Baku GP: Gelfand in Sole Lead as Grischuk Loses on Time

With some help from his opponent Boris Gelfand took sole leadership in round 3 of the Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The Israeli grandmaster is the only player on 2.5/3 as Alexander Grischuk lost on time in what was a drawn rook ending. In the only other decisive game, Sergey Karjakin defeated Leinier Dominguez.

The last game to finish in round 3 was also the most dramatic and most important for the tournament situation. Boris Gelfand had been pressing the whole game and reached a winning rook ending, but in timetrouble he failed to convert it. But then his opponent, Alexander Grischuk, failed to make the second time control (only then would the increment phase start), and so Gelfand won anyway, and became the sole leader.

Like the first two days, the round saw two decisive games and four draws. The other winner was Sergey Karjakin, who beat Leinier Dominguez from a very quiet opening. White was always a bit better, but ending was perhaps still holdable until Dominguez more or less blundered into a lost bishop ending.

...while Karjakin joins his wife in the press room | Photo © Maria Emelianova courtesy of FIDE

Fabiano Caruana came close to beating Hikaru Nakamura, but the Italian had one hallucination and then all his advantage was gone. “This 36...Ng2? is amazing. I wanted to play 36...Ne6. (...) A terrible move, the rest I can live with,” he said. About the earlier phase, Nakamura said: “In this game I should just be a man, castle long and attack.”

Mamedyarov and Andreikin played an interesting Chebanenko Slav where the Azeri GM was surprised by the natural-looking 6...Nbd7. Soon after, he avoided a position where White has a slight edge because it didnt fit his style, and after a miscalculation his opponent Dmitry Andreikin got some winning chances, but it wasn't much.

The other two draws were even all the time. Especially Radjabov-Svidler wasn't very interesting. “Sadly the game is over by move eleven. (...) Somebody has to go really crazy for something to happen in this position,” said Svidler.

2014 Grand Prix, Baku | Round 3 Standings

#	Name	Rtg	Perf	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	Pts	SB
1	Gelfand,B	2748	3067		½							1			1	2.5/3
2	Caruana,F	2844	2880	½			½				1					2.0/3	3.75
3	Svidler,P	2732	2871				½	½						1		2.0/3	2.75
4	Nakamura,H	2764	2886		½	½									1	2.0/3	2.50
5	Radjabov,T	2726	2734			½			½					½		1.5/3	2.25
6	Kasimdzhanov,R	2706	2726					½		½			½			1.5/3	2.00
7	Tomashevsky,E	2701	2751						½			½	½			1.5/3	1.75
8	Karjakin,S	2767	2797		0							½	1			1.5/3	1.50
9	Grischuk,A	2797	2619	0						½	½					1.0/3	1.50
10	Dominguez,L	2751	2605						½	½	0					1.0/3	1.50
11	Mamedyarov,S	2764	2607			0		½							½	1.0/3	1.00
12	Andreikin,D	2722	2480	0			0							½		0.5/3

2014 Grand Prix, Baku | Schedule & Pairings

The total prize fund is €120,000. The games start each day at 15:00 local time which is 12:00 in Amsterdam, 11:00 in London, 06:00 in New York, 03:00 in Los Angeles and 20:00 in Sydney. The last round starts two hours earlier. The tournament website provides prodive live commentary by GMs Emil Sutovsky and GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko which can also be followed on Chess.com/TV! The winner and second placed player in the overall final standings of the Grand Prix will qualify for the Candidates’ Tournament to be held in the last quarter of 2015 or the first half of 2016. | Games via TWIC