12:55 CET, Madrid

We have four candidates for FIDE President and all come from Europe. The continental representation of the Candidates is more balanced, but still inclined towards Europe. – two players from North America, one from Asia, and five from Europe. In this situation, a logical voice from Africa comes, as Pureheart Irikefe writes, “I think FIDE
needs to grow to the point to include the winner of African Chess Championship in the Candidates. Hence, accord the African Chess Confederation a slot to play in the #FIDECandidates for equity sake”.

12:30 CET, Madrid

The FIDE Candidates are absolutely unpredictable, yet Chess by the Numbers tries to put order in the chaos. Over 7000 words long preview and analysis has predicted Ding Liren as the winner of Candidates 2022. See the full preview here

11:55 CET, Madrid

The FIDE Candidates 2022 will be full of quality video coverage. Here are just a few to mention, we will update the list as the day goes GM Polgar and GM Gustafsson / GM Daniil Yuffa and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni / GM Benjamin Bok and team Hikaru / Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal / GM Naroditsky and WGM Skripchenko

11:31 CET, Madrid

Enter team Nakamura! What a week it has been for Hikaru. On Tuesday he joined Misfits Gaming as an influencer and content creator. On Wednesday he announced massive giveaways. And Hikaru Nakamura is in Madrid not only to compete in the FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament 2022, but he also prepared the live broadcast of the event with Team Hikaru and Benjamin Bok, Irina Krush, Fiona Steil-Antoni, Levy Rozman, Anna Rudolf, James Canty, Jennifer Shahade and Maria Emelianova. Nakamura’s first game is against Caruana and you can follow it live here

11:15 CET, Madrid

Judit Polgar will comment the Candidates for Chess24 together with Jan Gustafsson. She qualified the Candidates like this, “This will be a really juicy Candidates. I am expecting great opening ideas, a lot of freshness in the games by the new generation of players, and for all the participants to be very motivated and hungry to win!” Judit shared her expectations about Carlsen defending the title, “Do you think it is great fun to play a 6th World Championship match for him? I think no, it comes with great pressure, expectations and unbelievable stress”

11:00 CET, Madrid

We interrupt the Candidates narrative for a second, as there is an important last round of Prague Chess 2022 that just started. Follow live the Masters here where Le Quang Liem and Harikrishna are in a race for first, while the juniors keep impressing and you can follow live the Challengers here where Hans Niemann, Vincent Keymer and Nodirbek Abdusattorov are in a race for the 2700 club and battle for 2nd position in the junior rating list. Read: Hans Niemann is now the second strongest junior in the world

10:35 CET, Madrid

Here is a preview of the playing hall by David Llada. Throwback: See how the Candidates looked in 1953

10:05 CET
Round 1 pairings today include Jan-Krzysztof Duda – Richard Rapport / Ding Liren – Ian Nepomniachtchi / Fabiano Caruana – Hikaru Nakamura / Teimour Radjabov – Alireza Firouzja. Each of the games will be live on Chessdom and we will also bring you a collection of the best video coverages from Grandmasters and experts for you to choose from. Round 1 will see the two players from the same country face each other to avoid possible arrangements in the last round. It is curious that Fabiano Caruana plays in R14 against Alireza Firouzja, as Caruana said at the press conference, “Firouzja’s World No 2 position was a little bit of momentum” (see the full statement of Caruana in the video here)

9:35 CET

Norway is anticipating with interest the challenger of Magnus Carlsen. But Norwegian audience has two very different scenarios in mind. “This tournament has a dimension far beyond the ordinary,” Torstein Bae says for NRK. “Two World Cup tickets can be awarded in this year’s candidate tournament. If Magnus Carlsen actually withdraws from the World Cup, he will be the winner of the candidate tournament in Madrid and the one who ends up as number two, who will be the opponent in 2023.” NKR’s article also dubs Alireza Firouzja as the favorite of the competition.

Recently Magnus Carlsen said, “I will be following the Candidates full time” See the whole interview with Carlsen here

9:14 CET, Madrid

You are looking for a ticket to attend the Candidates? There are none! The Candidates were sold out long ago. But you still have a chance to feel the atmosphere as the organizers are creating a special fan zone. Attendees will enjoy surprise visits by prominent personalities from the chess world, including grandmasters, famous commentators and streamers, and other enigmatic guests. Fun may continue even after the conclusion of the Candidates games, with a friendly banter blitz among the guests. See more about the fan zone here

8:51 CET, Madrid

The Candidates 2022 in Madrid are unpredictable. This opinion is shared by the majority of chess fans around the world. We have not had such contested Candidates since London 2013, and this is bringing records before the event even starts. @olimpiuurcan explains the tension perfectly with one photo. Chess is a tough game, but these Candidates can prove to be on another level. The tension of this tournament is surpassed only by the world championship match

8:31 CET, Madrid

The weather at this time in Madrid is quite nice for a walk with the outside temperature being 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Farenheit). But this is quickly about to change as temperatures around the start of round 1 of the Candidates are going to break 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Farenheit). We wrote earlier about the heat wave that is tormenting Spain at this moment. But even in this extreme heat, Ljubomir Ljubojevic is walking on Madrid’s streets in a suit. Ljubojevic is roaming the streets of the city for a few days now after he arrived earlier this week with Richard Rapport (pictured together here)

8:15 CET, Madrid

Vishy Anand also shared his opinion on the upcoming Candidates, “Obviously these are the best chess players on the planet, with the exception of Magnus. What makes it especially interesting is that this is the first Candidates after the pandemic, and we also have people who are coming after very long breaks: Ding and Hikaru have played relatively little over-the-board chess for a long time; Then we have a lot of the newcomers: Rapport, Firouzja, Duda; Plus experienced players like Caruana who played last several Candidates. So there is a very exciting field with a lot of question marks hanging over everyone and that makes it particularly intriguing in the beginning. I think the first few rounds you really want to see who is in the best shape, because I can’t predict it at all.” See all that Vishy says about the Candidates here

8:00 CET, Madrid

We start the day with Alexander Grischuk. He talked to RIA Novosti about the chances of Ian Nepomniachtchi in the Candidates and shared, “The political situation in the world and the ban on Russian players from international sports competitions will not affect the chances of Ian Nepomniachtchi in the Candidates Tournament. Ian has decent chances to win the tournament, I would say 15%, maybe even 20%. The composition of the tournament is very balanced. The only players who I do not believe that can win the event are Radjabov and Rapport. Everyone else can win, there is no clear favorite.” Earlier comments by Grischuk on Krajakin and the Candidates here

“Although I personally disagree with Sergey, I think that a person should have the right to express his opinion. […] When they first started talking about a possible disqualification, I thought it was unlikely. But lately, I’ve begun to think that this is likely to be the case. Therefore, I cannot say that now I am somehow overly surprised. Will an appeal help? To be honest, I think that Sergey has virtually no chance of playing in the Candidates Tournament.” said Grischuk.

Karjakin seems to agree with Grischuk and has decided not to appeal the ban, thus missing Candidates Chess 2022 (who can substitute Karjakin in the competition here)

After explaining why it is good to be tempo down in the reversed Dragon Sicilian, and why do Russians swim in Wijk aan Zee in the middle of winter, Grischuk was asked about the upcoming Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis.

Q: What do you think about the announcement that Garry Kasparov will play in Saint Louis?

A: It is fantastic for me as a spectator. For me it is by far the most interesting event this year, obviously apart from the tournaments I play in.

The only thing that I don’t like is that I can no longer say to Nepomniachtchi, Aronian and others “What do you know, you never played Kasparov”, as now this is going to change. So that’s the only thing that makes me unhappy.

Grischuk made a good use of black pieces, “The point is that being tempo down is actually to my advantage”, he joked as he explained the subtle difference between his position and the game Jakovenko-Gelfand which was the same setup with colors reversed. “The extra move usually confuses them and they don’t know what to do”, he continued in the same style.

On the more serious note, Grischuk criticized white knights dance on the queenside, which allowed him to build strong presence on the central files. A timely break 18…e4 and white collapsed with his next move. Black snatched a pawn and proceeded to win the game.

Richard Rapport ended the bad streak with a fighting victory against the top rated woman Hou Yifan. The queens were exchanged and the position looked innocent enough when white grabbed the a7-pawn and black replied with ingenious 20…Rg8.

Suddenly, white found herself in big trouble as black piled the pressure along the g-file. Two mistakes, 23.Red1 and 28.Kf1, and white’s position was beyond salvation.

The clash between two fearless fighters, Ernesto Inarkiev and Salem A.R.Saleh, lived up to the expectations as we saw the Naidorf Sicilian with opposite castling and mutual attacks and counterattacks.

Salem surprised his opponent with 13…Qh4+, but Inarkiev did not flinch, castling long despite the porous pawn shield in front of the king.

White was first, however, to launch an assault by sacrificing two pawns in order to open up the h-file. As Inarkiev said in the post-game interview, this was his only advantage in the position, but he used it well.

Inarkiev believes that 31…Qf5 was a mistake after which black position deteriorated, and that the only move was 31…e3. Despite being in huge time trouble, white managed to reach the control and score a victory. “I am very proud of my game today”, Inarkiev concluded.

The remaining six games were drawn.

The honorary first move was made by GM Gilles Miralles, President of Geneva Chess Federation.

Photo gallery / Interviews

Round 5 standings:

1-2. GM Grischuk Alexander RUS 2761 and GM Radjabov Teimour AZE 2724 – 3,5
3-6. GM Aronian Levon ARM 2809, GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2800, GM Svidler Peter RUS 2749 and GM Harikrishna Pentala IND 2737 – 3,0
7-14. GM Giri Anish NED 2775, GM Nepomniachtchi Ian RUS 2742, GM Eljanov Pavel UKR 2739, GM Adams Michael ENG 2736, GM Li Chao B CHN 2735, GM Gelfand Boris ISR 2728, GM Inarkiev Ernesto RUS 2707 and GM Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2703 – 2,5
15. GM Riazantsev Alexander RUS 2654 – 2,0
16-17. GM Rapport Richard HUN 2694 and GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2638 – 1,5
18. GM Hou Yifan CHN 2666 – 1,0

Round 6 pairings (Wednesday 12th July):

GM Grischuk Alexander 2761 – GM Radjabov Teimour 2724
GM Aronian Levon 2809 – GM Harikrishna Pentala 2737
GM Svidler Peter 2749 – GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2800
GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2703 – GM Giri Anish 2775
GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2742 – GM Inarkiev Ernesto 2707
GM Li Chao B 2735 – GM Eljanov Pavel 2739
GM Gelfand Boris 2728 – GM Adams Michael 2736
GM Rapport Richard 2694 – GM Riazantsev Alexander 2654
GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2638 – GM Hou Yifan 2666

Official website

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alexander Grischuk played a relatively short draw, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov used the opportunity to defeat Hou Yifan and join them on the shared first place.

The final ranking was decided by the first tie-break criteria – mutual result. Grischuk scored best due to yesterday’s win against Mamedyarov and is awarded the winner’s trophy. Vachier-Lagrave is second and Mamedyarov is third.

Alexander Grischuk (photo A.Karlovich)

The Azeri Grandmaster employed the sharp 4.f3 variation against the Nimzo-Indian. Black made several inaccuracies, as 13…Bxc3 and 15…e4, after which white launched a crushing attack by 17.Bb1. Hou Yifan tried to refute the threats, but there were too many and white claimed a win on 32nd move.

Ding Liren and Levon Aronian were involved in a typical Catalan Opening, where white claimed only a minimal advantage. But at some point, Aronian became careless and “just started playing some random moves”. White used this time to increase the pressure and put the bishop’s pair to work. The final mistake was 37…Bxd6, after which the Chinese player created the mating net.

Pavel Eljanov and Salem Saleh have agreed that the principled 17…d5 break in the center might have been the cause of all black’s trouble later. It was proposed to continue 17…bxa4 18.Rxa4 Qb6 as an improved line.

Eljanov temporarily sacrificed an exchange and assumed a strong initiative. Black could not steer clear of the storm and in the course of massive exchange white won a pawn. The Ukrainian Grandmaster proceeded to convert the advantage.

Round 9 results:

GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2796 – GM Grischuk Alexander 2742 ½ – ½
GM Nakamura Hikaru 2785 – GM Adams Michael 2751 ½ – ½
GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2709 – GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2749 ½ – ½
GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2766 – GM Hou Yifan 2651 1 – 0
GM Ding Liren 2760 – GM Aronian Levon 2785 1 – 0
GM Rapport Richard 2692 – GM Li Chao B 2720 ½ – ½
GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2709 – GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2711 ½ – ½
GM Eljanov Pavel 2759 – GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2656 1 – 0
GM Riazantsev Alexander 2671 – GM Hammer Jon Ludvig 2628 ½ – ½

Final standings:

1 GM Grischuk Alexander RUS 2742 – 5.5
2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2796 – 5.5
3 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2766 – 5.5
4 GM Ding Liren CHN 2760 – 5
5 GM Adams Michael ENG 2751 – 5
6 GM Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2709 – 5
7 GM Nakamura Hikaru USA 2785 – 5
8 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian RUS 2749 – 5
9 GM Rapport Richard HUN 2692 – 4.5
10 GM Eljanov Pavel UKR 2759 – 4.5
11 GM Li Chao B CHN 2720 – 4.5
12 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco ESP 2709 – 4.5
13 GM Aronian Levon ARM 2785 – 4
14 GM Hou Yifan CHN 2651 – 4
15 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2656 – 3.5
16 GM Hammer Jon Ludvig NOR 2628 – 3.5
17 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny RUS 2711 – 3.5
18 GM Riazantsev Alexander RUS 2671 – 3

From this year Norway Chess has joined forces with Sinquefield Cup and London Chess Classic to form the Grand Chess Tour circuit. Each of the three events will award individual prize funds of $300,000, with competitors also tallying points toward a tour prize fund of $150,000.

Just hours before the show starts, we present you short preview on the Norway Chess 2015 participants.

World champion Magnus Carlsen will head the field. Carlsen has won every tournament in which he had played since the beginning of 2015. Three trophies out of three tournaments: Grenke Chess Classic 2015, Tata Steel Masters 2015 and Shamkir Chess Tournament Gashimov Memorial 2015.

Carlsen has the illusive Elo rating of 2876, leaving the nearest followers more than 70 points behind.

Nevertheless, World number one is looking for another trophy and perhaps for a record break of the 2900+ barrier.

The mediocre performance of Fabiano Caruana (2805) in Grenke, Wijk aan Zee and Zurich was followed by the third place in Shamkir Chess Tournament Gashimov Memorial.

Later on Caruana tied for the first place at the 2015 Khanty Mansiysk Grand Prix Tournament to qualify for the 2016 Candidates Tournament.

Right before the start of the decisive Khanty Mansiysk GP Tournament Caruana announced his decision to join the U.S. Chess Federation. More information here

The former World champion Viswanathan Anand (2804) and World number 3 Hikaru Nakamura (2802) came out joint winners of Zurich Chess Challenge 2015.

However, Nakamura defeated Anand in a playoff match after a thrilling Armaggeddon game to take the trophy.

Anand disappointed in Grenke Chess Classic with the penultimate seventh place and 2,5/7 points but a s,ilver medal from the Shamkir Chess Tournament improved his statistics for the year.

In the meantime, Hikaru Nakamura started the year with a trophy from the prestigious 13th Tradewise Gibraltar Masters and continued his successful performances winning the 2015 U.S. Championship.

Nakamura finished second at the 2015 Khanty Mansyisk Grand Prix Tournament and thus qualified for the 2016 Candidates Tournament.

On the 1st June, 2015, Hikaru Nakamura reached his Elo rating peak of 2802 but he is certainly not intending to stop here.

Veselin Topalov

The best Bulgarian player and former World champion Veselin Topalov (2798) is currently fifth in the FIDE World Top 100 ranking.

He participated only in the 13th Gibraltar Tradewise Chess Festival this year. He finished fifth with 7,5/10 points and lost two Elo points to fall under 2800.

Topalov is the least active player from the participants in Norway Chess 2015 but it doesn’t make him less dangerous.

Alexander Grischuk (2781) finished eighth at the Tbilisi Grand Prix Tournament in February. Later on he had the unsatisfying “-1” score on the first board for the team of Russia at the World Team Chess Championship in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia.

Grischuk continued being active, heading the team of Malakhit at the Russian Premier League in Sochi, where he scored 3/4 points to add 5 more Elo points to his rating.

The last competition for the Russian player was Khanty Mansiysk GP Tournament, where he finished seventh.

Levon Aronian (2780) didn’t impress in Zurich Chess Challenge 2015 but he improved his play at the World Team Championship in Tsaghkadzor and Russian Premier League in Sochi.

The best Armenian player ever gained ten more Elo points to his rating to climb to FIDE World number eighth in June 2015.

Anish Giri (2773) started the year sharing second place at the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee and tied for the fourth place at the Tbilisi GP.

However, the latter string of tournaments didn’t go well for the young prodigy from the Netherlands. He shared the last place at the Shamkir Chess Tournament Gashimov Memorial 2015 and scored 5,5/11 at the forthcoming Khanty Mansiysk GP. However, it seems that Giri is getting back in shape since he scored 8/10 at the 2015 French TOP-12 Team Championship in Montpellier just a few days ago. His Elo performance was 2828.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2723) had a bad season. He started the year fine, sharing second place at the Tata Steel Masters 2015 but the string of his unsuccessful performances started right after that.

He finished ninth at the Tbilisi GP, eighth at the Shamkir Chess Tournament and last at the Khanty Mansiysk GP. Meanwhile, MVL scored 0,5/2 points at the 47th CIS Master Italian Team Championship 2015, playing against much lower rated opponents. As a result, Vachier-Lagrave has lost 52 Elo points since February, 2015, but just like Anish Giri he’s getting back in form, scoring “+4” at the recent 2015 French TOP-12 Team Championship.

Jon Ludvig Hammer (2677) is the lower rated participant in Norway Chess 2015.

He emerged a clear winner of the 2015 Fagernes Chess International Tournament in April this year.

Hammer continued his successful performance winning the prestigious EnterCard Scandinavian Masters just a month later to qualify for the Norway Chess 2015.

Tournament website / LIVE games with analysis/ Standings and statistics/ Play chess online

Replay: Norway Chess 2014 games / EnterCard Scandinavian Master games

Official website/ More information here/ LIVE games with analysis (m)/ LIVE games with analysis (w)

Speed provides the one genuinely modern pleasure and so does the Blitz arena for the media worldwide! An exhilarating race is too modestly said, especially when the top players crave for more than they got in the previously played Rapid competition.

Each player handled the three day roller coaster intense emotions the best way they could. The games end up rapidly, but take off a lot of energy. In order to retrieve their calm and forces from one game to another, some players read, others visit the draughts section or play… wee games!

Heading for the stars, Hou Yifan faced her opponents head-on, left behind the rather “disappointing” silver medal from the Rapid and claimed the gold this time, swapping places with Valentina Gunina, who had to content herself as being the 2nd best.

In the men’s ring, we witnessed a copy-paste Rapid-Blitz final ranking, with Grischuk holding to gold, followed by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. A for effort for MVL who swam towards the 1st place during these three days of blitz but he got bogged down in the process by the Russian, who is now the proud owner of two (!) shiny gold medals!

Judging by their smiles and the place on the podium, we reckon we are all, indeed, winners!
But the final standings says something different…

With such a line-up, many players hoped for more, just like Aronian surely did, having to finally made do with the most bitter result in both Rapid and Blitz: the 4th place…but the Armenian flag may soar upon the others in the next two days of Basque, one of the most original way of playing chess. And we will return to that when the time will come…

For now let’s see the highlights of the final day of Blitz:

Etienne Bacrot – Alexander Grischuk

The day started well for Grischuk who won a rather drawish bishop endgame against Etienne Bacrot. In the diagrammed position, 41.h3 is perhaps the easiest way to reach the draw but Bacrot’s move should suffice as well.

41.Bxb6 Bxh2 42.Ke4 g4 43.c5? 

43.Bf2! with the idea to meet 43…g3 with 44.Bxg3 would have drawn instantly. No doubt the French man was very short on time at this point.

43…h4 44.c6 44.Ke3! may still hold but is absolutely impossible to find in a blitzgame. 44…h3 45.Kf2 g3+ 46.Kf3 g2 47.c6 Bc7 48.Bg1 and there is no way to make progress.

44…h3 45.Ba7 Bd6 45…Bg3! 46.Bg1 Bf2! is a very pretty way to win!

46.Bg1 h2 47.Bxh2 Bxh2 48.b6 Kd6 49.c7 Kd7 50.Ke3 and here I am assuming Bacrot lost on time, the position is actually still drawn, there is no way to make progress for Black.

0-1

Alexander Grischuk going for triple gold?!

Alexander Grischuk – Vassily Ivanchuk

A very important game on the way to gold. Alexander is facing a very grim endgame with the white pieces but manages to turn things around, even a 180 degrees!

30…Nc4 There was nothing wrong with 30…Rxb6

31.Ne5 Rxb6?

And here 31…Nxe5 was absolutely essential. Even if the resulting rook endgame after 32.Rc8+ Kh7 33.dxe5 Rxb6 34.Rc7 may not be a win.

32.Nxc4 Rc6 33.Rb1 dxc4?! 33…Rxc4 would have drawn the game but Vassily keeps trying to play for a win. However, this c-pawn will prove to be weak rather than strong.

34.Rxb7 c3 35.Rb1 Ra6 36.Rc1 Ra3 37.Kf1 f5 38.Rc2 Kf7 39.Ke2 Kf6 40.Kd3 e5 41.dxe5+ Kxe5 42.Rxc3 and even this rook endgame should be objectively drawn but Ivanchuk could not prove this with the seconds ticking away and had to resign on move 64.

1-0

Levon Aronian – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

The race between Vachier-Lagrave and Grischuk was very exciting but eventually the French GM was unable to keep up. That was especially due to a rather upsetting finish (1.5/5).

Two silver medals for MVL; will he take a Gold in the Basque?
(photo by: Gu Xiaobing)

Against Aronian, a wild game had resulted in a race between white’s d-pawn and black’s a-pawn. Maxime now played the flashy:

44…Bd5 but after

45.Rxd5 Rg1+ 46.Kxg1 a1Q+ 47.Kg2 Qa8 48.Rd4 Qd8 49.d7 he had to resign. The d-pawn is unstoppable. Instead, the (in hindsight) simple 44…Rd1 would have been just fine.

1-0

If Grischuk can say he had quite a nice time in Beijing so far, grabbing along his ways two gold-s already, Hou Yifan and Valentina Gunina didn’t have such a bad time, either:

The Chinese flag is back, this time on first position!

Blitz final ranking: Women

And the national anthem is played for, who else, Hou Yifan

Hou Yifan – Mariya Muzychuk

Hou Yifan was unstoppable in the blitz-event which was further underlined by the fact she left her nearest rivals 3(!) points behind her. She was both ruthless in attack and tenacious in defence. A few examples:

12.Qh5 g6? 12…Qf6! was the way forward, since the game continuation is punished in straightforward fashion.

13.Qe5 Rg8 14.Nxe6! Bd6 15.Qxd5 fxe6 16.Qxe6+ Kf8 17.Bh6+ Rg7 18.Bxg7+ Kxg7 19.Qxe4 and the game didn’t last much longer.

1-0

Koneru Humpy – Hou Yifan

Hou Yifan’s last move, 24…Bf6–g5, looks strong, but Koneru’s reply is even better:

25.Nbd4! Bxe3 26.Nxc6 Rbc8 27.fxe3 Rxc6 28.Ne5 Rcc8 29.Rxf8+ Rxf8 30.Rd6 with a technically winning position. Hou Yifan’s tenacity allowed her to have this position just 15 moves later:

Needless to say, the various passed pawns decided easily.

0–1

Hou Yifan unstoppable in the Blitz

Harika Dronavalli – Hou Yifan

We should mention that Hou Yifan, together with Harika Dronavalli, also won today’s prize of most uncommon pawn structure!

Valentina Gunina – Hou Yifan

Valentina Gunina did manage to get some tension back in the tournament when in round 25 she defeated Hou Yifan to close the gap to 2 points. In an endgame that looked favourable for Black, a typical occurence in blitz happened: small accident…

The gold went to Russia after Alexander Grischuk and Valentina Gunina emerged clear winners.

Grischuk finished first with 5/7 points, leaving the nearest followers Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hao Wang, Levon Aronian and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov half point behind.

The French prodigy Vachier-Lagrave prevailed on a better tie-break score in the group of 4.5 points and took the silver, while Hao Wang remained third.

Valentina Gunina collected 5.5/7 points to lift the trophy. The reigning FIDE World champion Yifan Hou remained second with 5 points, while Anna Ushenina and Nana Dzagnidze shared third place with 4.5/7.

World Mind Games are organized and held by a famous and respectable organization called SportAccord which is the umbrella organization for both Olympic and non-Olympic sports as well as a major organizers of conferences and sporting events. The World Mind Games was held for the first time in 2008 and consisted of 5 disciplines: chess, bridge, draughts (checkers), go, and xiangqi (Chinese chess). You can see the World Mind Games video trailer and the full standings below.

Official website/ LIVE games Rapid (m)/ LIVE games Blitz (m)/ LIVE games Rapid (w)/ LIVE games Blitz (w)

Courtesy of Gu Xiaobing

Courtesy of Gu Xiaobing

Men’s Section final standings:

1 GM Grischuk Alexander 2828 RUS 5
2 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2728 FRA 4½
3 GM Wang Hao 2719 CHN 4½
4 GM Aronian Levon 2813 ARM 4½
5 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2739 AZE 4½
6 GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2801 RUS 4
7 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2811 UKR 4
8 GM Wang Yue 2765 CHN 3½
9 GM Gelfand Boris 2719 ISR 3½
10 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2763 CUB 3
11 GM Leko Peter 2773 HUN 3
12 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2684 POL 2½
13 GM Bacrot Etienne 2731 FRA 2½
14 GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2738 UKR 2½
15 GM Harikrishna Pentala 2701 IND 2½
16 GM Radjabov Teimour 2776 AZE 2

Women’s Section final standings:

1 GM Gunina Valentina 2552 RUS 5½
2 GM Yifan Hou 2600 CHN 5
3 GM Ushenina Anna 2489 UKR 4½
4 GM Dzagnidze Nana 2547 GEO 4½
5 GM Muzychuk Anna 2546 UKR 4
6 IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2485 GER 4
7 GM Kosintseva Tatiana 2505 RUS 3½
8 IM Muzychuk Mariya 2445 UKR 3½
9 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2578 BUL 3½
10 GM Ju Wenjun 2555 CHN 3½
11 GM Zhao Xue 2485 CHN 3
12 GM Harika Dronavalli 2421 IND 3
13 GM Khotenashvili Bela 2407 GEO 2½
14 GM Koneru Humpy 2611 IND 2
15 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2577 RUS 2
16 GM Cramling Pia 2443 SWE 2

The game between leaders of the race Alexander Grischuk and Vladimir Kramnik was drawn rather quickly – the opponents had repeated their moves as early as in the opening.

Thus, Alexander Grischuk became the winner of the International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian scoring 5.5 points out of 7. This victory is one of the most significant in the Russian grandmaster’s chess career. The “+4” score permitted Alexander to join the “2800+ elite club” in the FIDE ratings.

Alexander Grischuk

Vladimir Kramnik finished second with 4.5 points to his credit.

The third place went to Boris Gelfand, who defeated Peter Leko with White in the final round and scored 4 points. Players had exchanged most of their pieces early in the game, and the main struggle took place in the pawn endgame, in which White gradually outplayed his opponent.

Levon Aronian, who scored the same number of points as Boris Gelfand, took the fourth place as his tiebreak indicators were worse. Aronian as black developed an attack en masse against Ernesto Inarkiev’s king and, after the attack itself had ended, obtained a better endgame. In the bishop endgame the Armenian grandmaster outplayed the Russian counterpart.

Inarkiev – Aronian

Alexander Morozevich obtained a promising position as White against Ding Liren but committed an inaccuracy after which all his advantage gradually vanished. The Russian player had sacrificed a pawn, but that was enough only for forcing a draw by perpetual check.

Results of round 7:
A. Grischuk – V. Kramnik 1/2, E. Inarkiev – L. Aronian 0-1, B. Gelfand – P. Leko 1-0, A. Morozevich – Ding Liren 1/2

Final standings:
1. A. Grischuk – 5.5, 2. V. Kramnik (both from Russia) – 4.5, 3. B. Gelfand (Israel), 4. L. Aronian (Armenia) – 4. 5. Ding Liren (People’s Republic of China) – 3.5, 6. P. Leko (Hungary) – 2.5, 7-8. A. Morozevich, E. Inarkiev (both from Russia) – 2.

On the same night the closing ceremony of the International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian took place. The attendees were: the President of the ROC Alexander Zhukov, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Igor Levitin, the President of the TASHIR group of companies Samvel Carapetian, the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the President of the RCF Andrey Filatov, 12th chess world champion Anatoly Karpov, the President of CCIFR Emmanuel Quidet, Director General of CCIFR, Vice-President of the RCF Pavel Shinsky and many others.

Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Igor Levitin shared his impressions of the competition:

– The tournaments dedicated to legends of Soviet chess, such as the International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian, are very important. I think that if such tournaments were held more often, we would remember our champions not only by their books.

Chess was extremely popular in the USSR; practically the whole country had been following matches for the world champion title. The whole country was aching for its representative to become the champion of the world.

I believe that the President of Russia’s visit to the “White Castle” tournament in Dagomys this summer is an impulse to development of chess. It is very important as chess develops logic, makes people solve very complex combinations. It is very good for kids who take up chess from their very childhood, because this kind of sport develops intellect.

I also think that Russia deserves the right to stage the match for the world champion title between Magnus Carlsen and Visvanathan Anand in our country, in the Olympic city of Sochi that possesses an excellent sportive infrastructure. The whole world follows the match, so people can see the city and the Olympic complex and feel the Russian hospitality.

During the closing ceremony all the prizewinners thanked the organizers – the TASHIR group of companies and the Russian Chess Federation – for a wonderful tournament. The 14th champion of the world Vladimir Kramnik said that he “had played in lots of tournaments already, but would call the International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian one of the best in terms of organization.”

After the official part was over, a memorial Tigran Petrosian evening was held where a film about the 9th champion of the world was demonstrated. After that the 12th world champion Anatoly Karpov, a well-known chessplayer and the Armenian National Coach Arshak B. Petrosian, one of the participants of the International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian Levon Aronian and a well-known chess journalist Stanislav Zhelezny shared their memories of Tigran Vartanovich.

The International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian is dedicated to the 9th champion of the world whose 85th anniversary is celebrated this year. The chairman of the tournament’s organizing committee is the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan.

The prize fund of the International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian is € 100 000.

Additional information about the tournament:
Location: Hotel Novotel Moscow City, Presnenskaya naberezhnaya, 2.
Website and live webcast: www.tashir-chess.com

Photos by Eteri Kublashvili

Alexander Grischuk gained another fine victory by outplaying Peter Leko. The opponents held their discussion in a sharp opening variation: White had left his king in a center and advanced with his g-pawn forcing active battle action. In order to neutralize the opponent’s threats Black sacrificed an exchange.

In a position with nonstandard material balance Leko had made an error that permitted White to approach with his forces right up to the black king. After white knight had joined the attack, the outcome was decided: Black’s position collapsed like the house of cards.

Alexander Grischuk

Boris Gelfand won his first game at the International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian. His “victim” was Alexander Morozevich. In the Slav Defence White had sacrificed a piece successfully and obtained strong connected passed pawns on the queenside for it. As a result, white infantry turned out to be stronger than the extra piece. Morozevich attempted to obtain counterplay on the kingside, but Boris parried his threats and gradually managed to convert his advantage into a win.

The game between Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik ended in a draw. The Russian grandmaster played out a variation that had occurred in his practice more than once as Black – and managed to surprise the opponent with an opening novelty at that. Black equalized, and afterwards there followed a battle of maneuvers.

When each party had a queen and a rook left on the board, Black had made several inaccuracies after which he had to defend with only moves. Still Kramnik managed to neutralize all white threats, and the opponents agreed to a draw in the queen endgame.

Ernesto Inarkiev and Ding Liren also signed a peaceful agreement. White obtained a spatial advantage in the opening, but the Chinese player was very tenacious in his defence with Black. In the middlegame the Russian grandmaster acted a bit straightforwardly, after which the play leveled and a draw by repetition of moves followed.

Results of round 5:
L. Aronian – V. Kramnik 1/2, A. Grischuk – P. Leko 1-0, E. Inarkiev – Ding Liren 1/2, B. Gelfand – A. Morozevich 1-0

Standings after round 5:
1. A. Grischuk – 4.5, 2. V. Kramnik – 3, 3-5. Ding Liren, B. Gelfand, L. Aronian – 2.5, 6. P. Leko – 2, 7-8. A. Morozevich, E. Inarkiev – 1.5.

Round 6 will be held on Monday, November 10, at 15.00. The pairs are:
V. Kramnik – A. Morozevich, Ding Liren – B. Gelfand, P. Leko – E. Inarkiev, L. Aronian – A. Grischuk

The International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian is dedicated to the 9th champion of the world whose 85th anniversary is celebrated this year. The chairman of the tournament’s organizing committee is the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan.

The prize fund of the International TASHIR Chess Tournament in Memory of Tigran Petrosian is € 100 000.

Additional information about the tournament:
Location: Hotel Novotel Moscow City, Presnenskaya naberezhnaya, 2.
Website and live webcast: www.tashir-chess.com