Khanty Rd1: Jakovenko, Tomashevsky win

by Alejandro Ramirez
5/14/2015 – A good day for the Russian players, and specially for Evgeny Tomashevsky. The leader of the GP won his first game in Khanty-Mansiysk against Baadur Jobava, despite having a very shaky position from the opening. Dmitry Jakovenko defeated Anish Giri in the most classical of styles: with the pair of bishops into a double rook endgame. The rest of the games in Russia were all drawn.

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The fourth and final stage of the 2014-2015 Grand Prix Series. This tournament is specially important as it will determine the winner and runner up of this year, both of which will automatically qualify for the 2015 Candidates Tournament - the winner of that will challenge Magnus Carlsen to the World Championship Match! The tournament is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Ugra, Russia from May 13 to May 27.

Round One

Round 01 – May 14 2015, 15:00h
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2744
Jobava, Baadur 2699
0-1
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749
Grischuk, Alexander 2780
½-½
Svidler, Peter 2734
Caruana, Fabiano 2803
½-½
Dominguez, Leinier 2734
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738
1-0
Giri, Anish 2776
Karjakin, Sergey 2753
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2799

Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime ½-½ Gelfand, Boris
Perhaps the game of the day. A series of explosive sacrifices netted MVL an extra pawn, but Gelfand's position was still good enough to hold the draw.

Gelfand cooly withstood the attack

[Event "KM FIDE GP 2015"] [Site "Khanty-Mansiysk RUS"] [Date "2015.05.14"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Black "Gelfand, Boris"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "2754"] [BlackElo "2744"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2015.05.14"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. O-O Nge7 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Ng6 7. Be3 Be7 8. Be2 O-O 9. Nc3 a6 10. a4 Qc7 11. Nb3 b6 12. f4 Bb7 13. Qd2 Rad8 $5 {Black plays for a very fast d5. With the knight on g6 as opposed to its normal square f6, things are certainly different.} 14. Bd3 d5 15. exd5 exd5 16. f5 $5 {The start of a crazy series of events.} Nge5 17. f6 Bxf6 (17... gxf6 18. Bh6 Rfe8 19. Bf5 {probably gives White enough compensation for the pawn. Who wants to play with such a weak king, with only a pawn as compensation?}) 18. Rxf6 d4 $1 {This seems to me like the best way to diffuse White's initiative. Black's currently down a piece but he has many threats.} (18... gxf6 19. Qf2 (19. Bh6 Ng4 $1 20. Bf4 Nce5 {doesn't quite seem to be White's plan.}) 19... d4 $5 ( 19... Ng4 20. Qh4 {already makes it impossible to defend h7 in a good way.} Qxh2+ 21. Qxh2 Nxh2 22. Bxb6 $1 {and White is better in the endgame, despite being down a pawn - he will recover it soon with Nc5 ideas.}) 20. Ne4 $1 {And White's attack is very, very dangerous.}) 19. Rxc6 $1 {A nice interemezzo.} ( 19. Nxd4 gxf6 $1 20. Ne4 (20. Qf2 Nxd4 21. Bxd4 Qd6 $1 {gives White almost no compensation.}) 20... Kh8 $5 {and White has some compensation, but it seems like it is barely enough.}) 19... Nxc6 {There is still a double attack, so the next moves are forced.} 20. Nxd4 Nxd4 21. Bxd4 Rxd4 22. Bxh7+ Kxh7 23. Qxd4 { At the end of the day, White has an extra pawn; however his position is not great. Black has a powerful bishop against a not so powerful knight and a slight initiative.} Re8 24. Rd1 Re6 25. Rd3 Rg6 {Gelfand wasted no time using the power of his bishop!} 26. Rg3 (26. Rh3+ Kg8 27. Nd5 Bxd5 $1 28. Qxd5 Rd6 { was not that promising either.}) 26... Rxg3 27. Qh4+ Kg8 28. hxg3 (28. Qxg3 Qc5+ 29. Kh1 Qf5 {with enough compensation. Black has real threats on c2 and against the king, while the knight on c3 is useless.} 30. h3 Bc6 $11) 28... Qc6 {There is no comfortable way to defend the g2 pawn anymore, so MVL goes for the perpetual.} 29. Qd8+ (29. Qh3 b5 30. axb5 axb5 {and White is all tied up to the defense of g2.}) 29... Kh7 30. Qh4+ Kg8 31. Qd8+ Kh7 32. Qd3+ Kg8 33. Qd8+ 1/2-1/2

MVL came in a fighting mood to Khanty-Mansiysk

Jobava, Baadur 0-1 Tomashevsky, Evgeny
Tomashevsky employed a very early c5 idea in the a6 Semi-Slav. The idea seemed to backfire and his position was very passive. Jobava had control of the isutation, more space basically everywhere on the board. Things got messy when the Georgian player committed two mistakes in a row, allowing Tomashevsky to strike in the center with e5. After that White's pieces looked awkward and Tomashevsky finished his opponent off with a kingside attack of just queen and bishop.

Jobava actually played theory, but it did not go well after he allowed Tomashevsky to break through

Grischuk, Alexander ½-½ Svidler, Peter
Someone call the press! Svidler did not play the Grunfeld! That, however, was the only highlight of a game that was dead drawn by move 18.

Geoffrey Borg cannot believe there was no Grunfeld today

Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ Dominguez, Leinier
Dominguez employed a very solid Berlin Defense and had no problems holding equality against Caruana, who is normally regarded as one of the best players of these lines with both white and black.

A solid start for Cuba's #1

Jakovenko, Dmitry 1-0 Giri, Anish
Jakovenko played in the most classical of styles. He obtained a very quick pair of bishops from the Ragozin, something that is not normally regarded as the best way of handling the position. However Giri strangely decided to open up the center with e5 - a typical mistake that gave White's bishops too much power. Jakovenko traded his advantage for a structural one in a double rook endgame and won with very good technique. A game worth replaying for people seeking to make progress and understanding positional nuances.

The opening move was good luck for Jakovenko

Karjakin, Sergey ½-½ Nakamura, Hikaru
A Dragon Sicilian! Unfortunately it was not as exciting as it could be. The queens were traded early and, probably unbeknownst to the players, following the recent game Blomqvist-Azarov from Cappelle la Grande up to the 20th move. The endgame was quite drawish and the point was split in half.

Even in a rare Dragon, Karjakin finds a way to follow deep theory

Nakamura had played the Dragon this year, against Naroditsky in the U.S. Championship

Round One Games

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Photos from the official website by Kirill Merkurev

Schedule

Round 01 – May 14 2015, 15:00h
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2744
Jobava, Baadur 2699
0-1
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749
Grischuk, Alexander 2780
½-½
Svidler, Peter 2734
Caruana, Fabiano 2803
½-½
Dominguez, Leinier 2734
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738
1-0
Giri, Anish 2776
Karjakin, Sergey 2753
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2799
Round 02 – May 15 2015, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2744   Nakamura, Hikaru 2799
Giri, Anish 2776   Karjakin, Sergey 2753
Dominguez, Leinier 2734   Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738
Svidler, Peter 2734   Caruana, Fabiano 2803
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749   Grischuk, Alexander 2780
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754   Jobava, Baadur 2699
Round 03 – May 16 2015, 15:00h
Jobava, Baadur 2699   Gelfand, Boris 2744
Grischuk, Alexander 2780   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754
Caruana, Fabiano 2803   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738   Svidler, Peter 2734
Karjakin, Sergey 2753   Dominguez, Leinier 2734
Nakamura, Hikaru 2799   Giri, Anish 2776
Round 04 – May 17 2015, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2744   Giri, Anish 2776
Dominguez, Leinier 2734   Nakamura, Hikaru 2799
Svidler, Peter 2734   Karjakin, Sergey 2753
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749   Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754   Caruana, Fabiano 2803
Jobava, Baadur 2699   Grischuk, Alexander 2780
Round 05 – May 19 2015, 15:00h
Grischuk, Alexander 2780   Gelfand, Boris 2744
Caruana, Fabiano 2803   Jobava, Baadur 2699
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754
Karjakin, Sergey 2753   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749
Nakamura, Hikaru 2799   Svidler, Peter 2734
Giri, Anish 2776   Dominguez, Leinier 2734
Round 06 – May 20 2015, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2744   Dominguez, Leinier 2734
Svidler, Peter 2734   Giri, Anish 2776
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749   Nakamura, Hikaru 2799
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754   Karjakin, Sergey 2753
Jobava, Baadur 2699   Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738
Grischuk, Alexander 2780   Caruana, Fabiano 2803
Round 07 – May 21 2015, 15:00h
Caruana, Fabiano 2803   Gelfand, Boris 2744
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738   Grischuk, Alexander 2780
Karjakin, Sergey 2753   Jobava, Baadur 2699
Nakamura, Hikaru 2799   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754
Giri, Anish 2776   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749
Dominguez, Leinier 2734   Svidler, Peter 2734
Round 08 – May 22 2015, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2744   Svidler, Peter 2734
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749   Dominguez, Leinier 2734
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754   Giri, Anish 2776
Jobava, Baadur 2699   Nakamura, Hikaru 2799
Grischuk, Alexander 2780   Karjakin, Sergey 2753
Caruana, Fabiano 2803   Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738
Round 09 – May 24 2015, 15:00h
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738   Gelfand, Boris 2744
Karjakin, Sergey 2753   Caruana, Fabiano 2803
Nakamura, Hikaru 2799   Grischuk, Alexander 2780
Giri, Anish 2776   Jobava, Baadur 2699
Dominguez, Leinier 2734   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754
Svidler, Peter 2734   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749
Round 10 – May 25 2015, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2744   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754   Svidler, Peter 2734
Jobava, Baadur 2699   Dominguez, Leinier 2734
Grischuk, Alexander 2780   Giri, Anish 2776
Caruana, Fabiano 2803   Nakamura, Hikaru 2799
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738   Karjakin, Sergey 2753
Round 11 – May 26 2015, 15:00h
Karjakin, Sergey 2753   Gelfand, Boris 2744
Nakamura, Hikaru 2799   Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738
Giri, Anish 2776   Caruana, Fabiano 2803
Dominguez, Leinier 2734   Grischuk, Alexander 2780
Svidler, Peter 2734   Jobava, Baadur 2699
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754

Links

The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.


Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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