Carlsen Beats Topalov, Leads Shamkir Chess

Magnus Carlsen defeated tournament leader Veselin Topalov today, and taking the lead at the Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir. Ding Liren moved to plus-one after beating a suffering David Navara.

Round seven was crunch time for Magnus Carlsen, who had the white pieces against Veselin Topalov. Half a point ahead of his rival, Topalov obviously was happy with a draw but he also knew that he had lost the last six games to this opponent—rapid and blitz games in Leuven and Paris in 2016 and 2017.

However, the last two decisive, classical games between these players were in fact won by Topalov; both in 2015, at Norway Chess and the Sinquefield Cup. The last one was after he could throw in a remarkably early ...g7-g5 pawn push in a Bb5 Sicilian.

Topalov, dressed up for a big game (although he often wears a tie). | Photo:  Shamkir Chess.

Today Carlsen played a kind of reversed Bb5 Sicilian where he compromised his pawn structure but got the bishop pair in return. He admitted that he didn't have much.

On move 25 things became concrete, and Topalov decided to give up his queen for rook and bishop where, as Carlsen pointed out, he could have avoided that with 27....Kf8. 

“I was not ready to play it somehow,” said Topalov. 

The commentator Ljubomir Ljubojevic's first instinct was that White was completely winning with the queen, but according to the players Black was actually really close to a draw, especially if he would have gone 38...Rf1. 

Topalov: “After move 40 I started to blunder everything.”

He needed 56 moves, but in the end Carlsen scored his first classical win vs Topalov in six years.

The new tournament leader is Magnus Carlsen. | Photo:  Shamkir Chess.

David Navara is a special chess player. Who else can lose three games in a row, and recite a self-composed chess poem at the press conference?

The Czech grandmaster, who went down vs Ding Liren today, said he wrote it back in 2008:

"I want to play chess above all,
That is my ascent, that's my fall.
Hard is the journey to the top,
The clock is ticking and won't stop."

Navara is more of a writer than we knew; he said he has already written "one and a half" books about his own games but that he hasn't had time yet to translate it into English. | Photo:  Shamkir Chess.

Today things went wrong very early on, but not like you would expect. He didn't like his position even before trading the dark-squared bishops, and noted that it wasn't his preparation.

“I planned to play a different opening but I was just not concentrated enough and when there were cameras I was thinking [that] I should hide my pen because it was not nice enough, so I hid my pen and made a different move than I prepared.”

He was subsequently outplayed like an amateur against a grandmaster. As always, Ding was rather quiet at the press conference, but what he said was to the point: he had seen everything. 

Mixing up preparation didn't exactly help Navara today while Ding played a strong game. | Photo:  Shamkir Chess.

Wojtaszek-Karjakin, Mamedov-Giri and Mamedyarov-Radjabov were not too exciting draws, and can be found in the PGN file.

Rauf Mamedov turned 30 today and that didn't go unnoticed! | Photo:  Shamkir Chess.

2018 Shamkir Chess | Round 7 Standings

Round 8 pairings:
Radjabov-Karjakin, Topalov-Wojtaszek, Giri-Carlsen, Ding-Mamedov, Mamedyarov-Navara

Round 9 pairings:
Navara-Radjabov, Mamedov-Mamedyarov, Carlsen-Ding, Wojtaszek-Giri, Karjakin-Topalov

Shamkir Chess runs from April 19-28, with a rest day on April 24. The games start at 3 p.m. local time, which is 1 p.m. Central Europe, noon London, 7 a.m. New York, and 4 a.m. Pacific. The prize fund is €100,000 ($123,689) with a first prize of €30,000 ($37,107).

Previous reports:

• Carlsen Gets 1st Win In Shamkir Chess; Topalov Leads
• Topalov Breaks Draw Spell In Shamkir
• All Players Tied For 1st/Last After 3 Rounds In Shamkir
• 'Giri Perfection' Continues In Shamkir
• Mamedyarov-Carlsen Headlines 5 Draws At Shamkir Chess
• Carlsen, Mamedyarov Top Seeds In Shamkir