2018 Gashimov Memorial

[Chris Rice]

This event starts today with an opening ceremony and round 1 is scheduled for tomorrow at 12 noon, and here's a preview from Peter Doggers. Kramnik's not playing due to old health issues rearing up again after a stressful Candidates tournament in Berlin.

Players:

1 Carlsen (2843)
2 Mamedyarov (2814)
3 Ding (2778)
4 Karjakin (2778)
5 Giri (2777)
6 Topalov (2749)
7 Radjabov (2748)
8 Navara (2745)
9 Wojtaszek (2744)
10 Mamedov (2704)

[Chris Rice]

The Round 1 pairings are up and we have a very tasty little clash between Mamedyarov and Carlsen to get us going:

Topalov, V. (0) 2749 — Radjabov, T. (0) 2748
Giri, Anish (0) 2777 — Karjakin, S. (0) 2778
Ding, Liren (0) 2778 — Wojtaszek, R. (0) 2744
Mamedyarov (0) 2814 — Carlsen, M. (0) 2843
Navara, David (0) 2745 — Mamedov, Rauf (0) 2704

[Steven DuCharme]

I am undefeated against these patzers

[David Robertson]

a very tasty little clash between Mamedyarov and Carlsen

Wrong! Witheringly dull in fact. Qs off by #11, and evaluation [0.00] barely altered until they patted hands over a deserted board thirty moves later

[later add-in] Oh! I've just seen the reason for all that dull twaddle in Shak-Carlsen: no draws before #41. So how is this thoroughly ridiculous policy working out? Not so well: all five games have been drawn

[NickFaulks]

all five games have been drawn

One is still very much alive - but I agree about the nonsense of the policy.

[Kevin Thurlow]

There was a 30 moves by each player rule in Reykjavik, so two 2000s were told they couldn't agree a draw after white's 30th move, so black immediately moved his rook one square and offered a draw and that was ok. Meanwhile, 2 GMs drew in 15 moves by repetition and I didn't notice any great excitement... Something similar happened at Gibraltar a few years ago. I was curtly told by one arbiter I had to continue with my opposite bishop and 6 pawns ending for another ten moves, so I found another arbiter who actually looked at the position and immediately said we could draw. But two GMs had just drawn in about 10 moves with a repetition.

Let's be consistent!

[Chris Rice]

Yes sorry Shak-Carlsen didn't live up to the hype. From Peter Doggers report on the first round "World number two Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's classical score vs Magnus Carlsen before the tournament wasn't great: one win vs five for Carlsen (and nine draws). Mamedyarov knew all too well that he had lost all three encounters played in Shamkir, and admitted it was safety first for him. He said he just wanted to play "accurate chess" and felt OK with the result. Carlsen didn't mind either: "As you can see from the course of the game, I don't think any of us wanted to take excessive risks."

Let's hope Round 2 is a bit more lively (12 noon start):

Radjabov, T. (½) 2748 — Mamedov, Rauf (½) 2704
Carlsen, M. (½) 2843 — Navara, David (½) 2745
Wojtaszek, R. (½) 2744 — Mamedyarov (½) 2814
Karjakin, S. (½) 2778 — Ding, Liren (½) 2778
Topalov, V. (½) 2749 — Giri, Anish (½) 2777

[LawrenceCooper]

Yes sorry Shak-Carlsen didn't live up to the hype. From Peter Doggers report on the first round "World number two Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's classical score vs Magnus Carlsen before the tournament wasn't great: one win vs five for Carlsen (and nine draws). Mamedyarov knew all too well that he had lost all three encounters played in Shamkir, and admitted it was safety first for him. He said he just wanted to play "accurate chess" and felt OK with the result. Carlsen didn't mind either: "As you can see from the course of the game, I don't think any of us wanted to take excessive risks."

Let's hope Round 2 is a bit more lively (12 noon start):

Radjabov, T. (½) 2748 — Mamedov, Rauf (½) 2704
Carlsen, M. (½) 2843 — Navara, David (½) 2745
Wojtaszek, R. (½) 2744 — Mamedyarov (½) 2814
Karjakin, S. (½) 2778 — Ding, Liren (½) 2778
Topalov, V. (½) 2749 — Giri, Anish (½) 2777

Navara's game is well worth a look and Ding seemed to have a winning ending so the round wasn't totally without incident.

[David Robertson]

And another five draws

[Matt Mackenzie]

Almost as "good" as our most recent Chess Classic!

[Tim Harding]

And another five draws

Yawn.

I am not bothering to watch this; maybe if Miroshnichenko or Gustafsson were commenting I might try, but I am saving my energies for the US Championships.

The European Senior Teams is more fun than the Gashimov. On Wednesday Stewart Reuben won against the top team Italy and it looks like (after a rest yesterday) he will win again today. And this is in the 50+ as England don't have a 65+ team.

[LawrenceCooper]

And another five draws

Giri did his best to break the cycle by blundering an exchange but Topalov was unable to take advantage.

[David Robertson]

Heading for yet another five draws. Two still in play, as I write, of which one is stone-dead (tho caution: it involves Carlsen). Some signs of life in DL-Topa, but not too much

[NickFaulks]

Some signs of life in DL-Topa, but not too much

Quite a lot, I would have said. That one's a good game, but a hit rate of one in five is still very disappointing.

[LawrenceCooper]

Some signs of life in DL-Topa, but not too much

Quite a lot, I would have said. That one's a good game, but a hit rate of one in five is still very disappointing.

42....Ng4 looked very strong meeting 43 f3 with Qb8.