14 May 2015
Black and White, count off!
Eteri Kublashvili reports on the opening ceremony of the 4th FIDE Grand Prix stage in Khanty-Mansiysk.
On May 14 the hospitable Ugra Chess Academy welcomed the fourth and final stage of the FIDE Grand Prix series 2014-2015.
Before the opening ceremony a technical meeting was held, at which almost all participants were presented: Fabiano Caruana (ITA), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Anish Giri (NED), Sergey Karjakin, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Dmitry Jakovenko, Peter Svidler (all – RUS), Boris Gelfand (ISR), Leinier Domínguez (CUB) and Baadur Jobava (GEO). Only Alexander Grischuk (RUS) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) were on the way at the moment.
At the meeting Dmitry Jakovenko reminded one of the points from the Regulations, which says: "If a player has played two consecutive tournaments with the same starting colour, then he will be guaranteed the reverse color in the third event". Two consecutive tournaments Dmitry started with Black, that's why now he demanded a starting rank in the first half of the table to play White in the first round. The participants of the series never knew this point of the Regulations, that's why Dmitry's question was both astonished and livened for all, but what is the most important, it reminded how useful it is to read the regulations carefully. The question was solved in ordinary course: after the meeting FIDE General Director Geoffrey Borg and chief arbiter of the tournament Boris Postovsky went to discuss this problem. They decided to "break up" the drawing – first to make it for those who started two consecutive tournaments as Black, then for those who started as White, and finally for the remained participants.
This time the opening ceremony was held without living chess pieces and artists' performances, which Ugra guests may be used to. Geoffrey Borg, Vassily Filipenko – the Head of Khanty-Mansiysk and the President of Ugra Chess Federation, and Deputy Director of Department of Physical Culture and Sports of Ugra Igor Krutko made welcoming speeches.
Then Boris Postovsky conducted the drawing of lots. Participants got the following numbers:
1. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 2. Baadur Jobava, 3. Alexander Grischuk, 4. Fabiano Caruana, 5. Dmitry Jakovenko, 6. Sergey Karjakin, 7. Hikaru Nakamura, 8. Anish Giri, 9. Leinier Domínguez, 10. Peter Svidler, 11. Evgeny Tomashevsky, 12. Boris Gelfand.
Pairings of the first round (starts on May 14 at 13:00 Moscow time):
Vachier-Lagrave - Gelfand, Jobava – Tomashevsky, Grischuk – Svidler, Caruana - Domínguez, Jakovenko - Giri, Karjakin - Nakamura.
It is to be recalled that according to the Regulations the winner and second placed player of the entire GP Series qualify for the 2016 Candidates Tournament, which is to be held in spring. It's not a secret that the chess players spared the intrigue for the Khanty-Mansiysk stage, during which the participants will compete for the qualification spots. Leading the overall standings are the winner of the Tbilisi Grand Prix Evgeny Tomashevsky with 252 points and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with 235 points (the latter already finished the competition). Fabiano Caruana (ITA), the rating favorite of the event, breathes down Evgeny's neck with 230 points. Recently he shocked the chess world, having said that he began the procedure for switching to the USA rating list. The third goes Hikaru Nakamura (USA) with 207 points. According to many specialists, he started to play at the completely new level.
In spite of the obvious leaders, many participants of the event can get a desired qualification, having clearly won the tournament.
Besides the qualification opportunities and solid prizes, the jewelry house Lobortas has created Big and Small cups, made of silver, gold and diamonds, for the series winner. On the Big cup will be engraved winner's name and year of the event; until the final of the next Grand Prix series the cup will be located at the FIDE main office. At the bottom of the Small cup stands a stamp with the year of win and the World Chess Federation bookplate. The Small cup will be given to the champion once and for all. In case of the repeated win on the Small cup will be additionally engraved the year of the new triumph.
Prior to the Khanty-Mansiysk event many participants were able to warm up in the Russian Club Championship, however, some players preferred home preparation. Which strategy is the most efficient we'll get to know on May 26 after 11 rounds of hard battles.
Live games will be available on the RCF website; in Russian it will be commented by grandmasters Sergei Shipov and Sergei Rublevsky, in English - by Evgeny Miroshnichenko and Viorel Iordachescu.
The Moldovan grandmaster Viorel Iordachescu predicts: "From the mathematical point of view Evgeny Tomashevsky naturally has better chances, but he should remain at least "in plus", because theoretically Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura could outstrip him. By the way, I had a talk with the latter a week ago during the Italian league, where he had played two games. He told me he had been preparing for the tournament for three weeks, was seriously committed and came with a coach, which is unexpected for him.
Moreover, three or four other participants also have good chances, but to be qualified they should take a clear first place. However, I think there would not be a single winner; it would rather be a tie of first two or three places. My prediction is Tomashevsky and Nakamura should advance, and Caruana has good chances to be qualified by his rating, that's why there is a big possibility to see three players of this Grand Prix in the Candidates Tournament".
