FIDE Grand Prix 2014-2015

[Rob Thompson]

I'm quite glad that Andreikin isn't totally adrift, because in events like this that's always a possibility.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Caruana wins again and along with Gelfand leads the event with 3/4. What once seemed a purely theoretical idea of Caruana matching Carlsen's rating now appears to have turned into an almost inevitable countdown of when, not if, he's going to catch him. http://en.chessbase.com/post/baku-04-fabi-unstoppable

Is anyone able to calculate what score Carlsen needs to get in his match against Anand to avoid dropping points (though hopefully he will be concentrating on just winning the match, it would be good to know that as well). And what events does Carlsen have lined up afterwards - did he not take a break after the last match? In a similar vein, what is Caruana's schedule up to and including the London Chess Classic? It would be quite ironic if Caruana took the number one spot there, where Carlsen's victory in 2009 took him to the top of the rankings for the first time. What a difference five years can make. In the January 2010 listing, Carlsen was number 1 with a rating of 2810 and Caruana was number 51 with a rating of 2675.

[Mick Norris]

I have read that Caruana needs to finish the GP with 6/7 from here to overtake Carlsen, but he than has another GP to follow later this month - Caruana tends to play a lot

Carlsen is missing London in Dec and Zurich in Feb (both of which Anand plays), so not sure of his plans post WC

I can't remember seeing anything about Wijk aan Zee in January

[Chris Rice]

When I saw the latest Press Release with the headline "Introducing New Look for the Grand Prix Series" my first thought was whether the Grand Prix was now going behind a paywall. Fortunately it doesn't seem so and the trial new site looks very good indeed: http://www.fide.com/component/content/a ... eries.html

It even has a 'playing venue' tab where we get more information on the building the event is taking place in. http://www.grand-prix.fide.com/playing-venue/

[MJMcCready]

I went in it today, its very nice.

[Mick Norris]

Caruana won today to take his live rating to 2851.3

He's also 0.5 ahead of Gelfand in the GP
http://theweekinchess.com/chessnews/eve ... r-6-rounds

[Chris Rice]

Here's the game with Mark Crowther's comments below. Interesting observations from Mark in the other thread about Svidler, difficult to believe that he would be intimidated by anyone but Caruana continues to create historical landmarks. I was just reading in the latest New in Chess how he was thrilled he'd cracked 2800!

Caruana, F. (2844) vs. Svidler, P. (2732) Baku Rd 6

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nb6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O Qd6 10. Kb1 a6 11. h4 Rd8 12. d5 Ne5 13. Qf2 h5 14. Bc5 Qf6 15. Bd4 Qd6 16. g4 hxg4 17. f4 Ned7 18. e5 Nxe5 19. fxe5 Bxe5 20. Bg2 Bxd4 21. Rxd4 Bf5+ 22. Ka1 e5 23. Rd1 Nc4 24. h5 Qb6 25. Qe2 Ne3 26. Rd2 Kg7 27. Be4 Rh8 28. Rd3 Nc4 29. b3 Nd6 30. Bxf5 Nxf5 31. Qxg4 e4 32. Nxe4 Rae8 33. Ne2 1-0

Fabiano Caruana won a sharp Gruenfeld against Peter Svidler to lead the Baku Grand Prix alone on 4.5/6. Svidler decided to surprise Caruana with a newish idea of 10... a6. Svidler's 13...h5 was a bad move with 14.Bc5 Qf6 15.Bd4 Qd6 leaving Svidler in a poor position. Caruana questioned whether 16.g4 was the right move, the computers said it led to a huge advantage but neither player pointed to 18.e5 as being inaccurate (18.Nge2!) Svidler sacrificed a piece for good compensation but was steadily out-calculated in the following complications and after 27...Rh8? Caruana brought home the full point quickly.

[Chris Rice]

Chessdom reports: Fabiano Caruana’s impressive run has been put to a halt in round 7 of the FIDE Grand Prix in Baku when he was defeated by the tail-ender Dmitry Andreikin. This was Caruana’s first loss since the Chess Olympiad in Tromso. Boris Gelfand joined the Italian on the shared first place with 4.5 points each after a draw against Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Sergey Karjakin scored against Hikaru Nakamura, while the games Peter Svidler – Alexander Grischuk, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – Evgeny Tomashevsky and Teimour Radjabov – Leinier Dominguez were drawn. He was asked about it afterwards. "More or less all my moves were bad from the first to the last one. So that's what went wrong. I made so many mistakes and missed so many things. I think I had a decent position after the opening and I just slowly ruined it."

Caruana was almost equal out of the opening after surprising Andreikin with the Scandinavian Defence but his 17...Qe6 (17...Nxc4=) was bad, Andreikin's 18.Bf1 (18.Re1!) wasn't the best follow up but 23...c4? (23...h6) 27...Qe7? (27...Qc6) and finally in desperate time trouble 34...Qa7? (34...Qe8) were all significant mistakes. Caruana just didn't seem to be at the races today. He was lost at move 40 after which Andreikin's technique was enough.

e4 d5 exd5 Qxd5 Nc3 Qd6 d4 Nf6 Nf3 g6 Nb5 Qb6 Be2 c6 Na3 Bg7 O-O O-O c3 Qc7 Bg5 Bf5 Qc1 Nbd7 Bf4 Qc8 Rd1 Rd8 Nc4 c5 d5 Nb6 d6 Qe6 Bf1 Nxc4 Ng5 Qc8 Bxc4 e6 Be5 Qc6 a4 a6 Be2 c4 Rd4 Qc5 Nf3 b5 h3 h6 d7 Qe7 axb5 axb5 Rxa8 Rxa8 Qd1 Nd5 Bxg7 Kxg7 Ne5 f6 Nc6 Qxd7 Nb4 Qa7 g4 Bd3 Bxd3 cxd3 Qxd3 Qa1+ Kg2 Qxb2 Nxd5 exd5 Rxd5 Ra7 Rxb5 Qa2 Rd5 Qa4 Rd6 Qe8 Qd4 Qa8+ Kh2 Rf7 c4 Qe8 c5 Qe5+ Qxe5 fxe5 Kg2 Rf4 Re6 Re4 f3 Re2+ Kf1 Rd2 Rxe5 Kf6 Re2 Rd1+ Re1 Rd3 Rc1 Rxf3+ Ke2 Ra3 c6 Ra8 c7 Rc8 Rc5 Ke6 Kd3 h5 g5 Kd6 Kc4 h4 Kb5 1-0

[Mick Norris]

Caruana lost 6.7 rating points in 1 game, which shows the scale of play he has to maintain to just hold his current rating, let alone attempt to reach Carlsen

He has another GP coming up soon after this one, so will be very interesting to see how he reacts to the loss

Has anyone found the regulations yet for the qualification for the next world championship match? I am assuming it is the same as the last cycle, but would be good to know

[Chris Rice]

Peter Svidler defeated Leinier Dominguez while the other five games were drawn in the 8th round of the FIDE Grand Prix in Baku. Rest day today.

Round 8 results

Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2706 ½ - ½ Caruana Fabiano 2844
Grischuk Alexander 2797 ½ - ½ Andreikin Dmitry 2722
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2751 0 - 1 GM Svidler Peter 2732
Tomashevsky Evgeny 2701 ½ - ½ GM Radjabov Teimour 2726
Karjakin Sergey 2767 ½ - ½ GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2764
Gelfand Boris 2748 ½ - ½ GM Nakamura Hikaru 2764

Standings after Round 8

1 Caruana Fabiano 2844 ITA 5
2 Gelfand Boris 2748 ISR 5
3 Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2706 UZB 4½
4 Karjakin Sergey 2767 RUS 4½
5 Radjabov Teimour 2726 AZE 4½
6 Svidler Peter 2732 RUS 4½
7 Tomashevsky Evgeny 2701 RUS 4
8 Nakamura Hikaru 2764 USA 4
9 Andreikin Dmitry 2722 RUS 3
10 Dominguez Perez Leinier 2751 CUB 3
11 Grischuk Alexander 2797 RUS 3
12 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2764 AZE 3

Round 7 report
http://en.chessbase.com/post/baku-07-he-is-human

[Mick Norris]

Caruana lost again (to Grischuk), as did Gelfand

6 way tie on 5 points at the top, 2 players on 4.5, and 3 on 4 - with 2 rounds to go

[LawrenceCooper]

I'm quite glad that Andreikin isn't totally adrift, because in events like this that's always a possibility.

He's only a point off the lead now

[Barry Sandercock]

There should be some good games today with six players(including Caruana) on 5/9 and two rounds to go.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Caruana and Gelfand both won today to retake the lead. Gelfand plays Svidler and Caruana plays Tomashevsky in the last round. Tomashevsky is only player still unbeaten and could win the tournament with a win in the last round. It has been an excelllent tournament. I personally prefer this kind of large APA to events like the recent Sinquefield Cup. Anyone have any views on that?

[Mick Norris]

Gelfand is black, Caruana white so is favourite, but he says he's not playing well and I doubt today's win will have changed his mind

The APA is a different format for a different purpose I guess - I'd prefer a different system than the GP, maybe I'm getting old