Grand-Prix 2017 Events Venues and Dates confirmed

[Chris Rice]

Another great Chess.com report from Peter Doggers, this time on Round 4. Includes:

Since April 21, Mamedyarov has gained 29.1 Elo (9 - Gashimov Memorial, 13.9 Russian Team Ch where he scored 4/4 and 6.2 so far in Moscow). In 5th place in the live ratings he is suddenly on 11.1 points off Wesley So in 2nd place.

Grishuk nearly beat MVL and said "I was much better quickly and then I think I was winning. My move 40 is a huge mistake. If I play 40.d6 instead of 40.Re8+ I think White should win. I spent half an hour on my move 41 and I didn't see real chances," and he also said "Let's say the game by itself is probably quite disappointing but given that yesterday I could barely breathe, just to be able to live, and to compete on equal terms with one of the best players in the world is already very optimistic for me."

Some photos of Round 4 from Anastasiya Karlovich

[LawrenceCooper]

Late arrivals like me will have missed the Mamedyarov-Ding game which was drawn in 15 moves leaving them 1st= going into the rest day.

[LawrenceCooper]

MVL beat Salem and Grischuk beat Hou Yifan.

[Mick Norris]

MVL beat Salem and Grischuk beat Hou Yifan.

Mickey lost to Harikrishna again; all other games drawn

[LawrenceCooper]

MVL beat Salem and Grischuk beat Hou Yifan.

Mickey lost to Harikrishna again; all other games drawn

Vallejo Pons-Inarkiev is still going but a draw seems the most likely result.

[Mick Norris]

MVL beat Salem and Grischuk beat Hou Yifan.

Mickey lost to Harikrishna again; all other games drawn

Vallejo Pons-Inarkiev is still going but a draw seems the most likely result.

I missed that

[LawrenceCooper]

Mickey lost to Harikrishna again; all other games drawn

Vallejo Pons-Inarkiev is still going but a draw seems the most likely result.

I missed that

It was indeed a draw so the pairings for round 6 after the rest day are as follows:

Pairings/Results
Round 6 on 2017/05/18 at 14.00
Bo. No. Name FED Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name FED Rtg No.
1 4 GM Ding Liren CHN 2773 3½ 3 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2795 1
2 13 GM Radjabov Teimour AZE 2710 3 3½ GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 2772 5
3 8 GM Grischuk Alexander RUS 2750 3 3 GM Svidler Peter RUS 2755 6
4 2 GM Nakamura Hikaru USA 2786 2½ 2½ GM Nepomniachtchi Ian RUS 2751 7
5 15 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny RUS 2696 2½ 2½ GM Giri Anish NED 2785 3
6 12 GM Gelfand Boris ISR 2724 2½ 2½ GM Harikrishna P. IND 2750 9
7 18 GM Hammer Jon Ludvig NOR 2621 2½ 2 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco ESP 2710 14
8 17 GM Salem A.R. Saleh UAE 2633 2 2 GM Hou Yifan CHN 2652 16
9 10 GM Adams Michael ENG 2747 1 1½ GM Inarkiev Ernesto RUS 2727 11

[Matt Mackenzie]

Mickey at the bottom

[Mick Norris]

Another quick draw from Shak?

[LawrenceCooper]

Another quick draw from Shak?

That would be my guess, especially with black.

[NickFaulks]

Mickey at the bottom

Good news is that in the GP middle or bottom doesn't make much difference.

[Chris Rice]

ChessBase Rd 5 report which features the game of the day as MVL v Salem Saleh in a Caro Kann where Black was a bit too keen to try and swap all the pieces off.

The Chess.com report by Peter Doggers starts off with the bizarre play by Black in Svidler-Radjabov where Radjabov played in a computer-like manner moving his knight from c6-b4-c6 on moves 13-14. In the interview after the game, when Radjabov started saying there was even a Bb7-c8 somewhere in his notes, Svidler replied: "I would have quit chess. A mental institution awaited me immediately."

Rd 5 photos taken by Anastasiya Karlovich

[Mick Norris]

Chris, thanks for that; one report says rest day today, other says tomorrow after round 6 today; do we know which is correct?

[Chris Rice]

The "official broadcaster" has the rest day as today Mick https://worldchess.com/gp2017/#grand-prix

[Mick Norris]

Makes sense; chessbase's guy will be surprised then