Grischuk wins Sharjah FIDE Grand Prix

by Albert Silver
2/28/2017 – Without taking anything away from his last-minute wresting of the gold from the two previous leaders, Alexander Grischuk's win of the FIDE Grand Prix in Sharjah was a bit of a disappointment, not for the result, much less the player, but because of the extremely modest 5.5/9 score required to do so. In many ways, it reflected the very sedate event and its astonishingly high draw rate. Here is the final report with analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky.

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The time control in the GP tournaments is 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 first leg, in Sharjah, was held February 18 - 27 (with a rest day on the 23rd) at the Sharjah Cultural & Chess Club. The first prize was €20,000; the total prize fund was €130,000. 

2017 Sharjah GP Participants

All photos by Max Avdeev

"This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper."

--- T.S. Eliot (The Hollow Men)

This very famous line that ends the poem by T.S. Eliot also symbolizes the tournament in Sharjah, and while some will argue that this is the nature of elite chess, it is not so simple. The question is not simply the 74% draw rate. In spite of what naysayers might claim, it is not really common. For example the recently held Tata Steel tournament, with no less an elite field, saw just over 62% draws.

Still, the question is not so much whether a game saw a split point or not, but how it reached its final result. Of the 60 draws in Sharjah, 18 ended in 23 moves or less, and a number in 20 or less, often with almost all pieces still on the board and no obvious reason why the hands were shaken.

Hopefully, the organizers can find a way to motivate players to put up more of a fight, as this sort of display of bloodless bouts is detrimental to the extreme for professional chess on all levels. Football games sometimes end in 0-0 scores, but can you imagine if the captains decided to shake hands 20 minutes after the whistle, and everyone walked off the pitch?

Even the players felt this, as Pavel Eljanov expressed on his Facebok page

"It was one of the most boring tournaments I ever played with so many quick draws every round." -- Pavel Eljanov

For the final round, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is shown a crystal ball

After a tough start, Richard Rapport staged a good recovery and reached 50%, but no more. Though perfectly respectable, there is no question the Hungarian talent will be seeking to shine in his next participation.

Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, also the top seed of the event, started with a blistering 2.0/2. Unfortunately those were his last win, and seven draws later, found himself second on tiebreak. An excellent result, but one he had to feel he could have improved.

The number one female player in activity, Hou Yifan, had a reasonable 4.0/9 considering the field. Having now foregone for good (at least for now) women's chess, this is exactly the sort of battleground she needs to gain the experience against the elite.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov will leave with a slightly bittersweet taste in his mouth. His tie for first, though third on tiebreak came down to his defeat in the eleventh hour to Grischuk, a loss he need not have suffered. He recovered well by beating Hou Yifan in a good game in the last round, but will no doubt feel he is the one who should be at the top of the podium.

Annotating the games in this last crucial round is Alex Yermolinsky with his unique style

S. Mamedyarov vs Hou Yifan (annotated by Alex Yermolinsky)

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1.e41,165,57054%2421---
1.d4946,47455%2434---
1.Nf3281,31256%2441---
1.c4181,93756%2442---
1.g319,68856%2427---
1.b314,23654%2427---
1.f45,88648%2377---
1.Nc33,79651%2384---
1.b41,75348%2380---
1.a31,19754%2403---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d394850%2378---
1.g466246%2361---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c342651%2425---
1.h327956%2416---
1.a410860%2468---
1.f39147%2431---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 3...c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 Bd6 6.e4 Bc7 7.Nf3 d6 8.h3 0-0 9.Bd3 Ba5 The original Snake Benoni 4.f3 Mamedyarov's favorite reply to the Nimzo. He took up where Shirov blazed the trail some twenty years ago, and ever since the Azeri star has been the main driving force behind the development of this line. c5 Transposing to a Snake Benoni is one of many options available for Black. The advantage is in getting there quicker, but the question still remains how good Black's position really is. Karpov used to play 4...d5 and there's 4...0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nh5 Karjakin-Carlsen, 2014. 5.d5 0-0 5...b5 6.e4 0-0 transposes. 6.e4 b5 Some player prefer to hide their intentions a bit and first go 6...d6 Just five days ago it was seen in a blitz game between Mamedyarov and So. There followed 7.Bd3 b5 7...Nbd7 8.Nge2 Ne5 gets the bishop, but White may be OK with that as 9.Bg5 creates problems with the pin. 8.Nge2 bxc4 9.Bxc4 exd5 10.Bxd5 Nxd5 11.Qxd5 this appears to be the problem with putting the pawn on d6 - Black doesn't have Nc6 to save the rook. Wesley, as we might always expect, had something prepared. Qb6 12.Bf4 Be6 13.Qxa8 Nc6 14.Qxf8+ Kxf8 15.Bxd6+ Kg8 16.0-0-0 Na5 with extra-sharp play. In the end of that crazy game Shakh was able to inflict a rare defeat on the hard-to-beat Wesley 7.e5 No looking back. The positional approach 7.Nh3 d6 8.Nf4 e5 9.Nfe2 spends too much time, and Black gets to start his own play with Nh5 10.g4 Qh4+ 11.Kd2 Nf4 12.Nxf4 exf4 13.Kc2 occured in Eljanov-Harikrishna, Stavanger 2016. 7...Ne8 8.f4 d6 9.Nf3 exd5 10.cxd5 Nc7 The game that started it all was a classic battle Shirov-Kramnik, Shanghai 2010: 10...c4 11.a4 Bg4 11...Nd7 12.Be2 Qb6 13.axb5 Nc7 in the later game Mamedyarov-Karjakin. 12.axb5 Nd7 13.e6 fxe6 14.dxe6 Nb6 15.Be2 Nc7 16.Ng5 Bxe2 17.Qxe2 d5 Possibly better was 17...Qf6 18.0-0 h6 19.Nce4 Qf5 18.0-0 Qf6 19.f5! leading to a victory for the Latvian. 11.a4 There comes a novelty. 11.Bd3 c4 12.Be4 f5! worked out well for Black number of times, including Shirov-Grandelius, 2016. 11...Bb7 12.Bd3 h6? Hou chooses the wrong way to secure the king. Granted, it was hard to ignore the threat, but 12...Nxd5 13.Bxh7+ Kxh7 14.Ng5+ Kg8 14...Kg6 15.f5+ crashes 15.Qh5 Qxg5 16.fxg5 Nxc3 might just be playable for Black, e.g. 17.0-0 g6 18.Qg4 Nc6 19.bxc3 Bxc3 20.Ra3 Bd4+ 21.Be3 b4 Best was 12...g6 13.0-0 c4 14.Be4 Nd7 15.exd6 Ne8 13.0-0 Bxc3 Now in case of 13...c4 White has a powerful idea in 14.Bb1 dxe5 15.fxe5 Nxd5 16.Qc2 14.bxc3 dxe5 15.axb5 e4 15...Nxd5 16.fxe5 with his bishop pair and strong pawn on b5 White should be very optimistic here: Nxc3 17.Qd2 Nd5 18.Be4 Qd7 19.Ba3± 16.Bxe4 Bxd5 17.Bb1! Nd7 18.c4! Bb7 Naturally, not 18...Bxc4? 19.Qc2 but 18...Bxf3 19.Qxf3 Ne6 was a must, although I doubt Black can survive this. 19.Ra3! Shakh is incredibly strong in such positions. Ne6 20.Qc2 A mere extra pawn after 20.Rd3 Bxf3 21.Qxf3 Nd4 22.Qf2 Qc7 23.Bb2 Nf6 24.Bxd4 etc. was not good enough for Shakh. 20...Nf6 21.Bb2 Ne4 Black should have tried her luck in the endgame: 21...Be4 22.Bxf6 Bxc2 23.Bxd8 Bxb1 24.Be7 Rfe8 25.Bxc5 Nxc5 26.Rxb1 Re4 although White then has the powerful 27.b6 22.Rd3 Qc7 23.f5 Black's pieces are totally overwhelmed. Nd4 24.Nxd4 cxd4 25.Bxd4 a6 26.b6 Qc6 27.f6 Rfd8 28.fxg7 Rd6 29.c5 Rg6 30.Ba2 Ng5 31.Rg3 Nh3+ one last try, but 32.Kh1 forced resignation. It seemed Hou was a bit out of her league challenging Shakh in his home turf, but overall, she showed solid play in Sharjah. Shakh, in his stead, must be content with making up for his loss to Grischuk in the previous round and gaining a share of first place. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Mamedyarov,S2766Hou,Y26511–02017E20FIDE Grand Prix I9

Hikaru Nakamura was another player who came close to threatening the top spots, but never quite succeeded in making it past that threshold

Ding Liren came with a desire to show his stuff, and had mixed results. An unfortunate opening loss no doubt marred his final result, though he came back with a win. One knows he will be fighting for top spots in future events.

Levon Aronian had an indifferent tournament at best. The effort seemed ot be lacking as well. It isn't so much the eight draws he finished with and one last-round loss, but that four of those draws were among the shortest, and still ended with a board full of pieces. A player such as Carlsen would have considered those positions as the start of the fight, not the end.

Ding Liren vs Levon Aronian (annotated by Alex Yermolinsky)

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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.d4 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bf4 Bd6 11.Qc1 a5 12.Nc3 Na6 13.Bd2 Nb4 14.Qb1 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 c6 16.Rd1 Qe7 17.Ne4 Nxe4 18.Qxe4 Rfd8 19.Bc3 Rd7 20.Rd2 Qd8 21.Rad1 Be7 22.h4 Rb8 23.e3 Nd5 24.Qc2 Qc7 25.Kg2 g6 26.h5 Bf8 27.e4 Nb4 28.Qb3 A pretty routine play up this point kept a small advantage for White, but here Aronian, who was for sure frustrated with the way this tournament had gone for him, lashed out with the uncharacteristic c5? opening up the d-file and the light squares for the opponent. 29.dxc5 Rxd2 30.Rxd2 Qxc5 31.Rd7 b5 32.axb5 Qxb5 33.Qd1 The threat of Qd4 appears for the first time, and it won't be the last. Nc6 34.Be2 Qb6 35.Bc4 Rb7 36.b3 Qa7 37.Rd6‼ How about that instead of the standard 37.Rd3 Qc5 38.Qf3 Qe7 39.Rd1 37...Bxd6 The idea is visible in 37...Qc5 38.Rxc6 Qxc6 39.Qd4 so, Black's best was 37...Rc7 38.Qxd6 Qb6 The bishops rule the roost in case of 38...Rc7 39.Bf6 Qb8 40.hxg6 hxg6 41.Bb5! Qc8 and it will be over once the white queen finds her way to the h-file: 42.Qc5 Ne7 43.Qg5 Qf8 44.Qh4 39.Qf4 Kf8 No salvation was to be found in 39...gxh5 40.Qf6 Kf8 40...e5 41.Bd5 Rc7 42.Bxe5 41.Bxe6 Nd8 42.Qg7+ Ke7 43.Bd5 40.Bxe6 Nb4 41.Qf6 Nd3 41...Qxe6 42.Qd8+ Qe8 43.Bg7+ 42.Bd4 Qd6 43.Be3 Ne1+ 44.Kf1 A nice note for Ding to finish the tournament he started with the disheartening loss with White to Rapport. We all know the Chinese star is going to be a contender for the top places in the entire Grand Prix series, while Levon's army of fans once again are left scratching their heads. 1–0
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Ding,L2760Aronian,L27851–02017E05FIDE Grand Prix I9

If you enjoyed Yermolinsky's analysis, be sure to check out the next issue of ChessBase Magazine where a more in-depth version of his analysis will appear.

The Russian champion Alexander Riazantsev will leave the most disappointed. He knew he was one of the event underdogs by virtue of his rating, but by wining the Russian championship, he had shown his ability to successfully navigate an event with very strong players. With three straight losses in rounds six to eight, it was not meant to be.

Ian Nepomniachtchi's final plus one score was about par for his rating, and he showed he was well-equipped to stand toe-to-toe with the rest

Pavel Eljanov showed excellent fighting spirit through and through, and although things seemed to be heading south as he lost two games near the end, he got back to 50% with two wins in the last two rounds.

Alexander Grischuk played a classic event in terms of grandmaster strategy: draw with black and win with white. This reflected not just in where the points came from, but the length of his games, in whcih three of his four blacks were 20-odd moves at best, while the games with white were mostly protracted affairs pushed to the end. His first-place win on tiebreak was a sign of the successfulness of this approach, so there is little one can say, other than: what would have happened had he pursued his black games with the same energy?

Round 9 on 2017/02/27 at 15:00

Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2796 5 ½ - ½ 5 Grischuk Alexander 2742
Nakamura Hikaru 2785 ½ - ½ Adams Michael 2751
Jakovenko Dmitry 2709 ½ - ½ Nepomniachtchi Ian 2749
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2766 1 - 0 4 Hou Yifan 2651
Ding Liren 2760 4 1 - 0 4 Aronian Levon 2785
Rapport Richard 2692 4 ½ - ½ 4 Li Chao B 2720
Vallejo Pons Francisco 2709 4 ½ - ½ 3 Tomashevsky Evgeny 2711
Eljanov Pavel 2759 1 - 0 Salem A.R. Saleh 2656
Riazantsev Alexander 2671 ½ - ½ 3 Hammer Jon Ludvig 2628

Round nine games (with times per move)

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1.Nf3 (0) Nf6 (21) 2.c4 (0) e6 (7) 3.g3 (2) d5 (6) 4.Bg2 ( 04) Be7 (7) 5.0-0 (4) 0-0 (6) 6.d4 (6) dxc4 (6) 7.Qc2 (5) a6 ( 06) 8.a4 (7) Bd7 (4) 9.Qxc4 (10) Bc6 (6) 10.Bf4 (14) Bd6 (8) 11.Qc1 ( 00:06) a5 (8) 12.Nc3 (2:59) Na6 (14) 13.Bd2 (9) Nb4 (1:52) 14.Qb1 (6) Bxf3 (1:55) 15.Bxf3 (5) c6 (6) 16.Rd1 ( 03:31) Qe7 (32) 17.Ne4 (8:16) Nxe4 (2:11) 18.Qxe4 (5) Rfd8 (3:07) 19.Bc3 (13:21) Rd7 (3:36) 20.Rd2 (51) Qd8 (1:29) 21.Rad1 (5:29) Be7 (9:08) 22.h4 (3:40) Rb8 (7: 08) 23.e3 (2:57) Nd5 (3:02) 24.Qc2 (1:34) Qc7 (1:32) 25.Kg2 (1:23) g6 (4:08) 26.h5 ( 01:31) Bf8 (1:22) 27.e4 (6:32) Nb4 (5:15) 28.Qb3 (55) c5 (3:57) 29.dxc5 (1:48) Rxd2 (7) 30.Rxd2 (3) Qxc5 (11:06) 31.Rd7 (53) b5 (29) 32.axb5 (6:04) Qxb5 ( 18) 33.Qd1 (21) Nc6 (3:21) 34.Be2 (14:40) Qb6 (2:57) 35.Bc4 (6:16) Rb7 (3:20) 36.b3 ( 07:55) Qa7 (4:19) 37.Rd6 (2:46) Bxd6 (2:44) 38.Qxd6 (4) Qb6 (21) 39.Qf4 (7:40) Kf8 (11:28) 40.Bxe6 (0) Nb4 (2:05) 41.Qf6 (14:14) Nd3 (9:02) 42.Bd4 (13) Qd6 ( 22) 43.Be3 (5:19) Ne1+ (7:28) 44.Kf1 (7:19) 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ding,L2760Aronian,L27851–02017A14FIDE World Chess Grand Prix 20179
Eljanov,P2759Salem,A26561–02017B51FIDE World Chess Grand Prix 20179
Jakovenko,D2709Nepomniachtchi,I2749½–½2017A04FIDE World Chess Grand Prix 20179
Mamedyarov,S2766Hou,Y26511–02017E20FIDE World Chess Grand Prix 20179
Nakamura,H2785Adams,M2751½–½2017A06FIDE World Chess Grand Prix 20179
Rapport,R2692Li,C2720½–½2017A16FIDE World Chess Grand Prix 20179
Riazantsev,A2671Hammer,J2628½–½2017D45FIDE World Chess Grand Prix 20179
Vachier-Lagrave,M2796Grischuk,A2742½–½2017C67FIDE World Chess Grand Prix 20179
Vallejo Pons,F2709Tomashevsky,E2711½–½2017E32FIDE World Chess Grand Prix 20179

Finals standings after nine rounds

Rk Name FED Rtg Pts
1 Grischuk Alexander RUS 2742 5,5
2 Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2796 5,5
3 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2766 5,5
4 Ding Liren CHN 2760 5,0
5 Adams Michael ENG 2751 5,0
6 Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2709 5,0
7 Nakamura Hikaru USA 2785 5,0
8 Nepomniachtchi Ian RUS 2749 5,0
9 Rapport Richard HUN 2692 4,5
10 Eljanov Pavel UKR 2759 4,5
11 Li Chao B CHN 2720 4,5
12 Vallejo Pons Francisco ESP 2709 4,5
13 Aronian Levon ARM 2785 4,0
14 Hou Yifan CHN 2651 4,0
15 Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2656 3,5
16 Hammer Jon Ludvig NOR 2628 3,5
17 Tomashevsky Evgeny RUS 2711 3,5
18 Riazantsev Alexander RUS 2671 3,0

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Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.

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