Tbilisi Rd6: Poisoned Pawn

by Alejandro Ramirez
2/21/2015 – Two decisive games in Tbilisi, but very different ones! The highlight of the day was Radjabov's demolition of his opponent... using an extremely sharp line of the Poisoned Pawn Najdorf. Svidler on the other hand took advantage of a tactical mistake from Andreikin to win a pawn and a long endgame. This is Svidler's first win of the event, while Andreikin falls to last place.

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The third stage of the 2014-2015 FIDE Grand Prix is taking place in Tbilisi, Georgia. The tournament will run from February 14th to February 28, 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 Six

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

Radjabov, Teimour 1-0 Grischuk, Alexander

Radjabov set up too many opening problems for a 2800, not an easy task!

Grischuk used all his time in a game that lasted less than 25 moves. Such are poisoned pawns!

[Event "Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix"] [Site "Tbilisi GEO"] [Date "2015.02.21"] [Round "6"] [White "Radjabov, T."] [Black "Grischuk, A."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B97"] [WhiteElo "2731"] [BlackElo "2810"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "2015.02.14"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 { Radjabov's second poisoned pawn in two days! Well, yesterday he was on the black side, and it was a French instead of a Najdorf, but who is counting these unimportant details? Poisoned pawn!} 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. e5 h6 { This move has become more popular than dxe5 lately, but both still have an immense amount of possibilities for both sides that have not been explored yet. } 11. Bh4 dxe5 12. fxe5 g5 (12... Nfd7) (12... Nd5 {are two differnet lines that lead to completely different positions. Part of the difficulty of playing these positions is that there are so many different lines that need to be perfected.}) 13. Bg3 Nh5 14. Ne4 Nd7 15. Rb3 Qxa2 16. Be2 {This move is relatively new, it had been played in a game before but between two players with less than 2300, so it probably went under the radar.} (16. Qc3 b6 {was Sjugirov-Nepomniachtchi from 2009.}) 16... Nc5 $2 {Already a mistake. It is so easy to lose your path in this position.} (16... Qa1+ 17. Bd1 {and only now} ( 17. Kf2 $5 {might be something very worth considering} Nxg3 $1) 17... Nc5 { keeps the game very complex. More practical tests will be needed.}) 17. Nc3 $1 Nxb3 (17... Qa1+ 18. Rb1 {doesn't work anymore. h5 is currently hanging.}) 18. Nxb3 Bb4 $2 {This is the decisive mistake} (18... Nxg3 19. Nxa2 Nxh1 20. Kf1 { Black will lose his knight on h1, but it doesn't mean the game is over. Black has a couple of pawns and the pair of bishops.}) 19. Bxh5 Qb2 20. O-O {Black doesn't have time to take on c3, which means that he is totally lost.} Qxc3 ( 20... O-O 21. Be1 Qxc3 22. Qxc3 Bxc3 23. Bxc3 {leaves White in a position with two pieces for a rook, and completely winning. Bb4 is unstoppable.}) 21. Bxf7+ Ke7 22. Qf2 {This is the point. With Qf6+ coming it is clear that Black will not survive long.} Kd7 23. Qb6 $1 (23. Qf6 Rf8 24. Be1 Qc4 25. Bxb4 Qxb4 26. Bxe6+ Kc7 27. Qxf8 {was also winning. Qb6 is more precise.}) 23... Rf8 24. Be1 $1 {Black will lose material and his king is not feeling any safer!} 1-0

Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar ½-½ Jakovenko, Dmitry
Jakovenko played a powerful game, quickly attacking on the kingside as Mamedyarov tried to finish his development. Mamedyarov was just in time to diffuse the attack by trading queens, but that meant that his structure was compromised and the resulting position was very unpleasant, even though White was up a pawn. Jakovenko tortured Mamedyarov, but ultimately the Azeri was able to keep the half point after suffering for a long time.

Mamedyarov finally drew a game!

Giri, Anish ½-½ Jobava, Baadur
Giri uncorked a fantastic tactic with 32.Ne4! netting him the pair of bishops and a comfortable position. He started outplaying Jobava, putting his bishops in good positions, penetrating with his rook and making Black's pawns very uncomfortable. When he was very close to cashing in for a big advantage, he lost his way, and Jobava escaped with a little bit of luck.

Giri came very close to inflicting another defeat on Jobava,
but the Georgian escapes the last place in the tournament, which now belongs to Andreikin

Dominguez, Leinier ½-½ Tomashevsky, Evgeny
White was able to prove that small advantages in the Spanish can add up. Tomashevsky took the good practical decision of sacrificing a pawn to try to hold down a 4v3 endgame. Dominguez made a clear mistake, and even though it is possible that in the long run the endgame would have finished in a draw, he didn't have the chance to at least push for the win as he basically blundered a perpetual.

Dominguez was making a push to catch up with Tomashevsky, but the Russian was too salid

Svidler, Peter 1-0 Andreikin, Dmitry
White's central control was not as important as the pair of bishops he gave up for it. Andreikin was counterattacking strongly and he had the better chances. However a clear tactical mistake allowed Svidler to get a structural advantage in the endgame, which turned into a pawn. Andreikin was unable to hold his uncomfortable position and Svidler won his first game of the tournament.

Andreikin won one GP in Tashkent, did bad in Baku and doesn't seem to be having a promising one in Tbilisi either

Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime ½-½ Kasimdzhzanov, Rustam
The Petroff was once upon a time a solid tool to draw games with, nowadays it seems more as if the Petroff is asking to get slightly tortured and escaping with a draw. This seems to be the case today, as MVL obtained a nice advantage and was putting strong pressure on his opponent's pawns. Kasimdzhanov was able to figure out a way to beat back the pressure after MVL made some inaccuracies, and he salvaged a draw.

Kasimzdhanov is one of the few top grandmasters that still plays the Petroff regularly

Standings

Round Six Games

Select from the dropdown menu to replay the 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   Radjabov, Teimour 2731
Andreikin, Dmitry 2737   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716   Svidler, Peter 2739
Jobava, Baadur 2696   Dominguez, Leinier 2726
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733   Giri, Anish 2797
Grischuk, Alexander 2810   Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759
Round 08 –February 23, 2015 - 15:00
Radjabov, Teimour 2731   Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759
Giri, Anish 2797   Grischuk, Alexander 2810
Dominguez, Leinier 2726   Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733
Svidler, Peter 2739   Jobava, Baadur 2696
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705   Andreikin, Dmitry 2737
Round 09 –February 25, 2015 - 15:00
Andreikin, Dmitry 2737   Radjabov, Teimour 2731
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716   Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705
Jobava, Baadur 2696   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733   Svidler, Peter 2739
Grischuk, Alexander 2810   Dominguez, Leinier 2726
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759   Giri, Anish 2797
Round 10 –February 26, 2015 - 15:00
Radjabov, Teimour 2731   Giri, Anish 2797
Dominguez, Leinier 2726   Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759
Svidler, Peter 2739   Grischuk, Alexander 2810
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775   Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705   Jobava, Baadur 2696
Andreikin, Dmitry 2737   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716
Round 11 –February 27, 2015 - 13:00
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2716   Radjabov, Teimour 2731
Jobava, Baadur 2696   Andreikin, Dmitry 2737
Jakovenko, Dmitry 2733   Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2705
Grischuk, Alexander 2810   Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2775
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2759   Svidler, Peter 2739
Giri, Anish 2797   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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