FIDE Grand Prix 2, Belgrade, 28 Feb to March 14 2022

[Mick Norris]

FIDE

Pool A:

Alexander Grischuk (Russia), 2764
Dmitry Andreikin (Russia), 2724
Sam Shankland (USA), 2708
Etienne Bacrot (France), 2642

Pool B:

Anish Giri (Netherlands), 2772
Nikita Vitiugov, (Russia), 2726
Pentala Harikrishna (India), 2719
Amin Tabatabaei (Iran), 2623

Pool C:

Richard Rapport (Hungary), 2763
Vidit Gujrathi (India), 2727
Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia), 2704
Alexei Shirov (Spain), 2704

Pool D:

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), 2767
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), 2761
Yu Yangyi (China), 2713
Alexandr Predke (Russia), 2682

[Leonard Barden]

Unlike the Olympiad which is a long way down the road, Belgrade looks to me the real hot potato where concrete and difficult decisions will need to be made very soon.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Unlike the Olympiad which is a long way down the road, Belgrade looks to me the real hot potato where concrete and difficult decisions will need to be made very soon.

Five Russian players.

Are there Russian sponsors for this and other FIDE events?

As you say, very difficult decisions to be made.

Wonder what the players (both Russian and others) are saying on social media?

[Mick Norris]

Opening ceremony report from FIDE

Full list of pairings, with Grischuk, Andreikin, Vitiugov, Fedoseev, Predke (the first 2 listed as CFR/FIDE, the others just as FIDE, although that may not be deliberate)

Live games on chess24

Peter Svidler: "Let's at least get some things stated live on air. I do not agree with the war my country is waging in Ukraine. I do not believe Ukraine, or Ukrainian people, are my enemies, or anybody's enemies"

[Mick Norris]

Harikrishna, Pentala vs Vitiugov, Nikita, appears white missed something

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Qd3 d5 7. exd5 Nb4 8. Qg3 Bc5 9. a3 Nbxd5 10. Bb5+ Kf8 11. Nde2 Bd7 12. Bxd7 Qxd7 13. Nxd5 Ne4 14. Qb3 Bxf2+ 15. Kf1 exd5 16. Be3 *

[David Sedgwick]

Powerful statement by Grischuk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFN0s53RpGY.

He said that he wouldn't call it a "war" as the description is banned in Russia and he wanted Russian media to be able to report his remarks.

His victorious opponent, Andrekin, said that he wanted to do as well as possible in case it was his last ever tournament.

[Mick Norris]

chess.com

Four Wins, Lots of Excitement

[Mick Norris]

Powerful statement by Grischuk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFN0s53RpGY.

He said that he wouldn't call it a "war" as the description is banned in Russia and he wanted Russian media to be able to report his remarks.

His victorious opponent, Andrekin, said that he wanted to do as well as possible in case it was his last ever tournament.

Pity the interviewer interrupted Grischuk

I didn't know much about Andreikin, but chess24 has

Dmitry Andreikin and his wife Svetlana have been vocal in opposition to Vladimir Putin for many years, something that may have held back Dmitry’s career. Alexander Grischuk was spotted with Daniil Dubov at a protest in Moscow last year over the arrest of anti-Putin activist Alexei Navalny.

[David Sedgwick]

Full list of pairings, with Grischuk, Andreikin, Vitiugov, Fedoseev, Predke (the first 2 listed as CFR/FIDE, the others just as FIDE, although that may not be deliberate)

I think that it is deliberate.

It seems that Grischuk and Andreikin have opted to play under a composite Chess Federation of Russia /FIDE flag, whereas the other three have opted to play under the FIDE flag alone.

[Mick Norris]

That ties in with something else I read

Grischuk lost again, and understandably appears to be affected by the situation

Giri and Vidit both on 2/2

[Mick Norris]

chess.com round 2 report

MVL - Shak well worth a look

[Mick Norris]

Group C - Rapport beat Vidit today to catch him on 2/3; Fedoseev beat Shirov to reach 1.5/3

The other 6 games were drawn, so Giri remains a point clear in Group B

chess.com report

[Tim Harding]

MVL was the only winner today (against Predke) which makes him sole leader in Pool D with two games to go. Saturday is a rest day.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Which was, pretty remarkably, the first win in that group.

[Mick Norris]

Indeed, puts MVL in the driving seat maybe, although only Giri has as much as a point lead in any group

chess.com round 4 report