Tomashevsky Wins Tbilisi GP With Round To Spare, Leads Overall Standings

Nothing changed in the standings after six draws on Thursday, and so GM Evgeny Tomashevsky won the Tbilisi Grand Prix with a round to spare.

In a round with many missed chances, the Russian GM kept his 1.5-point lead over GM Dmitry Jakovenko. GM Teimour Radjabov is still in third place. Tomashevsky will win 170 GP points to reach 252 in total, which makes him the new leader in the overall GP standings.

All photos courtesy of FIDE.

The day before the penultimate round, GM Evgeny Tomashevsky was still modest about his performance.

“I also had some luck,” he said. That was certainly the case today; the tournament leader escaped with a draw after being lost against the winner of the previous Grand Prix, GM Dmitry Andreikin.

Tomashevsky's opening choice was remarkable. While the tournament situation called for a more solid system, he followed in Grischuk's footsteps and went for the sharp Noteboom variation of the Slav.

Although it was good for White in that first-round game, Andreikin decided not to copy Kasimdzhanov's approach completely. Instead he played a kind of “four pawns variation.”

Initially Black's setup was healthy enough to simply stop those pawns by staring them in the eyes. Later, however, they started to roll, while the two Noteboom pawns were mere spectators on the queenside.

Tomashevsky had to give a piece for two pawns, and if Andreikin had pushed his c-pawn at the right moment, he could have won the game and kept the suspense in the tournament, but that didn't happen.

“It's a long and difficult tournament,” sighed GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov after his game with GM Baadur Jobava. The Uzbek player was responsible for the biggest oversight of the day.

After a remarkably “ugly” opening from Jobava, White was just clearly better. Kasimdzhanov played strongly and convincingly, but just when he could deliver the final blow, he chose the wrong square for his knight.

It looks like Jobava agreed to a draw out of courtesy towards his opponent, because in the final position he must be winning!?

And what about GM Leinier Dominguez? He missed some chances earlier in the tournament, and today he really should have won. His 13.Rg1 was virtually new and strong, and GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov didn't react well at all. After 18.g5 Black's position was very unpleasant, and two moves later lost.

It was Mamedyarov himself who pointed out at the press conference that 20.f6 would have won for White. Dominguez's play was strong as well, but getting low on time he missed some things and his opponent got away with a draw.

GM Dmitry Jakovenko, the number two in the standings, was under some pressure against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. In a 4.d3 Berlin he gave up the bishop pair in return for quick development. White won a pawn, but with opposite-colored bishops this didn't mean much.

Yesterday ,GM Anish Giri promised that he wouldn't play his sharp Sicilian Taimanov stuff anymore, and today he delivered. Against GM Teimour Radjabov he chose one of the most solid options available: the Petroff.

Radjabov played the same as in a game versus Wang Hao from five years ago, which Giri surely had seen. The Dutchman was clearly well prepared, and solved his opening problems easily. He even avoided a draw at some point, where the position was very equal anyway. (The author is trying hard to avoid the term “dead draw.” )

GM Peter Svidler vs GM Alexander Grischuk was a quick draw in a Grünfeld. That's basically all there is to say; one gets the impression that neither player was in the mood for a real fight.

2015 Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix | Round 10 Standings

With his win in Tbilisi, Tomashevsky will gain the maximum number of Grand Prix points: 170. This gets him to 252 in total, and now he is in first place, followed by GM Fabiano Caruana with 230 points and GM Hikaru Nakamura with 207 points.

2014-2015 FIDE Grand Prix | Current Standings

The fourth and final Grand Prix will be held May 13-27 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. After it finishes, the top two players in the overall standings will have qualified for the 2016 Candidates Tournament. 

In Khanty, the fight will probably be fought out between Tomashevsky, Caruana, Nakamura and Gelfand, although Karjakin has a theoretical chance as well.

But first there is one more round to be played tomorrow in Tbilisi, which starts two hours earlier; at 1 p.m. local time (GMT+4) which is 10 a.m. Amsterdam, 4 a.m. New York, 1 a.m. Los Angeles and 8 p.m. Sydney.