlike the 2020 Candidates Tournament, which is a round robin, the 2011 Candidates Tournament had elimination matches. Grischuk reached the 2011 finals, losing to Grandmaster Boris Gelfand. By winning the 2011 Candidates Tournament, Gelfand earned the right to challenge World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand.

For that 2012 World Chess Championship match, Gelfand was 43 years old and Anand was 42 years old. At 37, Grischuk is the oldest player in the current Candidates Tournament. In 2011, Gelfand (at age 42) was the oldest player in that year’s Candidates Tournament. Just as Gelfand won ahead of the other, younger Candidates in 2011, Grischuk could win the Candidates Tournament. The 2020 Candidates Tournament is expected to resume in the spring of 2021.

Alexander Grischuk

Alexander Grischuk during the 2020 Candidates Tournament | Photo: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

20 years a Grandmaster

Grischuk earned his grandmaster title in 2000. At 27:36 into this video, Grischuk mentioned that one of his best achievements was winning the Ordix Open twice in a row, in 2003 and 2004.

Grischuk is a three-time World Blitz Champion (2006, 2012, and 2015). At his peak classical rating of 2810, for parts of 2014 and 2015, Grischuk ranked third in the world. He has been a member of the Russian team at nine Olympiads. As of October 2020, his classical rating is the sixth-highest in the world.

The recipe

Alexander GrischukIn October of 2010, Grischuk was interviewed for Crestbook. When asked his favorite food, he replied, “I can say what I don’t like, as I like almost everything else. So then, I don’t like: eggplant, zucchini, fish with bones.”

According to a November 2018 thread on Reddit, Grischuk mentioned khachapuri, a Georgian dish of cheese-and-egg filled bread. The dish is also a favorite of Judit Polgár. Since this was National Master Mike Walder’s first time baking khachapuri, he read through 20 versions of this popular dish, as posted by websites such as the Food Network.

Then Walder baked the recipe for his roommates, International Master Elliott Winslow and FIDE Master Frank Thornally. After dinner, Winslow remarked, “Frank and I liked it. I wished I’d known about khachapuri when I played in a backgammon tournament at the Cosmos Hotel, Moscow, in 1998. I bet ‘No meat, but you make me khachapuri?’ would have made their day and mine in the Georgian restaurant.”

[Pictured: Grischuk at the 1992 U-10 World Championship | Photo: Gerhard Hund]


Khachapuri by Mike Walder

Ingredients

Dough:

  • Olive oil, 1 Tablespoon plus more for the bowl
  • Milk, 1/4 cup
  • Water, 1/2 cup
  • Sugar, a pinch
  • Active dry yeast, 1 teaspoon
  • All-purpose flour, 1-3/4 cups plus more for dusting
  • Kosher salt, 1-1/4 teaspoons

Filling and Topping:

  • Mozzarella, 1 pound, shredded
  • Feta, 8 ounces, crumbled
  • Eggs, 2 large, at room temperature
  • Butter, unsalted, 2 Tablespoons, at cool room temperature, cut into 4 same-sized pieces

Directions

  1. Heat the milk and water in a small saucepan over low heat to lukewarm, between 110 and 115 degrees F. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and stir in the sugar, then sprinkle the yeast over the mixture. Cover the bowl and let stand for 10 minutes.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, add flour and whisk in salt. Make a well in the middle of and pour in the milk/yeast mixture and add the oil. Stir with a wooden spoon until the flour is incorporated and the mixture forms a sticky ball of dough. Flour your worksurface. Work the dough on the surface by hand, kneading for about 5 minutes. Add flour as needed to make the dough smooth and only slightly sticky. Add a sprinkle of water if the dough is dry and crumbling and knead again. Lightly oil the bowl and return the dough, turning it to cover the dough with oil. Loosely cover the bowl but make sure the dough can breathe: I put a plate over the bowl’s top. Set in a room-temperature location and let sit for 1.5 hours.
  3. Combine the cheeses in a bowl, toss to mix.
  4. Place oven rack in second-to-bottom slot and preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  5. Put parchment paper down on your work surface. Lightly flour the paper. By now the dough ball should have doubled in size. Deflate the dough with your hand, then form a ball with the dough. Cut the dough in half, putting one half back in bowl. 
  6. Lightly flour a rolling pin. Roll the dough into an oblong or rectangle about 10 inches long and 5 inches wide. Make two lines of cheese mixture ½ inch from both of the long sides ending about 1 inch from either side. Roll the sides of the dough over the cheese, making a “canoe” which will hold additional cheese in its center. At the top of the dough and at the bottom, twist to make the ends of the canoe. Keeping the canoe on the parchment paper, transfer the canoe to a baking sheet. Trim the excess parchment paper. Do the same thing with the second dough ball. Let your khachapuri canoes rest for 10 minutes.
  7. Add the remaining cheese mixture to the inside of each khachapuri. Put your baking sheets into the oven for 12 minutes, rotating halfway through.
  8. Open the oven and, using a teaspoon, make a well in the middle of both cheese canoes by pressing down. Fill each well with a raw egg. Return each khachapuri to the oven for 3 minutes.
  9. Remove the two khachapuris, adding butter on both sides of each egg yolk.
  10. Feeds three people.

Start eating by tearing the ends of each canoe and dipping them into the gooey egg yolk and cheese mixture, continuing dipping with the cheese-filled crusts, then resort to knives and forks when there are no more crusts to use.

Khachapuri

Khachapuri with Gashimov v Grischuk after 23.Bf4 | Photo: Elliott Winslow


The game

When asked, in 2019, to list which of his games he likes the most, Grischuk picked Grischuk-Nakamura, Moscow Grand Prix 2019; Grischuk-Rodshtein, European Team Championship 2014; and Gashimov-Grischuk, World Team Championship 2010. Walder annotates Grischuk’s king-walk win over the brilliant but short-lived Grandmaster Vugar Gashimov.

 
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 Who doesn't like a good Poisoned Pawn Variation Najdorf? It has all the elements that make for a satisfying game. White offers a pawn to further his existing lead in development. Black relies on his solid structure and defends against White's onslaught while looking for opprtunities to counter attack. Likewise, khachapuri combines the satisfying gastric delights of warm bread, melted cheese, the gooey richness of a softly-baked egg, and melted butter. 8.Qd3 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.f5 Be7 11.fxe6 fxe6 12.Be2 Qa5 13.Bd2 Qc7 14.g4 These two have battled in this exact position before, with Gashimov winning that game. 14.0-0 0-0 15.Qc4 Qd7 16.Qb3 Kh8 17.Bc4 d5 18.exd5 b5 19.Be2 Bc5 20.Kh1 exd5 21.Be3 Nc6 22.Ne6 Qxe6 23.Bxc5 Re8 24.Bf3 Bb7 25.a4 Na5 26.Qb4 Nc4 27.Rbd1 Ne4 28.Nxe4 dxe4 29.Be2 e3 30.axb5 axb5 31.Qxb5 Ba6 32.Qb4 Rab8 33.Qa4 Ra8 34.Qb4 Nd2 35.Rfe1 Ne4 36.Kg1 Rab8 37.Qd4 Nf2 38.Ra1 Bxe2 39.Rxe2 Ng4 40.h3 Ne5 41.Rxe3 Rbd8 42.Qc3 Qc4 43.Qxc4 Nxc4 Gashimov,V (2703)-Grischuk,A (2719) Elista 2008 1-0 (64) 14...h6 15.Qh3 White has compensation for his pawn, but Black is quite solid. All three results are possible. Rh7!?N A surprising move. Kind of like biting into a crust and finding melted cheese. 15...e5 16.Nf5 Bxf5 17.gxf5 Nbd7 18.0-0 Rf8 19.Bh5+ Kd8 20.Be2 b5 21.Kh1 Rb8 22.a3 Rf7 23.Qg2 Ke8 24.Rf3 Qc6 25.Rg3 Bf8 26.Rd3 Rc8 27.Re3 Qa8 28.h3 Qa7 29.Rd3 Nc5 30.Re3 Kd8 31.Qg6 Rcc7 32.a4 Nxa4 1/2-1/2 (32) Berlinger,G (2516)-Fajs,B (2479) ICCF email 2009 16.Rf1 Nc6 17.Nxc6 Qxc6 18.e5?! 18.Rb3 Bd7 19.Bd3 0-0-0 20.e5 18...dxe5 19.Bd3 e4 20.Nxe4 Nxe4 21.Qh5+ 21.Qe3 Nxd2 22.Bg6+ Kd8 23.Qxd2+ Bd7 24.Bxh7 Rc8= 21...Kd7 22.Rd1 Rh8 23.Bf4? This natural-looking move gets hit by a shot. Bb4+! 24.c3 Nxc3-+ Warm, savory and rich. This is really quite delightful. 25.Bd2 Qd5 26.Rf7+ Kc6 27.Rc1 Kb6 28.Be3+ Ka5 29.a3 Ka4 Everything for Black works together nicely. 30.axb4 Qxd3 31.Qa5+ Kb3 32.Rxc3+ Qxc3+ 33.Bd2 b6 34.Qxb6 Qe5+ 35.Kd1 Bb7 36.Qxb7 Rhd8 37.Rf3+ Ka2 38.Rf2 Kb1 39.Qf3 Rac8 40.Qb3+ Qb2 41.Qxb2+ Kxb2 White is down too much material. Black can simplify to an easily-won game. Sometimes vengeance can be served warm, with butter on it. 0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gashimov,V2759Grischuk,A27360–12010B97WchT 7th4.1

Learn the opening of the masters from one of the world's most popular master trainers! Daniel King shows you a rock-solid and powerful Najdorf repertoire.


Links


Alexey was the 1989 U.S. Women's Chess Champion and is a Woman International Master. She earned her bachelor’s degree in History at the University of Puget Sound and her doctoral degree in Education at The University of California, Los Angeles. She has been a Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Studies at UT Dallas since 1999 and is a prolific author.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

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.