Ding Liren Wins FIDE Grand Prix Leg in Moscow

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov tops the overall GP standings. 

On Sunday, May 21, the last ninth round of the FIDE Grand Prix leg was played in the Central Telegraph building.
 
Boris Gelfand, who played White against Ding Liren, sacrificed a piece in a complex position, but apparently he overestimated his chances to get a decent compensation. In a few moves Gelfand gave up a rook, but the strongest chess player of China precisely confronted all the threats and won. Having scored 6 points out of 9, Ding Liren became the winner of the FIDE Grand Prix leg in Moscow.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave agreed to a draw by move repetition in less than half an hour. 

The game Giri vs. Grischuk was very complicated from the very beginning. According to Giri, he was surprised, but pleasantly. «I had the idea of sacrificing the pawn, but couldn’t remember details», said he. Grischuk retained his material advantage, and, as he said later on, «The difference between draw and winning was bigger than the difference between draw and losing». Nevertheless, White’s bishop was very strong in the open position, and Giri managed to survive. 

Hou Yifan continued her winning series having outplayed Ernesto Inarkiev with Black. Before the first time control, the Russian made several mistakes and lost material. 

The struggle between Hikaru Nakamura and Peter Svidler was quite tense. White organized an attack on the kingside, and Black had to give up a pawn in order to stop it. Svidler was very ingenious in defense and after several not very precise White’s moves he recaptured the initiative. Nevertheless, the opponents decided not to break lances in a rather sharp position and agreed to a draw on move 35.  

Francisco Vallejo and Ian Nepomniachtchi played a forced line in the Gruenfeld Defence which led to a draw on move 18. 

The game Harikrishna-Radjabov in the symmetrical line of the Gruenfeld Defence was lacking scoring chances and ended in a draw in the queen vs. queen endgame.  

Michael Adams and Evgeny Tomashevsky made a smooth draw in the Ruy Lopez. 

Saleh Salem and Jon Ludvig Hammer agreed to a draw on move 16. 

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri, Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk, Teimour Radjabov, and Hou Yifan scored 5 points and shared 3-9 places. According to the Regulations, all prizes and Grand Prix ranking points are shared equally, in cases of any tied position/s.

Final standings:

1. Ding Liren - 6, 
2. Mamedyarov - 5.5
3-9. Vachier-Lagrave, Nakamura, Giri, Svidler, Grischuk, Radjabov, Hou Yifan - 5
10-12. Harikrishna, Gelfand, Tomashevsky - 4.5
13-14. Vallejo, Hammer - 4
15-17. Nepomniachtchi, Adams, Salem - 3.5
18. Inarkiev - 2.5

The closing ceremony was moderated by GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, PhosAgro’s Deputy CEO for Government Relations Valery Fedorov and Head of World Chess by Agon Limited Ilya Merenzon greeted the guests and participants. The Chief Arbiter IA Ashot Vardapetyan announced the results. 

The winner of the tournament Ding Liren and the silver medalist Shakhriyar Mamedyarov received their rewards. They were also given special presents from the tournament’s partner S.T. Dupont.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) is leading after two tournaments of the FIDE Grand Prix series - 280 ranking points. Ding Liren (China) has gained 240 points. Both Alexander Grischuk (Russia) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) have 211,4 points.

The third FIDE Grand Prix Leg will take place in Geneva from July 5 till July 16.  

Official website

Photos by Vladimir Barsky