tag: Grand Prix - Page 2

Stage set in Tashkent

10/21/2014 – 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. Gelfand and Caruana currently lead the race for the Candidate's tournament, but with three more GPs everything is still anyone's qualification spot.

Baku Closing

10/16/2014 – The first leg of the Grand Prix series has finished, and since the series is now only four tournaments long every result will count (unlike previously where you could 'replace' a bad result). This means that immediately we have some players well positioned for the top spots, while others will have to work hard for their qualification to the Candidate's.

Gelfand and Caruana share first in Baku

10/14/2014 – The final round of the Baku Grand Prix was quite appropriate all things considered. Five of the six games drew, and this was closer to par for the event than the nervy couple of rounds towards the end, while Fabiano Caruana and Boris Gelfand, both of whom headlined the event throughout shared first. The only win was Grischuk's victory over a luckless Dominguez. Last round report.

Baku 10: Caruana and Gelfand retake lead

10/13/2014 – Once more four out of six games ended in decisive results, but the highlights were the wins scored by Fabiano Caruana and Boris Gelfand respectively, after both had suffered losses in the previous round. It is a credit to their fighting spirit and resilience that they bounced back when it matters the most and it all comes down to the wire for the last round. Report and analysis.

Baku 09: Leaders fall; six lead

10/12/2014 – For those hoping for tale of a crushing tournament victory, that dream was effectively erased when the leaders lost today, culminating in a massive six-way tie for first at 5.0/9. Fabiano Caruana lost his second game, this time to Grischuk, while Nakamura, Mamedyarov and Andreikin all racked up wins of their own. The final two rounds promise tension and drama. Round nine summary.

Baku 08: Svidler saves the day

10/10/2014 – Let's face it: we were spoiled terribly with the recent Sinquefield Cup and its high percentage of decisive results. Perhaps the most important lesson was that chess needn't be a drawfest at the highest echelons, with the only exceptions coming at the cost of embarrassing blunders. The only player to stand out today was Peter Svidler with his win over Dominguez. Round eight report.

Baku 07: He is human!

10/10/2014 – Despite what his recent success seems to indicate, Fabiano Caruana is capable of losing a game! He had a particularly bad day and his executioner was Dmitry Andreikin. His technique was not immaculate, but by the 40th move he had netted a pawn and converted it confidently. Gelfand drew and catches the Italian, while Karjakin beat Nakamura thanks to the American's dubious opening.

Baku 06: Caruana 2851 live!

10/8/2014 – The Italian wrecking ball keeps accumulating victories! Today he outplayed Svidler in an immensely complicated position stemming from the Grunfeld. With this victory Caruana leads the tournament by half a point and reaches a new record in his live rating: 2851, only twelve points away from Carlsen. Kasimdzhanov and Radjabov also won, capitalizing on their opponents' mistakes.

Baku 05: Peace after the rest day

10/7/2014 – To quote one of the commentators of the event, Sutovsky, "Quite a boring round here in Baku. Only Gelfand-Tomashevsky and Nakamura-Dominguez were exciting at some stage." And even those games were not thrilling. Gelfand-Tomashevsyk petered out to a draw right after move 30 while Nakamura was trying to nurse two extra pawns in a probably drawn opposite colored bishop endgame.

Baku 04: Fabi unstoppable

10/5/2014 – He could have been 4.0/4 as he had a strong advantage aginst both Nakamura and Gelfand in previous rounds, but his 3.0/4 is far from shabby! He beat Mamedyarov with a computer-like defense and precision. As many pieces as Mamedyarov sacrificed and as weak as Caruana's kind seemed, he survived and his material advantage was too big. He now shares the lead with Gelfand.

Baku 03: Grischuk flags; Gelfand leads

10/4/2014 – Some interesting games in Baku. The highlights are Grischuk's frantic endgame against Gelfand. Due to time pressure neither side played particularly well, and in a drawn position Grischuk flagged! Gelfand now leads solo with 2.5/3. Missing a good chance to keep up was Caruana who was winning against Nakamura... who, in his own words, should have castled like a man.

Baku 02: Missed Chances

10/3/2014 – An exciting second round has left four leaders with 1.5/2, though the standings could have been very different. Caruana missed a chance to win against Gelfand while Grischuk missed several finishing blows against Karjakin. Svidler and Nakamura outplayed Mamedyarov and Andreiking to join the leaders. Meanwhile Dominguez tortured Tomashevsky for 100 moves...

Baku 01: Caruana, Gelfand strike first

10/2/2014 – The tournament has started with some exciting games, even if some of the most important variations in plenty of games were not executed on the board. Two decisive games kicked things off: Gelfand overwhelmed Andreikin by following a new trend in the QID that the Russian wasn't familiar with while Caruana took advantage of an overpress by Karjakin. Round one analysis and impressions.

Baku Grand Prix begins on Thursday

10/2/2014 – The race for the 2016 Candidate's Tournament starts now. The first Grand Prix stage in the 2014-2015 FIDE GP series is in Baku, Azerbaijan. The matches start tomorrow but today the opening ceremony and drawing of lots took place. The locals cheered when out of coincidence the very first round includes a duel between the locals Radjabov and Mamedyarov!

FIDE announces Grand Prix 2014-2015

8/21/2014 – FIDE has announced the 2014-2015 Grand Prix series with the players invited to participate and the four tournaments that comprise it, reduced from the previous cycle's six. Two players will also qualify for the following 2014-2016 World Championship Candidates. At the top of the list of invitees are Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand, though the players are not confirmed yet.

Women's Grand Prix in Lopota begins

6/19/2014 – Lopota, Georgia is the host of the fifth Women's Grand Prix in the 2013-2014 series. The games have begun with an incredibly strong field. World Champion Hou Yifan and Koneru Humpy lead the pack of players trying to win the tournament and accumulate Grand Prix points. Yesterday was the opening ceremony and today we already had action packed games and missed chances.

Paris Final: Disappointing Finish

10/4/2013 – The stage was set for epic duels: Caruana had to win with the black pieces to win the tournament solo and qualify for the Candidate's tournament in case that Gelfand drew Ponomariov, which he ended up doing. Instead Caruana repeated moves early in the opening, and he wasn't the only one. Bacrot-Grischuk and Gelfand-Ponomariov didn't make it past the opening. Report.

Paris 10: Gelfand and Caruana win, lead

10/3/2013 – With powerful preparation and a strong follow-up Gelfand was able to take down Nakamura and steal the leading position from him. Caruana took advantage of this and beat Tomashevsky, putting him at 6.5/10 tied with the Israeli. In the duel of the French players Bacrot easily demolished Fressinet and he is now tied with Nakamura. We bring you in-depth analysis by grandmaster Romain Edouard.

Paris 09: Liberté, égalité, fraternité

10/2/2013 – The players exemplified France's motto, liberty, equality and brotherhood. Giri-Caruana and Tomashevsky-Grischuk were hard fought, and although the other players tried their best the drawish nature of the positions they arrived to lead to today's round featuring six draws. This leaves Nakamura still half a point ahead of Caruana and Gelfand with two rounds to go. Report of round 9.

Paris 08: Planet Ivanchuk

9/30/2013 – A bloody round in Paris! The most important results were clearly Caruana's clean and effective victory against Gelfand and Ivanchuk's loss on time in a drawn position against Nakamura. With this gift the American leads in clear first ahead of Gelfand and Caruana. Bacrot ground down Ponomariov in nice style while Grischuk crushed Giri in a superior rook endgame. Report of round eight.

Paris 07: Astounding Blunders

9/29/2013 – Two decisive games happened today. In the first one to finish, Nakamura took full advantage of an opening blunder by Caruana to win a queen for a rook and easily take a full point, the American surpasses his Italian rival and is now in second place. Gelfand and Grischuk, in heavy time pressure, blundered back and forth but ultimately the Israeli came ahead and leads. Report and analysis.

Paris 06: Caruana wins, ties for lead

9/28/2013 –  In today's large amount of draws, one person came out ahead. Fabiano Caruana kept pressuring Vassily Ivanchuk from the beginning. Black always had problems with activity and specially getting his bishops into play. In what was certainly a worse endgame for Black, but far from resignable, many spectators were surprised to see a sudden 1-0. Full report.

Paris 05: Two Black wins

9/27/2013 – The players used the rest day to visit the breath taking Palace of Versailles. During their visit, the Chapelle in which they are playing was used for a fascinating chess art exhibit by the famous French artist Zigou. The players came re-energized to the tournament, and Grischuk and Bacrot were able to win with Black. Gelfand is back to solo lead after his draw against Wang Hao. Full analysis and pictorial report.

Paris 04: Dominguez, Ivanchuk win

9/25/2013 – Dominguez and Ivanchuk scored today against Giri and Fressinet. The Cuban was able to quickly dismantle Giri's defenses after the latter's pawn sacrifice from the opening failed to yield full equality. Fressinet had chances for an advantage against Ivanchuk but slowly the tides turned against him and it is now the Ukrainian that is tied for first with Gelfand at 3.0/4. Round four report
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