Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Catches Up With The Leader

Four rounds of the FIDE Grand Prix are played in Moscow.

The most uncompromising participant of FIDE GP leg in Moscow Ian Nepomniachtchi won beautifully in his trademark line of the Najdorf Variation. His rival Michael Adams was trying hard to seek out weaknesses in the Russian’s position, but got confused, missed the threat to his central pawn, and eventually lost. 

Francisco Vallejo undertook an incorrect piece sacrifice against Teimour Radjabov and found himself in a lost position after two precise moves of his rival.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov all of a sudden managed to confuse Saleh Salem and grabbed an important win that allowed him to catch up with the leader and cross 2800 ELO mark.   

Ding Liren got quite a pressure in his game against Peter Svidler, but the Russian was defending quite precisely, and soon the game boiled down to a drawish endgame. A drawish endgame also appeared in the encounter between Evgeny Tomashevsky and Boris Gelfand right after the opening. 

Ernesto Inarkiev was effective in defending the endgame with a pawn down against Pentala Harikrishna. The Russian allowed his rival to have an extra queen for a little while, but then immediately won back the strongest piece and transferred the game into a theoretically drawn position. Black’s extra bishop didn’t matter much because the h1 square is white. 

Alexander Grischuk was going to fight for dear life against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, got a big edge, but made a mistake one footstep away from the victory. The result is draw. 

Hou Yifan made a draw against Hikaru Nakamura from the position of strength. Anish Giri was lucky to defend himself and make a draw against Jon Ludvig Hammer. 

Round 4 standings:

1-2. Ding Liren, Mamedyarov - 3
3-4. Svidler, Radjabov - 2.5
5-14. Hou Yifan, Vachier-Lagrave, Giri, Grischuk, Nakamura, Gelfand, Tomashevsky, Hammer, Nepomniachtchi, Salem - 2
15-16. Vallejo, Harikrishna - 1.5
17-18. Adams, Inarkiev - 1

Round 5 pairings:

Mamedyarov - Ding Liren, Svidler - Radjabov, Vachier-Lagrave - Salem, Giri - Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi - Gelfand, Hou Yifan - Grischuk, Tomashevsky - Hammer, Harikrishna - Adams, 
Vallejo - Inarkiev.

Event on Chess-Results

Official website

Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich