Svidler and Nakamura win in round 2 of Baku Grand Prix

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Baku FIDE Grand Prix 2014 (2)

Svidler and Nakamura win in round 2 of Baku Grand Prix

Mark Crowther - Friday 3rd October 2014

Fabiano Caruana had his chances against Gelfand in Round 2. Photo ©

Fabiano Caruana had his chances against Gelfand in Round 2. Photo © | http://baku2014.fide.com

The leaders Fabiano Caruana and Boris Gelfand played out an uncompromising draw in a Sicilian Najdorf. Gelfand got good play for the exchange but play was terribly difficult for both sides. In mutual time trouble 32...Re8? was an error but Caruana's 33.h4 allowed 33...Re3! and an almost immediate draw. Peter Svidler got a nice position out of the opening against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov but wasn't satisfied with his play after that, nevertheless it was still difficult for black and Mamedyarov blundered decisively in time trouble. Hikaru Nakamura returned to the Dutch Defence as black against Dmitry Andreikin and in a non-standard position seemed much more at home getting a position where he could push for a risk free win and eventually his opponent's position collapsed. Alexander Grischuk and Sergey Karjakin played out a sharp Queen's Indian that finished in time trouble and a draw, but not before Grischuk missed two one move wins with 32.Bf1!! and 35.Nb5! Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Teimour Radjabov played out a draw in an interesting Berlin Defence the highlight was the spectacular shot 20.Nd8!? The final game to finish was a Ruy Lopez between Leinier Dominguez and Evgeny Tomashevsky where Dominguez eventually got to torture his opponent in a Queen, Rook and 3 pawns ending for each player. Dominguez missed a chance with 50.g4 to get a winning position. Later after 7 hours and down to the increment Dominguez obtained a winning advantage but didn't have time to calculate the win and the game was finally drawn.

Round 2 Standings: 1-4 Caruana, Svidler, Nakamura, Gelfand 1.5pts 5-9 Dominguez Perez, Kasimdzhanov, Tomashevsky, Grischuk, Radjabov 1pts 10-11 Karjakin, Mamedyarov 0.5pts 12 Andreikin 0pts

Round 3 Pairings Saturday 11am BST: Tomashevsky-Kasimdzhanov, Karjakin-Dominguez, Gelfand-Grischuk, Nakamura-Caruana, Mamedyarov-Andreikin, Radjabov-Svidler.

In detail below.

Round 2 in detail

The leaders Fabiano Caruana and Boris Gelfand played out an extremely tough Najdorf Sicilian in a game that eventually finished in a draw. Caruana tried to surprise Gelfand with 13.Na5 departing from their game in Wijk aan Zee. Gelfand was in fact prepared for such a possibility and sacrificed the exchange with 18...Rxe3!? for reasonable compensation. 26.Qd1 seems to have been a small error with 26.Qe2 being more accurate, but almost every move needed deep calculation. Gelfand missed 31.c5 and "panicked" with 32...Re8? (32...Be5!) 33.Kh1 might have left him in trouble but 33.h4 Re3! forced almost an immediate draw.

Caruana,Fabiano - Gelfand,Boris [B90]
Baku FIDE Grand Prix 2014 Baku AZE (2.2), 03.10.2014
[Crowther,Mark]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Be3 h5 9.Qd2 Nbd7 10.Nd5 Bxd5 11.exd5 g6 12.Be2 Bg7

[Relevant: 12...Qc7 13.Rc1 (13.c4 a5 14.Rd1 a4 15.Na1 Qa5 16.Qxa5 Rxa5 17.Nc2 Bh6 18.Bf2 Ke7 19.g3 Ne8 20.0-0 f5 21.Rfe1 Nef6 22.Bf1 Kf7 23.Na3 e4 24.f4 g5 25.fxg5 Bxg5 26.Bd4 Ne5 27.Be2 h4 28.Rf1 Kg6 29.Nb5 Rxb5 30.cxb5 hxg3 31.hxg3 Rc8 32.Rf2 Nfg4 33.Bxg4 Nxg4 34.Re2 Rc4 35.a3 Bf6 36.Ba7 Be5 37.Kg2 Nf6 38.Rdd2 Rc8 39.Bd4 Re8 40.Re1 Kg5 41.Bxe5 Rxe5 42.Rd4 f4 43.gxf4+ Kxf4 44.Rxa4 Rxd5 45.Re2 Rxb5 46.b4 Rg5+ 47.Kf1 Ng4 48.Ke1 Ne3 49.Rf2+ Ke5 50.Ra7 Rg7 51.a4 d5 52.a5 d4 53.a6 Rg1+ 54.Ke2 bxa6 55.Re7+ Kd5 56.Rd7+ Kc4 57.Rc7+ Kb3 58.Rh2 Rg3 59.Rd7 d3+ 60.Ke1 Rf3 61.Rh1 Nc4 62.Rd4 Re3+ 63.Kf2 Re2+ 64.Kg3 Kc3 65.Rd8 d2 0-1 Caruana,F (2774)-Dominguez Perez,L (2723) Thessaloniki GRE 2013) 13...Ng8 14.0-0 Ne7 15.Bg5 f6 16.Be3 0-0-0 17.c4 Nf5 18.Bf2 Kb8 19.Qc3 Bh6 20.Rcd1 Nc5 21.Nd2 Nd4 22.Rfe1 a5 23.Bf1 f5 24.Nb3 Ndxb3 25.axb3 e4 26.b4 axb4 27.Qxb4 Rhe8 28.fxe4 fxe4 29.Bd4 e3 30.Qa3 Re4 31.b4 Na6 32.Be2 Bg5 33.Bf3 Rxd4 34.Rxd4 Qb6 35.Re4 Qxb4 36.Qxb4 Nxb4 37.h4 Bh6 38.Rd1 Rc8 39.c5 dxc5 40.d6 Nc6 41.Rb1 Rd8 42.Re7 Topalov,V (2772)-Dominguez Perez,L (2760) Tromsoe 2014 1-0]

13.Na5

Boris Gelfand

Fabiano Caruana

Position after 13.Na5

FEN:
r2qk2r/1p1n1pb1/p2p1np1/N2Pp2p/8/4BP2/PPPQB1PP/R3K2R b KQkq - 0 13

Departing from their game in Wijk aan Zee at the start of the year. Caruana hoped to surprise Gelfand.

[13.0-0 0-0 14.Rac1 b6 15.h3 Re8 16.g4 hxg4 17.hxg4 Nh7 18.g5 f5 19.gxf6 Bxf6 20.Rf2 Bg5 21.Rg2 Bxe3+ 22.Qxe3 Ndf8 23.Bd3 Ra7 24.Rf1 Rf7 25.Qh6 Kh8 26.Nd2 Rf4 27.Rg4 b5 28.Ne4 Nd7 29.Rxg6 Rg8 30.Ng5 1-0 (30) Caruana,F (2782)-Gelfand,B (2777) Wijk aan Zee NED 2014]

13...Qc7 14.c4 e4 15.0-0 exf3 16.gxf3

In return for a shattered kingside white has dynamic play.

16...0-0 17.b4 Rfe8 18.Rac1 Rxe3N

Boris Gelfand

Fabiano Caruana

Position after 18...Rxe3

FEN:
r5k1/1pqn1pb1/p2p1np1/N2P3p/1PP5/4rP2/P2QB2P/2R2RK1 w - - 0 19

Boris Gelfand's second Huzman told him he would enjoy the positions after such an exchange sacrifice.

[Predecessor (6): 18...Re7 19.Rf2 Rae8 20.Bd4 Kh7 21.Qb2 Bh6 22.Rc2 Be3 23.Bxf6 Nxf6 24.Qxf6 Re5 25.c5 dxc5 26.d6 Qd7 27.Nc4 Rg5+ 28.Kh1 Re6 29.Qxg5 Bxg5 30.bxc5 Qb5 31.Nd2 Rxe2 0-1 (31) Bodek,M (2386)-Molner,M (2501) Arlington 2013]

19.Qxe3 Re8 20.Qd2 Kh7 21.Nb3 Bh6 22.f4 Ne4 23.Qe1 Ndf6

[23...Nef6 and Caruana said he didn't think he was better. 24.Rf3]

24.Bd3 Qd7 25.Rc2

[25.Qh4!? g5 26.fxg5 Bxg5]

25...Qh3 26.Qd1?!

[26.Nc1 Nc5; 26.Qe2 Stockfish. 26...Nc5]

26...Bxf4 27.Qf3 Qxf3 28.Rxf3 Ng5 29.Rf1 Re3

Caruana "forgot" about this possibility.

30.Nc1 Ng4 31.c5

Here I missed c5 and I kind of panicked. - Gelfand.

31...dxc5 32.bxc5 Re8?

Boris Gelfand

Fabiano Caruana

Position after 32...Re8

FEN:
4r3/1p3p1k/p5p1/2PP2np/5bn1/3B4/P1R4P/2N2RK1 w - - 0 33

[32...Be5! 33.c6 bxc6 34.dxc6 Bc7]

33.h4

[33.Kh1!]]

33...Re3= 34.hxg5 Rg3+ 35.Kh1 Rh3+ 36.Kg2 Rg3+ 37.Kh1 Rh3+ 1/2-1/2

Peter Svidler was not happy with his play against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov but he was most likely better all the way through. As time trouble approached Mamedyarov went wrong and dropped a lot of material.

Svidler,Peter - Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar [D31]
Baku FIDE Grand Prix 2014 Baku AZE (2.6), 03.10.2014
[Crowther,Mark]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 c6 6.e3 Bf5 7.g4 Be6 8.h3 Nd7

[Relevant: 8...h5 9.gxh5 Nf6 10.Be2 Nbd7 11.h4 Qb6 12.Na4 Qb4+ 13.Kf1 b5 14.Nc5 Nxc5 15.dxc5 Qxb2 16.a4 bxa4 17.Qxa4 Bd7 18.Nf3 Rxh5 19.Ne1 Rf5 20.Ra2 Qc1 21.Rc2 Qb1 22.Kg2 a5 23.Nd3 Qb5 24.Qa1 a4 25.Rb1 Qa5 26.Rcb2 Kf8 27.Rb8+ Rxb8 28.Rxb8+ Be8 29.Ne5 Qxc5 30.Bd3 Rh5 31.Qxa4 Rxh4 32.Bf5 g5 33.Rxe8+ Kg7 34.Nd3 Qc4 35.Qxc4 dxc4 36.Rxe7 cxd3 37.Be5 d2 38.Rd7 Timofeev,A (2631)-Socko,B (2619) St Petersburg 2012 1-0]

9.Qb3 b5N

[Predecessor: 9...Qb6 10.Qc2 Ngf6 11.Nge2 Rc8 12.Bg2 0-0 13.0-0 Rfe8 14.Bg3 Nf8 15.Rac1 Qd8 16.Nf4 N6d7 17.Qb3 Nb6 18.Nd3 Bd6 19.Bxd6 Qxd6 20.Na4 Qd8 21.Nac5 Rb8 22.Qa3 Nc8 23.Nf4 Nd6 24.Rfe1 Ra8 Â½-Â½ Sage,F (2353)-Haraldsson,H (2402) ICCF email 2008]

10.Nf3 h6 11.Bd3 Ngf6 12.Qc2 Rc8 13.0-0 b4 14.Ne2 c5 15.dxc5

[15.Ba6]

15...Nxc5 16.Ned4 0-0 17.Rac1 Bd6 18.Ne5 Nxd3 19.Qxd3 Qb6 20.Qb5 Bc5 21.Qxb6 axb6 22.Nd3 Nd7 23.b3

Svidler "In this position it's clear white should never be worse. After b3 I'm slightly better."

23...Rfe8 24.Nb5 h5 25.f3 hxg4 26.hxg4 Red8 27.Kg2

Keeping f2 for the rook.

27...f6 28.Rfd1 Bf7

Most of my advantage has gone now. Svidler.

29.Nxc5 Rxc5 30.Nd4

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

Peter Svidler

Position after 30.Nd4

FEN:
3r2k1/3n1bp1/1p3p2/2rp4/1p1N1BP1/1P2PP2/P5K1/2RR4 b - - 0 30

Diagram

30...Ra8?

[30...Rdc8]

31.Bd6

"One last trick." Svidler. "Already a huge problem for black."

31...Rxa2+ 32.Kg3 Rb2 33.Ra1 Rc8 34.Bxb4 Nc5 35.Ba3 Rxb3 36.Bxc5 1-0

Hikaru Nakamura has played a lot of bullet games against Dmitry Andreikin but only a couple of classical games, he didn't know what to expect and went for a Dutch Defence. He offered a pawn on b7 which would have given compensation but Andreikin didn't take it. Nakamura said that he thought 20.Nf3 was an error (20.Nf4!) and after this he was playing for a win. Andreikin's position eventually collapsed.

Andreikin hasn't played a classical tournament since the candidates and looks well short of match sharpness. His analysis seemed all over the place and his confidence is fairly low.

Andreikin,Dmitry - Nakamura,Hikaru [A80]
Baku FIDE Grand Prix 2014 Baku AZE (2.1), 03.10.2014
[Crowther,Mark]

1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.0-0 0-0 6.c3 d6 7.Qb3+ e6 8.Bg5

[Relevant: 8.Ng5 d5 9.Bf4 Nh5 10.Nh3 Nxf4 11.Nxf4 c6 12.Nd2 Qe7 13.c4 Nd7 14.Nf3 dxc4 15.Qxc4 Re8 16.Rfe1 Nf6 17.e3 Bd7 18.Rac1 Rad8 19.Ne5 Bc8 20.b4 a6 21.a4 Nd7 22.Nxd7 Bxd7 23.Nd3 Kh8 24.Nc5 Bc8 25.b5 axb5 26.axb5 cxb5 27.Qxb5 e5 28.dxe5 Qxe5 29.Bxb7 Be6 30.Bc6 Rf8 31.Nxe6 Qxe6 32.Red1 Qe5 33.Qxe5 Bxe5 34.h4 Bb2 35.Rb1 Rxd1+ 36.Rxd1 Rc8 37.Bf3 Rc1 Harikrishna,P (2684)-Nakamura,H (2778) Biel 2012 Â½-Â½]

8...Qe8N

[Predecessor (9): 8...Kh8 9.Nbd2 h6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.e4 e5 12.exf5 gxf5 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.Rfe1 Nd7 15.Re2 c6 16.Rd1 e4 17.Nh4 Nc5 18.Qa3 b6 19.Nb3 Nxb3 20.axb3 Be6 21.Red2 Rfd8 Â½-Â½ Pribyl,J (2408)-Kraft,V (2391) Bayern 2005]

9.Nbd2 Nh5 10.Ne1

[10.e4 Andreikin. 10...f4 (10...h6 11.Be3 f4 12.Bxf4 Nxf4 13.gxf4 Rxf4) ]

10...h6 11.Be3 g5 12.f4

[12.Bxb7 Bxb7 13.Qxb7 Nc6 is unclear. 14.Nb3 Rb8 15.Qa6]

12...gxf4 13.Bxf4

[13.gxf4]

13...Kh8 14.Be3

[14.Bxb7]

14...Nc6 15.Nd3 b6 16.g4!?

Very unusual pawn structure which makes it hard for both sides to play according to Nakamura.

16...Nf6 17.gxf5 exf5 18.Bf2 Be6 19.Qc2 Bd5

Hikaru Nakamura

Dmitry Andreikin

Position after 19...Bd5

FEN:
r3qr1k/p1p3b1/1pnp1n1p/3b1p2/3P4/2PN4/PPQNPBBP/R4RK1 w - - 0 20

Diagram

20.Nf3?

[20.Nf4 Nakamura]

20...Be4

From this moment on I'm confident I'm playing for a win here. Nakamura.

21.Qd2 Ne7 22.Bh4 Ng6 23.Bxf6 Rxf6 24.Rf2 c5 25.Raf1 Qe6 26.a3 Rg8 27.Kh1 Kh7 28.Qe3 Re8 29.Qd2 Rg8 30.Qe3 c4 31.Nf4 Nxf4 32.Qxf4 Rg6 33.h3 Bf6 34.Kh2 Be7 35.Bh1 R8g7 36.Rg2 Bg5 37.Qg3 Bc1

Nakamura was short of time but was sure this was winning.

38.Rxc1 Rxg3 39.Rxg3 Bxf3 40.Rxg7+ Kxg7 41.Bxf3 Qe3 42.Rg1+ Kf6 43.Bh5 Qd2 44.Rg6+ Ke7 45.Rg7+ Kd8 46.Rg8+ Kc7 47.Rg7+ Kb8 48.Rg8+ Kb7 0-1

Alexander Grischuk should have beaten Sergey Karjakin in a very complicated Queen's Indian. Grischuk said he was going for a win today but didn't really get much from the opening. Perhaps 15...Rd8 was slightly inaccurate (15...Re8) Around move 30 Grischuk started to get a dangerous kingside attack but both players got themselves into desperate time trouble. 32.Bf1!! would have won on the spot for Grischuk as would 35.Nb5! instead Grischuk thought he was on the right track but after 38...Qg6! black was mostly out of danger and the game finished in a draw.

There was an interesting draw between Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Teimour Radjabov in the Berlin. The game saw the spectaluar move 20.Nd8!? from Kasimdzhanov which wasn't perhaps even better for white but a shock. 23...Bf3 may have posed white more problems but after 23...Bh3 the game eventually finished in a draw.

"Hard fought game which finished in a deserved draw." Kasimdzhanov. On 20.Nd8!? "It felt like a nice move."

The final game to finish was between Leinier Dominguez and Evgeny Tomashevsky. This was a long manoeuvring Ruy Lopez which finished with a nasty major piece ending of Rook and Queen vs Rook and Queen where black had three pawn pawn islands and a weaker king which Dominguez could play on and on with some winning chances and in fact missed a chance with 50.g4!. Later after 7 hours and down to the increment Dominguez obtained a winning advantage but didn't have time to calculate the win. The game quickly finished in a draw then.

Baku FIDE Grand Prix 2014 Baku AZE (AZE), 2-15 x 2014															cat. XXI (2752)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2
1.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2844	*	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	1½	2950
2.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2732	.	*	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	1½	2957
3.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2764	.	½	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	1½	2920
4.	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2748	½	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	1½	2976
5.	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	g	CUB	2751	.	.	.	.	*	½	½	.	.	.	.	.	1	2703
6.	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	g	UZB	2706	.	.	.	.	½	*	.	.	½	.	.	.	1	2738
7.	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	g	RUS	2701	.	.	.	.	½	.	*	½	.	.	.	.	1	2774
8.	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2797	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	*	.	½	.	.	1	2734
9.	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2726	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	*	.	½	.	1	2735
10.	Karjakin, Sergey	g	RUS	2767	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	*	.	.	½	2627
11.	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2764	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	*	.	½	2536
12.	Andreikin, Dmitry	g	RUS	2722	.	.	0	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	0

Round 2 (October 3, 2014)
Caruana, Fabiano	- Gelfand, Boris	½-½	37	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Svidler, Peter	- Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	1-0	36	D31	Semi-Slav Defence
Dominguez Perez, Leinier	- Tomashevsky, Evgeny	½-½	100	C84	Ruy Lopez Centre Attack
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	- Radjabov, Teimour	½-½	42	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Grischuk, Alexander	- Karjakin, Sergey	½-½	47	E15	Queens Indian
Andreikin, Dmitry	- Nakamura, Hikaru	0-1	48	A80	Dutch

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Download the PGN from this page

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