Sochi Round 6

Cheparinov (2687) - Grischuk (2728) [D12]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Qb3 Qc7 8.Nxg6 hxg6 9.Bd2 Nbd7 10.cxd5 exd5 11.0-0-0 a5 12.f3 a4 13.Qc2 a3 14.b3 Bb4 15.Kb1 Qb6 16.g4 0-0 17.h4 Rfe8 18.Rc1 Qa5 19.Bd3 Nf8 20.h5 g5 21.Bf5 Rad8 22.Qd3 b6 23.Rc2 c5 24.Rd1 Re7 25.Bc1 Rc7 26.Ne2 Re7 27.Ng1 Rde8 28.Nh3 cxd4 29.exd4 Re1 30.Nf2 N6h7 31.Rxe1 Bxe1 32.Re2 Rxe2 33.Qxe2 Bxf2 34.Qxf2 g6 35.hxg6 fxg6 36.Bd3 Ne6 37.Bxg6 Nhf8 38.Bf5 Qb4 39.Qe3 Kf7 40.Qe5 Qxd4 41.Qb8 Qd1 42.Qxb6 Nd4 43.Qc7+ Ke8 44.Qc3 Nxf5 45.gxf5 d4 46.Qc2 Qf1 47.Qe4+ Kf7 48.Kc2 Nh7 49.Qd5+ Kg7 50.Qd7+ Kg8 51.Qe6+ Kh8 52.Qe8+ Kg7 53.Qg6+ Kh8 54.f6 d3+ 55.Kb1 1-0

Gelfand (2720) - Radjabov (2744) [E97]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.Re1 f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.f3 Kh8 13.Be3 Bh6 14.Nf7+ Rxf7 15.Bxh6 f4 16.Bg5 Neg8 17.g4 h6 18.Bh4 g5 19.Bf2 h5 20.h3 Rh7 21.c5 Ne7 22.Kg2 Ng6 23.Rh1 Bd7 24.b5 dxc5 25.Bxc5 Kg7 26.d6 hxg4 27.hxg4 Rxh1 28.Kxh1 Qh8+ 29.Kg2 Nh4+ 30.Kg1 c6 31.bxc6 bxc6 32.Kf2 Be6 33.Rb1 Kg6 34.Ke1 Rd8 35.Kd2 Rd7 36.Qa4 Qc8 37.Kc2 Ne8 38.Rd1 Ng2 39.Ba6 Qa8 40.Bc4 Ng7 41.Nd5 cxd5 42.exd5 Qe8 43.dxe6 Nxe6 44.Bxa7 Kf6 45.Bb5 Qc8+ 46.Kb2 Rb7 47.d7 Qc6 48.Ka1 Rxb5 49.Qa3 Rd5 0-1

AlModiahki (2556) - Aronian (2737) [C67]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nf5 8.c3 0-0 9.d4 Nxe5 10.Rxe5 g6 11.Nd2 d5 12.Nf3 c6 13.Re1 Bd6 14.Bg5 f6 15.Bd2 Ng7 16.Bd3 Be6 17.Bh6 Qd7 18.Nh4 Rae8 19.Qc2 Bf7 20.g3 b6 21.a4 Rxe1+ 22.Rxe1 c5 23.Qd1 Re8 24.Rxe8+ Qxe8 25.Ng2 cxd4 26.cxd4 Ne6 27.Bb5 Qd8 28.Ne3 f5 29.Bc6 Qf6 30.Nxd5 Qxd4 31.Qxd4 Nxd4 32.Nf6+ Kh8 33.Bd5 Bxd5 34.Nxd5 Nb3 35.Nc3 Be5 36.Be3 Kg7 37.Kf1 Kf6 38.Ke2 g5 39.f3 f4 40.gxf4 gxf4 41.Bf2 Bd4 42.Nb5 Bxf2 43.Kxf2 a5 44.Nc7 Ke5 45.Na8 Nc5 46.Nxb6 Nd3+ 47.Ke2 Nxb2 48.h4 Kd6 49.h5 Kc6 50.Nc8 Nxa4 51.Ne7+ Kc5 52.Ng6 Nc3+ 53.Kd3 Nd5 54.Nf8 a4 55.Nxh7 a3 56.Kc2 Kc4 57.Ng5 Ne3+ 58.Kc1 Kb3 59.Ne4 a2 60.Nd2+ Ka3 61.Nb1+ Kb4 62.Kb2 axb1Q+ 63.Kxb1 Nf5 64.Kb2 Nh6 0-1

Gashimov (2717) - Navara (2646) [C99]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Rd8 14.d5 Bd7 15.Nf1 Rdc8 16.Ne3 Bd8 17.Nh2 Nc4 18.Bd3 Qa7 19.Neg4 Nxg4 20.hxg4 Bb6 21.Qe2 Bd4 22.Rb1 a5 23.b3 Nb6 24.Bd2 b4 25.Rf1 Rc7 26.Kh1 Nc8 27.g3 Bc3 28.f4 a4 29.Be3 Bd4 30.Bxd4 Qxd4 31.Nf3 Qb6 32.fxe5 Bxg4 33.exd6 Nxd6 34.e5 Nf5 35.Bxf5 Bxf5 36.Rbd1 axb3 37.axb3 Rc2 38.Rd2 Raa2 39.Rfd1 Rxd2 40.Rxd2 Ra1+ 41.Kg2 Qh6 42.e6 fxe6 43.dxe6 Bxe6 44.Rd8+ Kf7 45.Ne5+ Ke7 46.Nc6+ Kf7 47.Qf3+ Qf6 48.Qh5+ g6 49.Qxh7+ Qg7 50.Ne5+ Kf6 51.Qh4+ g5 52.Qd4 Bh3+ 53.Kf3 Rf1+ 54.Ke2 Qe7 55.Rf8+ Ke6 56.Rh8 Bg2 57.Qe3 Kf5 58.g4+ Kf6 59.Rf8+ Qxf8 60.Nd7+ Kg6 61.Nxf8+ Rxf8 62.Qe6+ Rf6 63.Qg8+ Kh6 64.Qh8+ Kg6 65.Qh5+ Kg7 66.Qxg5+ Kf7 67.Kd3 Rg6 68.Qf5+ Kg7 69.Qe5+ Kf7 70.Qf4+ 1-0

Standings

Radjabov, Cheparinov = +2

Gashimov, Aronian = +1

Six players even at 3/6

Sochi Round 5

Radjabov-Cheparinov
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Ne5 Bb7 10. h4 g4 11. Nxg4 Nbd7 12. Nxf6+ Qxf6 13. Be2 O-O-O 14. e5 Qf5 15. a4 b4 16. Bxc4 Nc5 17. Ne2 Rg8 18. O-O Be7 19. Qc1 Ne4 20. Ba6 Kb8 21. Bxb7 Kxb7 22. a5 Rc8 23. a6+ Kb8 24. Qxh6 Ng5 25. d5 Rg6 26. Qxg6 Qxg6 27. d6 Bd8 28. hxg5 Bb6 29. Rfd1 Qxg5 30. Rac1 Qg4 31. d7 Rd8 32. Kf1 Kc7 33. Rd6 Rxd7 34. Rcxc6+ Kd8 35. f3 Qh5 36. Rxb6 Qh1+ 37. Ng1 Rxd6 38. exd6 1-0

Standings:
Radjabov, Cheparinov, Grischuk in lead with 3/5
NINE players on their heels with 2.5/5

Sochi Round 4

Svidler-Radjabov
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. Qe1 e5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Bc4 Be6 14. Ne4 Qc7 15. Bc5 Rfd8 16. g4 Nf4 17. Qc3 Rd4 18. Bxd4 exd4 19. Qb4 d3 20. Bxe6 Ne2+ 21. Kb1 Rb8 22. Bxf7+ Kh8 23. Qxb8+ Qxb8 24. c3 Nxc3+ 25. Nxc3 Bxc3 26. Bb3 Bf6 27. Rxd3 Qe5 28. Rd2 Qe3 29. Rhd1 Qxf3 30. Rd7 Qe4+ 31. Bc2 Qb4 32. Bb3 Qe4+ 33. Ka1 Qg2 34. R1d2 Qxg4 35. a3 a5 36. Rb7 a4 37. Rdd7 Qg1+ 38. Bd1 Qxh2 39. Rdc7 Bd8 40. Rc8 Qd2 41. Bc2 1-0

AlModiahki-Navara
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 Nc6 4. Nc3 Nd4 5. Nxd4 cxd4 6. Ne2 Nf6 7. d3 d5 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Nxd4 Qb6 10. Nc2 dxe4 11. Be2 Bd6 12. O-O O-O 13. Na3 Be6 14. Nc4 Bxc4 15. dxc4 Bc5 16. Qc2 Rad8 17. a3 Bd4 18. Rb1 Rfe8 19. b4 e3 20. fxe3 Bxe3+ 21. Kh1 Ne4 22. Bxe3 Qxe3 23. Bf3 Rd2 24. Bxe4 Rxc2 25. Bxc2 Qxa3 26. c5 Re7 27. Bb3 Qxb4 28. Bd5 Qa5 29. Bxb7 g6 30. Rfc1 Re5 31. c6 Rc5 32. h3 Kf8 33. Ra1 Qb4 34. c7 Rxc7 35. Rxc7 a5 36. Bf3 Qb6 37. Rc8+ Kg7 38. Ra8 h5 39. R8xa5 Qd4 40. Rd1 Qe3 41. Ra4 Kh6 42. h4 Qe5 43. Re4 Qg3 44. Kg1 f5 45. Rc4 Kg7 46. Kf1 Kh6 47. Rdd4 Kg7 48. Rc6 1-0

Standings:
Cheparinov - 3/4
Grischuk - 2.5/4
Ten (!) players at 2/4

Sochi Round 3

Cheparinov-Kamsky
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Na5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qd2 e5 13. Bh6 cxd4 14. cxd4 exd4 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. f4 f6 17. Rac1 Bg4 18. Ng3 Bd7 19. h4 Rc8 20. Rxc8 Bxc8 21. h5 Qe7 22. Qe2 Bd7 23. Rc1 Rc8 24. Re1 Rc3 25. e5 f5 26. hxg6 hxg6 27. Qd2 Nc4 28. Bxc4 Rxc4 29. Qd3 Qc5 30. e6 Bb5 31. Nh5+ Kh6 32. Qh3 d3+ 33. Kh2 gxh5 34. Qh4 Be8 35. Re5 Qf8 36. Qg5+ Kh7 37. Rxf5 Qg7 38. Qd8 Rc2 39. Rg5 Qc7 40. Qxd3+ Kh6 41. Qf5 1-0

Ivanchuk-Aronian
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. h3 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 e6 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. O-O Bd6 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Bd2 Re8 11. Qd1 dxc4 12. Bxc4 a6 13. Qc2 c5 14. dxc5 Nxc5 15. Rfd1 Rc8 16. Be1 Qe7 17. Rac1 Rc7 18. Be2 Rec8 19. Qb1 h6 20. Bf3 g6 21. Ne2 Rb8 22. Nf4 Ncd7 23. Rxc7 Bxc7 24. Qc2 Ne5 25. Be2 Nc6 26. Bxa6 Bxf4 27. exf4 Nb4 28. Bxb4 Qxb4 29. a3 Qf8 30. Be2 Rc8 31. Qb3 Rc7 32. Bf3 Qc8 33. g3 Kg7 34. Qb4 h5 35. h4 Rc4 36. Qxb7 Qc5 37. b4 Qf5 38. Qe7 Ne4 39. Qa7 e5 40. Qa6 Rc3 41. Qe2 Nf6 42. fxe5 Rxf3 43. exf6+ Kh7 44. Qe7 1-0

Cheparinov in sole lead at 2.5/3

Sochi Round 2

Standings:
Kamsky, Cheparinov and Aronian join Radjabov and Grischuk in lead at 1½/2.

Games:

Svidler-Cheparinov
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5
8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ne7 10. h3 Ng6 11. Ne4 h6 12. Bd2 Bd7 13. Rad1 Kc8 14.
Rfe1 c5 15. Ng3 b6 16. Nh5 Kb7 17. Bc3 Be6 18. g4 Ne7 19. Nf4 g5 20. Nxe6 fxe6
21. Nd2 Rd8 22. Ne4 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 Nd5 24. Bd2 Bg7 25. h4 gxh4 26. f4 Rf8 27.
Rf1 Nb4 28. Bxb4 cxb4 29. g5 hxg5 30. fxg5 Rxf1+ 31. Kxf1 Bxe5 32. b3 Kc6 33.
Kg2 Kd5 34. Nf2 Bd4 35. g6 Bg7 36. Nd3 Ke4 37. Nxb4 Kf5 38. Nc6 a5 39. Kh3 Bf6
0-1

Aronian-Navara
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 a6 6. b3 Bb4 7. Bd2 O-O 8. Bd3
Nbd7 9. O-O Qe7 10. Ne5 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Nd7 12. f4 f6 13. Qc2 h6 14. a3 Bc5 15.
b4 Ba7 16. exf6 Nxf6 17. c5 b6 18. cxb6 Bxb6 19. Na4 Ba7 20. Rae1 e5 21. fxe5
Qxe5 22. Nc5 Qe7 23. h3 Bxc5 24. Qxc5 Qxc5 25. bxc5 Be6 26. Bc3 Rab8 27. Rb1
Nd7 28. Rxf8+ Rxf8 29. Bd4 Rb8 30. Rxb8+ Nxb8 31. Kf2 Kf7 32. Ke1 g6 33. Kd2
Bf5 34. Bf1 Ke6 35. Kc3 Bb1 36. Kb4 g5 37. g4 Ke7 38. Bg7 1-0

Kamsky-Ivanchuk
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c4 b4 12. Nc2 a5 13. Be2 O-O 14. O-O Bg5
15. Qd3 Rb8 16. Rad1 g6 17. b3 Be6 18. Bf3 Rb7 19. Qe2 Ne7 20. Nxe7+ Qxe7 21.
Rd3 h5 22. Rfd1 Rd8 23. Ne3 Bxe3 24. Qxe3 Rdd7 25. Qh6 Qf8 26. Qxf8+ Kxf8 27.
Rxd6 Rbc7 28. h4 Ke7 29. Ra6 Rc5 30. Kf1 Rxd1+ 31. Bxd1 Kd7 32. Ra7+ Kc6 33.
Ke2 Kb6 34. Re7 Rc7 35. Rxc7 Kxc7 36. g3 Kd6 37. Ke3 f6 38. f4 Bf7 39. f5 g5
40. g4 hxg4 41. hxg5 fxg5 42. Bxg4 a4 43. f6 a3 44. Bf5 Kc5 45. Kf3 Bh5+ 46.
Kg3 Kd6 47. Bc8 1-0

Grand Prix #2 Begins in Sochi, Russia

Players this time around:

01	Ivanchuk	Vassily	UKR	2781
02	Radjabov	Teimour	AZE	2744
03	Svidler	Peter	RUS	2738
04	Aronian	Levon	ARM	2737
05	Grischuk	Alexander	RUS	2728
06	Karjakin	Sergey	UKR	2727
07	Kamsky	Gata	USA	2723
08	Gelfand	Boris	ISR	2720
09	Gashimov	Vugar	AZE	2717
10	Jakovenko	Dmitry	RUS	2709
11	Wang	Yue	CHN	2704
12	Cheparinov	Ivan	BUL	2687
13	Navara	David	CZE	2646
14	Al Modiahki	Mohamad	QTR	2556

Round 1 Results

Grischuk (2728) - Karjakin (2727) [D43]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Ne5 h5 10.h4 g4 11.Be2 Bb7 12.0-0 Nbd7 13.Qc2 Nxe5 14.Bxe5 Bg7 15.b3 cxb3 16.axb3 0-0 17.Bg3 c5 18.e5 Nd5 19.Nxb5 cxd4 20.Nd6 Rb8 21.Qd2 Nc3 22.Bd3 a5 23.Ra3 Bd5 24.Bc2 Rb6 25.Re1 a4 26.Qd3 f5 27.exf6 Rxf6 28.Nc4 Bxc4 29.bxc4 Qe7 30.Qxd4 Qxa3 31.Qxb6 e5 32.Qd8+ Qf8 33.Qa5 e4 34.Bxe4 Nxe4 35.Rxe4 a3 36.Re3 Qf7 37.Qxa3 Qxc4 38.Qa5 Qf7 39.Re5 Rh6 40.Qd8+ Kh7 41.Re7 1-0

Radjabov (2744) - AlModiahki (2556) [A07]
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c6 3.Bg2 Bg4 4.c4 Bxf3 5.Bxf3 e6 6.Qc2 Nf6 7.0-0 Be7 8.d4 0-0 9.Rd1 Nbd7 10.b3 Rc8 11.Nc3 c5 12.cxd5 cxd4 13.Rxd4 Bc5 14.Rh4 exd5 15.Bb2 Ne5 16.Qf5 Ng6 17.Ra4 d4 18.Nb5 a6 19.Rc4 Ne7 20.Qg5 h6 21.Qc1 d3 22.Bxf6 d2 23.Qc2 axb5 24.Rxc5 Rxc5 25.Qxc5 d1R+ 26.Rxd1 Qxd1+ 27.Kg2 gxf6 28.Qxe7 Kg7 29.Qxb7 Qd2 30.a3 Qb2 31.Qxb5 Qxa3 32.Qc4 Qd6 33.b4 Rb8 34.b5 Qe5 35.Bc6 Qe7 36.Qg4+ Kf8 37.Qf4 Qe5 38.Qxh6+ Ke7 39.h4 Qc7 40.Qd2 Qe5 41.Qd7+ Kf8 42.b6 Qe6 43.Qxe6 fxe6 44.b7 Ke7 45.g4 Kd6 46.Bf3 Kc7 47.Kg3 Rg8 48.Bg2 1-0

The other five games were drawn.

Tournament website: http://sochi2008.fide.com/

Dortmund Round 7 (Final) - Leko wins it

Van Wely,L (2677) - Mamedyarov,S (2752) [D38]
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Qc2 h6 8.Bh4 0-0 9.e3 c5 10.Bd3 c4 11.Bf5 Nb6 12.g4 g5 13.Bg3 Bxf5 14.gxf5 Ne4 15.Nd2 Qe7 16.Ke2 Nxd2 17.Kxd2 Qe4 18.h4 g4 19.Qxe4 dxe4 20.h5 Kh7 21.Rh4 Rg8 22.Rg1 Nd5 23.Be5 f6 24.Bh2 Rac8 25.Rhxg4 Rxg4 26.Rxg4 Rc6 27.Rxe4 Ra6 28.a3 Bxc3+ 29.bxc3 Rxa3 30.Re6 b5 31.e4 Ra2+ 32.Ke1 Nxc3 33.e5 Ra1+ 34.Kd2 Nd5 35.exf6 c3+ 36.Kd3? Rd1+ 37.Ke2?? 38.f7 Kg7 39.Rxh6 Kxf7 0-1
(Wow, this has not been Van Wely's tournament - underperforming by 300 points he ends in last place with the truly terrible score of +0 -5 =2, two full points behind the next competitor.)

Ivanchuk,V (2740) - Kramnik,V (2788) [C42]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Re1 Bg4 9.c4 Nf6 10.Nc3 Bxf3 11.Qxf3 Nxd4 12.Qd1 Ne6 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.Bb5+ c6 15.Nxd5 cxb5 16.Qh5 0-0 17.Nxe7+ Qxe7 18.Qxb5 Rfd8 19.Be3 a6 20.Qb3 Rac8 21.h3 h6 22.Rad1 Rxd1 23.Rxd1 b5 24.Rd3 Rc6 25.Qd5 Qe8 26.Rd2 Qc8 27.b3 Rc3 28.h4 a5 29.Rd1 Rc2 30.Qxb5 Rxa2 31.h5 Nf8 32.Rd4 Qc7 33.Rd1 Rb2 34.Rc1 Qd7 35.Qb8 Rc2 36.Ra1 Qf5 37.Qd8 Qxh5 38.Rxa5 Qg4 39.Ra4 Qd7 40.Rd4 Qb7 41.b4 Rb2 42.Bd2 Rb1+ 43.Kh2 Qb5 44.Qd5 Qe2 45.Be3 Ng6 46.Qf5 Qf1 47.Kg3 Rb3 48.Re4 Nf8?? 49.Rf4! 1-0
(And with that defending champion and eight-time winner Kramnik finishes next-to-last with a -1 score.)

Nepomniachtchi,I (2634) - Gustafsson,J (2603) [C77]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.Nc3 d6 8.Nd5 h6 9.c3 Be6 10.Nxf6+ Qxf6 11.Be3 Bxb3 12.axb3 Bxe3 13.fxe3 0-0 14.0-0 Qe6 15.Nh4 Ne7 16.Nf5 Kh7 17.b4 Ng8 18.Qc2 g6 19.Ng3 c5 20.bxc5 dxc5 21.d4 c4 22.Rf3 ½-½
(Thanks for at least showing up.)

Leko,P (2741) - Naiditsch,A (2624) [C89]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d3 Bd6 13.Re1 Bf5 14.Qf3 Qh4 15.g3 Qh3 16.Bxd5 cxd5 17.Qxd5 Rad8 18.Qg2 Qxg2+ 19.Kxg2 Bxd3 20.Be3 Be4+ 21.f3 Bc6 22.Nd2 Rfe8 23.Bd4 Rxe1 24.Rxe1 f6 25.Kf2 h5 26.Ne4 Bf8 27.Re2 Kf7 28.Nc5 Bxc5 29.Bxc5 Rd7 30.Bd4 a5 31.b3 ½-½
(Leko's +2 is enough to win it.)

Dortmund Round 6 - Leko takes lead from Gustafsson

Naiditsch,A (2624) - Van Wely,L (2677) [B90]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nbd7 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 Nc5 10.Qe2 Be7 11.0-0-0 0-0 12.Bg3 Qc7 13.e5 dxe5 14.Bxe5 Qa5 15.Kb1 Bd7 16.f4 b5 17.g4 b4 18.g5 bxc3? 19.gxf6 gxf6?? 20.Nf5 exf5 Qd8 22.Qh5 Kh7 23.Rhg1 Qe8 24.Rg3 Rg8 25.Bxf7 Rxg3 26.hxg3 1-0
(Bad tournament for Van Wely - two thumpings from lower rated players in consecutive rounds)

Gustafsson,J (2603) - Leko,P (2741) [E15]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qa4 Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 7.dxc5 bxc5 8.0-0 Be7 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Rd1 Qb6 11.Bf4 Rd8 12.Rd2 d6 13.Rad1 Ne8 14.e4 Bc6 15.Qc2 Qb7 16.Qb3 Qxb3 17.axb3 f6 18.Ne1 Nd7 19.Ra1 Rdb8 20.Ra3 Rb7 21.e5 Nxe5 22.Bxe5 Bxg2 23.Bxd6 Nxd6 24.Kxg2 Nf5 25.Ra6 Nd4 26.Nf3 Nxb3 27.Rd3 e5 28.Rd5 Rd8 29.Rxd8+ Bxd8 30.Rd6 Be7 31.Ra6 Nd4 32.Nxd4 cxd4 33.Nb5 d3 34.Kf1 Bc5 35.Rc6 d2 36.Ke2 Rd7 37.Nc3 Bd4 38.Kxd2 Bxf2+ 39.Nd5 a5 40.b3 Kf7 41.g4 Rb7 42.Ke2 Bd4 43.h4 e4 44.h5 Rxb3 45.Rc7+ Ke6 0-1

Dortmund Round 5 - Gustafsson in sole lead

Ivanchuk,V (2740) - Naiditsch,A (2624) [D37]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e3 a6 6.a4 c5 7.Bxc4 Nc6 8.0-0 Be7 9.dxc5 Qxd1 10.Rxd1 Bxc5 11.Bd2 b6 12.Bd3 Bb7 13.Ne4 Be7 14.Nxf6+ Bxf6 15.Rac1 0-0 16.Be4 Rfc8 17.b3 Na5 18.Bxb7 Nxb7 19.Bb4 Bb2 20.Rxc8+ Rxc8 21.Rd7 Na5 22.Bxa5 bxa5 23.g4 h6 24.Kg2 Bc3 25.g5 Rb8 26.Rd3 Rc8 27.h4 hxg5 28.hxg5 Kh7 29.Kg3 Kg6 30.Kf4 Rc6 31.e4 f6 32.Kg4 fxg5 33.Nxg5 e5 34.Nf3 Kf6 35.Kh5 Ke7 36.Nh4 Kf6 37.Rf3+ Ke6 38.Nf5 Kd7?! 39.Rd3+ Kc7 40.Nxg7 Be1 41.f3 Rc3 42.Ne6+ Kc6 43.Rxc3+ Bxc3 44.Kg6 Kd6 45.Kf5 Kc6 46.f4 exf4 47.Kxf4 Bf6 48.e5 Be7 49.Ke4 Bh4 50.Kd4 Bg3 51.Ng5 Bf4 52.Nf3 Bg3 53.Kc4 1-0

Van Wely,L (2677) - Gustafsson,J (2603) [D31]
1.c4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd4 7.Bxb4 Qxe4+ 8.Be2 Na6 9.Ba5 b6 10.Qd6 Bd7 11.0-0-0 0-0-0 12.Bc3 f6 13.Bf3 (Van Wely - Shirov, Monte Carlo 2002, continued 13.b3) Qxc4 14.Be2? (Bick-Balazs, Budapest 2006, continued 14.Qa3) Qxa2 15.Nf3 Nc5 16.Ne5 Ne4! 17.Bc4 Qa1+ 18.Kc2 Qa4+ 0-1

Dortmund Round 4 - Leko, Gustafsson, Nepomniachtchi in Lead

Nepomniachtchi,I (2634) - Van Wely,L (2677) [B90]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.0-0-0 Be7 10.f4 Ng4 11.g3 Nxe3 12.Qxe3 b5 13.Kb1 Qb6 14.Qe2 b4 15.Na4 Qc6 16.f5 Bxf5 17.exf5 Qxa4 18.Bg2 0-0 19.Bxa8 Rxa8 20.g4 Qc6 21.Na5 Qc7 22.Nc4 a5 23.Nxd6 Bxd6 24.Qd3 Nf6 25.Qxd6 Qxd6 26.Rxd6 Nxg4 27.Rg1 Nxh2 28.f6 g6 29.Rg2 Nf3 30.Re2 h5 31.Re3 e4 32.Rxe4 g5 33.Rd3 g4 34.Rd5 Ra6 35.Rf4 Re6 36.a4 Re1+ 37.Ka2 Rh1 38.Rxa5 Kh7 39.Rd5 Kg6 40.a5 Re1 41.a6 Re8 42.a7 Ra8 43.Ra5 Nh2 44.Rxb4 g3 45.Rb8 Rxa7 46.Rg8+ Kxf6 47.Rxa7 Ng4 48.Ra3 1-0

Dortmund Round 3 - Leko, Gustafsson in Lead

Naiditsch,A (2624) - Kramnik,V (2788) [C42]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Re1 Bg4 9.c4 Nf6 10.Nc3 Bxf3 11.Qxf3 Nxd4 12.Qd1 Ne6 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.Bb5+ c6 15.Nxd5 cxb5 16.Bf4 Nxf4 17.Rxe7+ Kf8 18.Re5 Qd6 19.Qd2!N Ng6?! (19...Qxe5) 20.Ree1 f6 21.Rad1 Kf7 22.Qe3 Rhe8 23.Ne7 Qxe7 24.Qb3+ Kf8 25.Rxe7 Rxe7 26.Qxb5 Rae8 27.g3 Ne5 28.Kg2 Nc6 29.b4 a6 30.Qb6 h6 31.a4 Ne5 32.Qc5 Kg8 33.b5 axb5 34.axb5 Nf7 35.h4 Kh8 36.Rd2 Kg8 37.Kh3 Kh8 38.f4 Kg8 39.h5 Kh8 40.Qf5 Nd8 41.Rd7 Ne6 42.Qd5 1-0

FIDE Rating List

Given the massive rating inflation of recent years, I will no longer be posting all GMs over 2700 in my quarterly list. I will only be publishing those with ratings above the average of this group.

1	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2798	2	1969
2	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2788	20	1977
3	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2788	0	1975
4	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2781	25	1969
5	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2777	10	1975
6	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2775	16	1990
7	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2744	31	1987
8	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2742	23	1985
9	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2741	11	1972
10	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2741	0	1979
11	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2738	32	1976
12	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2737	11	1982
13	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2735	20	1971

Dortmund Round 2 - Three Wins

Gustafsson,J (2603) - Naiditsch,A (2624) [D37]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 c5 7.Bxc4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Qa5 10.Bb5+ Bd7 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.Bxd7+ Nxd7 13.0-0 a6 14.Rb1 Qc7 15.Qh5 Ke7 16.f4 Qxc3 17.Rfd1 Rab8 18.e5 Qe3+? 19.Kh1 Rhd8 20.exf6+ Ke8 21.Nxe6 Nxf6 22.Nc7+ Ke7 23.Qh4 1-0

Leko,P (2741) - Ivanchuk,V (2740) [B46]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.0-0 Nf6 9.Qf3 Be7 10.Qg3 Nh5 11.Qf3 Nf6 12.e5 Nd7 13.Qg3 g6 14.Bh6 c5 15.Na4 c4 16.Be2 Bb7 17.b3 Bc6 18.Nb2 Rb8 19.Nd1 Nc5 20.Ne3 Ne4 21.Qh3 Ng5 22.Qg4 c3 23.a3 Bb5? 24.Bxb5+ axb5 25.f3 Qb6 26.Rae1 d4 27.Nd1 d3+ 28.Kh1 dxc2 29.Nf2 Bc5 30.Nd3 Be3 31.Bxg5 Bd2 32.Re2 0-0 33.Nc1 b4 34.Bxd2 cxd2 35.Rxd2 bxa3 36.Rxc2 Rfc8 37.Qe4 Rxc2 38.Qxc2 Qd4 39.Na2 Qxe5 40.b4 Rd8 41.h3 h5 42.Rb1 Qe3 43.Rd1 Rd5 44.Qb1 Qe2 45.Re1 Qd2 46.Rc1 Rd8 47.b5 Rb8 48.Rc3 h4 49.b6 Qd6 50.Rb3 Rb7 51.Nc3 Qc6 52.Rxa3 Qxb6 53.Qxb6 Rxb6 54.Ra4 g5 55.f4 Rb3 56.Ne2 Re3 57.Ng1 1-0

Kramnik,V (2788) - Van Wely,L (2677) [D11]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.b3 Nbd7 6.Bb2 b6 7.Bd3 Bb7 8.0-0 Bd6 9.Nbd2 0-0 10.Ne5 Qe7 11.Qf3 Rfd8 12.Qh3 h6 13.f4 Bb4 14.Ndf3 Ne4 15.Nxd7 Rxd7 16.Ne5 Rc7 17.Bxe4 dxe4 18.c5 bxc5 19.a3 Ba5 20.dxc5 Qxc5 21.b4 Qb5 22.Qg3 Bb6? [22...f5] 23.Nd7 g6 24.Nf6+ Kf8 25.Be5 Rcc8 26.Qh4 h5 27.Nh7+ Ke8 28.Bd6 Rc7 29.Rfd1 1-0

Nepomniachtchi-Mamedyarov was a draw

Dortmund Round 1 - Four Draws

Jan Gustafsson	½-½	Vladimir Kramnik
Arkadij Naiditsch	½-½	Ian Nepomniachtchi
Shak. Mamedyarov	½-½	Peter Leko
Vassily Ivanchuk	½-½	Loek van Wely

MGP3 - Petrosian

So, I read My Great Predecessors 1 and 2, and they have all these great games where you see the world champions whoop butt on their opponents. Now I'm reading the first chapter in volume 3 on Petrosian, and ...

• Game 2 (Zurich CT 1953) - Reshevsky has strong pressure all game but Petrosian defends well and gets the draw (by the way, in this same line at Zurich, Taimanov soundly thumped Petrosian and Smyslov had a won position although that game was drawn)
• Game 3 (USSR Ch 1958) - Tal has strong pressure all game but Petrosian defends well and gets the draw
• Game 4 (Varna Ol 1962) - Gligoric has strong pressure all game but Petrosian defends well and gets the draw
• Game 5 (San Antonio 1972) - Portisch has strong pressure all game but Petrosian defends well and gets the draw
• Game 8 (Amsterdam CT 1956) - Colorless draw with Bronstein

Given that only 22 games (excluding the losses to other players featured in the book and the two wins against Kasparov) were needed, surely Kasparov could have found sufficient GOOD games by Petrosian to fill up the required number of slots rather than giving us this slop.

US Championship Winners

1. Shulman, Yuri GM 2606 - 7 - New US Champion
2. Onischuk, Alexander GM 2664 - 6½
3. Kudrin, Sergey GM 2549 - 6

Women's Tournament: Zatonskih, Anna IM over Krush, Irina IM on tiebreaks.
After two Game/15 games and two Game/5 games were split, a remarkable Armageddon game determined the result of this grueling finale. The rules called for one player to name the times (with black having draw odds) and the other to chose which color she wanted. Krush had white with 6 minutes, while Zatonskih had 4½ minutes and the draw odds. A tense game ensued and both players entered severe time trouble. But Anna’s draw odds were a big advantage here – she could blitz out moves hardly thinking (just moving the piece nearest to the clock), while Irina actually had to do something with her moves since she had to win. Krush lost on time with 0:01 left on Anna’s clock! It doesn’t get any closer than that.

ETA (6/1/08): Whining by Irina Krush at http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8475/456/. She claims that Anna Zatonskih cheated.

My opponent, seeing herself on the verge of losing on time, began playing moves before I had completed mine. She made her moves before I hit my clock, and as soon as I pressed the clock, it was punched back at me. [...] People have pointed out that I should have registered my protest during the game, or immediately after. Unfortunately, while I was certainly in disbelief as I watched my opponent complete 3 moves with her last remaining second and saw myself lose on time despite starting out with a large time lead, during the game and immediately after, I had no clear grasp of how she had accomplished this. [...] I’d also like to address my reaction at the end of this game, when I knocked a piece off to the side of the board before walking out of the room. This may seem like poor behavior to some, but I believe that my reaction was nothing compared to the aggression leveled at me by my opponent during the end of this game. Knocking off a piece and storming away had no power or intention to take away anything my opponent had been working for during this tournament. When my opponent moved on my time, however innocuous that may appear to be, I believe that she was committing one of the worst transgressions possible: depriving me, through unfair means, of the just rewards of my labor.

This last paragraph is idiotic nonsense. If she didn't think that her opponent was cheating until well after the game ended, why did she throw a piece then? And even if you are going to file a protest, there is still no need for a professional to throw a piece anyway. Leave that sort of behavior to the amateurs.

An amazing website

http://www.worldchesslinks.net/

Too much information even to scratch the surface here, but I've poked around the site a little bit and aside from the amazingly huge number of links

• Opening Theory, with links to content broken up by ECO code
• Grandmaster websites

There's also a great deal of original content:

• Historic Tournaments, including cross-tables and games
• World Chess Championship, including all games back to 1834

Remaining Major Events in 2008

Mexico City (June 21 – July 6) - A new event that will be part of the Grand Slam series; format and participants not announced yet as far as I know.
ETA (6/21): Apparently this tournament is not happening after all. Chess version of vaporware, I guess.

Dortmund 2008 (June 28 - July 6)
1. Vladimir Kramnik (RUS 2788)
2. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE 2752)
3. Peter Leko (HUN 2741)
4. Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR 2740)
5. Loek Van Wely (NED 2676)
6. Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS 2634)
7. Arkadij Naiditsch (GER 2623)
8. Jan Gustafsson (GER 2603)

Grand Prix Tournament in Sochi (July 30 – August 15)

Bilbao (September 2-13) - which will feature the winners of Corus (Aronian, Carlsen), Linares (Anand) and Sofia (Ivanchuk). ETA (8/17): Additional participants are Topalov and Radjabov. Format is a double round robin.

Most important of all is the Anand-Kramnik world championship match (October 14 - November 2)

And of course there's the Olympiad (November 12-25).

And finally the Grand Prix tournament in Qatar (December 13-29)
ETA (11/24): Qatar dropped out; this event will be held in Elista; ChessBase reports that some of the players may drop out. As usual, FIDE has fubared the whole thing.

Sofia Round 10

Ivanchuk wins M-Tel with +6=4 score, 1.5 points ahead of Topalov!

Cheparinov,I (2696) - Ivanchuk,V (2740) [B48]1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Qd2 Nf6 8.0-0-0 Bb4 9.f3 Ne5 10.Nb3 b5 11.Bd4 Be7 12.Qf2 d6 13.g4 0-0 14.g5 Nfd7 15.Rg1 Bb7 16.Kb1 Rfc8 17.Rg3 b4 18.Na4 Bd8 19.Nc1 Bc6 20.b3 Bxa4 21.bxa4 Nc6 22.Be3 Qb8 23.Rh3 Nb6 24.Qh4 h6 25.Qg3 Nxa4 26.Rxd6 hxg5 27.Bd3 Bf6 28.e5 Bxe5 29.Rh8+ Kxh8 30.Qh3+ Kg8 31.Qh7+ Kf8 32.Rd7 Nc3+ 33.Ka1 Nb5+ 0-1

The other two games are in progress.

I'm no grandmaster but Aronian-Bu has simplified to a R+N vs R+B ending which is probably drawn.
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.h3 0-0 7.Bd3 c5 8.0-0 Nc6 9.Re1 Nb4 10.dxc5 Nxd3 11.Qxd3 Bf5 12.Qe2 dxc4 13.e4 Be6 14.Ng5 Qd3 15.Qxd3 cxd3 16.Nxe6 fxe6 17.Be3 Nd7 18.Rad1 Rfc8 19.Na4 b5 20.cxb6 axb6 21.Rxd3 Ne5 22.Ra3 b5 23.Nc5 Nc4 24.Rxa8 Rxa8 25.Nxe6 Bxb2 26.Nc7 Rxa2 27.Nxb5 Ra5 28.Nc7 Nxe3 29.fxe3 Ra4 30.Rb1 Bf6 31.Kf2 Rxe4 32.Kf3 Ra4 33.Nd5 Kf7 34.g4 Be5 35.Rb7 Bd6 36.Nc3 Ra5 37.Ne4 Ke6 38.h4 h5 39.g5 Be5 40.Rb6+ Kf7 41.Rb1 Ra3 42.Rd1 Bc7 43.Rb1 Be5 44.Rd1 Bc7 45.Rb1 1/2-1/2

Topalov-Radjabov appears to have some life still left in it.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.N1c3 a6 7.Na3 b5 8.Nd5 Nf6 9.c4 b4 10.Nxf6+ Qxf6 11.Nc2 Qg6 12.Ne3 Be7 13.g3 Nd4 14.Bg2 Bb7 15.Nf5 Qxf5 16.exf5 Bxg2 17.Rg1 Bf3 18.Qd3 d5 19.cxd5 Rc8 20.Be3 Nc2+ 21.Kf1 e4 22.Qxa6 0-0 23.Rb1 Nxe3+ 24.fxe3 Rc2 25.h4 Rd8 26.Qb7 Kf8 27.a4 Rd2 28.Rc1 R2xd5 29.Rc8 Rd1+ 30.Kf2 R1d2+ 31.Ke1 Rd1+ 32.Kf2 R1d2+ 33.Ke1 Rd1+ 34.Kf2 R1d2+ 1/2-1/2

ETA - remaining moves

Sofia Round 9

Bu Xiangzhi (2708) - Topalov,V (2767) [D23]
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Qc2 dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bf5 6.g3 Nbd7 7.Bg2 e6 8.0-0 Be7 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Re1 h6 11.e4 Bh7 12.Bf4 Rc8 13.Qe2 Re8 14.Rad1 b5 15.a3 a5 16.Ne5 Nxe5 17.Bxe5 Qb6 18.a4 Nd7 19.Bf4 b4 20.Nb1 Nf6 21.Be5 c5 22.Nd2 cxd4 23.Nb3 Qc6 24.Qb5 Qxb5 25.axb5 a4 26.Nxd4 Ng4 27.Bf4 g5 28.Bf3 Nxf2 29.Kxf2 gxf4 30.Nc6 fxg3+ 31.Kxg3 Bf8 32.Rd7 Bg6 33.e5 Bc5 34.Rc1 Be3 35.Rc4 a3 36.bxa3 bxa3 37.Ra4 Bc5 38.Ra6 a2 39.Rxa2 Kg7 40.Ra6 Rb8 41.Nxb8 Rxb8 42.Bc6 h5 43.Ra8 Rb6 44.Rdd8 h4+ 45.Kf4 Bh7 46.Be4 Be7 47.Rdb8 1-0

Standings:
Ivanchuk - 7
Topalov - 6
Radjabov - 5

Dominguez (no relation) wins Capablanca Memorial

Lenier Dominguez Perez, Cuba's highest rated GM at 2695, won with an undefeated 6/9, a half point ahead of Amonatov and Khenkin, both also undefeated at 5.5/9. (Of course, Ivanchuk, the winner of the last three events was not there this year.)

Complete History of the Capablanca Memorial Tournament

1962 Miguel Najdorf (Argentina)
1963 Viktor Korchnoi (Soviet Union)
1964 Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union), Wolfgang Uhlmann (East Germany)
1965 Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union)
1967 Bent Larsen (Denmark)
1968 Ratmir Kholmov (Soviet Union)
1969 Alexey Suetin (Soviet Union), Viktor Korchnoi (Soviet Union)
1971 Vlastimil Hort (Czechoslovakia)
1972 Anatoly Lein (Soviet Union)
1973 Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union)
1974 Ulf Andersson (Sweden)
1975 Ulf Andersson (Sweden)
1976 Boris Gulko (Soviet Union)
1977 Oleg Romanishin (Soviet Union), Guillermo García González (Cuba)
1979 Evgeny Sveshnikov (Soviet Union)
1980 Alonso Zapata (Colombia), Lubomir Ftacnik (Czechoslovakia)
1981 Vitaly Tseshkovsky (Soviet Union)
1983 Lev Psakhis (Soviet Union)
1984 Jesus Nogueiras (Cuba)
1985 Borislav Ivkov (Yugoslavia)
1986 Carlos García Palermo (Argentina), Julio Granda Zúñiga (Peru)
1987 Carlos García Palermo (Argentina), Denis Verduga (Mexico)
1988 Zurab Azmaiparashvili (Soviet Union)
1989 Amador Rodriguez (Cuba)
1990 Adelkis Remón (Cuba)
1991 Valeriy Neverov (Soviet Union)
1992 Henry Urday Cáceres (Peru)
1993 Mark Hebden (England)
1994 Loek van Wely (Netherlands), Tony Miles (England), Alonso Zapata (Colombia)
1995 Tony Miles (England)
1996 Tony Miles (England)
1997 Peter Leko (Hungary)
1998 Robert Hübner (Germany), Ivan Morovic (Chile), Yaacov Zilberman (Israel)
1999 Tony Miles (England)
2000 Alexander Volzhin (Russia)
2001 Francisco Vallejo Pons (Spain)
2002 Lázaro Bruzón (Cuba)
2003 Julio Granda Zúñiga (Peru)
2004 Lenier Domínguez (Cuba)
2005 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
2006 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
2007 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)

Sofia Round 8

Aronian,L (2763) - Radjabov,T (2751) [E97]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.Re1 a5 11.bxa5 Rxa5 12.Nd2 Nf4 13.Bf1 c5 14.a4 Ra6 15.Ra3 Nh5 16.Nb5 Nf6 17.Bb2 Ne8 18.Nf3 h6 19.g3 f5 20.exf5 Nxf5 21.Nd2 Nf6 22.Bd3 Rf7 23.Bc2 Bd7 24.Qb1 Rf8 25.Rf3 h5 26.Ne4 Nxe4 27.Rxe4 Ra8 28.Re1 Rc8 29.Bc1 Ra8 30.Bd2 b6 31.Be3 e4 32.Rf4 Nxe3 33.fxe3 Bh6 34.Nxd6 Bxf4 35.gxf4 Qh4 36.Re2 Bg4 37.Rg2 g5 38.f5 Bxf5 39.Rg3 Bh3 40.Bxe4 Rf1+ 41.Qxf1 Bxf1 42.Bf5 g4 43.Be6+ Kh7 44.Bf5+ Kh8 0-1

Topalov,V (2767) - Cheparinov,I (2696) [D90]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 Nb6 6.Nf3 Bg7 7.e3 0-0 8.Rc1 N8d7 9.a4 a5 10.e4 e5 11.d5 c6 12.Bg5 Bf6 13.Be3 Qe7 14.d6 Qe6 15.b3 Bg7 16.h4 f5 17.Ng5 Qf6 18.b4 f4 19.Bxb6 Nxb6 20.bxa5 Nd7 21.a6 Kh8 22.Nb1 Bh6 23.Nf3 bxa6 24.Rxc6 Bb7 25.Rc7 Bxe4 26.Rxd7 Qf5 27.Rc7 Bxb1 28.Ng5 Bg7 29.Bc4 Bc2 30.Qd5 h6 31.Rf7 Qc8 32.Rxg7 1-0

Standings:
Ivanchuk - 6.5
Topalov - 6
Radjabov - 4.5

Sofia Round 7

Radjabov-Bu
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. c5 g6 7. Ne5 Bg7 8. Be2 O-O9. O-O Nfd7 10. f4 a5 11. a3 f6 12. Nf3 f5 13. Bd2 Nf6 14. Be1 Kh8 15. Bh4 Be616. Ne5 Qc7 17. Qe1 Nbd7 18. Bg5 Nxe5 19. fxe5 Ne4 20. Nxe4 fxe4 21. Qh4 Rxf1+22. Rxf1 Re8 23. Bg4 Qd7 24. Rf7 Bxg4 25. Bf6 exf6 26. Rxd7 Bxd7 27. exf6 a428. fxg7+ Kxg7 29. Kf2 h6 30. Ke1 Re6 31. Qg3 Be8 32. Kd2 g5 33. Kc3 Kf8 34.Kb4 Bf7 35. Ka5 Kg7 36. Kb6 Kf8 37. Kc7 Kg7 38. Kd7 Kf8 39. Qf2 Rg6 40. Qf5 h541. g3 1-0

Standings:
Ivanchuk - 6
Topalov - 5
Radjabov, Cheparinov - 3.5

Sofia Round 6 - Ivanchuk human after all, draws

Bu Xiangzhi (2708) - Cheparinov,I (2696) [D45]
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 c6 4.e3 Nf6 5.b3 Nbd7 6.Bb2 Bd6 7.Nf3 0-0 8.Be2 Ne4 9.Nd2 f5 10.0-0 Qh4 11.f4 Nxd2 12.Qxd2 Nf6 13.a4 Rf7 14.a5 g5 15.g3 Qh3 16.Bf3 gxf4 17.exf4 Bd7 18.Na4 Ne4 19.Bxe4 fxe4 20.Nc5 Be8 21.Ba3 Qf5 22.a6 b6 23.Nb7 Bxa3 24.Rxa3 Rg7 25.Nd6 Qf6 26.f5 Bh5 27.fxe6 Bf3 28.cxd5 cxd5 29.Nf7 h5 30.Ne5 h4 31.Nxf3 hxg3 32.b4 Rf8 33.h3 g2 34.Re1 exf3 35.Qf2 Qf5 36.Kh2 Qf4+ 37.Kg1 Qf5 38.Kh2 Qf4+ 39.Kg1 Rg3 40.e7 Rxh3 41.exf8Q+ Kxf8 42.Rxf3 Rxf3 43.Re2 Kf7 44.b5 Kf6 0-1

Topalov,V (2767) - Aronian,L (2763) [D47]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.a3 Bb7 11.h3 e5 12.Qc2 Re8 13.Bd2 Qe7 14.Ng5 h6 15.Nge4 Bc7 16.Rfe1 Bb6 17.Ng3 Rad8 18.Rad1 Qf8 19.Nce2 a6 20.b4 h5 21.Bc3 h4 22.Ne4 Nd5 23.Nc5 Nxc5 24.dxc5 Bc7 25.Bb2 Bc8 26.Bh7+ Kh8 27.Bf5 Bxf5 28.Qxf5 Qe7 29.Nc3 Nxc3 30.Bxc3 Kg8 31.Qe4 Qe6 32.Qxh4 Qb3 33.Rc1 Qxa3 34.Qe4 a5 35.Qxc6 axb4 36.Bxb4 Qxb4 37.Qxc7 Rc8 38.Qa7 Re6 39.Red1 Qe4 40.Qd7 Rec6 41.Qb7 b4 42.Rd7 Qf5 43.Rd5 Rg6 44.Kf1 b3 45.Qxb3 Qg5 46.g3 Qf5 47.Kg2 Rf6 48.Rd2 Qf3+ 49.Kh2 Rd6 50.Qa2 Rxd2 51.Qxd2 Rc6 52.Kg1 Rh6 53.Qd1 Qc6 54.h4 Rf6 55.Qg4 g6 56.h5 Kg7 57.e4 Kh6 58.hxg6 fxg6 59.Kg2 Kg7 60.Qe2 Rf7 61.Rc4 g5 62.Qh5 Qf6 63.Rc2 Qd8 64.c6 Qd3 65.Qxg5+ Kf8 66.Qh6+ Kg8 67.Rd2 Qxe4+ 68.Kh2 Rf8 69.c7 Qf5 70.f3 1-0

Ivanchuk,V (2740) - Radjabov,T (2751) [B33]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 Bg7 11.Bd3 Ne7 12.Nxe7 Qxe7 13.c3 f5 14.Nc2 0-0 15.0-0 Rb8 16.exf5 e4 17.Be2 Bxf5 18.Nb4 Qg5 19.f4 exf3 20.Bxf3 Rbe8 21.Nc6 Be5 22.Nxe5 dxe5 23.Qc1 Qxc1 24.Raxc1 Be6 25.Rfe1 f6 26.Rcd1 Rd8 27.Bb7 a5 28.Bc6 b4 29.cxb4 axb4 30.a4 Rxd1 31.Rxd1 Rc8 32.Be4 f5 33.Bd5 Bxd5 34.Rxd5 Rc2 35.b3 Rc3 36.Rxe5 Rxb3 37.Rxf5 Ra3 38.a5 b3 39.Rb5 Kg7 40.h3 b2 41.Rxb2 Rxa5 1/2-1/2

Standings:
Ivanchuk - 5.5
Topalov - 4.5
Cheparinov - 3 (amazing that +0 is good enough for third place)

US Championship Begins Today

How sad what has happened to US professional chess?

First Prize: $8,000 + a Caribbean Gambit Chess Cruise

$8K? Are they kidding? No wonder so many top players have refused to participate!

Sofia Round 5

Ivanchuk goes 5/5 in exhibition (3540 performance rating!); Topalov leading actual tournament players at 3.5/5

Topalov,V (2767) - Bu Xiangzhi (2708) [D19]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 0-0 9.Qe2 Ne4 10.Ne5 Nd7 11.Nxd7 Qxd7 12.Na2 Be7 13.f3 Nf6 14.e4 Bg6 15.Be3 Qc7 16.Nc1 a5 17.Nd3 Nd7 18.Rac1 Rfe8 19.g3 Bd6 20.Nf4 e5 21.Nxg6 hxg6 22.f4 exd4 23.Bxd4 b6 24.f5 g5 25.Qh5 Nf6 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27.Qg6+ Kf8 28.Qxf6 Be5 29.Qxg5 Qe7 30.f6 Bd4+ 31.Rf2 1-0

Aronian,L (2763) - Ivanchuk,V (2740) [D12]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 8.a3 Nbd7 9.g3 Be7 10.b3 e5 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Qa5+ 13.Nc3 Qxc3+ 14.Bd2 Qb2 15.d5 cxd5 16.Bb5 a6 17.Bxd7+ Kxd7 18.0-0 e4 19.Bc3 Qxc3 20.Qxd5+ Ke8 21.Rac1 Qd3 22.Qxb7 Rd8 23.Rfd1 Qxd1+ 24.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 25.Kg2 a5 26.g4 Kf8 27.Qxe4 g5 28.Qf5 Bd8 29.Qc5+ Kg8 30.Qe5 g6 31.b4 axb4 32.axb4 Kh7 33.b5 Rf8 34.Qc5 Kg8 35.b6 Rb1 36.f4 Rb2+ 37.Kg3 gxf4+ 38.exf4 Bxb6 39.Qc3 Rb1 40.f5 Rg1+ 41.Kh3 Re8 42.Qf6 Bf2 43.Qg7+ Kxg7 44.f6+ Kf8 0-1

Standings:
Ivanchuk - 5
Topalov - 3.5
Radjabov, Cheparinov - 2

Sofia Round 4 - Ivanchuk Four for Four!

Ivanchuk,V (2740) - Cheparinov,I (2696) [E99]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Nd3 f5 11.Bd2 Nf6 12.f3 f4 13.c5 g5 14.Rc1 Ng6 15.cxd6 cxd6 16.Nb5 Rf7 17.Qc2 Ne8 18.Nf2 h5 19.a4 Bf8 20.h3 Rg7 21.Qb3 Nh4 22.Rc2 g4 23.fxg4 Nf6 24.Be1 hxg4 25.hxg4 Nh5 26.Nh1 f3 27.Bxf3 Nf4 28.Ng3 Bxg4 29.Bxg4 Rxg4 30.Nc7 Rc8 31.Ne6 Rxc2 32.Qxc2 Qb6+ 33.Kh1 Nhxg2 34.Nf5 Qa6 35.Rg1 Qd3 36.Qxd3 Nxd3 37.Bh4 Rxe4 38.Rxg2+ Kf7 39.Nxd6+ Bxd6 40.Ng5+ 1-0

Standings:
Ivanchuk - 4
Topalov - 2.5
Radjabov, Aronian, Cheparinov - 1.5
Bu - 1

Sofia Round 3 - Third Victory for Ivanchuk

Ivanchuk,V (2740) - Bu Xiangzhi (2708) [A11]
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 a6 5.Qc2 b5 6.b3 Bg4 7.Ne5 Bh5 8.cxb5 cxb5 9.Bxb5+ axb5 10.Nxb5 e6 11.Nc7+ Ke7 12.Nxa8 Nfd7 13.Ba3+ Kf6 14.Bb2 Nxe5 15.f4 Nbd7 16.Nc7 Bg6 17.Bxe5+ Nxe5 18.fxe5+ Kxe5 19.Qc3+ Kf5 20.0-0+ Kg5 21.a4 Kh6 22.Rf3 Bf5 23.Raf1 Bd6 24.Nb5 Bb8 25.Nd4 Be4 26.Rh3+ Kg6 27.d3 Bf5 28.Rhf3 Be5 29.Qe1 Bxd4 30.Rg3+ Kh6 31.exd4 g6 32.Rgf3 1-0

Cheparinov,I (2696) - Topalov,V (2767) [C11]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Ne2 Be7 9.c3 0-0 10.g3 cxd4 11.Nexd4 Nc5 12.Bg2 Bd7 13.0-0 Rc8 14.Kh1 Ne4 15.Nxc6 bxc6 16.c4 a5 17.Qc2 g6 18.Rad1 Nc5 19.Nd4 Qc7 20.g4 Rfd8 21.Qf2 Be8 22.f5 Qxe5 23.fxe6 Nxe6 24.Nxe6 Qxe6 25.Rde1 Qxg4 26.Bd4 Qh4 27.Rxe7 Qxe7 28.Re1 Qg5 29.Re5 Qc1+ 30.Re1 Qg5 31.Re5 f5 32.h4 Qg4 33.Kh2 dxc4 34.Bh3 Qd1 35.Re1 Rxd4 36.Rxd1 Rxd1 37.Bf1 Bf7 38.Be2 0-1

Standings:
Ivanchuk - 3
Topalov - 2
Cheparinov - 1.5

Sofia Round 2

Topalov,V (2767) - Ivanchuk,V (2740) [C11]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.a3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bc5 10.Be2 0-0 11.Qd2 Qc7 12.Bf3 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Nb6 14.Ne2 Bxd4 15.Qxd4 Bd7 16.b3 Bb5 17.Nc3 Rfc8 18.Nxb5 axb5 19.Be2 Nd7 20.Ra2 Nb8 21.0-0 Nc6 22.Qd2 Qb6+ 23.Kh1 Qa5 24.Qxa5 Rxa5 25.Raa1 Rca8 26.Rad1 Rxa3 27.Bxb5 Nb4 28.c4 R8a5 29.f5 exf5 30.g4 Rxb3 31.gxf5 Re3 32.Rb1 Nd3 {Things are looking better for White, who might be slightly better. Unfortunately his super-aggressive continuation does not really work.} 33.e6? d4 34.Be8 Nc5? {Better is 34...Kf8 – both players are in time trouble.} 35.Bxf7+ Kf8 36.f6 gxf6 37.Rxf6 Ke7 38.Rh6 d3 39.Rxh7 d2 {Black is now clearly better, but White can still fight and hope to hold the draw. Unfortunately on the last move before the time control Topalov falters.} 40.Rg1? {This allows a forced win.} 41...Re1 41.Bh5+ Kxe6 42.Rhg7 Ne4 43.R7g6+ Ke5 0-1

Standings:
Ivanchuk - 2
Cheparinov - 1.5
Topalov - 1

Sofia Round 1 - Three Decisive Games

Radjabov,T (2751) - Ivanchuk,V (2740) [E15]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb7 6.Bg2 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 a5 8.0-0 0-0 9.Qc2 d6 10.Nc3 Nbd7 11.Rfe1 Bxc3 12.Bxc3 Be4 13.Qb2 Re8 14.Bh3 Bb7 15.Nd2 e5 16.Rad1 h6 17.f3 exd4 18.Bxd4 Ne5 19.Nf1 Nh5 20.Bxe5 Rxe5 21.e4 Qf6 22.Ne3 Qxf3 23.Bg2 Qf6 24.Ng4 Qe7 25.Nxe5 dxe5 26.Qf2 Bc6 27.a4 Qc5 28.Qxc5 bxc5 29.Re3 Kf8 30.Red3 Ke7 31.Rd5 Bxd5 32.Rxd5 Nf6 33.Rxc5 Kd6 34.Rb5 Ra7 35.h4 Nd7 36.Rd5+ Ke7 37.Bh3 c6 38.Rxd7+ Rxd7 39.Bxd7 Kxd7 40.c5 h5 41.Kf2 g6 42.Ke2 f5 43.exf5 gxf5 44.Kd3 Ke6 45.Kc4 f4 46.gxf4 exf4 47.Kd4 Kf5 48.Kd3 f3 0-1

Aronian,L (2763) - Topalov,V (2767) [E00]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.Nf3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 Nc6 8.Bc3 0-0 9.0-0 d5 10.Nd2 Bd7 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Bxd5 exd5 13.Qb3 Bf6 14.N2f3 Bg4 15.Rfd1 Rb8 16.Qa4 Bxf3 17.exf3 Bxd4 18.Bxd4 Qd7 19.b4 b6 20.Rac1 Rbc8 21.Bb2 Rfd8 22.Rc2 Ne7 23.Rxc8 Nxc8 24.b5 Ne7 25.Qb3 Nf5 26.a4 h5 27.h3 Qe6 28.Kg2 Qe2 29.g4 Nh4+ 30.Kg3 Ng6 31.gxh5 Ne7 32.Kg2 Nf5 33.Bd4 Qe7 34.Qd3 Qg5+ 35.Kh2 Re8 36.Bb2 Re3 37.fxe3 Qg3+ 38.Kh1 Qxf3+ 39.Kg1 Nxe3 40.Rd2 Qg3+ 41.Kh1 Qxh3+ 42.Kg1 Qg3+ 43.Kh1 Qe1+ 44.Kh2 Qxd2+ 45.Qxd2 Nf1+ 46.Kg2 Nxd2 47.Be5 Ne4 48.Kf3 Nc5 49.Ke3 Nxa4 50.Kd4 Nc5 51.Kxd5 a6 52.bxa6 Nxa6 53.Kc6 Nc5 54.Bc7 Kh7 55.Bxb6 Ne4 56.Be3 Nf6 57.Kd6 Nxh5 58.Ke5 Kg6 59.Bd2 f5 60.Be1 Kg5 0-1

Cheparinov,I (2696) - Bu Xiangzhi (2708) [B90]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.f3 Be6 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 a5 11.Qe1 Qc7 12.Bb5 Nbd7 13.Qf2 Rfc8 14.Kb1 Bc4 15.g4 Bxb5 16.Nxb5 Qc6 17.a4 Ne8 18.Rd3 Qc4 19.Nc3 Nc7 20.Bb6 Nxb6 21.Qxb6 Qb4 22.Qxb4 axb4 23.Nd5 Nxd5 24.Rxd5 Rxa4 25.Rb5 Ra7 26.Rxb4 g6 27.Rd1 f5 28.gxf5 gxf5 29.Rd5 fxe4 30.fxe4 Kf7 31.c3 h5 32.Na5 Rc7 33.Nc4 Ke6 34.Ne3 Bd8 35.Nf5 Rd7 36.c4 b6 37.Rb3 Ra4 38.Rbd3 Be7 39.b3 Ra8 40.Rg3 Bf8 41.Kb2 h4 42.Rg6+ Kf7 43.Rg4 Rda7 44.Rxh4 Ra1 45.Rh7+ Ke6 46.Rh8 Re1 47.Ng3 Kf7 48.Rh7+ Ke6 49.Rb7 Rea1 50.Nf5 R8a2+ 51.Kc3 Rc1+ 52.Kb4 Rb2 53.Rb8 Rcb1 54.Rd3 Kf7 55.Rf3 1-0

2007 Chess Oscar

World Champion Anand was selected by 130 experts. In second place was Vladimir Kramnik, and third was Gata Kamsky. This is Anand's fifth Chess Oscar – more than any other non-Russian player.

Baku Round 13 (Final) - Gashimov, Wang, Carlsen Win at +3

Bacrot,E (2705) - Carlsen,M (2765) [E21]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 b6 5.Bg5 Bb7 6.Nd2 h6 7.Bh4 Nc6 8.a3 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Qe7 10.e3 g5 11.Bg3 d6 12.h4 0-0-0 13.Be2 Nd7 14.Nb3 f5 15.Qc2 Rhf8 16.f3 e5 17.hxg5 hxg5 18.0-0-0 Rde8 19.Bd3 Qf7 20.Rh6 Ba6 21.Nd2 exd4 22.exd4 Na5 23.Rdh1 Re7 24.Qa4 Re3 25.Rh7 Qe8 26.Qc2 Nf6 27.R7h6 Kb7 28.Bf2 Rxd3 29.Qxd3 Nd5 30.Re1 Qa4 31.Qc2 Qxa3+ 32.Qb2 Qxb2+ 33.Kxb2 Nxc4+ 34.Nxc4 Bxc4 35.Be3 g4 36.fxg4 fxg4 37.Rg6 a5 38.Rxg4 a4 39.Rg3 a3+ 40.Kxa3 Ra8+ 41.Kb2 Ra2+ 42.Kc1 Nxc3 43.Bd2 Ne2+ 44.Rxe2 Bxe2 45.Rg7 Ra4 46.Bc3 b5 47.g4 Bf3 48.g5 b4 49.Bb2 Ra5 50.Kc2 Bd5 51.Re7 Bc4 52.Bc1 Rf5 53.Bd2 Rf2 54.g6 Rg2 55.g7 Kc6 56.Re8 Bf7 57.Rb8 b3+ 58.Kc3 Rxg7 59.Kb2 Bc4 60.Kc3 Kd5 61.Rb7 Rg3+ 62.Kb2 Kxd4 0-1

Svidler,P (2746) - Inarkiev,E (2684) [E63]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Nc3 a6 8.Re1 Rb8 9.Rb1 Re8 10.d5 Na5 11.Qd3 c5 12.e4 Nd7 13.b3 e5 14.a3 Qc7 15.Be3 b5 16.cxb5 Nxb3 17.a4 Nd4 18.Nd2 axb5 19.Nxb5 Nxb5 20.axb5 Nb6 21.Bf1 Bd7 22.Ra1 Rb7 23.Reb1 Reb8 24.Ra6 Qd8 25.Qa3 Nc8 26.Ra8 Bf8 27.Rxb8 Rxb8 28.Qa6 Nb6 29.Nc4 Nxc4 30.Bxc4 Ra8 31.Qb7 f6 32.b6 Rb8 33.Qa7 Ra8 34.Qb7 Rb8 35.Qa7 Ra8 36.Bxc5 dxc5 37.d6+ Kh8 38.Qc7 Rb8 39.b7 Be7 40.Qxc5 Bf8 41.Qc7 Bb5 42.Qxd8 Rxd8 43.Rxb5 Bxd6 44.Rd5 1-0

Navara,D (2672) - Cheparinov,I (2696) [D12]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Be4 7.f3 Bg6 8.Qb3 Qc7 9.Bd2 Be7 10.Be2 Bh5 11.0-0-0 dxc4 12.Qxc4 a6 13.g4 b5 14.Qd3 Bg6 15.Nxg6 hxg6 16.f4 c5 17.dxc5 Qxc5 18.Kb1 Nc6 19.Ne4 Qb6 20.Nxf6+ gxf6 21.h4 Rd8 22.Qc3 Bb4 23.Qxf6 Bxd2 24.h5 Qxe3 25.hxg6 Qe4+ 26.Ka1 Rf8 27.gxf7+ Kd7 28.Rxd2+ Kc7 29.Rxd8 Qxh1+ 30.Rd1 Qe4 31.Bd3 Qf3 32.Rc1 Qxd3 33.Qe7+ 1-0

Final Standings:


Overall Grand Prix Standings after this first tournament:
Gashimov, Wang, Carlsen = 153.33
Memadyarov, Grischuk = 105
Adams, Svidler = 85
Radjabov, Kamsky, Karjakin = 60
Cheparinov, Navara = 35
Bacrot, Inarkiev = 15

Baku Round 12 - Five Decisive Games

Carlsen,M (2765) - Adams,Mi (2729) [E37]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 Ne4 7.Qc2 c5 8.dxc5 Nc6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.e3 Qa5+ 11.b4 Nxb4 12.axb4 Qxa1 13.Bb5+ Kf8 14.Ne2 a6 15.Bd3 Bd7 16.f3 Ba4 17.Qb2 Qxb2 18.Bxb2 Ng5 19.Nd4 Bd7 20.Kf2 f6 21.Ra1 Ke7 22.Bc2 Rhd8 23.h4 Nf7 24.Bxh7 Rh8 25.Bc2 Rxh4 26.Bb3 Rh5 27.Ne2 Bc6 28.Nf4 Rg5 29.b5 Bxb5 30.Nxd5+ Kf8 31.Nc7 Rd8 32.Ne6+ Ke8 33.Bd4 Bd7 34.Nxd8 Nxd8 35.Rh1 Ke7 36.e4 Ne6 37.Be3 Re5 38.Rh7 Kf8 39.Bc2 Bc6 40.f4 Bxe4 41.Rh8+ Ke7 42.Rb8 Nd8 43.fxe5 Bxc2 44.exf6+ gxf6 45.Bd4 f5 46.Be3 Kd7 47.Bg5 Ne6 48.Rxb7+ Kc8 49.Rb2 Be4 50.Be7 Nf4 51.Ra2 Kd7 52.Bd6 Nxg2 53.Rxa6 f4 54.Ra4 Bc6 55.Ra7+ Ke6 56.Ra6 Kd5 1-0

Radjabov,T (2751) - Navara,D (2672) [B46]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 d6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Be3 Be7 9.f4 0-0 10.a4 Bd7 11.Nb3 Na5 12.Nd2 Be8 13.Bd3 d5 14.e5 d4 15.exf6 Bxf6 16.Nde4 Be7 17.f5 exf5 18.Rxf5 dxe3 19.Nd5 Nc6 20.Nef6+ Bxf6 21.Nxf6+ Kh8 22.Qh5 h6 23.Raf1 Nb4 24.Rg5 e2 25.Bxe2 Qd2 26.Rg3 Nxc2 27.Bd3 Ne3 28.Qg5 Qxg2+ 29.Rxg2 hxg5 30.Rxg5 g6 31.Rf3 Kg7 32.h4 Rd8 33.Nh5+ Kh6 34.Nf4 Nf5 35.Bxf5 gxf5 36.Rxf5 Rg8+ 37.Kf2 Rg4 38.Rh5+ Kg7 39.Rg5+ Rxg5 40.hxg5 Rd2+ 41.Kg3 Rxb2 42.a5 Rb5 43.Kh4 Rxa5 44.Nh5+ Kg8 45.Nf6+ Kf8 46.Kh5 Ra1 47.Rh3 Bc6 0-1

Gashimov,V (2679) - Grischuk,A (2716) [C72]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.0-0 Bg4 6.h3 h5 7.d4 b5 8.Bb3 Nxd4 9.hxg4 Nxb3 10.axb3 hxg4 11.Ng5 Qd7 12.Qd3 Rb8 13.Rxa6 f6 14.Nc3 fxg5 15.Bxg5 Be7 16.f4 gxf3 17.Qxf3 Nf6 18.Nd5 Nxd5 19.Qf7+ Kd8 20.Qxg7 Kc8 21.Qxh8+ Kb7 22.Qh7 Qg4 23.exd5 Qd4+ 24.Kh1 Bxg5 25.Rfa1 Be3 26.Ra7+ Qxa7 27.Rxa7+ Bxa7 28.g4 Rf8 29.g5 Rf2 30.Qe4 Rf1+ 31.Kh2 Rf4 32.Qxf4 exf4 33.c3 1-0

Mamedyarov,S (2752) - Bacrot,E (2705) [D15]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 a6 5.c5 Nbd7 6.Bf4 Nh5 7.Qd2 b6 8.e4 bxc5 9.exd5 cxd4 10.Qxd4 c5 11.Qd2 Nxf4 12.Qxf4 g6 13.Ne5 Nxe5 14.Qxe5 Rg8 15.Bc4 Bg7 16.Qe2 Bd4 17.0-0 Kf8 18.Rfe1 Rb8 19.Rad1 Rb6 20.Rd3 Bf5 21.Rd2 Qd6 22.Qf3 Kg7 23.Rde2 Qf6 24.Nd1 Re8 25.b3 Bd7 26.Qg3 Rd6 27.Re4 h6 28.h4 Kf8 29.Rf4 Qg7 30.Rfe4 Qf6 31.Ne3 h5 32.Nc2 Bf5 33.Rf4 Bc3 34.Re2 Qg7 35.Ne3 Bd7 36.Re4 f5 37.Rxe7 Qxe7 38.Ng4 f4 39.Qxc3 Qg7 40.Ne5 Bg4 41.Re1 Kg8 42.a4 Qf6 43.a5 Kg7 44.g3 fxg3 45.Qxg3 Bc8 46.Kh2 Rf8 47.Nd3 Bg4 48.Kg1 Rc8 49.Re5 Bf3 50.Kh2 Rcd8 51.Rg5 Rf8 52.Nxc5 Qa1 53.Qe5+ Qxe5+ 54.Rxe5 Rf5 55.Rxf5 gxf5 56.b4 Rg6 57.Ne6+ Kf6 58.Ng5 Bd1 59.Bxa6 Ke5 60.Bb7 Be2 61.Nf7+ Kf6 62.Ng5 Ke5 63.Bc6 Bc4 64.f4+ Kxf4 65.b5 Ke5 66.b6 Bxd5 67.Bxd5 Kxd5 68.b7 Rg8 69.a6 Kc6 70.Ne6 Kb6 71.Nc5 Rd8 72.Nd7+ Kc7 73.b8Q+ 1-0

Kamsky,G (2726) - Svidler,P (2746) [B96]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qc7 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.Qh5 Qc5 10.Qxc5 dxc5 11.Nb3 Bd6 12.g3 Ke7 13.Bg2 Ra7 14.0-0-0 Rd8 15.a4 b6 16.Nd2 Rad7 17.Nc4 Bc7 18.Rxd7+ Bxd7 19.Re1 Be8 20.Na3 Kf8 21.Bf1 Bc6 22.b3 Bb7 23.Rd1 Rd4 24.Bd3 Nc6 25.Ne2 Rd8 26.c3 Ke7 27.Bc2 Rb8 28.Bd3 Na7 29.c4 Nc6 30.Nc2 h5 31.h4 Rg8 32.Kd2 Nd4 33.Ncxd4 cxd4 34.b4 e5 35.c5 bxc5 36.Rc1 f5 37.exf5 e4 38.Bc4 d3 39.Nc3 Rxg3 40.Nxe4 Bxf4+ 0-1

Standings:
Gashimov, Wang - 7.5
Carlsen, Memadyarov, Grischuk - 7

Baku Round 11

Wang Yue (2689) - Svidler,P (2746) [D80]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Ne4 5.Bh4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 dxc4 7.Qa4+ Qd7 8.Qxc4 b6 9.Bg3 Nc6 10.Nf3 Bg7 11.e3 0-0 12.Be2 Bb7 13.0-0 Na5 14.Qb4 Rac8 15.Ne5 Qd6 16.Rfd1 Rfd8 17.Qa4 c5 18.e4 Bxe5 19.Bxe5 Qc6 20.Qxc6 Nxc6 21.Bg4 Ra8 22.Bc7 cxd4 23.Bxd8 Rxd8 24.Be2 e5 25.Rac1 Kf8 26.f3 a6 27.Kf2 Ke7 28.Bc4 Rd7 29.Bd5 dxc3 30.Bxc6 Rxd1 31.Rxd1 Bxc6 32.Rc1 Bd7 33.Rxc3 Kd6 34.Rd3+ Kc6 35.g4 Be6 36.a3 g5 37.Ke3 Kc7 38.Rd1 b5 39.h4 h6 40.Rh1 Kd6 41.hxg5 hxg5 42.Rh5 f6 43.Rh6 Ke7 44.Rh7+ Bf7 45.Rh8 a5 46.Ra8 a4 47.Ra7+ Ke8 48.Rc7 1-0

Bacrot,E (2705) - Inarkiev,E (2684) [C69]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Nxe5 Qd4 7.Nf3 Qxe4 8.d3 Qg4 9.Nc3 Be6 10.Re1 h6 11.h3 Qh5 12.Re5 g5 13.Ne2 Qg6 14.Ned4 Bd7 15.Qe2 f6 16.Ne6 Kf7 17.d4 Bd6 18.Nc5 fxe5 19.Nxd7 Qf5 20.Ndxe5+ Kg7 21.Nc4 Rf8 22.Nxd6 cxd6 23.Qe7+ 0-1

Standings:
Wang, Grischuk - 7
Gashimov - 6.5
Carlsen, Memadyarov, Adams - 6

Baku Round 10

Radjabov,T (2751) - Cheparinov,I (2696) [B10]
1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 g6 4.Ngf3 Bg7 5.g3 e5 6.Bg2 Ne7 7.0-0 0-0 8.b4 a5 9.bxa5 Qxa5 10.Bb2 d4 11.Nb3 Qc7 12.c3 dxc3 13.Bxc3 c5 14.Nfd2 b5 15.Qc2 Na6 16.Rfc1 Be6 17.Nf1 Nc6 18.Ne3 c4 19.dxc4 bxc4 20.Nd5 cxb3 21.Nxc7 bxc2 22.Nxa8 Nd4 23.Nb6 Rb8 24.Ba5 Bh6 25.Bf1 Bxc1 26.Rxc1 Nc6 27.Rxc2 Nxa5 28.Nd5 Nb4 29.Rc5 Nbc6 30.a4 Kg7 31.Kg2 Rb7 32.h4 Ra7 33.Nc3 Bd7 34.Bb5 Nb3 35.Rd5 Nbd4 36.f4 exf4 37.gxf4 Nxb5 38.axb5 Ne7 39.Rc5 Rb7 40.h5 Nc8 41.hxg6 hxg6 42.Kg3 Na7 43.f5 Nxb5 0-1

Standings:
Grischuk - 6.5
Wang, Gashimov - 6
Memadyarov, Carlsen, Adams - 5.5

Baku Round 9

Navara,D (2672) - Mamedyarov,S (2752) [B46]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.0-0 Nf6 9.Re1 Be7 10.e5 Nd7 11.Na4 Qc7 12.Bf4 g5 13.Bg3 h5 14.h3 c5 15.c4 d4 16.b3 Bb7 17.Nb2 0-0-0 18.Be4 Rdg8 19.Nd3 Rg7 20.a3 Rhg8 21.Bxb7+ Qxb7 22.f3 g4 23.hxg4 hxg4 24.f4 Rh7 25.Nf2 Rgh8 26.Rb1 a5 27.Qxg4 Kc7 28.f5 Qa8 29.Ne4 Rg8 30.Qf3 Bh4 31.fxe6 fxe6 32.Bxh4 Rxh4 33.Nd2 Qd8 34.b4 Rf8 35.Qg3 Rg8 36.Qf3 Rhg4 37.Re2 Rg3 38.Qh5 d3 39.Ne4 dxe2 40.Nxg3 Rxg3 41.Qxe2 Qg5 0-1

Grischuk,A (2716) - Inarkiev,E (2684) [E62]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.0-0 Rb8 8.h3 e5 9.Be3 a6 10.Rc1 Bf5 11.g4 Bd7 12.Qd2 h5 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.g5 Nh7 15.Rfd1 Bf5 16.Qxd8 Rfxd8 17.h4 Be6 18.Rxd8+ Rxd8 19.Nd5 Rd7 20.Nd2 Nd4 21.Bxd4 exd4 22.Nf4 c6 23.Nxe6 fxe6 24.Be4 Nf8 25.Nb3 Rf7 26.Kg2 d3 27.Bxd3 Bxb2 28.Rb1 Bc3 29.Nc5 Bd4 30.Ne4 Rc7 31.e3 Ba7 32.c5 Nd7 33.Rc1 Kh7 34.f4 Rc8 35.Rc3 Rf8 36.Rb3 Rb8 37.Rc3 Rf8 38.Bc2 e5 39.Rb3 Nxc5 40.Nxc5 Bxc5 41.Rxb7+ Kh8 42.f5 Rd8 43.Bb3 Rd6 44.f6 e4 45.Rg7 Rd2+ 46.Kf1 1-0

Adams,Mi (2729) - Svidler,P (2746) [B92]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Be3 Be6 10.Qd2 Nbd7 11.a4 Qc7 12.Rfd1 Rac8 13.a5 Rfe8 14.h3 h6 15.Qe1 Qb8 16.Bf3 Rc4 17.Nd2 Rc6 18.Nf1 Rec8 19.Bd2 b6 20.Ne3 bxa5 21.Ncd5 Bxd5 22.exd5 Rc5 23.Bxa5 e4 24.Be2 Qxb2 25.Bxa6 Rb8 26.c3 Rxa5 27.Rxa5 Qb6 28.Rda1 Nc5 29.Bf1 Qd8 30.Rb5 Rc8 31.Ra7 Nfd7 32.Nf5 Bf8 33.Qe3 Qf6 34.Ng3 Qe5 35.Nxe4 Nxe4 36.Rxd7 Rxc3 37.Qe2 Qd4 38.Rd8 Rc1 39.Kh2 1-0

Radjabov,T (2751) - Kamsky,G (2726) [B41]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Qc7 7.a3 b6 8.Be3 Bb7 9.f3 d6 10.Rc1 Nbd7 11.Be2 Be7 12.0-0 0-0 13.b4 Rac8 14.Nb3 Qb8 15.Kh1 Rfe8 16.Na4 Bd8 17.Bg1 h5 18.Bf2 Bc7 19.Nd4 Ne5 20.c5 dxc5 21.bxc5 b5 22.c6 Nxc6 23.Nxc6 Bxc6 24.Rxc6 bxa4 25.Bg1 Be5 26.Qxa4 Rxc6 27.Qxc6 Rc8 28.Qxa6 Rc2 29.Bd3 Rd2 30.Rc1 Qb2 31.Qc8+ Kh7 32.Rc2 Rxc2 33.Qxc2 Qxa3 34.f4 Bxf4 35.e5+ g6 36.exf6 Qd6 37.Qc5 Qxc5 38.Bxc5 Be5 39.Be7 h4 40.Bc4 g5 41.Bxe6 Kg6 42.Bc8 Bxf6 43.Bxf6 Kxf6 44.g4 hxg3 1-0

Standings:
Grischuk - 6
Wang, Gashimov - 5.5
Radjabov, Carlsen, Mamedyarov, Adams - 5

Baku Round 8

Inarkiev,E (2684) - Navara,D (2672) [C88]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 Re8 10.Nc3 h6 11.Bd2 Bc5 12.a4 Nd4 13.axb5 Nxb3 14.cxb3 axb5 15.Rxa8 Bxa8 16.Nxb5 d5 17.Qc2 Bb6 18.Nc3 dxe4 19.dxe4 Bb7 20.Be3 Bd4 21.Nd2 c5 22.Na4 Nd7 23.Nc4 Qe7 24.Ra1 Nf6 25.f3 Ba6 26.Bf2 Rd8 27.Ne3 Bc8 28.Rc1 Nh5 29.Nd5 Qg5 30.Nxc5 Bxh3 31.Bxd4 exd4 32.Rd1 Be6 33.Rxd4 Bxd5 34.Qd2 Qxd2 35.Rxd2 Nf6 36.b4 Rb8 37.exd5 Kf8 38.d6 Ke8 39.Re2+ Kd8 40.Re7 Rxb4 41.Nb7+ Kc8 42.Rc7+ Kb8 43.Na5 1-0

Mamedyarov,S (2752) - Karjakin,Sergey (2732) [E15]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qa4 Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nc3 Be7 10.Rd1 d6 11.Bf4 a6 12.Qa3 Ne8 13.b4 Nd7 14.Qb3 Qb8 15.Rd2 h6 16.Rad1 Qa7 17.Qa4 Ndf6 18.Nd4 Rc8 19.Nc6 Bxc6 20.Bxc6 Ng4 21.Nb5 Qb8 22.Nxd6 Bxd6 23.Bxd6 Nxd6 24.Rxd6 Ne5 25.b5 axb5 26.cxb5 Rfd8 27.Rxd8+ Rxd8 28.h3 g5 29.Rd4 Qc7 30.e3 Rc8 31.Kg2 Nxc6 32.Rc4 Qa7 33.Qc2 Ne7 34.Rxc8+ Nxc8 35.Qxc8+ Kg7 36.Qc4 Qa8+ 37.Kg1 Qa5 38.a4 h5 39.Qd4+ Kg6 40.Qe4+ Kg7 41.h4 gxh4 42.Qxh4 f6 43.Qc4 e5 44.Kf1 Qd2 45.Kg2 Qd8 46.Qc6 Kg6 47.e4 Qd1 48.Qxb6 h4 49.Qe6 hxg3 50.Qg8+ Kh6 51.Qxg3 Qxa4 52.Qd3 Qb4 53.Qd5 Qb2 54.Qc6 Kg5 55.b6 Qe2 56.Qc1+ Kg6 57.Qb1 Qg4+ 58.Kf1 Qf3 59.Qc2 Qa3 60.Kg2 Qb4 61.Qc6 Kg5 62.b7 Qb1 63.Qd5 Kf4 64.Qd2+ Kxe4 65.f3+ Kf5 66.Qd7+ 1-0

Standings:
Gashimov, Wang, Grischuk - 5
Carlsen, Kamsky - 4.5

Baku Round 7

Cheparinov,I (2696) - Mamedyarov,S (2752) [D43]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 0-0 7.Qc2 Nbd7 8.a3 h6 9.Bh4 a6 10.Rd1 b6 11.Bd3 Bb7 12.0-0 Rc8 13.Bg3 dxc4 14.Bxc4 b5 15.Ba2 c5 16.d5 exd5 17.Nxd5 Nxd5 18.Bxd5 Bxd5 19.Rxd5 Qe8 20.Bd6 c4 21.Rfd1 Bxd6 22.Rxd6 Nc5 23.Nd4 g6 24.h4 h5 25.Nf3 Qe7 26.Ng5 Rcd8 27.Nxf7 Rxd6 28.Nxd6 Kh7 29.Rd4 Nd3 30.Ne4 Kh6 31.Qd2 Qxh4 32.f4 Rd8 33.Rxd8 Qxd8 34.Qc3 Qe7 35.Qh8+ Qh7 36.Qd8 Qa7 37.Kh2 h4 38.Qxh4+ Kg7 39.Qf6+ Kh6 40.Nd6 Kh7 1-0

Gashimov,V (2679) - Kamsky,G (2726) [C88]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Qd7 11.Nbd2 Rfe8 12.Nf1 Nd8 13.Ng3 Ne6 14.Ba2 c5 15.Bd2 Bf8 16.b4 h6 17.c4 Nf4 18.Re3 bxc4 19.dxc4 Ne6 20.Bb1 g6 21.Re1 Qc7 22.Bd3 Bg7 23.Rb1 Nd7 24.Ne2 Nd4 25.Nc3 Rec8 26.Rc1 Qd8 27.Nd5 Bc6 28.Bf1 Nf8 29.Nxd4 exd4 30.f4 Nd7 31.Qf3 Rcb8 32.Qg3 cxb4 33.axb4 a5 34.b5 Bxd5 35.cxd5 Nc5 36.e5 a4 37.Bb4 a3 38.Bxa3 d3 39.Bxc5 d2 40.Bxd6 Rb7 41.Red1 dxc1Q 42.Rxc1 Rba7 43.Qb3 Ra1 44.Bc7 Qh4 45.Rxa1 Rxa1 46.Qf3 Qe1 47.b6 Qb4 48.d6 Qd4+ 49.Kh2 Rb1 50.b7 Rxb7 51.Qxb7 Qxf4+ 52.g3 1-0

Radjabov,T (2751) - Carlsen,M (2765) [B77]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.Bb3 Rc8 11.h4 h5 12.0-0-0 Ne5 13.Bg5 Rc5 14.Kb1 Re8 15.g4 hxg4 16.h5 Nxh5 17.Rxh5 gxh5 18.Qh2 Ng6 19.Qxh5 Qa5 20.f4 Rxg5 21.fxg5 e6 22.Nf5 exf5 23.Qxg6 Be6 24.Qh5 fxe4 25.Rf1 Qe5 26.Rxf7 Bxb3 27.axb3 g3 28.Ka2 Rf8 29.Rxf8+ Kxf8 30.Qg4 e3 31.g6 e2 32.Qf3+ Ke8 33.Qf7+ Kd8 34.Qg8+ Kd7 35.Qf7+ Qe7 36.Qf5+ Kd8 37.Qa5+ b6 38.Qd5 e1Q 39.Qa8+ Kd7 40.Qb7+ Ke8 0-1

Karjakin,Sergey (2732) - Inarkiev,E (2684) [C99]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Nc6 14.Nb3 a5 15.Be3 a4 16.Nbd2 Bd7 17.Rc1 Qb7 18.Nf1 Rfe8 19.Ng3 Bd8 20.Qe2 h6 21.Bd3 Rb8 22.dxe5 Nxe5 23.Nxe5 dxe5 24.b4 axb3 25.axb3 Bb6 26.b4 Rec8 27.Kh2 Be6 28.Rxc8+ Qxc8 29.Rc1 Qd8 30.Bxb6 Rxb6 31.Qe3 Qb8 32.Qc5 Bd7 33.Ra1 Rc6 34.Qe3 Rd6 35.Ne2 Bc6 36.f3 Nd7 37.Ra5 Rd4 38.Qd2 Rd6 39.Ng3 Nf8 40.Qc3 Qb6 41.Nf5 Rd7 42.Bxb5 Rd1 43.Ne3 1-0

Standings:
Gashimov, Yang, Grischuk - 4.5
Carlsen, Kamsky - 4

Baku Round 6

Inarkiev,E (2684) - Cheparinov,I (2696) [D43]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Ne5 Bg7 12.Nxd7 Nxd7 13.Bd6 a6 14.Re1 Bf8 15.Bg3 Bg7 16.Bd6 Bf8 17.Bg3 Bg7 18.e5 0-0 19.Bf3 Qe7 20.Ne4 Nb6 21.Qe2 Rad8 22.Rad1 Nd5 23.a3 Kh8 24.Qc2 a5 25.h4 Nf4 26.hxg5 hxg5 27.Bxf4 gxf4 28.g4 f5 29.exf6 Bxf6 30.Kg2 Kg7 31.Nc5 Bc8 32.Qe4 Qd6 33.Rh1 Rh8 34.g5 Bxg5 35.Rhg1 Kf7 36.Kf1 Rdg8 37.Ke2 Rg7 38.Rg4 e5 39.Nb7 Qg6 40.Qxg6+ Kxg6 41.Rxg5+ Kxg5 42.Rg1+ Kf6 43.dxe5+ Kf7 44.Nd6+ Kf8 45.Rd1 Ke7 46.Bxc6 Be6 47.Bxb5 Rg5 48.Nxc4 Bg4+ 49.f3 Rh2+ 50.Kd3 Bxf3 51.Re1 Rg3 52.Kd4 Be2 53.e6 Rd3+ 54.Ke4 f3 55.Ne5 Rh4+ 56.Kf5 Rh5+ 57.Kg4 Rxe5 58.Bxd3 Bxd3 59.Rxe5 f2 0-1

Kamsky,G (2726) - Adams,Mi (2729) [C92]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d6 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.d5 Nb8 13.Nf1 Nbd7 14.N3h2 Nc5 15.Bc2 c6 16.b4 Ncd7 17.dxc6 Bxc6 18.Bg5 h6 19.Bxf6 Nxf6 20.Ng4 Nxg4 21.Qxg4 Rc8 22.Bb3 Bd7 23.Qf3 Be6 24.Red1 Qg5 25.Rd3 Qf4 26.Qe2 Bxb3 27.axb3 d5 28.exd5 e4 29.Re3 Qe5 30.Rxa6 f5 31.Ng3 Qxd5 32.Qh5 Re5 33.Qg6 Qf7 34.Qxf7+ Kxf7 35.Ra7+ Be7 36.Ne2 Ke8 37.Rb7 Rd5 38.Nd4 Bg5 39.Rxb5 Rxb5 40.Nxb5 Rb8 41.Nc7+ Kd7 42.Na6 Ra8 43.Nc5+ Kc6 44.Re2 Ra1+ 45.Kh2 Kb5 46.Rc2 Bf6 47.g3 Rd1 48.Kg2 Be5 49.h4 g6 50.Ne6 Rd6 51.Nf4 Bxf4 52.gxf4 Rd3 53.c4+ Kxb4 54.c5 Kxb3 55.Rc1 Kb2 56.Rc4 Rd7 57.c6 Rc7 58.h5 Kb3 59.Rc1 gxh5 60.Kh3 1-0

Svidler,P (2746) - Karjakin,Sergey (2732) [D47]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.a3 Bb7 11.Qc2 a6 12.b4 a5 13.Rb1 axb4 14.axb4 Qe7 15.e4 e5 16.Ne2 Bxb4 17.Ng3 g6 18.dxe5 Ng4 19.Bg5 Qc5 20.e6 Nde5 21.Nxe5 Nxe5 22.Bf6 Qxc2 23.Bxc2 Bd6 24.Bb3 fxe6 25.Bxe6+ Nf7 26.f4 Bc8 27.Bb3 Re8 28.f5 Bxg3 29.hxg3 Rxe4 30.Ra1 Rxa1 31.Rxa1 Kf8 32.Ra7 Ne5 33.Rxh7 Nc4 34.fxg6 Be6 35.Bc2 Re2 36.Bd3 Re3 37.Bf5 Bd5 38.Kf2 Re8 39.Bd7 Nd6 40.Bg7+ 1-0

Standings
Kamsky, Wang, Grischuk - 4
Radjabov, Gashimov - 3.5

Baku Round 5

Karjakin,Sergey (2732) - Wang Yue (2689) [C67]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 Ke8 10.h3 Be7 11.g4 Nh4 12.Nxh4 Bxh4 13.Bf4 Be6 14.Kg2 Be7 15.Rfd1 Rd8 16.f3 h5 17.b3 a5 18.Ne2 a4 19.Nd4 Ra8 20.Nxe6 fxe6 21.Bg3 g6 22.Be1 c5 23.c4 b6 24.Bc3 Kf7 25.Rd2 axb3 26.axb3 Rxa1 27.Bxa1 Ra8 28.Bb2 Bg5! 29.f4 Bxf4 30.Rf2 g5 31.Bc1 hxg4 32.hxg4 Kg6 33.Bxf4 gxf4 34.Rxf4 Kg5 35.Rf6 Kxg4 36.Rxe6? (36.Kf2! Ra3 37.Ke3! Rxb3+ 38.Ke4 Rc3 39.Rg6+! Kh5 40.Rxe6 Rxc4+ 41.Kf5=) Kf5 37.Re7 Ra3 38.e6 Rxb3 39.Kf2 Rb4 40.Rxc7 Kxe6 41.Rh7 Rxc4 42.Rh6+ Kd5 43.Rxb6 Re4 44.Rb1 c4 45.Re1 c3 46.Rxe4 Kxe4 47.Ke1 0-1

Standings
Wang, Grischuk - 3.5
Radjabov, Gashimov, Kamsky, Adams - 3

Baku Round 4

Adams,Mi (2729) - Navara,D (2672) [C05]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.c3 c5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Ngf3 g6 8.h4 Qb6 9.dxc5 Qc7! (an excellent novelty) 10.Nb3 Ndxe5 11.Nxe5 Nxe5 12.0-0 Nxd3 13.Qxd3 Bg7 14.h5 0-0 15.Bg5 b6 16.h6 Bh8 17.cxb6 axb6 18.Rfe1 Bb7 19.Nd4 e5 20.Nb5 Qc6 21.a4 f6 22.Bd2 f5 23.f4 d4 24.Qf1 dxc3 25.Bxc3 exf4 26.Bxh8 Kxh8 27.Rac1 Qf6 28.Qxf4 Qxb2 29.Qe5+ Qxe5 30.Rxe5 Rxa4 31.Nd6 Rd4 32.Rc7 Bd5 33.Rd7 Kg8?? 34.Re8 Rxe8 35.Nxe8 Rd1+ 36.Kh2 Bb3 37.Nf6+ Kf8 38.Nxh7+ Ke8 39.Nf6+ Kf8 40.h7 1-0

Mamedyarov,S (2752) - Carlsen,M (2765) [E17]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 Na6 8.Ne5 Bxg2 9.Kxg2 c6 10.e4 Qc7 11.Nc3 Qb7 12.Nd3 d5 13.e5 Nd7 14.cxd5 cxd5 15.h4 Nb4 16.Bg5 Nxd3 17.Qxd3 Bb4 18.Rec1 a6 19.Ne2 Rfc8 20.h5 h6 21.a3 Bf8 22.Bd2 Rxc1 23.Rxc1 Rc8 24.Rf1 b5 25.f4 Qc6 26.Rc1 Qb7 27.Rf1 Qc6 28.Qf3 Qb6 29.f5 exf5 30.Bc3 a5? 31.Bxa5! Qxa5 32.Qxf5 Qd2 33.Qxf7+ Kh8 34.Rf2 Rd8? 35.dxe5 Bc5. 35.Qxd5 Qa5 36.Nf4 Qa8 37.Ng6+ 1-0

Wang Yue (2689) - Cheparinov,I (2696) [A65]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.Bd3 Bg7 8.h3 0-0 9.Nf3 a6 10.a4 Nbd7 11.0-0 Re8 12.Re1 Nh5 13.Bg5 Bf6 14.Bh6 Bg7 15.Bg5 Bf6 16.Be3 Ne5 17.Be2 Nxf3+ 18.Bxf3 Ng7 19.Qd2 Bd7 20.Be2 Rc8 21.Bf4 Bd4 22.Bxd6 Bxh3 23.Bh2 Bd7 24.Bf3 f6 25.d6 Ne6 26.e5 Ng5 27.Bxb7 Rb8 28.Bd5+ Kg7 29.Bf4 Bxe5 30.Rxe5 Rxe5 31.Bxe5 fxe5 32.Re1 Bf5 33.f4 Nf7 34.Bxf7 Kxf7 35.Qd5+ Kg7 36.Rxe5 Qf6 37.Re7+ Kh6 38.Qe5 Qxe5 39.fxe5 Rxb2 40.d7 Rd2 41.e6 Bxe6 42.Rxe6 Rxd7 43.Rc6 Kg5 44.Rxc5+ Kf4 45.Nd5+ Kg3 46.Rc3+ Kh4 47.Nf6 Rd4 48.Rh3+ Kg5 49.Nxh7+ Kg4 50.Ra3 Rf4 51.Kh2 a5 52.Rg3+ Kh5 53.Ng5 Rxa4 54.Nf7 Rg4 55.Ra3 a4 56.Ne5 Rh4+ 57.Kg1 Re4 58.Nd7 1-0

Standings:
Grischuk - 3
Karjakin, Radjabov, Kamsky, Gashimov, Wang, Adams - 2.5

Baku Round 3

Carlsen,M (2765) - Inarkiev,E (2684) [A48]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nbd2 0-0 5.c3 h6 6.Bh4 d6 7.e4 c5 8.dxc5 dxc5 9.Bc4 Nc6 10.0-0 Nh5 11.Qe2 Qc7 12.Rfe1 Na5 13.Bb5 a6 14.Ba4 b5 15.Bc2 e5 16.Nf1 Nf4 17.Qd1 Nc4 18.Qb1 Bg4 19.Bd1 g5 20.Bg3 Rad8 21.h3 Bh5 22.Bxf4 exf4 23.Be2 Bxf3 24.Bxf3 Nd2 25.Nxd2 Rxd2 26.e5 Bxe5 27.Qf5 f6 28.Rad1 Rfd8 29.Qe6+ Kg7 30.Qxa6 b4 31.Rxd2 Rxd2 32.Rd1 bxc3 33.bxc3 Rxd1+ 34.Bxd1 c4 35.Be2 Bxc3 36.Bxc4 Be5 37.Qe6 Qd8 38.Qf7+ Kh8 39.f3 Bd6 40.a4 Bb4 41.Kh2 Qf8 42.Qg6 Be1 43.Bd3 f5 44.a5 Bg3+ 45.Kh1 Qg7? 46.Qe8+ Qg8 47.Qe5+ Qg7 48.Qb8+ Qg8 49.Qb6 Qd5 50.Qxh6+ Kg8 51.Qxg5+ Kf7 52.Qxf5+ Qxf5 53.Bxf5 Bf2 54.g4 fxg3 55.f4 Kf6 56.Be4 Be3 57.a6 1-0

Karjakin,Sergey (2732) - Adams,Mi (2729) [C78]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 d6 8.a4 Rb8 9.d4 Bb6 10.axb5 axb5 11.Na3 0-0 12.Nxb5 Bg4 13.Bc2 exd4 14.Nbxd4 Nxd4 15.cxd4 Bxf3 16.gxf3 Nh5 17.Kh1 Qf6 18.Be3 Ra8 19.Rxa8 Rxa8 20.Rg1 Nf4 21.Bb3 Ne6 22.Bxe6 fxe6 23.Rg3 Kh8 24.Kg2 e5 25.dxe5 dxe5 26.Bxb6 cxb6 27.Qd7 Rd8 28.Qc7 Rf8 29.h4 g6 30.b4 h6 31.b5 Rf7 32.Qc8+ Kg7 33.h5 g5 34.Rh3 Qd6 35.Qc3 Rc7 36.Qe3 Rc5 37.Rh1 Rxb5 38.Ra1 Ra5 39.Rxa5 bxa5 40.Qa7+ Kf8 41.Qxa5 Qf6 42.Qa3+ Kg8 43.Kf1 Qe6 44.Ke2 Kf7 45.Qa7+ Kf6 46.Kd2 g4 47.fxg4 Qxg4 48.Qb6+ Kg5 49.Qg6+ Kh4 50.Kc3 Qf3+ 51.Kc4 Qxf2 52.Kd5 Qd4+ 53.Ke6 Qb6+ 54.Kxe5 Qc5+ 55.Ke6 Qc6+ 56.Kf7 Qd7+ 57.Kf8 Qd8+ 58.Kg7 Qe7+ 59.Kxh6 Qf8+ 60.Kh7 Qe7+ 61.Kg8 Qd8+ 62.Kf7 Qc7+ 63.Kf8 Qd8+ 64.Qe8 Qf6+ 65.Kg8 Kg5 66.e5 1-0

Navara,D (2672) - Grischuk,A (2716) [D12]
1.c4 Nf6 2.d4 c6 3.Nf3 d5 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.0-0 Bd6 9.g3 0-0 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.b3 Qe7 12.a3 Rfd8 13.Bf3 Rac8 14.Bb2 Bb8 15.Rc1 Bd6 16.c5 Bb8 17.Bg2 e5 18.b4 e4 19.f4 exf3 20.Qxf3 Re8 21.Rce1 Ne4 22.Nxe4 dxe4 23.Qf2 Nf6 24.d5 Nxd5 25.Bxe4 Nf6 26.Bf3 Be5 27.Bd4 Rcd8 28.a4 a6 29.b5 axb5 30.axb5 cxb5 31.c6 bxc6 32.Bxc6 Rf8 33.Bxb5 Bxd4 34.exd4 Qb4 35.Rb1 Qxd4 36.Qxd4 Rxd4 37.Rfd1 Rfd8 38.Rxd4 Rxd4 39.Bc6 Ng4 40.Rb2 Ne5 41.Bb5 g5 42.Be2 Rd7 43.Kf2 g6 44.Rb4 f5 45.h4 g4 46.Rf4 Rh7 47.Ra4 Rb7 48.Rf4 Rb2 49.Ke1 Kg7 50.h5 Kf6 51.hxg6 Nxg6 52.Ra4 Kg5 53.Ra8 Ne7 54.Rd8 Ra2 55.Rd6 Ng8 56.Ra6 Rc2 57.Ra7 Nf6 58.Bd3 Rc3 59.Kd2 Rc5 60.Ke3 Nh5 61.Kf2 Rc3 62.Rd7 Rb3 63.Rd4 Ra3 64.Rd8 Ra2+ 65.Ke3 Nxg3 66.Rg8+ Kf6 67.Rf8+ Ke7 68.Rh8 Kf6 69.Rf8+ Kg7 70.Rd8 Ra4 71.Rd6 f4+ 72.Kf2 Ne4+ 73.Bxe4 Rxe4 74.Ra6 Kf7 75.Rb6 Re6 76.Rb8 Kf6 77.Rg8 Kf5 78.Rf8+ Rf6 79.Rh8 Kg5 80.Rg8+ Rg6 81.Rf8 Rh6 82.Rg8+ Kh4 83.Rf8 Kh3 84.Rxf4 Ra6 85.Rf8 Ra2+ 86.Kg1 Ra1+ 0-1

Cheparinov,I (2696) - Bacrot,E (2705) [E21]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 c5 5.g3 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Ne4 7.Qd3 Qa5 8.Nb3 Nxc3 9.Bd2 Ne4 10.Qxe4 Bxd2+ 11.Nxd2 0-0 12.Bg2 Nc6 13.Qe3 d5 14.0-0 d4 15.Qd3 Rd8 16.a3 Ne5 17.b4 Nxd3 18.bxa5 Nc5 19.Rab1 Rb8 20.Ne4 Na4 21.Rb4 Bd7 22.Rfb1 Bc6 23.Nc5 Nxc5 24.Bxc6 Rdc8 25.Bxb7 Rxb7 26.Rxb7 Nxb7 27.Rxb7 g5 28.Rb4 a6 29.Kf1 Rc5 30.Ke1 Rxa5 31.a4 Kg7 32.Kd2 Kf6 33.Kd3 Ke5 34.f4+ gxf4 35.gxf4+ Kxf4 36.Kxd4 e5+ 37.Kd3 Kf5 38.Kc3 Ke4 39.Kb3 Ke3 40.Rb7 e4 41.Rxf7 Re5 42.Rxh7 Kxe2 43.Kc3 e3 44.Rf7 Ke1 45.Rf4 e2 46.Kc2 Ra5 47.h4 Rxa4 48.h5 Ra2+ 49.Kc1 Ra3 50.h6 Rc3+ 51.Kb2 Rh3 52.Rf6 Kd2 53.Rd6+ Ke3 54.Re6+ Kd3 55.Rd6+ Kxc4 56.Re6 Kd3 57.Rd6+ Ke3 58.Re6+ Kd3 59.Rd6+ Kc4 60.Re6 Rh2 61.Kc1 Kd3 62.Rd6+ Ke3 63.Re6+ Kf2 64.Rf6+ Ke1 65.Kc2 a5 66.Kb3 Rh4 67.Ka3 Rh1 0-1

Gashimov,V (2679) - Svidler,P (2746) [B43]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 b5 6.Be2 Bb7 7.Bf3 Qc7 8.0-0 Bd6 9.a4 Bxh2+ 10.Kh1 Be5 11.axb5 Nf6 12.Be3 0-0 13.Qd3 d6 14.Rfd1 Nfd7 15.Qd2 Rc8 16.Be2 Nf6 17.f4 Bxd4 18.Qxd4 d5 19.bxa6 Nxa6 20.e5 Ne8 21.f5 Nc5 22.Bb5 Qd8 23.Rxa8 Bxa8 24.f6 Nd7 25.fxg7 Qc7 26.Bf4 Qb7 27.Rd3 Nxg7 28.Bxd7 Rc4 29.Qf2 Qxd7 30.Rg3 Kh8 31.Bg5 1-0

Standings:
Grischuk - 2.5
Karjakin, Radjabov, Gashimov, Carlsen, Kamsky - 2

Baku Round 2

Adams-Cheparinov
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 g6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bg7 9.h3 0-0 10.Be3 Nc6 11.0-0 Rfd8 12.Rc1 Rac8 13.b3 e6 14.Qf3 Qe7 15.Rfd1 a6 16.Nxc6 Rxc6 17.Bd4 Rdc8 18.a4 Nd7 19.Bxg7 Kxg7 20.Qe3 Qd8 21.Ne2 Qa5 22.Nd4 Rb6 23.Rc3 Qc5 24.Qe1 Ne5 25.Re3 Nc6 26.Nc2 a5 27.Qc3+ Kg8 28.g3 Nb4 29.Nxb4 Rxb4 30.Qf6 Rb6 31.e5 Re8 32.h4 d5 33.Rf3 Qe7 34.Qxe7 Rxe7 35.cxd5 exd5 36.Rxd5 Rbe6 37.Rxa5 Rxe5 38.Rxe5 Rxe5 39.Re3 Rd5 40.Re8+ Kg7 41.Rb8 Rd7 42.Kg2 h5 43.b4 Kf6 44.a5 Ke6 45.b5 Kd6 46.Rc8 Re7 47.b6 Re5 48.a6 1-0

Bacrot-Radjabov
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 Bg5 12.Nc2 Rb8 13.a4 bxa4 14.Ncb4 Nxb4 15.cxb4 0-0 16.Rxa4 a5 17.b5 Bd7 18.Nc3 Qb6 19.Be2 Rbc8 20.0-0 Be6 21.Qd3 Bd8 22.Nd5 Bxd5 23.Qxd5 Rc2 24.Bc4 Rxb2 25.Ra2 Rb4 26.Rd1 Qb8 27.Bf1 Bb6 28.Qxd6 Rxe4 29.Qxb8 Rxb8 30.g3 Kf8 31.Rd6 Rd4 32.Rc6 Ke7 33.Kg2 Rd6 34.Rac2 Rbd8 35.Bc4 f5 36.Kf1 Rxc6 37.bxc6 Kd6 38.Ke2 g6 39.h3 Kc7 40.g4 e4 41.f3 Rd4 42.gxf5 gxf5 43.Bg8 Rd3 44.fxe4 Rg3 45.Bd5 f4 46.e5 Re3+ 47.Kf1 f3 48.Rd2 Rc3 49.Rd1 Rc2 50.e6 Rg2 51.Ke1 Rg1+ 52.Kd2 f2 53.Bc4 Kxc6 54.Ke2 Bc5 55.Bb3 Rg5 56.Kf1 Re5 57.Ba4+ Kb6 58.Bb3 h6 59.Kg2 Re1 60.Ba4 f1Q+ 0-1

Inarkiev-Mamedyarov
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 0-0 6.0-0 c6 7.a4 Nbd7 8.h3 e5 9.Be3 exd4 10.Bxd4 Re8 11.Re1 Nxe4 12.Bxg7 Kxg7 13.Nxe4 Rxe4 14.Qxd6 Qf6 15.Qxf6+ Nxf6 16.Bd3 Rf4 17.c3 Bxh3 18.Ne5 Bf5 19.g3 Bxd3 20.gxf4 Bf5 21.a5 a6 22.Rad1 Nh5 23.Rd4 c5 24.Rc4 Rc8 25.b4 cxb4 26.cxb4 Rf8 27.Rd4 Nf6 28.Rc1 Be6 29.f3 Rb8 30.Kf2 h5 31.Rc7 Nd5 32.Rd7 Nf6 33.Rd8 Rxd8 34.Rxd8 Nd5 35.Nd3 h4 36.f5 1-0

Standings
Kamsky, Radjabov, Adams, Grischuk - 1.5/2

Baku Round 1 - Two Wins by Black

Inarkiev-Kamsky
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15.a4 c5 16. d5 c4 17. Bg5 h6 18. Be3 Nc5 19. Qd2 h5 20. Bg5 Be7 21. Ra3 Rb8 22.Kh1 Nh7 23. Be3 Bf6 24. Rea1 Bg7 25. Qe2 Bc8 26. Nf1 f5 27. axb5 axb5 28. exf5gxf5 29. Ng3 Nd3 30. Nxh5 f4 31. Nxg7 Kxg7 32. Ba7 Rb7 33. Bxd3 cxd3 34. Qxd3e4 35. Bd4+ Nf6 36. Qd1 exf3 37. Qxf3 Kg6 38. Qxf4 Nh5 39. Qh2 Rbe7 40. Qg1 Re241. Ra8 Qh4 42. Rb8 Kh6 43. Rb6 Bxh3 44. Rxd6+ Kh7 45. g3 Bg2+ 46. Kxg2 Qxg3+47. Kf1 Qh3+ 48. Qg2 Ng3+ 0-1

Cheparinov-Grischuk
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 cxd4 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 Qc7 10. Ne2 Nbc6 11. f4 Bd7 12. Qd3 dxc3 13. Nxc3 a6 14. Rb1Na5 15. h4 Nf5 16. Rh3 O-O-O 17. h5 Nc4 18. Rb4 Bc6 19. Ne2 Bb5 20. a4 Qc5 21.Qc3 d4 22. Qb3 Na5 23. Rxb5 Nxb3 24. Rxc5+ Nxc5 25. Ng1 Rg3 26. Ba3 d3 27. Rxg3Nxg3 28. cxd3 Nxa4 29. Ne2 Nxh5 30. g4 Rxd3 31. gxh5 Rxa3 32. h6 Ra1+ 33. Kf2Rd1 34. h7 Rd8 35. Nd4 Nc5 36. Nf3 Kd7 37. f5 exf5 38. Bh3 Ke7 39. Bxf5 a5 40.Bb1 a4 41. Nd4 Rh8 42. Nf5+ Kf8 0-1

Dare we hope?

Has FIDE actually gotten itself in order for the 2008-2010 world championship cycle? The current cycle seems to be in order. The winner of Kamsky-Topalov plays the 2008 world champion (the winner of Anand-Kramnik). I don't think even FIDE can screw that up. But the next cycle appears to be mostly ironed out too.

The Plan
The first FIDE Grand Prix tournament begins today in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Grand Prix is a series of six tournaments to be held over two years (2008-2009) in leading world cities. 21 top world players have been selected to compete in these tournaments. Each player will participate in exactly four of these tournaments. Each tournament has 14 players. The months allocated for the organisation of the Grand Prix tournaments are April, August and December of each respective year. These months have been selected to ensure there is no conflict with any other major event. The winner of the Grand Prix series at the end of 2009 will play the winner of the 2009 World Cup in an eight game match to become the challenger to the World Champion in a match to be held in the third quarter of 2010.

Players in the Baku tournament
1 Magnus Carlsen NOR 2765
2 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE 2752
3 Teimour Radjabov AZE 2751
4 Peter Svidler RUS 2746
5 Sergey Karjakin UKR 2732
6 Michael Adams ENG 2729
7 Gata Kamsky USA 2726
8 Alexander Grischuk RUS 2716
9 Etienne Bacrot FRA 2705
10 Ivan Cheparinov BUL 2696
11 Wang Yue CHN 2689
12 Ernesto Inarkiev RUS 2684
13 Vugar Gashimov AZE 2679
14 David Navara CZE 2672

The other seven candidates:
Aronian Levon ARM 2763
Leko Peter HUN 2741
Ivanchuk Vassily UKR 2740
Gelfand Boris ISR 2723
Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2711
Pelletier Yannick SWZ 2607
Al Modiahki Mohamad QTR 2554
(The last two - particularly a 2550 player - seem somewhat out of place in this august company. They - and four of the other players - were nominated by the host cities.)

Next FIDE Grand Prix Tournaments
30th July – 15th August 2008, Soci Russia
13th – 29th December 2008, Doha Qatar
14th – 30th April 2009, Montreux Switzerland
8th – 24th August 2009, Elista Russia
7th – 23rd December 2009, Karlovy Vary Czech Republic

Websites
FIDE Grand Prix 2008-2009
Baku Tournament
Mark Weeks website

Update on World Championship

2008

Defending Champion Anand faces off Vladimir Kramnik in a 12 game match (remember when world championship matches went 24 games?) October 11-30 in Bonn. The prize fund, which will be split equally between the players, is 1.5 million euros before taxes and FIDE licensee fees.

Topalov and Kamsky face off in a match (terms undetermined as of yet) in late 2008 (December is tentatively scheduled) in Lvov. The prize fund is allegedly $750,000. I'll reserve judgment until more details are forthcoming.

2009

The winner of the Topalov-Kamsky will face the 2008 world champion. This will essentially be the last step of the reunification process, as the next challenger will be determined through the regular FIDE process (for as long as it survives).

FIDE April 2008 Rating List

Rank	Name	Title	Country	Rating	Games	B-Year
1	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2803	27	1969
2	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2788	13	1975
3	Morozevich, Alexander	g	RUS	2774	11	1977
4	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2767	27	1975
5	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2765	27	1990
6	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2763	27	1982
7	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2752	13	1985
8	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2751	27	1987
9	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2746	11	1976
10	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2741	27	1979
11	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2740	35	1969
12	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2740	14	1972
13	Karjakin, Sergey	g	UKR	2732	0	1990
14	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2729	13	1971
15	Kamsky, Gata	g	USA	2726	0	1974
16	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2723	13	1968
17	Ponomariov, Ruslan	g	UKR	2719	0	1983
18	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2716	11	1983
19	Jakovenko, Dmitry	g	RUS	2711	11	1983
20	Alekseev, Evgeny	g	RUS	2711	0	1985
21	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2709	13	1976
22	Bu, Xiangzhi	g	CHN	2708	16	1985
23	Bacrot, Etienne	g	FRA	2705	138	1983
24	Ni, Hua	g	CHN	2703	28	1983

Polgar is missing from the official list; I added her in by hand in the above post.