Khanty Rd3: Caruana beats Tomashevsky

by Alejandro Ramirez
5/16/2015 – A huge result for the Grand Prix standings. Evgeny Tomashevsky, who was leading the tournament and the GP series, lost to Fabiano Caruana who is now in the lead with Leinier Dominguez and Peter Svidler - the latter beat Dmitry Jakovenko today in an exchange Spanish. With this series of results Tomashevsky will have to step up his game to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

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 Matcch! The tournament is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Ugra, Russia from May 13 to May 27.

Round Three

Round 03 – May 16 2015, 15:00h
Jobava, Baadur 2699
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2744
Grischuk, Alexander 2780
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754
Caruana, Fabiano 2803
1-0
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738
0-1
Svidler, Peter 2734
Karjakin, Sergey 2753
½-½
Dominguez, Leinier 2734
Nakamura, Hikaru 2799
½-½
Giri, Anish 2776

Ready for action - round three underway

Jobava, Baadur ½-½ Gelfand, Boris
Had this game been played online, I would have attributed 6.Qa3 to a mouse slip, as the usual move is 6.Qb3 (played hundreds of times as opposed to 6.Qa3 - zero). Jobava's pawn sacrifice gave him some initiative on the kingside, and he really was hoping it would be enough. Black's passed protected pawn on c3 gave him a strong advantage if the kingside attack failed. Gelfand was perhaps a little careless with 16...Nd7?! instead of h5. He sacrificed a piece to get out of trouble and the two pawns were enough compensation for the missing material, but not more than that.

The start of a very complicated game

Quick! Someone tell Jobava that queen is supposed to go to b3!

Grischuk, Alexander ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
Grischuk tried to steamroll MVL's Sicilian with the early 5.f3!?. This did not work, however, and Black obtained an acceptable position. He made a mistake and allowed Grischuk some pressure, but with the opposite colored bishops it never seemed as if MVL was ever in any real danger.

It's hard to surprise the Frenchman

Caruana, Fabiano 1-0 Tomashevsky, Evgeny

Complicated play earned Caruana his first win of the event. A big blow for Tomashevsky!

Caruana ties for first place with Svidler and Dominguez after this win

[Event "KM FIDE GP 2015"] [Site "Khanty-Mansiysk RUS"] [Date "2015.05.16"] [Round "3"] [White "Caruana, F."] [Black "Tomashevsky, E."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D15"] [WhiteElo "2803"] [BlackElo "2749"] [Annotator "Ramriez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2015.05.13"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. a4 {the ...a6 line is so Solid, it has prompted White to try everything under the sun. The idea that Caruana plays is somewhat obscure but had been considered before.} e6 6. Bf4 { Tomashevsky had faced this twice before: a draw against Indjic and a loss to Nakamura last year.} a5 7. e3 Be7 8. g4 $5 {This, however, is totally new. The g4 moves combines something from the Shirov/Shabalov attack in the Semi-Slav, but with the bonus that the bishop on c1 made it out of the pawn chain. How good this is will require more tests. The pawn here cannot be taken.} Na6 (8... Nxg4 9. Rg1 Nf6 (9... h5 10. h3 f5 {is much sillier than it is in the Shirov/ Shabalov variation.} 11. hxg4 $18) 10. Rxg7 $16) 9. g5 Nd7 (9... Nh5 10. Be5 { looks pleasant for White, but maybe it is better than what happened in the game.}) 10. h4 Nb4 11. Be2 b6 12. h5 Bb7 13. cxd5 {Closing the center is logical, but perhaps not completely necessary in this position.} exd5 14. Qd2 f5 $5 {Perhaps Tomashevsky was starting to feel the nooze in this position, as he was quickly running out of moves and of space. However I don't like the idea of opening up the g-file and weakening the e6 square.} 15. gxf6 Bxf6 16. h6 g6 17. e4 $1 {Opening the position against the enemy king.} dxe4 $6 (17... O-O $1 18. e5 Be7 {is the computer recommendation.}) 18. Nxe4 O-O 19. O-O-O Nd5 (19... b5 $1 {This move was very important. It is multi-purpose: Black takes control of c4, it allows the knight to go to b6 and it threatens the pawn on a4 in some variation. The pawn itself is immune on b5 as it would open up the bishop on b7.}) 20. Bg3 Ba6 21. Bxa6 Rxa6 22. Rhe1 Ra8 23. Kb1 Be7 24. Qd3 $14 {White has some nice position pluses now. Black's king is permanently weak and he can attack the c6 square.} Rf5 25. Ne5 Qc8 26. Nc3 (26. Qc4 $1 Nxe5 27. dxe5 Qe6 28. Nd6 $16) 26... Nxc3+ 27. Qxc3 Nxe5 28. Qb3+ {A fancy intermediate that probably was not as good as just taking directly.} (28. dxe5 Qe6 29. Rd6 $1 Bxd6 30. exd6 Qf6 31. Qxc6 {was devastating. Caruana might have underestimated the exchange sacrifice.}) 28... Rf7 29. dxe5 Qf5+ 30. Ka2 Bb4 $2 (30... Qg4 $1 {With the idea of Rf3 in case of e6 was the best chance of holding, but the position might still be lost.}) 31. e6 Re7 32. Bh4 {The blockade is lifted and the rest is easy.} Ree8 33. e7+ Qf7 34. Re6 b5 35. Rd8 {The computer doesn't like this move, but who cares.} bxa4 36. Qe3 Bxe7 37. Rxa8 Rxa8 38. Bxe7 {It's just up a piece now. The pawns are too weak to count as compensation.} Re8 39. Ka1 a3 40. bxa3 Qf5 41. Qc3 {A brilliant game from Caruana, not afraid to get into a messy position.} 1-0

Ouch! This one hurt!

Jakovenko, Dmitry 0-1 Svidler, Peter
Jakoveno obtained almost nothing from the exchange Spanish, and Svidler was well prepared with 5...Qf6. Black's interesting Rd4-a4!? maneuver was not easy to deal with over the board. Jakovenko lost a pawn and found himself suffering in an endgame, ultimately he was unable to hold the rook finale.

A nice win for Svidler who joins the leaders

Karjakin, Sergey ½-½ Dominguez, Leinier
In the King's Indian Attack, if White doesn't sacrifice anything on the kingside he has no way of creating an advantage. Dominguez placed all of his pieces in such a way that any sacrifice was basically impossible. The simplifications and opening of the queenside slowly favored Black, but not by much. The final position is given as clear black advantage by the engines, but to human eyes (at least mine) it looks like the position is close to equal, maybe a very slight edge for Black.

Ultra, ultra solid

Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ Giri, Anish
Nakamura tried to surprise Giri with some kind of early opening gambit, but it did not work that well. Giri gave back his two pawn advantage to equalize in development and the resulting endgame was easily drawn.

Confidently giving away two pawns!

But Giri didn't want them

Standings

Round Three Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games

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
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2799
Giri, Anish 2776
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2753
Dominguez, Leinier 2734
1-0
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738
Svidler, Peter 2734
½-½
Caruana, Fabiano 2803
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749
½-½
Grischuk, Alexander 2780
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754
½-½
Jobava, Baadur 2699
Round 03 – May 16 2015, 15:00h
Jobava, Baadur 2699
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2744
Grischuk, Alexander 2780
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2754
Caruana, Fabiano 2803
1-0
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2749
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2738
0-1
Svidler, Peter 2734
Karjakin, Sergey 2753
½-½
Dominguez, Leinier 2734
Nakamura, Hikaru 2799
½-½
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.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register