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The Vugar Gashimov Memorial, is being held in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, from the May 26 to June 4, 2016, in memory of the great Vugar Gashimov, who passed away on the 10th of January 2014. The tournament features ten world-class players: Fabiano Caruana (2795), Anish Giri (2790), Sergey Karjakin (2779), Pavel Eljanov (2750), Pentala Harikrishna (2763), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2750), Teimour Radjabov (2726), Eltaj Safarli (2664), Hou Yifan (2663) and Rauf Mamedov (2650). The time control is 120/40 moves + 60/20 moves + 15 minutes + 30 seconds/move at 61st move.
All games start at 3 p.m. local time = 1 p.m. in Europe (CEST), one hour earlier in Britain, and 2 p.m. in Moscow. You can find the starting time at your location here. Today's pairings:
Round 6 – June 1, 2016 | ||
Anish Giri |
½-½
|
Pavel Eljanov |
Hou Yifan |
½-½
|
Pentala Harikrishna |
Rauf Mamedov |
½-½
|
Sergey Karjakin |
Teimour Radjabov |
½-½
|
Shak Mamedyarov |
Eltaj Safarli |
½-½
|
Fabiano Caruana |
Most of the players came with high fighting spirit after the rest day. However, the matches were simply too even and we saw five draws today, a small break from the bloody rounds that we have been seeing in days past.
Giri, Anish ½-½ Eljanov, Pavel
Giri might have tried a bit too hard to win today. He chose an offbeat opening and the sacrificed a pawn to create an interesting position in which White's pair of bishops and superior development definitely gave him compensation. However a very timely return of the pawn by Eljanov turned the tables around, as the black knights and rooks swarmed the position. Still, things were far from clear, and Eljanov preferred to simplify into a drawn endgame then to look for more complications in the queenless middlegame.
Eljanov at least stopped the bleeding for now
Giri was in the mood for a win, but Eljanov showed him things are not that easy
Hou Yifan ½-½ Harikrishna, Pentala
Black was always a tiny bit worse in this Petroff position, in which White soon took great and powerful control over the only open file. Had Yifan found the move 22. Qe3, Black would have been under some pressure. It's possible that White was afraid of 22...Qa4 and some counterattack on the pawns, but White's own h4-h5 ideas would be very powerful against the weak king.
Harikrishna held on, though not that comfortably
Considering the positions that she's had, Yifan must be a bit disappointed with her 2.0/6
Mamedov, Rauf ½-½ Karjakin, Sergey
Karjakin keeps showing amazing preparation, this time in the black side of a Sicilian Najdorf. In this variation, which is clearly in vogue, Karjakin had apparently analysed a very deep variation which led, by force, to a drawn endgame. It even takes the computer some time to realize that Karjakin's moves are the best, but once it realizes what Black's intentions are it agrees that the game is simply drawn.
What are you supposed to do when your opponent prepares every single move? There is no doubt that
Mamedov came out to fight with an Open Sicilian, but Karjakin was simply too well prepped.
Radjabov, Teimour ½-½ Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
This game went exactly as expected.
One of the most exciting players of the tournament. Usually.
Safarli, Eltaj ½-½ Caruana, Fabiano
Caruana went to the game hungry for a victory. To say that he was very close to achieving it might be an exaggeration, but he was definitely better throughout the game.
A black shirt to look for a black victory, but it did not come
Safarli found himself against the ropes quickly, but he held on fiercely
Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games
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Date | Round | English | German |
01.6.2016 | Round 6 | Daniel King | Klaus Bischoff |
02.6.2016 | Round 7 | Simon Williams | Klaus Bischoff |
03.6.2016 | Round 8 | Yasser Seirawan | Klaus Bischoff |
04.6.2016 | Round 9 | Daniel King | Klaus Bischoff |
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