Third in the Grand Prix series 2014-2015 Tbilisi (Georgia) 14-27 Feb

[Mick Norris]

Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts Res. Vict SB Koya
1 6 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2716 RUS 3½ 0 3 6,25 2½
2 9 GM Grischuk Alexander 2810 RUS 2½ 0 2 3,25 1
3 8 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2733 RUS 2½ 0 1 4,00 1
4 11 GM Giri Anish 2797 NED 2½ 0 1 4,00 ½
5 10 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2759 AZE 2 0 2 3,00 0
6 4 GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2705 UZB 2 0 1 4,25 2
7 1 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726 CUB 2 0 0 3,50 1
8 12 GM Radjabov Teimour 2731 AZE 2 0 0 3,25 1
9 5 GM Andreikin Dmitry 2737 RUS 1½ 0 0 3,75 1½
10 3 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2775 FRA 1½ 0 0 3,00 1
11 2 GM Svidler Peter 2739 RUS 1½ 0 0 2,75 1
12 7 GM Jobava Baadur 2696 GEO ½ 0 0 1,00 ½

[Mick Norris]

Decent starts for the favourites Grischuk & Giri going into the first rest day, but Tomashevsky has started brilliantly, and seems likely to challenge at the top, which would suit Caruana and Nakamura

Round 5 on Friday looks key given the pairings:

Tomashevsky Evgeny (3.5) - Giri Anish (2.5)
Jakovenko Dmitry (2.5) - Grischuk Alexander (2.5)

[Chris Rice]

A lot of Tomashevsky's success seems to be coming from his granite-like Black openings, Stonewall, Chebanenko Slav etc

http://en.chessbase.com/post/tbilisi-rd ... tends-lead

http://www.chess.com/news/tomashevsky-a ... mbles-7894

[Chris Rice]

Round 5 has started, Jakovenko-Grischuk was a 14 move draw. Presumably pre-arranged. Tomashevsky looks like he may have an edge in the early running vs Giri but it may all be theory I'm unaware of.

[Roger de Coverly]

Tomashevsky looks like he may have an edge in the early running vs Giri but it may all be theory I'm unaware of.

6. h3 instead of 6. Be2 is a relatively new and popular way of meeting the Kings Indian. Whilst their exact sequence of moves may be new, the ideas behind them look familiar to Kings Indian players and those who regularly play against it with mainstream systems.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 0-0 6. h3 e5 7. d5 Nh5 8. g3 f5 9. exf5 gxf5 10. Nh4 Nf6 11. Bg5 Na6 12. Bd3 h6 13. Be3 Nh7 14. f4 exf4 15. Bxf4 Ng5 *

[Mick Norris]

Tomashevsky, Evgeny - Giri, Anish ½-½ 51 E90 King's Indian Classical
Jakovenko, Dmitry - Grischuk, Alexander ½-½ 14 E60 King's Indian without Nc3
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam - Svidler, Peter 1-0 29 D85 Gruenfeld Defence
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime - Radjabov, Teimour ½-½ 37 C18 French Winawer
Jobava, Baadur - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 1-0 27 A01 Larsen Opening

[Mick Norris]

Nice to see Jobava winning after a bad run here and at Wijk

[Matt Mackenzie]

Dominguez won the late straggler - his first GP win for some time after a glut of draws.

[Mick Norris]

Andreikin, Dmitry - Dominguez Perez, Leinier 0-1 67 C85 Ruy Lopez Steenwijker Defence

[Mick Norris]

Ranking after Round 5
Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts Res. Vict SB Koya
1 6 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2716 RUS 4 0 3 9,50 2
2 9 GM Grischuk Alexander 2810 RUS 3 0 2 6,75 1½
3 4 GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2705 UZB 3 0 2 6,50 1
4 8 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2733 RUS 3 0 1 7,00 1½
5 11 GM Giri Anish 2797 NED 3 0 1 6,75 1
6 1 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726 CUB 3 0 1 6,00 1
7 12 GM Radjabov Teimour 2731 AZE 2½ 0 0 5,50 1
8 10 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2759 AZE 2 1 2 3,50 0
9 3 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2775 FRA 2 0 0 5,00 1½
10 7 GM Jobava Baadur 2696 GEO 1½ 0 1 3,25 ½
11 5 GM Andreikin Dmitry 2737 RUS 1½ 0 0 4,50 1½
12 2 GM Svidler Peter 2739 RUS 1½ 0 0 3,75 1

[Mick Norris]

Round 6 on 2015/02/21
SNo. Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg SNo.
12 GM Radjabov Teimour 2731 - GM Grischuk Alexander 2810 9
10 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2759 - GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2733 8
11 GM Giri Anish 2797 - GM Jobava Baadur 2696 7
1 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726 - GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2716 6
2 GM Svidler Peter 2739 - GM Andreikin Dmitry 2737 5
3 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2775 - GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2705 4

[Chris Rice]

As I'm waiting on round 6 to start I started wondering just how many top tournaments would be moved to Georgia in the coming years. Then I saw this rant by Silvio Danailov against Azmai. He was clearly stating that FIDE can't run all their tournaments in Georgia and also alleging:

- He reckons Azmai, the new ECU President, is now getting a salary of 45k euros (Danailov's was 35k) after he made an election promise that he would take no salary;

- All the Georgian sponsorship money has dried up because in reality it never existed; and

- that the current ECU are incompetent and all the great reforms that he introduced like the Sofia rule are all being removed taking chess back to the 19th century.

Not sure Mr Danailov has internally dealt with his defeat. Even the link "danailov-for-president" shows that he hasn't moved on http://danailov-for-president.com/?p=3037

[Roger de Coverly]

Not sure Mr Danailov has internally dealt with his defeat. Even the link "danailov-for-president" shows that he hasn't moved on

Which president though?
http://danailov-for-president.com/?p=3016 indicates ambitions to be FIDE President, but he's not intending to take on a candidate backed by the Russian state.

[Chris Rice]

Not sure Mr Danailov has internally dealt with his defeat. Even the link "danailov-for-president" shows that he hasn't moved on

Which president though?
http://danailov-for-president.com/?p=3016 indicates ambitions to be FIDE President, but he's not intending to take on a candidate backed by the Russian state.

Think you're right there, he does have his eye on being FIDE President, apparently he has achieved everything else in chess.

"The world chess hang up and does not modernize itself. I’ve always been against them and therefore they do not love me. I always have criticized. I am not afraid of anyone and I can’t be bribed. Nobody can’t pressure on me. I am sufficiently independent and a good professional. What they are trying now is to keep the control over FIDE, but the headquarter does not develop. I have achieved everything in chess. The only thing that I didn’t achieve is to become a head of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). But it is possible to happen in 2018. However, if this political configuration with Vladimir Putin remained, I have no chance, because they have huge resources. For them, to invest 20-30 million dollars for elections is nothing. Even the President of the Russian Chess Federation Dvorkovich, who is Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, was substituted, because they doubted that he may be a fan of Kasparov. And he was replaced with the multi billionaire Andrey Filatov, who according to “Forbes” has 2.5 billion dollars. Their task was to totally control Europe and I was uncomfortable for them. I was an opposition. If this centralized power Putin-Ilymzhinov-Filatov remained nobody has a chance to fight successfully with their money. Now I observe with interest the world economy. If the oil price continues to be under 60 dollars, I think Putin will not last long. The Russian economy will collapse and he will be overturned by his own people in the country. If Russia is not the country that is now, then I really will have a chance. Karpov lost, Kasparov lost, the only one who remained it’s me. But I say again – against the Russian government I can’t fight."

[Chris Rice]

Grischuk gets turned over again

Radjabov, Teimour (AZE) - Grischuk, Alexander (RUS)

1-0

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. e5 h6 11. Bh4 dxe5 12. fxe5 g5 13. Bg3 Nh5 14. Ne4 Nd7 15. Rb3 Qxa2 16. Be2 Nc5 17. Nc3 Nxb3 18. Nxb3 Bb4 19. Bxh5 Qb2 20. O-O Qxc3 21. Bxf7+ Ke7 22. Qf2 Kd7 23. Qb6 Rf8 24. Be1 1-0