Caruana Clear Second in Shamkir, Two Rounds To Go

With a quick draw against Sergey Karjakin it's still Magnus Carlsen who is the sole leader at the Shamkir Chess tournament in Azerbaijan. Fabiano Caruana moved to clear second place with a win against Teimour Radjabov. On a bad day for Azeri chess, Hikaru Nakamura recovered with a win as Black against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Pavel Eljanov will most probably win the B group; he is a point clear after beating Gadir Guseinov in a model game, while Etienne Bacrot lost his second game in a row, to Alexander Motylev. 

All photos © Ahmed Mukhtar

Before discussing round 8, first here's a video interview with Fakhriyar Jabbarov of Synergy Group, the main sponsor of the tournament. Mr Jabbarov is the Director of the Organizing Committee. He explains what his company is doing, where the tournament “suddenly” came from and more:

The eighth round started with a rather tame encounter between the two top players born in 1990. It was the eighth consecutive draw for Sergey Karjakin, who admitted at the press conference that by now he can be called the “king of draws”!

Carlsen did not manage to get anything out of the opening - a Queen's Indian with the not so popular 5.Nbd2 - and then miscalculated something. He intended 16.Nd4, but then spotted 16...Rxd4! and 17...Nd2 which leads to an equal position.

After the game Carlsen felt that he should have gone for it anyway, because he was a bit uncomfortable about his position. “It's me who has to work to coordinate my pieces.”

More generally, Carlsen said about the game: “Obviously I am not 100% satisfied but it was a normal game. I was trying to play for a win with no risk, but it turns out there was no risk for him! After all the adventures that happened in my other games, I think it's OK to play one normal game.”

Pity that Carlsen didnt manage to complicate today and break Karjak's draw streak, still an amazing event to follow #ShamkirChess2014

— Robin van Kampen (@GMRobinVK) April 28, 2014

Just like in the first half of the tournament Hikaru Nakamura bounced back from his loss against Carlsen with a win against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. “I played what I suspect is a dubious opening, but it's interesting,” he said.

It was a Slav with a fianchetto on g2 for White, where Black's set-up was a bit provocative. White got a chance to grab the center, develop his queen's bishop with tempo and castle queenside, and it was clear he had the better chances. But then he allowed ...b7-b6, and Black was getting counter play.

Nakamura saw the exchange sac 24.Rxe6 coming. “I think Black should be better but I am not sure.” When Mamedyarov committed two inaccuracies, Black was definitely better and won deservedly. “Probably a good game overall,” said Nakamura.

As the saying goes, when things are not going your way it is time to "dance all night and just shake it up, shake it up!"

— Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru) April 28, 2014

If Fabiano Caruana and Teimour Radjabov had drawn their game, all results in rounds 6, 7 and 8 would have been completely mirrored from the first half. Instead, Caruana won as Radjabov overestimated his chances, and played a bit too aggressively.

The Azeri GM is still doing well with his King's Indian, and the position was rather unclear when Caruana went for a forced line that involved an Exchange sacrifice. Later Radjabov gave back the material and it was still more or less balanced, until he allowed the white c-pawn move to c7. If he hadn't been in time trouble he would certainly have noticed that that was decisive.

The B group has been more or less decided already. Etienne Bacrot, who has had problems in the past with final rounds, lost two his second game in a row while co-leader Pavel Eljanov easily won against Gadir Guseinov. It was another very instructive game by the Ukrainian GM, who is a point clear with one round to go:

Shamkir Chess 2014 | A | Pairings & results

Shamkir Chess 2014 | A | Round 8 Standings

#	Name	Rtg	Perf	1	2	3	4	5	6	Pts	SB
1	Carlsen,Magnus	2881	2852		0	½½	0	11	11	5.0/8
2	Caruana,Fabiano	2783	2813	1		½½	½1	½½	0	4.5/8
3	Karjakin,Sergey	2772	2785	½½	½½		½½	½	½	4.0/8	16.75
4	Radjabov,Teimour	2713	2785	1	½0	½½		½	½½	4.0/8	15.75
5	Nakamura,Hikaru	2772	2791	00	½½	½	½		11	4.0/8	13.50
6	Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar	2760	2646	00	1	½	½½	00		2.5/8

Shamkir Chess 2014 | B | Pairings & results

Shamkir Chess 2014 | B | Round 8 Standings

Name	Name	Rtg	Perf	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	Pts	SB
1	Eljanov,Pavel	2732	2809		0	1	1	½	1		½	½	1	5.5/8
2	Wang Hao	2734	2708	1		½	½	1	½	½		0	½	4.5/8	19.50
3	Wojtaszek,Radoslaw	2716	2700	0	½		½	1	½	½	½		1	4.5/8	17.00
4	Bacrot,Etienne	2722	2700	0	½	½		0	1	½	1	1		4.5/8	16.75
5	Motylev,Alexander	2685	2708	½	0	0	1			½	½	1	1	4.5/8	16.25
6	Guseinov,Gadir	2621	2665	0	½	½	0			1	1	½	½	4.0/8
7	Abasov,Nijat	2516	2628		½	½	½	½	0		½	½	½	3.5/8	13.50
8	Durarbayli,Vasif	2584	2618	½		½	0	½	0	½		1	½	3.5/8	13.25
9	Mamedov,Rauf	2660	2568	½	1		0	0	½	½	0		½	3.0/8
10	Safarli,Eltaj	2656	2520	0	½	0		0	½	½	½	½		2.5/8

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.