Tbilisi Closing

by Alejandro Ramirez
3/1/2015 – Three down, one to go. The Grand Prix series only has one tournament left: the deciding round robin in Khanty-Mansiysk to be held in May. But how did the Tbilisi GP change the standings? We bring you a report of the short, but sweet, closing ceremony as well as an overview of who left Tbilisi as the favorite to qualify in one of the two spots for the 2016 Candidates tournament.

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The third stage of the 2014-2015 FIDE Grand Prix took place in Tbilisi, Georgia. The tournament ran from February 14th to February 28, 2014. Some of the strongest players in the world competed 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.

Grand Prix Standings

The Tbilisi Grand Prix is over, and with that is time to take a look at what that means for the upcoming World Championship. The Grand Prix is an important stepping stone to participating in the World Championship as the top two qualify for the 2016 Candidates tournament, the winner of this event will challenge Magnus Carlsen for the highest title in chess.

The Candidates so far has only one person qualified to it: Viswanathan Anand as the player who lost the 2014 World Championship Match.

The next qualifiers in priority list will be the top two players from the FIDE World Cup 2015 to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan later this year. After this, in priority, are the top two finishers from the Grand Prix series, followed by two players by rating (average from January 1st 2015 to December 1st 2015) who have participated in either the World Cup or the Grand Prix series. As a side note this makes it unlikely that Aronian will be invited to the Candidates even if he qualifies by rating since he did not play the Grand Prix and is improbable that he will play the World Cup - that is unless the Candidates is held in Armenia as the organizers have a wildcard.

With that said, let us look at the standings in the GP:

  Player FIDE rating
Feb 2015
Baku Tashkent Tbilisi Khanty-
Mansiysk
Total
1  Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS) 2716 82   170 x 252
2  Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) 2759 35 125 75   235
3  Fabiano Caruana (ITA) 2811 155 75   x 230
4  Teimour Radjabov (AZE) 2731 50 50 110   210
5  Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2776 82 125   x 207
6  Dmitry Andreikin (RUS) 2737 20 170 10   200
7  Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS) 2733   30 140 x 170
8  Boris Gelfand (ISR) 2747 155 15   x 170
9  Sergey Karjakin (RUS) 2760 82 75   x 157
10  Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB) 2706 35 15 75   125
11  Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2810 82   40 x 122
12  Baadur Jobava (GEO) 2696   75 40 x 115
12  Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2775   75 40 x 115
14  Anish Giri (NED) 2797   40 75 x 115
15  Peter Svidler (RUS) 2739 82   20 x 102
16  Leinier Domínguez (CUB) 2726 10   75 x 85

After the Tbilisi GP we can see that Tomashevsky and Mamedyarov are currently leading the charge, but things are not so simple. Players only participate in three Grand Prix tournaments, and every single tournament counts. Because of this, for example, Mamedyarov has no chance at all to qualify. Caruana only has to show up to Khanty-Mansiysk to earn 10 points (the minimum possible) and he will with that surpass the Azeri.

Under the same premise Radjabov, Andreikin and Kasimzdhanov are out of the race. Most of the people that participate in Khanty have some off-chance of qualifying, but it seems unlikely that the two spots will not go to two of Tomashevsky, Caruana and Nakamura - barring some sort of disastrous performance by two of these players in Russia. Jakovenko and Gelfand could also wiggle their way in, but they are almost forced to win or at least get clear second in the event.

As many have pointed out it looks likely that Caruana and/or Nakamura get invitations by rating, if they keep up their form at least, but the GP spot takes precedence. This means that if they qualify from the GP and by rating, the spot will be given to the next player in line by rating, not the next one in the GP standings.

The tournament changed the rating position of many players, but since they have already been counted for the March list, we will refer you to our report of the rating list that will be coming shortly.

Closing Ceremony

Ivan Sokolov, Keti Tsatsalashvili and Tornike Sanikidze wave good bye to the tournament

The closing ceremony was a relatively small but cozy affair

Live music is always a must

Three down and one to go, the GP series is rather short compared to the last one, which had six events

All the players received a little plaque for their participation... as well as local wine!

Mahir Mammadov, General Director of Socar Energy Georgia, the tournament sponsor, presented the winner Evgeny Tomashevsky with the check of 20,000 EUR.

Songs from a local choir

ECU President Zurab Azmaiparashvili giving his speech

Jobava, Grischuk and Andreikin in the closing

Wrapping up with a formal dinner...

and some words from the winner himself!

Khanty-Mansiysk is scheduled for the 13th to the 27th of May. In three months we will know two more names of the 2016 Candidates tournament player list!

Final Standings

Replay All Games

Photos from the official website by Maria Emelianova

Schedule

Round 01 – February 15, 2015 - 15:00
Dominguez, Leinier 2726
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2731
Svidler, Peter 2739
0-1
Giri, Anish 2797
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775
0-1
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705
0-1
Grischuk, Alexander 2810
Andreikin, Dmitry 2737
½-½
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716
1-0
Jobava, Baadur 2696
Round 02 –February 16, 2015 - 15:00
Radjabov, Teimour 2731
½-½
Jobava, Baadur 2696
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733
½-½
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716
Grischuk, Alexander 2810
½-½
Andreikin, Dmitry 2737
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759
0-1
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705
Giri, Anish 2797
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775
Dominguez, Leinier 2726
½-½
Svidler, Peter 2739
Round 03 –February 17, 2015 - 15:00
Svidler, Peter 2739
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2731
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775
½-½
Dominguez, Leinier 2726
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705
½-½
Giri, Anish 2797
Andreikin, Dmitry 2737
0-1
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716
1-0
Grischuk, Alexander 2810
Jobava, Baadur 2696
0-1
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733
Round 04 –February 18, 2015 - 15:00
Radjabov, Teimour 2731
½-½
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733
Grischuk, Alexander 2810
1-0
Jobava, Baadur 2696
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759
0-1
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716
Giri, Anish 2797
½-½
Andreikin, Dmitry 2737
Dominguez, Leinier 2726
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705
Svidler, Peter 2739
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775
Round 05 –February 20, 2015 - 15:00
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2731
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705
1-0
Svidler, Peter 2739
Andreikin, Dmitry 2737
0-1
Dominguez, Leinier 2726
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716
½-½
Giri, Anish 2797
Jobava, Baadur 2696
1-0
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733
½-½
Grischuk, Alexander 2810
Round 06 –February 21, 2015 - 15:00
Radjabov, Teimour 2731
1-0
Grischuk, Alexander 2810
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759
½-½
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733
Giri, Anish 2797
½-½
Jobava, Baadur 2696
Dominguez, Leinier 2726
½-½
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716
Svidler, Peter 2739
1-0
Andreikin, Dmitry 2737
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705
Round 07 –February 22, 2015 - 15:00
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2731
Andreikin, Dmitry 2737
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716
½-½
Svidler, Peter 2739
Jobava, Baadur 2696
1-0
Dominguez, Leinier 2726
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733
1-0
Giri, Anish 2797
Grischuk, Alexander 2810
0-1
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759
Round 08 –February 23, 2015 - 15:00
Radjabov, Teimour 2731
½-½
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759
Giri, Anish 2797
½-½
Grischuk, Alexander 2810
Dominguez, Leinier 2726
½-½
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733
Svidler, Peter 2739
0-1
Jobava, Baadur 2696
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775
½-½
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705
½-½
Andreikin, Dmitry 2737
Round 09 –February 25, 2015 - 15:00
Andreikin, Dmitry 2737
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2731
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716
1-0
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705
Jobava, Baadur 2696
0-1
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733
½-½
Svidler, Peter 2739
Grischuk, Alexander 2810
½-½
Dominguez, Leinier 2726
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759
½-½
Giri, Anish 2797
Round 10 –February 26, 2015 - 15:00
Radjabov, Teimour 2731
½-½
Giri, Anish 2797
Dominguez, Leinier 2726
½-½
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759
Svidler, Peter 2739
½-½
Grischuk, Alexander 2810
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775
½-½
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705
½-½
Jobava, Baadur 2696
Andreikin, Dmitry 2737
½-½
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716
Round 11 –February 27, 2015 - 13:00
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716
½-½
Radjabov, Teimour 2731
Jobava, Baadur 2696
½-½
Andreikin, Dmitry 2737
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733
½-½
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705
Grischuk, Alexander 2810
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759
½-½
Svidler, Peter 2739
Giri, Anish 2797
½-½
Dominguez, Leinier 2726

Links

The games will be 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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