Tbilisi Rd9: Tomashevsky Unstoppable

by Alejandro Ramirez
2/25/2015 – It's possible to say that the race for first is practically over. With only two rounds to go, Tomashevsky has a fantastic 1.5 point lead over Jakovenko and nothing but a complete disaster would prevent Tomashevsky from claiming first, even with two losses to finish he might win the event! Today he played a great game against Kasimdzhanov in the KID, while MVL beat Jobava.

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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 Nine

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

Ivan Sokolov today joined the commentary, here with Keti Tsatsalashvili

Andreikin, Dmitry ½-½ Radjabov, Teimour
Andreikin's set-ups with Nf3 and a quick Bg5 always avoid opening theory (at least the main lines) while keeping the game unbalanced. White quickly won a pawn on c5 which he tried to hang on to. Radjabov didn't worry about that, instead focusing on his piece placement and preventing his opponent from castling. Radjabov sacrificed a second pawn to ruin White's pawn structure - Black was taking all of White's pawns but Andreikin came just in time to bring his pieces back into the game to hold the endgame.

Andreikin sometimes deviates with unusual versions of 1.d4

Radjabov valued activity more than a pawn

Tomashevsky, Evgeny 1-0 Kasimzdhanov, Rustam
There is no doubt that in this past year/year and a half the KID (King's Indian Defence) has made a huge comeback. What was not a popular opening at all in 2013 in super-tournaments is now played much more often. The h3-variation is one of the new tabiyas, or battlegrounds, in which White is trying to prove an advantage.

Tomashevsky played an exemplary h3-KID. He slowly secured control of e4, and even though the white pawns looked weak, Black's pieces, especially the dead bishop on g7, were not strong enough to exploit that. Kasimdzhanov resigned in a position that was probably not completely lost, but did look like a nightmare.

Unstoppable: Tomashevsky is on +5 and leads by 1.5 points

Jobava, Baadur 0-1 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
Jobava played one of his unusual openings, this time a rather passive version of a 3.Bb5 Sicilian. MVL took the opportunity to chuck his pawns forward, gaining a huge amount of space in the center and on the kingside. The position always looked unpleasant for Jobava, even though he was perhaps holding. A nice sequence from MVL locked his opponent's rook on h5, where it could not come back to defend the queenside. MVL swung his rook to c8 and White's position collapsed.

A quick chat before the game

Jakovenko, Dmitry ½-½ Svidler, Peter
For the second round in a row we see a very deep Grunfeld idea as the players repeated the game Aronian-Grischuk for the first 25 moves. Svidler's 25...Nc4 was only a slight improvement as it seems both moves give Black equality. Like the game they were following, the draw became inevitable a few moves later.

Jakovenko followed Aronian's footsteps for 25 moves

Grischuk, Alexander ½-½ Dominguez, Leinier
The Spanish has an incredible wealth of interesting strategical factors. How exactly Black develops in the Closed Spanish, if he chooses the Breyer, the Chigorin or another system, changes the character of the position in a subtle but important way.

Grischuk was unable to get much from the opening as every single one of the Cuban's pieces was well placed, attacking the center and always threatening to break on d5. Grischuk hurried to prevent this by sacrificing his pair of bishops, which left him just a tad worse - his powerful knight on d5 providing some compensation. The simplification into the endgame left Black up a pawn but he had to take the d5 knight with his bishop, leaving the game in a dead drawn opposite colored bishop situation in which Dominguez's extra pawn did not count for much.

Dominguez (right) was once known for his Najdorf prowess, but lately has been playing 1. e4 e5 more often

Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar ½-½ Giri, Anish
Giri has been facing the 7.Qf3!? Taimanov/Paulsen very often in the last couple of months, including two games in Wijk aan Zee. Mamedyarov came up with the brutal-looking 9.Nf5, sacrificing a full piece to obtain the d5 square. Giri was well prepared, he declined the piece sacrifice temporarily with the strange looking but precise 9...f6!?. Eventually Giri had to accept the gift on f5, allowing Mamedyarov to get an initiative with his knight on d5 against Black's weak dark-squares.

Unfortunately for the Azeri all he could get out of this was a rook for a pawn, leaving him up the exchange for a pawn but in a situation where Giri had plenty of play. Mamedyarov had to force a draw before the situation got out of hand.

Mamedyarov and Giri played a fun Sicilian

Standings

Round Nine 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
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   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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