Shamkir Round 2: Again five draws

The Vugar Gashimov Memorial had a peaceful start: the first round brought only five draws. Ding Liren came close to a win in round one but failed to convert his advantage. The second round followed the same script, with only minor roll changes.

Sergey Karjakin ½-½ Ding Liren

In round two the Chinese played with Black against Sergey Karjakin. Up to move ten Karjakin followed a game between Magnus Carlsen and Ding from 2017, and then the Russian Grandmaster deviated with the novelty 10.b3.

A few moves later a small skirmish ensued after which the game quickly petered out and was drawn after 27 moves.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek ½-½ Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

Power Play 24: A repertoire for black against the Catalan

On this DVD Grandmaster Daniel King offers you a repertoire for Black against the Catalan, based around maintaining the rock of a pawn on d5. Keeping central control ultimately gives Black good chances to launch an attack against the enemy king.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov discussed a Catalan. Black took the pawn on c4 and gained time by blocking the attempts from White to regain the pawn. However, Black finally gave back the pawn but in return managed to free his position with e6-e5.

After this break, the game soon levelled out and was drawn in a rook and knight endgame.

Magnus Carlsen ½-½ David Navara

Against David Navara, Magnus Carlsen was ready for a theoretical duel in the Caro-Kann Defense, and in the Advance Variation he followed a game Wei Yi vs Navara from 2017 which Navara had won. But the Czech grandmaster was still the first to deviate from this predecessor. Carlsen then tried to create chances by attacking Black's centre but without much success. 

The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1 and 2

The Caro Kann is a very tricky opening. Black’s play is based on controlling and fighting for key light squares. It is a line which was very fashionable in late 90s and early 2000s due to the successes of greats like Karpov, Anand, Dreev etc. Recently due to strong engines lot of key developments have been made and some new lines have been introduced, while others have been refuted altogether. I have analyzed the new trends carefully and found some new ideas for Black.

By liquidating into an endgame Carlsen tried to bring tension into the game and he even managed to reach a pawn endgame with an extra-pawn — which, however, was a draw.

Three players in the Vugar Gashimov Memorial — Mamedyarov, Radjabov, and Mamedov — had played with Gashimov on the Azerbaijan national team. In round two Radjabov and Mamedov played the first Azeri derby, and discussed the main line of the Slav, with Radjabov playing White. 

The Solid Slav Defence

This Slav DVD is a complete opening repertoire for black after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6. GM Nick Pert has played the Slav defence for over 10 years and provides all his latest and most up to date analysis crammed into one video series. Nick has spent many hours studying the best Slav lines, and he explains his favourite variations, plus includes some interactive clips where the viewer is tested on a range of theoretical questions and tactics arising from Slav games.

After 22 moves the game still two previous games but then Radjabov tried a new move with 23.h4.

However, this new move did not achieve much. Soon, a rook endgame was on the board where all queenside pawns vanished. A bit later the players decided to repeat moves and to share the point.

Giri and Topalov

Topalov and Giri discussed a line of the English that is similar to the Sicilian Taimanov with colours reversed. But then White surprisingly decided to castle queenside. 

This provoked Giri to attack on the queenside — and to sacrifice an exchange in the process.

After the exchange sacrifice, White's king was exposed enough to give Black adequate compensation — but not more. So, this game also ended in a draw.

Standings after two rounds

Games of round two

Links

• Official site
• Shamkir: Five draws to start

Translation from German: Johannes Fischer