Mamedyarov's recent rise

by Macauley Peterson
1/19/2018 – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov has been a regular feature of elite tournaments for a decade, and yet he seems to have recently made a breakthrough, winning almost everything in sight in 2017 and climbing the Elo list to challenge World Champion Magnus Carlsen. 2018 offers him a rare chance to actually challenge for the World Title, as perhaps his biggest success of the past year was qualifying for the Candidates tournament in March. We take a brief look at some of his 2017 highlights. | Photo: Alina l'Ami, Tata Steel Chess on Facebook
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In his prime at 32

MamedyarovShakhriyar Mamedyarov had the highest tournament performance rating of 2017, and started the year as world number three at 2804, his career high. His success through the first five rounds of Tata Steel Chess, coupled with Fabiano Caruana's slide now puts him at number two on the live list for the first time in his career.

Mamedyarov's 2017 was marked by success after success. Among individual victories he won the Gashimov Memorial supertournament for the second time, but his most consequential was being the highest scorer in the FIDE Grand Prix series and thereby qualifying for the Candidates 2018.

In team competition he was instrumental in the Russian Team Championship for Siberia-Sirius and also on the winning European Club Cup and European Team Championship squads with Globus and Azerbaijan.

Let's take a spin through a few of the key games:

Highlights from 2017

The Russian Team Championship was an 8-team single round-robin played in Sochi from May 1st to 10th. Mamedyarov's team of Siberia-Sirius were heavy favourites thanks to the precense of Kramnik, Giri, Nepomniachtchi, Grischuk and Andreikin all playing along side him.

Riazantsev vs Mamedyarov, Russian Team Championship
 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Qa4+ A modestly popular sideline. White aims to interfere with Black's usual procedure of ...c5, ...Nc6, ...Bg4 etc. Qd7 Also possible is 7...Nd7 Riazantsev-Nepo, 2015 saw 8.Nf3 c5 9.Be2 0-0 10.0-0 a6 11.Qa3 Qc7 12.e5 White seems to be doing the right thing, except for keeping his queen out of play. b6 13.Bg5 Re8 14.h4 Bb7 15.h5 b5 0-1(48) 8.Qxd7+ Trading queens this early is kind of lame. Some twelve years ago, Swiss GM Vadim Milov introduced 8.Qb3 and it is still intriguing: 0-0 9.Nf3 c5 10.d5 e6 I don't see what this move is going to accomplish, except for making White's d5-pawn into a passer. I'd try 10...Qc7 11.Be2 Nd7 12.0-0 Ne5 aiming for c5-c4. 11.Be3 exd5 12.exd5 b6 13.Bb5 Qd6 14.0-0 Bd7 15.a4 Nakamura-Vachier Lagrave, chess.com Blitz 2016 8...Nxd7 8...Bxd7 9.Rb1 9.Ba3 has been known as harmless since Korchnoi-Alterman, 1992: b6 10.Rc1 c5! 9...b6 10.Nf3 c5 11.Be3 0-0 12.Bd3 Nc6 13.0-0 Mastrovasilis-Istratescu, 2016. White may have a little bit of something here, as Bd7 is out of position. 9.Be3 9.Bc4 c5 10.Ne2 can be tried next time. I like the flexibility of Ne2, and White can use his f-pawn to influence the center. 9...0-0 10.Rc1 Rd8 11.Nf3 b6 12.Bd3 Bb7 13.Ke2 e5 14.Rhd1 Rac8
Some standard moves have been played, and White is looking for a plan of campaign. 15.d5?! That is certainly not it. 15.h3!? c5? 16.d5 would be a different story, as Black no longer has any counterplay. 15...c6! 16.c4 Bf8! 17.Kf1? This would be a perfect moment for White to strike with f2-f4, but his pieces are not positioned for that. Still, the king retreat is incredibly passive. 17.g4!? and try for something. Else, White could consider 17.a4 f6 18.a5 17...f6 18.Be2 Nc5 19.Nd2 Na4 20.Nb1 f5! Shak is not going to sit there idly. 21.Bg5 21.f3 Bb4 22.Kg1 Ba6 Now White is ready for 22...Nb2 23.Rf1 23.Rc2 cxd5 24.exd5 Rc7 25.a3 Bd6 Best was 21.Nc3! Nb2 in case of 21...Nxc3 22.Rxc3 fxe4 White has the energetic 23.d6! Rxd6 24.Rxd6 Bxd6 25.c5 leaving the opponent with a collection of weak pawns, albeit two of those are extra pawns! 22.Rd2 cxd5 23.Rxb2 Ba3 23...d4 leads to about the same thing. 24.Rbb1 d4 25.Bg5 Bxc1 26.Rxc1 dxc3 27.Bxd8 Rxd8 28.exf5 gxf5 29.Rxc3 The active rook on the 3rd rank, and a possibility of c4-c5 help White maintain balance. 21...Rd7 22.dxc6? Surrendering the center is a depressing choice. 22.exf5 gxf5 23.g4! represented Riazantsev's last chance to fight on equal terms. 22...Rxd1+ 23.Bxd1 Bxc6 24.exf5 gxf5 25.Nc3 Nxc3 26.Rxc3 Bd5 27.Be2 b5! Mamedyarov is in his element: crank up the pressure on every move. 28.Re3 28.Bf6 b4 29.Rc2 e4 30.Bd4 a5 28...e4 29.g4 bxc4 30.gxf5 c3 31.Rg3 c2 32.Bc1+ Kf7 33.Bh5+ Kf6 34.Bb2+ Ke7 35.f6+ Kd7 36.Bg4+ This reminds me of Kramnik-Mamedyarov from Shamkir just a week ago: White's desperate attempt at counterplay produces some fireworks, but ultimately fizzles out, as Black's passer is just too strong. Be6 37.Bc1 Rb8! Accurately calculated. 38.Bxe6+ Kxe6 39.Rc3 39.Rb3 Rxb3 40.axb3 Kxf6 leaves White no hope as the king cannot approach the c2-pawn. 39...Rb1 40.Rxc2 Ba3 41.Rc6+ Kd7 42.Kg2 Rxc1 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Riazantsev,A2661Mamedyarov,S27720–12017D85XXIV RUS-chT Premier 20172

Annotated by GM Alex Yermolinsky

The FIDE Grand Prix series required Mamedyarov to play in three of four events, and he did well in all of them. He came shared first in Sharjah, clear second in Moscow, and shared fourth in Geneva. That gave him a total of 340 points in the series, making him one of two qualifiers (the other being Alexander Grischuk who finished second in the series.)

Mamedyarov vs Adams, FIDE Grand Prix Moscow
 
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19.Bxe4 Something has already gone wrong here for Adams. White's pressure on the entire board is clearly strong, and Black's counterplay is coming a bit late. h6?! 20.Re1 Qc7?! 20...Qf8 is sad but necessary. 21.Bxc6± 21.Bh7+ Kf8 22.Ne5! White threatens simply Rb3 with a powerful attack on the kingside. Nd5?! 23.Nxf7 A simple but effective combination Qxf7 23...Kxf7 24.Bg6+ Kf8 25.Re8# 23...Nxb4 24.Nxd6 threatens mate on e8 24.Bg6 Bf5 25.Bxf5 Nxb4 26.Qe4 Nd5 26...Re8 27.Be6 Qf6 28.Rb3 and Black is againt helpless to the rook transfer 27.Be6 The game is over, the attack is too strong Qf6 28.Rxb8+ Rxb8 29.Qh7 g5 30.Qg8+ 1–0
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Mamedyarov,S2772Adams,M27471–02017E52FIDE Moscow Grand Prix 20173

Mamedyarov rejoined Twitter in August after a five year hiatus, perhaps spurred on by his teammate Teymour Radjabov who is one of the more active top GMs on the platform.

Azerbaijan edged out Russia in the European Team Championship in November, earning their third title, a result Mamedyarov was particularly proud of.

Grischuk vs Mamedyarov, European Team Championship

IM Lawrence Trent covered his game for ChessBase Videos (you can follow along in the gamve viewer below)

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.0-0 Bd7 6.Re1 g5 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.d4 g4 9.Nfd2 exd4 10.Nb3 Ne7 11.Nxd4 Bg7 12.Nc3 0-0 13.Bg5 f6 14.Be3 Qe8 15.Qd3 Qf7 16.Qd2 Qg6 17.Bf4 h5 18.b4 h4 19.a4 Qh5 20.Be3 h3 21.Nce2 hxg2 22.Nf4 Qh7 23.Nfe6 Bxe6 24.Nxe6 Ng6 25.Nxf8 Rxf8 26.Bf4 f5 27.exf5 Nh4 28.Ra3 Qxf5 29.Bg5 Nf3+ 30.Rxf3 gxf3 31.Bh6 Qd5 32.Qc1 Bc3 33.Re3 Bd4 34.Rd3 Re8 35.c3 Bxf2+ 36.Kxf2 Re2+ 0–1
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Grischuk,A2785Mamedyarov,S27910–12017ETCC Open 20178

Shakhriyar was a bit of a strange pick for the annual tournament in Moscow which pits up and coming Russian players against a team of veteran guests. He's both higher rated and younger than the typical squad of "Kings", but he definitely showed no mercy against his young opponents.

Mamedyarov vs Daniil Yuffa, Christmas Nutcracker tournament
 
Position after 25...Kg7
White to move

Yuffa just played 25…Kg7? and White won after 26.fxg6! fxg6 27.Rxg6+! Kxg6 28.Ne5+.

Mamedyarov also showed the young Andrey Esipenko a thing or two.

Esipenko vs Mamedyarov

15-year-old Andrey Esipenko vs. Mamedyarov | Photo: Vladimir Barsky

Esipenko vs Mamedyarov, Christmas Nutcracker tournament
 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 The Semi-Slav has been one of the very solid response to 1.d4 for a long time! 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 The other popular move is 8...e5 9.cxd5 The issue is that white has been scoring heavily in these lines in the past few months, with around 79% scoring rate for white in 7 games played between October to December 2017 cxd5 10.e4 exd4 11.Nxd5 Nxd5 12.exd5 h6 13.Nxd4 Qh4 14.Nf3 Qh5 15.Bh7+ Kh8 16.Qf5 Qxf5 17.Bxf5 Nf6 18.Bxc8 Rfxc8 19.Rd1 Rd8 20.Be3 Be7 21.d6 Rxd6 22.Rxd6 Bxd6 23.Rd1 Be7 24.h3 White seems to have easier play in these positions: 1-0 (38) Belous,V (2567)-Baryshpolets,A (2592) Costa Mesa USA 2017 9.Bxc4 a6 The third most popular move according to my Mega Database 2018, with over 1200 games...The idea is to play b5 and follow it up with c5, when a6 comes in handy in defending the b5 pawn The main move in the position 9...b5 10.Be2 10.Bd3 Bb7 11.a3 Rc8 12.b4 a5 12...c5 Rustam Kasimdzhanov introduced this novelty in 2012, and the current trend seems to be towards 12...a5 13.Rb1 c5! Novelty played by Anish Giri in 2016 against Wesley So 14.bxc5 Bxf3 15.gxf3 Nxc5 16.dxc5 Rxc5 17.Rxb5 Nd5 18.Rxc5 Qg5+ 19.Kh1 Qh5 20.f4 Qf3+ 21.Kg1 Qg4+ 22.Kh1 Qf3+ 23.Kg1 1/2-1/2 (23) Mamedyarov,S (2762)-Gelfand,B (2743) Tashkent 2016 10...Bb7 11.e4 e5 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Nd4 Neg4 14.g3 Re8 15.Nf5 Bc5 This is a complex position, with very few practical tests, but tested lot more in the correspondence world 9...e5 10.h3 Qe7 11.Bb3 There can be a seperate discussion about this position! So much to discuss, and all I can say is that this is a rich position with numerous opportunities for players of both colours to explore their creative side and also their engine power! 10.Rd1 The most principled response, but white has also tried other moves like 10.a4 prophylactic move c5 11.Rd1 Qc7 12.Ne4 Nxe4 13.Qxe4 Nf6 14.Qh4 cxd4 15.Bd3 h6 16.e4 Your understanding of chess would improve for sure, if you analyse this game in detail, as there is so much to learn from this game. 0-1 (16) Van Wely,L (2646)-Kasparov,G (2851) Internet 2000 CBM 076 [Lutz,C] 10.e4 e5 10...b5?! 11.e5 bxc4 12.exd6 11.Rd1 Qc7 12.h3 b5 13.Bb3 exd4 14.Nxd4 Re8∞ 10...b5 11.Bf1 The 15-year-old Esipenko, spent around seven minutes, and chooses a very rare line instead of opting for the theoretical heavyweight variations like: Most popular move 11.Be2 Qc7 12.e4 e5 13.g3 Re8 14.a3 A recent game continued exd4 15.Nxd4 Be5 16.Bf3 Nb6 17.Bg2 c5 18.Nde2 Rb8∞ 1/2-1/2 (49) Zhang,Z (2318)-Ding, L (2759) China 2017 11.Bd3 Bb7 12.Ng5 Bxh2+ 13.Kxh2 Ng4+ 14.Kg1 Qxg5 15.f3 Ngf6 16.e4 Qh4 17.Be3 e5 18.Ne2 Rad8 19.b4 Rfe8 20.Qc3 Nh5 Control of center, and the bad bishop on b7 gives white enough compensation for the sacrificed pawn ½-½ (20) Bruzon Batista,L (2691)-Motylev,A (2677) Wijk aan Zee 2012 CBM 147 [Let's Check] 11...Qc7 12.e4 e5 Both players are still following the theory, but I believe that the experienced black player was better prepared than white in this line, and that's reflected by close to a fifteen minute advantage in the clock by now. 13.g3 The idea of g3 is three fold. 1) To develop the bishop from f1 to g2 and get access to the h1-a8 diagonal. 2) Cover the h2 pawn from the black's long range snipers Qc7 and Bd6 3) The possibility to expand on kingside with f4 and e5 Re8 14.Bg2 Clarifying in the center, leads only to more simplifications and brings the opponents closer towards signing a peace treaty. 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Bxe5 16.f3 Be6 17.Be3 Rad8 18.Rac1 c5 14...h6 It looks like black spent close to half hour on the clock calculating lines like 14...c5 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Nxe5 Bxe5 17.Be3 c4 18.Rac1 Bb7 19.f3 Rac8∞ 14...Bb7 15.Bg5 exd4 15...Rad8 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Nh4 Bc5 19.Bh3 White is preferable in this position due to the weak black king 16.Nxd4 h6 17.Nf5 1-0 (34) Sasikiran,K (2681)-Amanov,M (2493) Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 15.h3 Both sides are waiting to see who blinks first in the center, and clarify the position, and this is something that we can learn a lot from studying strong player games; the way in which they handle the piece and pawn tension on the board, and how the tension is continued to a longer point of time, than the other players. This position has never been reached before according to my database Games had previously continued 15.a4 Bb7 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Nd4 Bc5 18.Nce2 Bb6 19.axb5 axb5 20.Rxa8 Bxa8 21.b3 Rd8 22.Bb2 Qd7 23.Ra1 Qe8 24.Ra6 Surprisingly, both sides agreed to a draw here, when there was still lot of play left on the board. ½-½ (24) Grigoriants,S (2576)-Moroni,L (2448) Minsk 2017 15.Be3!? Novelty Ng4 15...Bb7 16.Rac1 Ng4 17.Bd2 c5 18.dxc5 Bxc5 19.Be1 16.Bd2 Bb7 17.Rac1 c5 18.dxc5 Bxc5 19.Be1!? Ngf6 20.Nh4 White has a slight edge 15...c5 16.dxe5 16.d5? Closing the centre, would be a disaster as Black gets great squares for his minor pieces, after he pushes c5-c4 c4! 17.Be3 Nc5 16...Nxe5 17.Nh4?! Take a deep breath, and see if you can find the move Mamedyarov played in this position 17.Nxe5 Bxe5 18.Ne2 c4 18...Bb7 19.f4 Bxe4 20.Bxe4 Nxe4 21.fxe5 Qxe5 22.Bf4 Qh5 23.Nc3 Nxc3 24.Qxc3 Qxh3 25.Qf3 doesn't look like Black has enough for the piece, as the numerical balance may not keep the overall positional evaluation balanced 19.f4 Bd6 20.e5 Bc5+ 21.Kh2 Bb7 22.Nc3 Nd7 23.Ne4∞ White has issues in pushing his kingside pawns, and black faces a similar issue on the queenside. Black's position is slightly preferable due to comparatively safer king 17...g5! Mamedyarov grabs the first offered opportunity by Esipenko, to control the initiative in the game. The idea behind this move is to secure the e5 outpost 17...c4!? 18.f4 Nd3 19.e5 Bxe5 20.fxe5 Qxe5 21.Bxa8 21.Kh2 Ra7 22.a3 g5 23.Nf3 Qc5 21...Qxg3+ 22.Ng2 Bxh3 23.Bf4 Nxf4 24.Qf2 Qxf2+ 25.Kxf2 Nd3+ 26.Rxd3 cxd3 27.Bf3 Ng4+ 28.Kg3 28.Bxg4 Bxg4 29.Ne3 28...Ne5 Looks like a position, where white has virtually no winning chances 18.Nf5 Bxf5 19.exf5 Rad8 20.a4 b4 21.Nd5 Nxd5 22.Rxd5 Find the nice maneuver by Mamedyarov Nd7! Rerouting the knight to an useful job 22...c4 23.Be3 Nd3 24.b3 Bxg3 25.Rxd8 Rxd8 26.Qxc4 Qxc4 27.bxc4 Bc7 28.Rd1= 23.f6?? White cracks under pressure Only move which keeps things in equilibrium, was this simple developing move, without worrying about Bg3 23.Be3 Nf6 23...Bxg3 24.Rad1± 24.Rd2 Bxg3 25.Rxd8 Bh2+ 26.Kh1 Rxd8 23...Nxf6 24.Rf5 Esipenko was hoping to generate some attack against the exposed king, but the issue is that the white pieces are yet to be fully coordinated Re1+! 25.Kh2 Nh5 Black is threatening a deadly checkmate on g3 26.Qb3 Ng7 27.Rf6 c4! Grabbing more space, and also clearing the c5 square for a bishop or queen 28.Qf3 h5 29.Rh6 h4 30.Qg4 hxg3+ 31.fxg3 Qc5 32.h4 Bxg3+ 33.Qxg3 Qg1+ 34.Kh3 Rd3 35.Bf3 Rxf3 36.Qxf3 g4+ 37.Qxg4 Qh1+ 38.Kg3 Rg1+ The reason for White's loss in this game was the two 'spectators' that witnessed the defeat of their comrades from their starting squares of c1 and a1. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Esipenko,A2564Mamedyarov,S27990–12017D45Nutcracker Classical 20172.3

Annotated by GM Priyadharshan Kannappan

Mamedyarov has been a bit overshadowed by his peers, and finished fourth in our readers survey of "player of the year", but with just 6% of the vote. But perhaps 2018 will change that.

2017 player of the year

See also all the nominations

Macauley served as the Editor in Chief of ChessBase News from July 2017 to March 2020. He is the producer of The Full English Breakfast chess podcast, and was an Associate Producer of the 2016 feature documentary, Magnus.

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