Shamkir Final Round: Undisputed Winner

by Alejandro Ramirez
4/26/2015 – Wesley So started crushing the field with 3.5/4. Viswanathan Anand had a wonderful performance, a fantastic near 2900 TPR that will put him on second place in the in the next rating list. However, at the end of the day, it is still all about Magnus Carlsen. A near 3000 performance, a full point ahead of second place, the best player in the World won again.

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The Vugar Gashimov Memorial, is being held in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, from the 17th to the 26th of April, in memory of the great Vugar Gashimov, who passed away on the 10th of January 2014. The tournament consists of some of the strongest players in the World: reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen, former World Champions Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, as well as, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Michael Adams, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Rauf Mamedov will compete in this prominent event. 

Final Round

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
½-½
Adams Michael 2746
Caruana Fabiano 2802
½-½
Anand Viswanathan 2791
Carlsen Magnus 2863
1-0
Mamedov Rauf 2651
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
½-½
So Wesley 2788
Giri Anish 2790
½-½
Kramnik Vladimir 2783

Play of the day

Everyone ready for the final round

Video by Vijay Kumar

Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar ½-½ Adams, Michael
Adams had no problems getting equality. White's advantage was reduced to nothing when the opposite colored bishops appeared on the board and neither Black's nor White's king was remotely weak.

A solid final game for both players

Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ Anand, Viswanathan
The double Fianchetto set-up in this Queen's Indian style Reti gave White very little. Due to his central pawns White's position was a little better, but it was not sufficient to put Anand in any real danger. The resulting endgame was easily held by the Indian player. Anand finishes with a great performance, a clear second place and his re-entry into the 2800 club.

Vishy Anand: 2804 in the next rating list

Carlsen, Magnus 1-0 Mamedov, Rauf
Mamedov was doing a good job of holding on to his position after his opening left him a little bit worse. White's pressure on the open b-file and the bishop against the knight gave him good chances to press, but the Azerbaijani was doing an excellent job defending. That is, until a blunder:

No questions asked: the clear winner, Magnus Carlsen, just shy of a 3000 performance

[Event "Vugar Gashimov Mem 2015"] [Site "Shamkir AZE"] [Date "2015.04.26"] [Round "9"] [White "Carlsen, M."] [Black "Mamedov, Rau"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A15"] [WhiteElo "2863"] [BlackElo "2658"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/1p2q1pk/p1p4p/P1P2p2/4r3/1Q2P2P/5PP1/3R2K1 w - - 0 34"] [PlyCount "3"] [EventDate "2015.04.17"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 34. Rd6 Qe5 $4 {inexplicably weakening the seventh rank.} (34... Re5 35. Qc2 Re4 {and White is still doing a little better, but proving it would require Carlsen-like technique... and a lot of patience and mistakes by the opponent.}) 35. Qf7 {Now Black is getting mated, for example:} (35. Qxb7 Rc4 36. Rd1 Rxc5 37. Qxa6 Qc3 $14 {should be holdable, and what Mamedov expected.}) (35. Qf7 Qxc5 (35... Qe8 {is relatively the best move, but after} 36. Qxf5+ {is hopeless. Black's king is too weak and he is down a pawn for no reason.}) 36. Qg6+ Kg8 37. Rd8+ $18) 1-0

Mamedov was holding on, but he eventually cracked

Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime ½-½ So, Wesley
So's position was a little uncomfortable from this Caro-Kann. In the endgame the passed a-pawn caused Black some serious issues, and he had to deactivate his rook to stop it. However, his bishop came into the defense in time, and after swapping off the defender of the a-pawn (the light square bishop) So hold the endgame with accurate defense.

So's spectacular start allowed him to tie for third despite not winning a game in the last five rounds

Giri, Anish ½-½ Kramnik, Vladimir
What a marathon. A game that took several time controls, in which Giri was pushing the entire game. He actually missed a win:

[Event "Vugar Gashimov Mem 2015"] [Site "Shamkir AZE"] [Date "2015.04.26"] [Round "9"] [White "Giri, A."] [Black "Kramnik, V."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E06"] [WhiteElo "2790"] [BlackElo "2783"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "6N1/R2K4/4P2p/6k1/1n6/3r2P1/8/8 w - - 0 76"] [PlyCount "10"] [EventDate "2015.04.17"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 76. Ke8 Kg6 77. Ra4 $2 (77. Rd7 $1 Ra3 (77... Rxd7 78. exd7 Nc6 79. Ne7+ { loses instantly.}) 78. e7 Kg7 {otherwise Kf8 and e8=Q.} (78... Nc6 79. Rd6+ Kg7 80. Rxc6 $1 Kxg8 81. Kd7 {wins.}) 79. Rd4 $1 {Hitting the knight and threatening Rg4+.} Ra8+ (79... Kxg8 80. Rg4+ Kh7 81. Rxb4 $18) 80. Kd7 Kxg8 81. e8=Q+ $1 (81. Rxb4 Ra7+ $11 {is a draw due to checking on the "long side" - Lucena position theory.}) 81... Rxe8 82. Kxe8 Nc6 83. Re4 {and the knight is cut off from the king. The win is not too difficult.}) 77... Nd5 78. Rg4+ Kf5 79. Nxh6+ Kxe6 80. Re4+ Kf6 {There is not enough material to win.} 1/2-1/2

Did he try, oh god, did he try! But Giri missed the coup de grace.

Tomorrow we will bring you a recap of the tournament, including pictures from the closing ceremony.

Replay Final Round Games

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Photos taken from the official website

Final Standings

Schedule

Round 1

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Kramnik Vladimir 2783
1-0
Adams Michael 2746
So Wesley 2788
1-0
Giri Anish 2790
Mamedov Rauf 2651
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
Anand Viswanathan 2791
½-½
Carlsen Magnus 2863
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
½-½
Caruana Fabiano 2802

Round 2

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Adams Michael 2746
½-½
Caruana Fabiano 2802
Carlsen Magnus 2863
1-0
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
½-½
Anand Viswanathan 2791
Giri Anish 2790
½-½
Mamedov Rauf 2651
Kramnik Vladimir 2783
½-½
So Wesley 2788

Round 3

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
So Wesley 2788
1-0
Adams Michael 2746
Mamedov Rauf 2651
½-½
Kramnik Vladimir 2783
Anand Viswanathan 2791
½-½
Giri Anish 2790
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
Caruana Fabiano 2802
0-1
Carlsen Magnus 2863

Round 4

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Adams Michael 2746
½-½
Carlsen Magnus 2863
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
½-½
Caruana Fabiano 2802
Giri Anish 2790
½-½
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
Kramnik Vladimir 2783
½-½
Anand Viswanathan 2791
So Wesley 2788
1-0
Mamedov Rauf 2651

Round 5

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Mamedov Rauf 2651
½-½
Adams Michael 2746
Anand Viswanathan 2791
1-0
So Wesley 2788
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
1-0
Kramnik Vladimir 2783
Caruana Fabiano 2802
½-½
Giri Anish 2790
Carlsen Magnus 2863
1-0
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762

Round 6

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Adams Michael 2746
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
Giri Anish 2790
½-½
Carlsen Magnus 2863
Kramnik Vladimir 2783
0-1
Caruana Fabiano 2802
So Wesley 2788
½-½
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
Mamedov Rauf 2651
½-½
Anand Viswanathan 2791

Round 7

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Anand Viswanathan 2791
1-0
Adams Michael 2746
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
½-½
Mamedov Rauf 2651
Caruana Fabiano 2802
1-0
So Wesley 2788
Carlsen Magnus 2863
1-0
Kramnik Vladimir 2783
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
½-½
Giri Anish 2790

Round 8

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Adams Michael 2746
1-0
Giri Anish 2790
Kramnik Vladimir 2783
1-0
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
So Wesley 2788
½-½
Carlsen Magnus 2863
Mamedov Rauf 2651
½-½
Caruana Fabiano 2802
Anand Viswanathan 2791
1-0
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754

Round 9

Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
½-½
Adams Michael 2746
Caruana Fabiano 2802
½-½
Anand Viswanathan 2791
Carlsen Magnus 2863
1-0
Mamedov Rauf 2651
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
½-½
So Wesley 2788
Giri Anish 2790
½-½
Kramnik Vladimir 2783

Commentary on Playchess

One of the major tournaments of the year, you can count on www.playchess.com to deliver quality commentary every round!

Day Date Round English German
Friday April 17 Round 1 GM Daniel King GMs Oliver Reeh/Dorian Rogozenco
Saturday April 18 Round 2 GM Simon Williams GM Klaus Bischoff
Sunday April 19 Round 3 GM Simon Williams GM Klaus Bischoff
Monday April 20 Round 4 GM Daniel King GM Klaus Bischoff
Tuesday April 21 Round 5 GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov GM Klaus Bischoff
Wednesday April 22 Free    
Thursday April 23 Round 6 GM Daniel King GM Klaus Bischoff
Friday April 24 Round 7 GM Simon Williams GM Klaus Bischoff
Saturday April 25 Round 8 GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov GMs Oliver Reeh/Karsten Müller
Sunday April 26 Round 9 GM Daniel King GM Klaus Bischoff

English Commentators

Links

The games are being 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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