tag: Baku - Page 4

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!
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