Shamkir, Round 9 + Tiebreaks: Mamedyarov Wins, Caruana Collapses

Chess is a tough, sometimes cruel game. 40, 50 excellent moves can all be for nought after a single mistake, and likewise tournament victory can slip away after a lapse or two. Something like that was the case for Fabiano Caruana in this tournament, except that tournament victory slipped away after leaving points on the table in no fewer than six games. Such lapses may be something of a habit for Caruana - off the top of my head I can think of rounds 8 and 9 from the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, the last two rounds of this year's Candidates tournament, and now rounds 6-8 of this tournament plus the first three games in the tiebreak with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Maybe this is why Magnus Carlsen is #1 and Caruana is still in the peleton, and why Sergey Karjakin will be playing for the world championship this November and Caruana won't be.

If the foregoing is correct - and maybe a more thorough comparison of Caruana's results will show that it isn't - then it is a problem in need of a solution. Improved stamina? A stronger killer instinct at the board, or at least a more assertive presence at the board? He's still young enough to work on and correct the problem; again, assuming that there really is a problem.

Let's get back to objective matters and recap the round and the subsequent tiebreak. Caruana entered the round tied for first with Anish Giri, half a point ahead of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Caruana drew comfortably with Black against Karjakin, who chose an innocuous line against Caruana's Open Ruy. Mamedyarov was much less peacably inclined against Giri, and ground out an impressive win against the hitherto undefeated Dutchman. It was Mamedyarov's third win in a row (he beat his countryman Eltaj Safarli in round 7 and then Caruana in round 8), and it earned him a playoff against Caruana for the title.

Before getting to the tiebreaks, a review of the other games. Pavel Eljanov had an advantage against Teimour Radjabov, but didn't manage to convert it: a draw. Pentala Harikrishna had a winning advantage against Safarli after playing an excellent first part of the game, but a string of inaccurate-to-awful moves from move 30 to move 36 resulted in a loss in the second time control. Finally, Hou Yifan's efforts to escape the cellar backfired. She overextended with the white pieces against Rauf Mamedov, and eventually her positional weaknesses cost her the game.

On to the tiebreaks. First there were a pair of rapid games, and in both of them Caruana had a large, even winning advantage. The result: two draws. It was on then to a pair of blitz games, and here the tournament's outcome was finally decided. The first blitz game was a nervy affair that generally trended in Mamedyarov's favor, but Caruana had a chance to win this one too. Afterwards Caruana had several chances to draw the rook ending (some easy, some less easy), but at the end of a very long day at the end of a long tournament it's understandable that he didn't manage to save a blitz game. Mamedaryov won that game, and then needed only a draw in the rematch - with White - to secure tournament victory. In fact he could have won that game in the opening. He found a great tactical shot, but missed a key follow-up that would have left him a piece ahead. His decision to take the cynical route a few moves later with 21.Bxd4 could have backfired against an in-form Caruana, who did outplay him for a while in an endgame with rooks and opposite-colored bishops. Caruana couldn't quite squeeze enough from the position, and then a moment of carelessness left him lost (or nearly lost) again. Mamedyarov was happy to coast in with a draw though, and that was how that game finished, leaving Mamedyarov the winner of the third Vugar Gashimov memorial tournament in Shamkir, Azerbaijan.

All the games from the final round and the tiebreaks are here, with my comments.

Final Standings:

• 1. Mamedyarov 6
• 2. Caruana 6
• 3. Giri 5.5
• 4. Karjakin 5
• 5. Mamedov 4.5
• 6-8. Harikrishna, Radjabov, Safarli 4
• 9. Eljanov 3.5
• 10. Hou 2.5

Shamkir, Round 8: Caruana Loses to Mamedyarov, Shares First With Giri With A Round to Play

What could have been a victory lap for Fabiano Caruana has turned into a struggle to survive in the Vugar Gashimov memorial tournament in Shamkir. After giving up draws in rounds 6 and 7 from positions he should win, Caruana lost unnecessarily - with White, even - to Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in round 8. Mamedyarov equalized in a Sveshnikov Sicilian, and then outplayed Caruana in a heavy piece endgame.

Suddenly there is all to play for, as Caruana is now only tied with Anish Giri for first, while Mamedyarov is just half a point behind and Sergey Karjakin a point back. Better still for dramatic purposes, but much worse for Caruana, he has Black against Karjakin in the last round, while Giri has Black against Mamedyarov.

In fact, Giri had good chances to take sole possession of first, playing White against tailender Hou Yifan. Giri enjoyed an advantage from early on, but although he tried for a long time - 103 moves in all - she defended excellently and saved the game.

As for Karjakin, he drew very easily with Black against Eltaj Safarli, and they split the point in just 22 moves. It was an easy day at the office for him, but with the draw Karjakin is mathematically eliminated from any possibility of a first-place tie. On the flip side, he's guaranteed of at least a tie for second place if he defeats Caruana tomorrow.

The other two games, Teimour Radjabov vs. Pentala Harikrishna and Rauf Mamedov vs. Pavel Eljanov, were also drawn, with no one experiencing any real danger on the way to the handshake.

Here's Caruana-Mamedyarov (with my comments), and here are the final round pairings:

• Mamedyarov (5) - Giri (5.5)
• Karjakin (4.5) - Caruana (5.5)
• Harikrishna (4) - Safarli (3)
• Eljanov (3) - Radjabov (3.5)
• Hou Yifan (2.5) - Mamedov (3.5)

Shamkir, Round 7: Caruana Misses a Big Chance

There were two decisive results in the antepenultimate round of the Vugar Gashimov memorial tournament in Shamkir, and there should have been three or even four.

There was only one non-game in the round, and surprisingly it wasn't the all-Azeri match between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Eltaj Safarli. Why exactly this was a real game while all of the other intra-national games featuring the home players were short, effortless draws is a mystery to me, but Mamedyarov came to play. Unfortunately for Safarli, he played a very poor game and was in trouble after just 12 moves. Mamedyarov dominated for a long time, but his knight misadventure 32.Nc6 and 33.Nd8 gave Safarli a couple of chances to save the game. Perhaps due to time pressure, he didn't succeed, and Mamedyarov was winning easily by the end of the time control.

The one short draw was instead between Sergey Karjakin and Teimour Radjabov, and there wasn't much to see there. The other two draws were full of life, however, and that includes the game between Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri. Caruana entered the round half a point ahead, and with a win the tournament would have been on ice. The players seemed to be prepared almost to move 30, but then the adventures started. Giri's foolhardy 31st move exposed his king to grave danger, and he was very fortunate that Caruana didn't venture Qf7 on either move 35 or 37. (Time pressure?) Luckily for Giri, Caruana allowed a threefold repetition, and the question of first place remains open.

The other draw was less significant for the top places, but was an interesting battle all the same. Pentala Harikrishna managed to draw with Rauf Mamedov, but despite having the white pieces he was in trouble for a long time and probably lost at one or two moments.

Finally, in the battle of the tailenders Pavel Eljanov escaped the cellar by defeating Hou Yifan, who is now in last place half a point behind Eljanov and Safarli. Eljanov played very aggressively and it paid off, and the game finished with an attractive, study-like win.

The two decisive games, plus Caruana-Giri, are here (with my comments).

The round 8 pairings look like this:

• Giri (5) - Hou Yifan (2)
• Mamedov (3) - Eljanov (2.5)
• Radjabov (3) - Harikrishna (3.5)
• Safarli (2.5) - Karjakin (4)
• Caruana (5.5) - Mamedyarov (4)

Shamkir, Round 6: Five Draws

It was a good round for Anish Giri, in that it could have been a very bad round for him but it wasn't, and he thus remains just half a point behind Fabiano Caruana with three rounds to go.

Three of today's games were drawn quickly: Teimour Radjabov vs. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (of course), Rauf Mamedov vs. Sergey Karjakin and Hou Yifan vs. Pentala Harikrishna. The two games involving the leaders were another story. In both cases the player with the black pieces had excellent winning chances, and in neither case did they convert. Caruana had a big advantage against Eltaj Safarli and, in his best form, would almost surely have converted it into a full point. Pavel Eljanov's advantage against Giri wasn't quite as serious, but he too had his chances. Thus Caruana's lead could well have stretched to a point and a half, but it remains minimal heading into the tournament's final third.

Here are the pairings for round 7, tomorrow, headlining the battle of the leaders:

• Caruana (5) - Giri (4.5)
• Mamedyarov (3) - Safarli (2.5)
• Karjakin (3.5) - Radjabov (2.5)
• Harikrishna (3) - Mamedov (2.5)
• Eljanov (1.5) - Hou Yifan (2)

(Big) Shamkir Update: Caruana Leads with 4.5/5, Giri Half a Point Behind

Starting from round 2 the event heated up and decisive results have abounded. Even many of the draws have been interesting – at least when they haven’t involved all-Azeri pairings.

In round 2, Hou Yifan had an advantage against Eltaj Safarli on the white side of a Winawer French, but didn’t manage to convert. On the other hand, the top player most associated with draws these days, Anish Giri, managed to defeat Sergey Karjakin. In fact, nothing much was happening in their game until Karjakin’s 33…Qg4 followed by 34…Rhe8, walking himself into a tactical disaster. After 35.f5! gxf5 36.Nf2 Qg6 37.exf5 the best Black could do was enter an ending with two rooks against a queen, and with as many weak pawns as Karjakin had the result was a foregone conclusion. Pavel Eljanov has had some great results over the past year, but this tournament doesn’t look like it’s going to be one of them. Fabiano Caruana was pressing early on with Black, combining queenside play (with his passed a-pawn and later with a rook on the b-file) with control of the a8-h1 diagonal and penetration by his queen on the kingside. Eljanov needn’t have lost, but as often happens under sustained pressure the defender eventually lets something slip – especially in time trouble. Eljanov’s just before the time control allowed Caruana’s heavy pieces to penetrate to the first rank, and the game ended several moves later. Rauf Mamedov and Teimour Radjabov went through the motions to draw in 20 moves. Finally, Pentala Harikrishna won very easily against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Harikrishna took the space that Mamedyarov offered, used it to penetrate Black’s porous position, and soon material fell.

In round 3 Mamedyarov bounced back with a win over Eljanov. The game was more or less equal until the last move of the time control, 40…Rd7?! (though perhaps Eljanov’s 36…d5 was a risky choice that put him in a situation where accuracy was required) Instead 40…Rd6 would have maintained equality. After this inaccurate move Mamedyarov engineered a nice kingside breakthrough and won with a passed h-pawn. Caruana cruised to a second straight win, defeating Hou Yifan on the white side of an Open Ruy. In her world championship match against Mariya Muzychuk Hou faced the Open Ruy several time; perhaps as a result of her work on the opening in that match she has decided to give it a try here. Caruana produced the first novelty, however, and quickly obtained an advantage. Things weren’t too bad for the women’s champion until 27…h5, whereupon her position collapsed. Radjabov-Giri looked like it could have been an all-Azeri battle (i.e. a very easy draw) – which was the case in Safarli – Mamedov. Karjakin – Harikrishna was another story. Like Mamedyarov, Karjakin recovered from his loss in round 2 with a win to get back to 50%, dragging Harikrishna back down to the same score. Harikrishna’s 12…h6 was provocative, and Karjakin accepted the provocation with 13.Bxh6. Karjakin’s assessment was better than his opponent, and after a series of exchanges White’s two rooks and six pawns proved stronger than Black’s rook, bishop, knight, and three pawns. Converting the advantage wasn’t easy, but Karjakin did it.

Round 4 saw perhaps the first outright blunder of the event, Harikrishna’s 24…Qxd4 against Giri. His position was uncomfortable before that, but it was dead lost afterwards, and he resigned three moves later. Radjabov and Safarli did the patriotic thing and draw speedily; at least the game was entertaining for a while. Caruana stayed half a point ahead of Giri by winning his third game in a row, this time with Black against Mamedov. Mamedov’s hyper-aggressive opening idea fizzled, and although he enjoyed the nominal material advantage of rook and two pawns against two bishops, the power of the bishop pair is often supreme in such cases. Eventually it proved so in this game as well, helped along by Mamedyarov’s erroneous 30.Re7+ and some further mistakes to boot. It was not a great game by Caruana, but with the win he maintained his lead and leapfrogged Vladimir Kramnik into second place in the Live Ratings. The last two games, Hou Yifan-Mamedyarov and Eljanov-Karjakin, were both good fighting draws.

In round 5, only one game was drawn (Mamedyarov-Mamedov – the usual story); in the remaining games it was mostly the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Hou Yifan went for another Open Ruy against Karjakin (though a different line), and while she may have won the theoretical battle (25…d3 seems a little better for Black) she lost the war, getting ground down in an ending. Caruana won his fourth game in a row, this time at Radjabov’s expense. In a Rossolimo with opposite-sides castling White’s attack was much faster than Black’s after Black failed to play 16…b4 and White took advantage with 17.b4! Caruana misplayed the position near the end and gave Radjabov a chance to keep fighting, but after 33…Bf5? White finished in style with 34.e6! Rxg4 35.exf7 Rxd4 36.Ne8! Giri also won again, staying just half a point behind Caruana. Safarli – Giri’s victim – may have expected that Black’s pawn duo on e4 and f5 was bound to collapse, but it remained long enough to give Giri a winning attack. Finally, Harikrishna got back to 50% by giving Eljanov his third defeat of the tournament. White’s kingside attack was very dangerous but only enough for equality until 26…exd4. After a forced sequence White wound up with a queen and four pawns against two rooks and four pawns, but White had connected passers while Black’s pawns were all weak. Once the time control was reached White had queen and three pawns vs. the two rooks and a single pawn, and with no counterplay available to Black he decided to call it a day.

All the decisive games in the tournament up to now are here, with my comments.

Tuesday is a rest day, and on Wednesday the round 6 pairings are as follows:

• Giri (4) – Eljanov (1)
• Hou (1.5) – Harikrishna (2.5)
• Mamedov (2) – Karjakin (3)
• Radjabov (2) – Mamedyarov (2.5)
• Safarli (2) – Caruana (4.5)

Shamkir, Round 1: Five Draws

Mostly short and bloodless ones at that, but Safarli - Eljanov was a massive exception. Eljanov played the first half of the game brilliantly, and could have converted his winning advantage. Instead he missed his chance, and as getting that chance involved sacrificing material he wound up with a lost position. Fortunately the position was still complicated, and Safarli missed his chance as well.

So everyone is tied for first (and last) going into round 2, which sees the following pairings:

• Giri - Karjakin
• Harikrishna - Mamedyarov
• Eljanov - Caruana
• Hou - Safarli
• Mamedov - Radjabov

Shamkir Starts Today

It's time for another super-tournament to begin, and this time it's the third Shamkir Tournament, held in memory of Vugar Gashimov (1986-2014), the great Azeri GM who died at a tragically early age from a brain tumor (or at least from the complications therefrom).

Magnus Carlsen won the first two editions of the event, but this year he isn't playing. The field is immensely strong nevertheless, as can be seen from the round 1 pairings:

• Rauf Mamedov (2655) - Anish Giri (2790)
• Teimour Radjabov (2726) - Hou Yifan (2663)
• Eltaj Safarli (2664) - Pavel Eljanov (2765)
• Fabiano Caruana (2804) - Pentala Harikrishna (2763)
• Shakriyar Mamedyarov (2748) - Sergey Karjakin (2779)

Play begins in about two hours (3 p.m. local time in Azerbaijan = 11 a.m. GMT = 7 a.m. ET); tournament website here.