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Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave, Andreikin Win as Tashkent Grand Prix Takes Off

Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave, Andreikin Win as Tashkent Grand Prix Takes Off

PeterDoggers
| 38 | Chess Event Coverage

Less than a week after the first Grand Prix in Baku, the second one has started today in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In the first round Fabiano Caruana went down against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Dmitry Andreikin and Hikaru Nakamura were the other winners in the first round; they defeated Baadur Jobava and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov respectively.

The co-winners of the Baku Grand Prix, Fabiano Caruana and Boris Gelfand, both play the second GP tournament as well, which started today in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The other players with this tough schedule are Hikaru Nakamura, Dmitry Andreikin, Sergey Karjakin, Teimour Rajdabov, Rustam Kasimzdhanov and Shakhryiar Mamedyarov. The new names are Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, Dmitry Jakovenko and Baadur Jobava.

The players at the opening ceremony on Monday in the Gallery of Fine Arts in Tashkent | Photo Anastasiya Karlovich courtesy of FIDE
Dancers making use of the giant chess board |  Photo Yulia Monakova courtesy of FIDE

Giri and Jobava come straight from the Netherlands after playing their Univé matches; the latter only heard about his participation last week, when FIDE announced that the Tehran GP (in February 2015) has been moved to Tbilisi. As a result, the Georgian number one is now playing instead of Iran's GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's last event was the PokerStars Isle of Man tournament, where he tied for sixth place. His start in Tashkent couldn't be better: on his birthday “MVL” won as Black against top seed and world #2 Fabiano Caruana! Let's give the microphone to GM Dejan Bojkov who annotated the game especially for Chess.com — something he will do on a regular basis!

An birthday present even better than the one MVL received from arbiter Husan Turdialiev before the game | Photo Yulia Monakova courtesy of FIDE

Hikaru Nakamura won convincingly against last-minute entry Baadur Jobava, who is not the lowest seeded player by the way (that's Rustam Kasimdzhanov). The Georgian played the “Accelarated Bogo-Indian” (1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+) which later transposed into a proper Bogo. Black's position became quite passive, and despite Jobava's resourceful play he couldn't save himself as Nakamura played strongly.


A good start for Hikaru Nakamura | Photo Yulia Monakova courtesy of FIDE

The third winner of the day was Dmitry Andreikin, who could easily have lost the game instead. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won a pawn right after the opening and could play for two results in the ending. However, shortly before the time control he lost track in a double rook ending and went from winning to drawn to losing. Ouch!

Mamedyarov vs Andreikin, with Kasimdzhanov kibitzing, in a playing hall with no space for empty chairs... | Photo Yulia Monakova courtesy of FIDE
...although this time there are spectators! | Photo Yulia Monakova courtesy of FIDE

Anish Giri and Boris Gelfand were the first to finish in this round. After a very interesting opening phase, the game suddenly reached a middlegame position where neither player could really undertake anything.

Gelfand getting into the mood for a game of chess | Photo Yulia Monakova courtesy of FIDE
Three trainers in the background: Alexander Huzman (Gelfand), Vladimir Tukmakov (Giri) and Vladimir Chuchelov (Caruana) | Photo Yulia Monakova courtesy of FIDE

Teimour Radjabov played an irregular 1.e4 opening (the Vienna with 3.g3) and was quite successful with it against Sergey Karjakin. A knight to h4, a queen to h5 and pawn to f4 to open up some lines, isn't that how we all want to play? Well, if Radjabov hadn't developed his last piece but moved his king instead, it could have finished in a blitzkrieg!


Radjabov missed a terribly strong king move | Photo Yulia Monakova courtesy of FIDE

Kasimzdhanov-Jakovenko was a quiet Berlin (not the ending, but 5.Re1) where White's bishop pair was enough for a long-term edge, but not more than that.


FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov making the ceremonial first move | Photo Yulia Monakova courtesy of FIDE

2014 Grand Prix, Tashkent | Round 1 Standings

# Name Rtg Perf 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 Pts SB
1 Nakamura,H 2764 3517 phpfCo1l0.png 1 1.0/1 0.00
2 Vachier-Lagrave,M 2757 3644 phpfCo1l0.png 1 1.0/1 0.00
3 Andreikin,D 2722 3564 phpfCo1l0.png 1 1.0/1 0.00
4 Giri,A 2768 2748 phpfCo1l0.png ½ 0.5/1 0.25
5 Karjakin,S 2767 2726 phpfCo1l0.png ½ 0.5/1 0.25
6 Gelfand,B 2748 2768 ½ phpfCo1l0.png 0.5/1 0.25
7 Jakovenko,D 2747 2706 phpfCo1l0.png ½ 0.5/1 0.25
8 Radjabov,T 2726 2767 ½ phpfCo1l0.png 0.5/1 0.25
9 Kasimdzhanov,R 2706 2747 ½ phpfCo1l0.png 0.5/1 0.25
10 Caruana,F 2844 1957 0 phpfCo1l0.png 0.0/1 0.00
11 Mamedyarov,S 2764 1922 0 phpfCo1l0.png 0.0/1 0.00
12 Jobava,B 2717 1964 0 phpfCo1l0.png 0.0/1 0.00

2014 Grand Prix, Baku | All Results

Round 1 15:00 UZT 21.10.14   Round 2 15:00 UZT 22.10.14
Giri ½-½ Gelfand   Gelfand - Karjakin
Mamedyarov 0-1 Andreikin   Jakovenko - Radjabov
Nakamura 1-0 Jobava   Vachier-Lagrave - Kasimdzhanov
Caruana 0-1 Vachier-Lagrave   Jobava - Caruana
Kasimdzhanov ½-½ Jakovenko   Andreikin - Nakamura
Radjabov ½-½ Karjakin   Giri - Mamedyarov
Round 3 15:00 UZT 23.10.14   Round 4 15:00 UZT 24.10.14
Mamedyarov - Gelfand   Gelfand - Jakovenko
Nakamura - Giri   Vachier-Lagrave - Karjakin
Caruana - Andreikin   Jobava - Radjabov
Kasimdzhanov - Jobava   Andreikin - Kasimdzhanov
Radjabov - Vachier-Lagrave   Giri - Caruana
Karjakin - Jakovenko   Mamedyarov - Nakamura
Round 5 15:00 UZT 26.10.14   Round 6 15:00 UZT 27.10.14
Nakamura - Gelfand   Gelfand - Vachier-Lagrave
Caruana - Mamedyarov   Jobava - Jakovenko
Kasimdzhanov - Giri   Andreikin - Karjakin
Radjabov - Andreikin   Giri - Radjabov
Karjakin - Jobava   Mamedyarov - Kasimdzhanov
Jakovenko - Vachier-Lagrave   Nakamura - Caruana
Round 7 15:00 UZT 28.10.14   Round 8 15:00 UZT 29.10.14
Caruana - Gelfand   Gelfand - Jobava
Kasimdzhanov - Nakamura   Andreikin - Vachier-Lagrave
Radjabov - Mamedyarov   Giri - Jakovenko
Karjakin - Giri   Mamedyarov - Karjakin
Jakovenko - Andreikin   Nakamura - Radjabov
Vachier-Lagrave - Jobava   Caruana - Kasimdzhanov
Round 9 15:00 UZT 31.10.14   Round 10 15:00 UZT 01.11.14
Kasimdzhanov - Gelfand   Gelfand - Andreikin
Radjabov - Caruana   Giri - Jobava
Karjakin - Nakamura   Mamedyarov - Vachier-Lagrave
Jakovenko - Mamedyarov   Nakamura - Jakovenko
Vachier-Lagrave - Giri   Caruana - Karjakin
Jobava - Andreikin   Kasimdzhanov - Radjabov
Round 11 11:00 UZT 02.11.14        
Radjabov - Gelfand        
Karjakin - Kasimdzhanov        
Jakovenko - Caruana        
Vachier-Lagrave - Nakamura        
Jobava - Mamedyarov        
Andreikin - Giri        

The total prize fund is €120,000. The games start each day at 14:00 local time which is 11:00 in Amsterdam, 10:00 in London, 05:00 in New York, 02:00 in Los Angeles and 19:00 in Sydney. The last round starts three hours earlier. The winner and second placed player in the overall final standings of the Grand Prix will qualify for the Candidates’ Tournament to be held in the last quarter of 2015 or the first half of 2016. | Games via TWIC phpfCo1l0.png



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