Shamkir: Caruana Catches Carlsen Before Tomorrow's Clash

Fabiano Caruana caught Magnus Carlsen in first place in the penultimate round of the Shamkir Chess tournament in Azerbaijan. Both scored 5.5/9 and will face each other in tomorrow's final round. Caruana defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov today while Carlsen tried for long to beat Teimour Radjabov, but had to settle for a draw. Pavel Eljanov finished half a point ahead of Alexander Motylev in the B group and dedicated his victory to Vugar Gashimov.

The Shamkir Chess tournament will see an exciting last round where the two tournament leaders, Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, face each other behind the board. Caruana defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who lost the thread in a terribly complicated middlegame.

It was quite a fascinating game which started as a Slav. It looked quite similar to Mamedyarov-Nakamura played on Monday. The difficult queenless middlegame mostly required calculation, and so both players got low on time. In the end it was Mamedyarov who started to make mistakes.

Karjakin and Nakamura played some kind of hybrid of the h3 variation and the Petrosian variation of the King's Indian. Black could trade the dark-squared bishops early in the game, and the white king lost the possibility to castle. But there was never any real crisis; both players played accurately and many pieces and pawns were traded until Karjakin's ninth draw was a fact.

Radjabov and Carlsen played a Closed Ruy Lopez and it's not exactly clear which variation it was: the Zaitsev, the Smyslov or the Breyer. In any case, the position was rather closed, and after the queens were traded the game seemed to be heading towards a draw but Carlsen kept on trying. Eventually the draw was agreed on the 101st move!

In case Carlsen and Caruana draw their game tomorrow, tournament victory will go to the world champion. The tournament regulations might have been formulated somewhat ambiguously, but Chief Arbiter Faik Gasanov confirmed to Chess.com that number of wins will decide in this case. 

Caruana said about his and Carlsen's play, and tomorrow's clash: “It's hard to say who's played the best chess. I think every chess has had some good moments and some bad moments. It was a tough tournament. I don't know when Magnus lost two games in any tournament, especially two games in a row. It's quite a rare occasion. Still wide open tomorrow, anything can happen. I'll just try to play a normal game and I don't want to worry about the result. I'll just see what happens.”

There was no doubt that Pavel Eljanov, who was a point clear, would win the B group. With a quick and boring draw with Nijat Abasov (an Exchange Slav where, except for two knights, everything got exchanged, not just the c-pawns) the Ukrainian GM secured the first prize. In the end it was European Champion Alexander Motylev who finished second. In the last round he defeated Gadir Guseinov.

At night, many players of the B group, who are now done in Shamkir, could be found in the hotel bar to watch the Bayern-Real match. However, since this match was decided at such an early stage, they quickly started playing blitz. Sarkhan Gashimov, who won the San Sebastian blitz tournament a few years ago, also joined. The king of the evening was Guseinov, a remarkably strong blitz player!

Chess players ready for #BayernRealMadrid pic.twitter.com/UHIoYiLTeV

— ChessVibes (@ChessVibes) April 29, 2014

OK that’s what you get with this score. #BayernRealMadrid pic.twitter.com/oBJTKuCtUs

— ChessVibes (@ChessVibes) April 29, 2014

Shamkir Chess 2014 | A | Pairings & results

Shamkir Chess 2014 | A | Round 9 Standings

#	Name	Rtg	Perf	1	2	3	4	5	6	Pts	SB
1	Caruana,Fabiano	2783	2846		1	½½	½1	½½	01	5.5/9	23.75
2	Carlsen,Magnus	2881	2836	0		½½	0½	11	11	5.5/9	20.75
3	Karjakin,Sergey	2772	2784	½½	½½		½½	½½	½	4.5/9	21.25
4	Radjabov,Teimour	2713	2796	½0	1½	½½		½	½½	4.5/9	20.25
5	Nakamura,Hikaru	2772	2789	½½	00	½½	½		11	4.5/9	17.25
6	Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar	2760	2620	10	00	½	½½	00		2.5/9

Shamkir Chess 2014 | B | Pairings & results

Shamkir Chess 2014 | B | Final Standings

#	Name	Rtg	Perf	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	Pts	SB
1	Eljanov,Pavel	2732	2775		½	0	1	1	½	½	½	1	1	6.0/9
2	Motylev,Alexander	2685	2738	½		0	1	0	½	1	½	1	1	5.5/9
3	Wang Hao	2734	2694	1	1		½	½	½	0	½	½	½	5.0/9	23.75
4	Bacrot,Etienne	2722	2695	0	0	½		½	½	1	1	1	½	5.0/9	20.25
5	Wojtaszek,Radoslaw	2716	2657	0	1	½	½		½	0	½	½	1	4.5/9
6	Abasov,Nijat	2516	2640	½	½	½	½	½		½	½	0	½	4.0/9	18.50
7	Mamedov,Rauf	2660	2625	½	0	1	0	1	½		0	½	½	4.0/9	18.00
8	Durarbayli,Vasif	2584	2632	½	½	½	0	½	½	1		0	½	4.0/9	18.00
9	Guseinov,Gadir	2621	2628	0	0	½	0	½	1	½	1		½	4.0/9	16.25
10	Safarli,Eltaj	2656	2543	0	0	½	½	0	½	½	½	½		3.0/9

The rounds start at 12:00 Amsterdam, 6am New York and 3am Los Angeles time. The official website is www.shamkirchess.az. Chess.com offers daily live commentary at www.chess.com/tv. Games via TWIC.