Tashkent Grand Prix: Andreikin Wins!
Maybe Dmitry Andreikin doesn't have any openings, but apparently he doesn't need them. His draw against Anish Giri (after a few mildly anxious moments) came after Hikaru Nakamura and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov both drew their games, and thus Andreikin finished in clear first in the Tashkent Grand Prix, half a point ahead of them. Mamedyarov played a crazy game with Baadur Jobava, and first Mamedyarov seemed to be in some trouble, and then later may have had a serious advantage had he played 23...Qxf4+. As for Nakamura, he may have been losing to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave at one point, and never seemed close to achieving that tie for first place.
There were two decisive games today: Sergey Karjakin beat Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Fabiano Caruana beat Dmitry Jakovenko. Both winners finished the tournament at +1, and in the end that was enough to give Caruana the lead in the overall Grand Prix standings. Nakamura, who tied for third in the Baku Grand Prix and for second here, is second in the overall Grand Prix standings. The reason that's important is that the top two finishers qualify for the next Candidates event.
Final Standings:
- 1. Andreikin 7 (of 11)
- 2-3. Nakamura, Mamedyarov 6.5
- 4-7. Vachier-Lagrave, Caruana, Karjakin, Jobava 6
- 8. Radjabov 5.5 (11 draws!)
- 9. Giri 5
- 10. Jakovenko 4.5
- 11-12. Kasimdzhanov, Gelfand 3.5
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