FIDE Grand Prix 2014-2015

[MartinCarpenter]

Jobava really did seem to horribly mess that up somewhere, but no idea where. The way he ended up with that rook stranded inside his own position was mildly amusing

[IM Jack Rudd]

Jobava really did seem to horribly mess that up somewhere, but no idea where. The way he ended up with that rook stranded inside his own position was mildly amusing

The on-site engines suggest that 23.Rb4? was the move that threw it away; presumably he'd missed how strong 23...e5! and the transfer of the black bishop from c8 to d3 was.

[Barry Sandercock]

Giri looks to be losing the Rook and Pawn ending, although I suppose there may be drawing chances.

[Barry Sandercock]

Giri lost to Jakovenko.

[Mick Norris]

Jakovenko, Dmitry - Giri, Anish 1-0 61 D38 QGD Ragozin
Caruana, Fabiano - Dominguez Perez, Leinier ½-½ 40 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Grischuk, Alexander - Svidler, Peter ½-½ 31 D22 QGA
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime - Gelfand, Boris ½-½ 33 B30 Sicilian Rossolimo
Karjakin, Sergey - Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ 30 B76 Sicilian Modern Dragon
Jobava, Baadur - Tomashevsky, Evgeny 0-1 39 D45 Anti-Meran Variations

[Mick Norris]

Round 2 on 2015/05/15
SNO. NAME RTG RES. NAME RTG SNO.
12 GM Gelfand Boris 2744 – GM Nakamura Hikaru 2799 7
8 GM Giri Anish 2776 – GM Karjakin Sergey 2753 6
9 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2734 – GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2738 5
10 GM Svidler Peter 2734 – GM Caruana Fabiano 2803 4
11 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2749 – GM Grischuk Alexander 2780 3
1 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2754 – GM Jobava Baadur 2699 2

[Mick Norris]

Interesting article here
Qualification probabilities

[Mick Norris]

Jobava really did seem to horribly mess that up somewhere, but no idea where. The way he ended up with that rook stranded inside his own position was mildly amusing

The on-site engines suggest that 23.Rb4? was the move that threw it away; presumably he'd missed how strong 23...e5! and the transfer of the black bishop from c8 to d3 was.

Comment here broadly agrees:
Chess Mind

[Mick Norris]

Gelfand -Nakamura drew
Giri - Karjakin drew
Dominguez beat Jakovenko
Svidler - Caruana drew
Tomashevsky better against Grischuk
MVL looks level against Jobava (assuming all rook and pawn endings are drawn)

[Tim Harding]

Gelfand -Nakamura drew
Giri - Karjakin drew
Dominguez beat Jakovenko
Svidler - Caruana drew
Tomashevsky better against Grischuk
MVL looks level against Jobava (assuming all rook and pawn endings are drawn)

Tomashevsky butchered a totally won position shortly before the time control, missing some elementary wins, especially 39 Qxd6.
At move 40 Grischuk played the natural ...Nc5 to save his N but ...Rf1+ would have drawn.
(The point being that White would have to reply 41 Rc1 because 41 Kc2? b3+! seizes the initiative for Black.)

So Tomashevsky still had a winning position with an extra half hour to think about it, but after a few moves drifted into a drawn R and P ending.

GM Jan Gustafsson has analysed the game on chess24 at https://chess24.com/en/live/video/tomas ... r-analysis

Jobava indeed drew and in the press conference he seemed to have answers to all MVL's belief that he had been winning somewhere.

[Chris Rice]

Round 3 pairings, Nakamura-Giri halved out:

Jobava, Baadur (GEO) vs Gelfand, Boris (ISR)
Grischuk, Alexander (RUS) vs Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime (FRA)
Caruana, Fabiano (ITA) vs Tomashevsky, Evgeny (RUS)
Jakovenko, Dmitry (RUS) vs Svidler, Peter (RUS)
Karjakin, Sergey (RUS) vs Dominguez, Leinier (CUB)
Nakamura, Hikaru (USA) vs Giri, Anish (NED) [1/2-1/2]

[Chris Rice]

Round 3 results:

Jobava, Baadur (GEO) vs Gelfand, Boris (ISR) 1/2-1/2
Grischuk, Alexander (RUS) vs Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime (FRA) 1/2-1/2
Caruana, Fabiano (ITA) vs Tomashevsky, Evgeny (RUS) 1-0
Jakovenko, Dmitry (RUS) vs Svidler, Peter (RUS) 0-1
Karjakin, Sergey (RUS) vs Dominguez, Leinier (CUB) 1/2-1/2
Nakamura, Hikaru (USA) vs Giri, Anish (NED) 1/2-1/2

Standings:

1= Caruana Fabiano 2803 ITA, Dominguez Perez Leinier 2734 CUB, Svidler Peter 2734 RUS 2
4= Grischuk Alexander 2780 RUS, Karjakin Sergey 2753 RUS, Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2754 FRA, Nakamura Hikaru 2799 USA, Gelfand Boris 2744 ISR, Tomashevsky Evgeny 2749 RUS 1½
10= Jobava Baadur 2699 GEO, Giri Anish 2776 NED, Jakovenko Dmitry 2738 RUS 1

[Chris Rice]

OK Caruana had a great win vs Tomashevsky and I thought Tomashevsky took the defeat brilliantly "There were games where I was in danger and also completely lost positions. So this is no more than justice."

However, what intrigued me about round three was that quick draw between Nakamura and Giri. The comments made by the players after the game were very revealing about modern day preparation. I often wondered after seeing analysis to games whether the players really knew all the theory or just pretended to. The top players recall of games generally seems phenomenal so the Peter Doggers article on chess.com was quite surprising....

GM Hikaru Nakamura tried a sideline in the Giuoco Piano which he had looked at while preparing for one of his games at the U.S. Championship. “I thought it's maybe not so easy to find the right moves over the board but OK, Anish played very correctly.”

GM Anish Giri said there were three reasons why he knew this line so well. “One reason is I saw some article by I think [GM David] Smerdon. Usually his articles are funny so I read them. This one was not funny but at least I learnt something.

“Another reason is I had this line once in an online blitz game. The third reason is that a friend of mine, Erwin l'Ami, recently record a video series on all these sidelines of the Italian and all these gambits. So I was up to date in all these lines.”

Nakamura: “It's clear that I should try this against a weaker player, obviously!”

This story prompted the Russian journalist Vladimir Barsky to ask “what percentage” of opening theory the players constantly have in their minds, and how much they need to memorize frequently.

Nakamura: “I don't know it in terms of percentage but I think in general, probably normal, position lines, it's easier to remember because in sharp, tactical positions you need to be a hundred percent sure. You play one wrong move, you basically lose the game. Probably every couple of weeks you have to review something like that. In general, I can probably remember the end of the line and the basic idea but it's more a matter of trying to remember how to get to that point. I think for the most part modern day chess is all about preparation. So it's a very high percentage.”

Giri: “You remember probably all the evaluations; which variations are good for Black, which are good for White. But there are so many details and analysis... If you ask me the percentage of moves that I remember it will be extremely low, it will probably be below ten percent but it's hard to speak in those terms because some moves are irrelevant, some moves you can find over the board. But overall, if you work constantly, I think top players keep quite a lot in their memory.”

Barsky then asked if the players keep track of all the chess information that appears in books, magazines and on the internet.

Nakamura: “I think some people can do it. I am not one of them. I will read articles here and there in magazines but for the most part, the games I see... you go to Mega Database and you look there. There are so many chess sites, so many articles... Maybe if I was a bit crazier about chess, a bit more like Ivanchuk, then I would probably know every single game. OK, it's not who I am. So it doesn't happen.”

Giri: “I read all more or less what I think are important publications, just to make sure I'm not behind, and I'm always not behind, so that's fine.”

http://www.chess.com/news/caruana-svidl ... siysk-4139

[Mick Norris]

Round 4 (May 17, 2015)
Svidler, Peter - Karjakin, Sergey ½-½ 31 A05 Various
Dominguez Perez, Leinier - Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ 23 B32 Sicilian Labourdonnais
Tomashevsky, Evgeny - Jakovenko, Dmitry ½-½ 44 E00 Catalan
Gelfand, Boris - Giri, Anish ½-½ 40 D38 QGD Ragozin
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime - Caruana, Fabiano 0-1 43 D38 QGD Ragozin
Jobava, Baadur - Grischuk, Alexander ½-½ 23 C53 Giuoco Piano

[Mick Norris]

Advantage Caruana in the quest for the Candidates qualifying spots

RANK SNO. NAME RTG FED PTS SB
1 4 GM Caruana Fabiano 2803 ITA 3 6,00
2 9 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2734 CUB 2½ 5,00
10 GM Svidler Peter 2734 RUS 2½ 5,00
4 6 GM Karjakin Sergey 2753 RUS 2 4,25
5 7 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2799 USA 2 4,00
6 3 GM Grischuk Alexander 2780 RUS 2 3,75
7 11 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2749 RUS 2 3,25
8 12 GM Gelfand Boris 2744 ISR 2 3,25
9 8 GM Giri Anish 2776 NED 1½ 3,00
10 1 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2754 FRA 1½ 2,75
2 GM Jobava Baadur 2699 GEO 1½ 2,75
12 5 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2738 RUS 1½ 2,50