Andreikin Wins Tashkent Grand Prix

Dmitry Andreikin has won the the second FIDE Grand Prix in Tashkent. The Russian grandmaster drew quickly with Anish Giri in the final round, and his nearest rivals Hikaru Nakamura and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov didn't win their games either.

In the last round Fabiano Caruana beat Dmitry Jakovenko and Sergey Karjakin won against Rustam Kasimdzhanov.

In the final round Andreikin played the safe Moscow Variation against Giri's Semi-Slav, but didn't get anything out of the opening and was even worse. “I checked too many different lines, I didn't sleep well. (...) Anish played very correctly and very fast. I didn't like my position, and missed 16...c5,” said Andreikin, who got away with a draw rather quickly nonetheless.

Both Mamedyarov and Nakamura drew their game before Andreikin had finished his press conference and so press officer Nastja Karlovich could congratulate him already.

Nakamura split the point with Vachier-Lagrave in a 6...Bc5 Ruy Lopez; the same line as in Andreikin-Nakamura earlier in the tournament. “The Frenchman with two names” was well prepared, and got a nice advantage but at some point a really difficult computer move was needed to keep that. Neither player had seen it, and so the game quickly petered out to a draw.

Mamedyarov's draw with Jobava was a fascinating fight that started as a Benoni. GM Dejan Bojkov has analyzed the many adventures for us:

Karjakin finished the tournament with a relatively easy win over Kasimdzhanov, who was really outplayed. At the press conference the Uzbek number one referred to a famous Seinfeld episode, and quoted the character George Costanza: “You know guys, everything single thing that I've done in my life was wrong. From now on I will do the opposite.”

Kasimdzhanov: “I think this is what applies to me not only in the last game, but in the last fifteen games or so. Pretty much everything I did was wrong and from now on I can only play better.”

After a very shaky tournament Caruana finally played a decent game. In an irregular opening he quickly got a comfortable position, and won a pawn when Jakovenko blundered a standard trick. The Russian GM then also failed to find the best defense.

Radjabov and Gelfand drew a Symmetrical English; the Azeri GM repeated his ending against Karjakin in Baku and had found a subtle improvement on move 18. Gelfand spent about a hour on the clock, found a very accurate response (“difficult to find; all lot of possibilities to go wrong”), and then drew rather comfortably.

Andreikin wasn't the first name that came up when one had to predict the winner of the Tashkent Grand Prix. Especially since he was one of the players who also played the Baku Grand Prix, which finished five days before the start of this one, Andreikin's victory in Tashkent is a truly excellent achievement.

“After Baku I was trying to play differently and actually I came back to my normal style. In Baku I tried to play more aggressively and here I played normal again. I must say my opponents really helped me; why should I keep that a secret? But I also managed to hold quite difficult positions,” the winner said.

The same can be said for Nakamura (“After Baku a decent result would have been fine but plus two is very good”) and Mamedyarov, who finished in second place with only half a point less. Vachier-Lagrave (“It could have been better, it could have been worse”), Caruana (“not great, things didn't go well for me until the last round; today I played a decent game”) and Karjakin might not be all too happy with their play, but plus one in the final standings is decent. Jobava finished on the same score, and that's not bad at all either!

Radjabov drew all his games (“I thought there is a prize for all draws but for some reason there is not!”) while Giri drew ten and lost to Karjakin (“I didn't play well. It's impossible to play well and not to win one game. Towards the end I was having lots of negative emotions, my mood was getting worse and worse. Nothing worked out. I'm glad the tournament is over and at least I didn't score as badly as I feel.”)

Jakovenko was suffering from a cold and finished on minus two, while Kasimzdhanov (“I don't really want to think chess at the moment”) and Gelfand (“one of the worst tournaments I played; one-move blunders”) collected only on 3.5 points. Especially for the latter that was disappointing, since he shared first place in Baku with Caruana.

Below you can find the final standings, all results and also the overall standings in the Grand Prix after two of the four tournaments.

2014 Grand Prix, Tashkent | Final Standings

#	Name	Rtg	Perf	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	Pts	SB
1	Andreikin,D	2722	2852		½	1	½	½	1	1	½	½	½	½	½	7.0/11
2	Nakamura,H	2764	2815	½		½	½	½	½	1	½	½	½	½	1	6.5/11	34.50
3	Mamedyarov,S	2764	2815	0	½		½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	6.5/11	32.00
4	Vachier-Lagrave,M	2757	2783	½	½	½		1	½	½	½	½	0	1	½	6.0/11	32.50
5	Caruana,F	2844	2776	½	½	½	0		½	½	½	½	1	½	1	6.0/11	31.00
6	Karjakin,S	2767	2782	0	½	½	½	½		0	½	1	1	1	½	6.0/11	30.00
7	Jobava,B	2717	2787	0	0	½	½	½	1		½	½	½	1	1	6.0/11	29.75
8	Radjabov,T	2726	2754	½	½	½	½	½	½	½		½	½	½	½	5.5/11
9	Giri,A	2768	2720	½	½	½	½	½	0	½	½		½	½	½	5.0/11
10	Jakovenko,D	2747	2690	½	½	0	1	0	0	½	½	½		½	½	4.5/11
11	Kasimdzhanov,R	2706	2625	½	½	0	0	½	0	0	½	½	½		½	3.5/11	19.00
12	Gelfand,B	2748	2621	½	0	0	½	0	½	0	½	½	½	½		3.5/11	18.75

xxx

2014 Grand Prix, Baku | All Results

FIDE Grand Prix | Standings After Two Tournaments

The next Grand Prix is scheduled for 14-28 February 2015 in Tbilisi, Georgia and the last one will be held 13-27 May 2015 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. 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