Tashkent 08: Georgian Magic

by Alejandro Ramirez
10/29/2014 – Baadur Jobava has to be, by far, the most uncompromising player in this tournament. His choice of openings, his aggressive style and his powerful attacks sometimes give him spectacular wins, but many times he suffers painful and overwhelming defeats. This tournament it seems everything is working for him; he won with Black by rolling over Gelfand's position and he is now tied for first!

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The second stage of the 2014-2015 FIDE Grand Prix is taking place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The tournament will run from October 20th to November 3rd, 2014. Some of the strongest players in the world will compete in a Round Robin event. The winner and runner-up of the Grand Prix series will earn their spot at the 2016 Candidate's Tournament.

Round Eight

Round 08 – October 29 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748
0-1
Jobava, Baadur 2717
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Giri, Anish 2768
½-½
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706

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Gelfand, Boris 0-1 Jobava, Baadur
Jobava, as could be predicted, used an unpredictable opening. The e6/b6 set-up is not so uncommon but it is still rare guest at the top level. Jobava got squashed against So earlier this year with it, so surely he had a new idea against 5.Kf1!? but Gelfand decided to use another variation all together. His early aggression backfired badly as the g-file fell into Black's hands. Jobava kept applying pressure and putting his pieces in good squares while all of White's camp looked awkward until it, unsurprisingly, collapsed.

Karlovich, Jobava and Gelfand in the postmortem

Andreikin, Dmitry ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
Andreikin tried to come up with a new idea in the Grunfeld, but this doesn't always work against MVL. The Frenchman was simply very well prepared and sacrificed two pawns. Andreikin thought it would be too risky to take the second one and forced a perpetual instead, probably a good practical decision.

The face most people make when you try to crack MVL's Grunfeld. Or any opening.

Giri, Anish ½-½ Jakovenko, Dmitry
Jakovenko successfully followed an idea of Nisipeanu. In this variation of the English he sacrificed a queen for a rook, a pawn and a bishop. This also allowed him to set-up an impregnable position. Giri tried maneuvring around it, trying to find a chink in the armor, but it was of no use.

Jakovenko's preparation gave him a fortress out of the opening

Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar ½-½ Karjakin, Sergey
A very, very entertaining game. Karjakin came up with a new idea to combat the Saemisch Nimzo-Indian based on a dark-square strategy. Both sides kept trying to sacrifice pawns to gain strategical advantages... while the opponent just ignored them!

Eventually Mamedyarov sacrificed two pieces for a rook, giving two connected passed pawns. Karjakin successfully stopped them, but his king became exposed after a further exchange sacrifice. Just when Mamedyarov's attack seemed as if it would crash through a miraculous knight interposition saved the day for Karjakin and forced the draw!

These guys played the game of the day

Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ Radjabov, Teimour
Even though White forced his opponent to have an isolated pawn in the endgame, it was Nakamura that had to be careful not to be worse. Radjabov never had any real chances to do anything, however, and the draw was a logical conclusion.

Draw after draw Nakamura still shares the lead

Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ Kasimdzhanov, Rustam
Caruana handled this symmetrical position quite badly, and he was almost worse. His tactical solution barely worked; he lost a pawn but because of the opposite colored bishops he had good chances to hold. Kasimdzhanov could have tried harder, but to be fair the game would have probably ended in a draw anyway.

Caruana has not been as convincing in the opening, or in
any part of the game, as in his last three events

Photos by Yulia Manakova from the official website

Standings

Round Eight Games

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Schedule

Round 01 – October 21 2014, 15:00h
Giri, Anish 2768
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
0-1
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
1-0
Jobava, Baadur 2717
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
0-1
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
½-½
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Round 02 –October 22 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
1-0
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Jobava, Baadur 2717
½-½
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Giri, Anish 2768
½-½
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Round 03 – October 23 2014, 15:00h
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
1-0
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
½-½
Giri, Anish 2768
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
½-½
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
0-1
Jobava, Baadur 2717
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
1-0
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Round 04 – October 24 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748
½-½
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Jobava, Baadur 2717
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Giri, Anish 2768
½-½
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Round 05 – October 26 2014, 15:00h
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
1-0
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
½-½
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
½-½
Giri, Anish 2768
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
0-1
Jobava, Baadur 2717
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
1-0
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Round 06 – October 27 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Jobava, Baadur 2717
½-½
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
1-0
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Giri, Anish 2768
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
1-0
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
½-½
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Round 07 – October 28 2014, 15:00h
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
1-0
Gelfand, Boris 2748
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
½-½
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
1-0
Giri, Anish 2768
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
½-½
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
½-½
Jobava, Baadur 2717
Round 08 – October 29 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748
0-1
Jobava, Baadur 2717
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Giri, Anish 2768
½-½
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Caruana, Fabiano 2844
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Round 09 – October 31 2014, 15:00h
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706   Gelfand, Boris 2748
Radjabov, Teimour 2726   Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Karjakin, Sergey 2767   Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747   Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757   Giri, Anish 2768
Jobava, Baadur 2717   Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Round 10 – November 01, 2014, 15:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2748   Andreikin, Dmitry 2722
Giri, Anish 2768   Jobava, Baadur 2717
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757
Nakamura, Hikaru 2764   Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747
Caruana, Fabiano 2844   Karjakin, Sergey 2767
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706   Radjabov, Teimour 2726
Round 11 – November 02, 2014, 13:00h
Radjabov, Teimour 2726   Gelfand, Boris 2748
Karjakin, Sergey 2767   Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747   Caruana, Fabiano 2844
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757   Nakamura, Hikaru 2764
Jobava, Baadur 2717   Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764
Andreikin, Dmitry 2722   Giri, Anish 2768

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 12 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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