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

[Mick Norris]

Group A - all draws, so Andreikin & Shankland remain 0.5 clear of Bacrot

Group B - Giri draws, and another draw in the last round would be enough

Group C - Shirov beats Fedoseev, so if there's a winner in Vidit - Rapport, they'd be a point clear of the loser

Group D - games still in progress

[LawrenceCooper]

Group A - all draws, so Andreikin & Shankland remain 0.5 clear of Bacrot

Group B - Giri draws, and another draw in the last round would be enough

Group C - Shirov beats Fedoseev, so if there's a winner in Vidit - Rapport, they'd be a point clear of the loser

Group D - games still in progress

Rapport won and two more draws in group D.

[Mick Norris]

Tomorrow we have:

A - Andreikin (3) v Bacrot (2.5) and Grischuk v Shankland (3)

B - Vitiugov (2.5) v Giri (3.5)

C - Rapport (3.5) v Shirov and Fedoseev v Vidit (2.5)

D - Shak (2.5) v MVL (3) and Yu Yangyi (2.5) v Predke

[Tim Harding]

Thanks for the updates.
Of the players who competed in the first Berlin GP, only Rapport is relevant now. If he gets to the semifinal (as he probably will) but loses, he will finish with 14 GP points, not enough because the winners get 13 (except maybe if one player wins two of the GPs and those who come second in one flop in the other).

If Rapport is a losing finalist he will end with 17 GP points and set the target for the second Berlin GP but again will probably fall short.
If he wins in Belgrade then the 20 GP points would give him a sporting chance of qualifying.

Andreikin, Giri and whoever emerges from Pool D are the others in the running along with Nakamura (13), Aronian (10) and Leinier Dominguez (7) who are playing the two Berlin events.
The others playing in Berlin may not have much motivation, except the money. (There are no Ukrainians in the GP.)

[Mick Norris]

Yes, Berlin round 3 will be more interesting if Rapport does well here

chess.com round 5 report

Before Sunday's round, Vidit and Rapport were sharing the lead. As they faced each other, all eyes were on their board. Vidit played White, and like in his game against GM Alexei Shirov in round one, he chose 1.e4, and Rapport replied with the French Defense. In a somewhat unusual line in the Advance Variation, Vidit seemed to gain the upper hand, but with an imprecise 17th move, Black equalized. Slowly but surely, Black took the initiative and gained an advantage that grew and eventually was converted to a full point.

[LawrenceCooper]

Tomorrow we have:

A - Andreikin (3) v Bacrot (2.5) and Grischuk v Shankland (3)

B - Vitiugov (2.5) v Giri (3.5)

C - Rapport (3.5) v Shirov and Fedoseev v Vidit (2.5)

D - Shak (2.5) v MVL (3) and Yu Yangyi (2.5) v Predke

Rapport-Shirov was drawn so Rapport wins Group C.

[LawrenceCooper]

Giri is also through after holding Vitiugov to a draw.

[Mick Norris]

Giri gets his draw to go into the other semi-final; Shankland has drawn, so Andreikin needs to beat Bacrot to play Giri, and has had chances

MVL looking favourite to play Rapport

[JustinHorton]

There looks to have been enormous drama in Andreikin-Bacrot. Black was absolutely strolling to victory (and I think a play-off with Shankland) and then in time trouble threw everything away - not just for him, but for Shankland too as a win for Andreikin puts him top of the group.

[NickFaulks]

There looks to have been enormous drama in Andreikin-Bacrot. Black was absolutely strolling to victory (and I think a play-off with Shankland) and then in time trouble threw everything away - not just for him, but for Shankland too as a win for Andreikin puts him top of the group.

Yes, for those of us sitting at home with a simple computer turned on, Black was for several moves just a queen up. It's nice to know that even the good players can collapse in a heap when under a bit of pressure.

[Mick Norris]

chess.com report

Wow! The last round of the FIDE Grand Prix Belgrade pool phase turned out to be everything we could have hoped for or more.

In Group A, GM Dmitry Andreikin emerged as the victor after winning a turbulent game. GM Anish Giri punched his ticket to the semifinals from Group B by holding a fairly solid draw as Black. From Group C, GM Richard Rapport had put himself in the perfect situation ahead of the last round where he, with a very safe draw with the white pieces, repeated his semifinal place from Berlin. In the last group, the closest of all the pools, both games were incredibly tense, but in the end, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave squeezed through.

The semifinals will take place on Wednesday

[LawrenceCooper]

Pools for the final leg:

Pool A:

Levon Aronian (USA), 2785
Hikaru Nakamura, (USA), 2750
Dmitry Andreikin (FIDE), 2719
Grigoriy Oparin (FIDE), 2674

Pool B:

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), 2776
Leinier Dominguez (USA), 2756
Daniil Dubov (FIDE), 2711
Vincent Keymer (Germany), 2655

Pool C:

Wesley So (USA), 2778
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), 2761
Sam Shankland (USA), 2704
Alexandr Predke (FIDE), 2682

Pool D:

Anish Giri (Netherlands), 2771
Nikita Vitiugov (FIDE), 2726
Yu Yangyi (China), 2713
Amin Tabatabaei (Iran), 2623

[Leonard Barden]

Seems unfair for Group A to have two and perhaps three players with a serious chance for the two candidates places, while the other three groups each have only one such potential candidate.

[JustinHorton]

Rapport has absolutely pasted MVL today.

Giri seems to have been strolling to victory against Andreikin, but has more than once missed much better moves than the ones he played and he's now (move 26) fighting for survival having sacrificed two exchanges for an attack the computer doesn't believe is sufficient for them. (EDIT: he gets his draw.)

[Jonathan Rogers]

What an excellent day for Rapport.

The win in today's game must have been an especially nice bonus.