Grischuk Joins Radjabov, Comments On Kasparov

Besides providing a funny comment on Garry Kasparov's participation in St. Louis, Alexander Grischuk yesterday beat Pavel Eljanov to join Teimour Radjabov in the lead at the FIDE Grand Prix in Geneva, Switzerland. Tuesday is a rest day.

Alexander Grischuk looking at Peter Svidler's endgame vs Aronian. | Photo: WorldChess.

In round five Mamedyarov and Radjabov drew their mutual game quickly, like they always do. As the only player on plus one winning his game, Grischuk caught Radjabov in first place. At the bottom of the table, both Inarkiev and Rapport scored their first wins. Hou Yifan is now in last place.

Geneva Grand Prix | Round 5 Results

Radjabov and Mamedyarov walking back to the hotel, with another
super quick draw in the pocket. | Photo: WorldChess.

Alexander Grischuk is always good in interviews, and yesterday he did not disappoint when asked about Garry Kasparov's participation in the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Grand Chess Tour.

"For me it's by far the most interesting event this year, apart from the ones I play. As a spectator it's just fantastic. The only thing I don't like is, I was always saying to all those guys, like Aronian, Nepomniachtchi and many others: 'OK, what do you know, you never played Kasparov.' And now they're going to. So that's the only thing I am a bit unhappy [about]."

It's hard to image that Grischuk, who has been around for so long, is only 33. He played Kasparov 11 times in total, between 2001 and 2004, but seven of those games were rapid. In classical games, the score is 3.5-0.5 for Kasparov. Grischuk also didn't win a single rapid game.

Grischuk playing Eljanov in Geneva. | Photo: WorldChess.

He did beat Pavel Eljanov in round five in Geneva. "I quickly got an excellent position. The trick is to lose a tempo compared to [the] Dragon," Grischuk said with tongue in cheek.

Eljanov was a good opponent to try the rare 6...Bc5!? against, in the English Four Knights. "He didn't know it. I think he reacted poorly with 9.Na4. I don't think he played much Dragon in his life so it was sort of difficult for him to play."

WGM Anna Burtasova spoke with Alexander Grischuk after the game.

Richard Rapport finally managed to turn the tide. A goal just before halftime can be quite valuable in football, and scoring just before the rest day cannot be bad either!

"It was very unexpected for me to win a single game after this castle queenside," said Rapport, who used a typical way to describe three zeros on the scoreboard.  

Perhaps this pre-game chat with his wife Jovana did wonders for Rapport? | Photo: WorldChess.

The Hungarian player defeated Hou Yifan, who probably was a bit too ambitious when she took on a7, according to Rapport. His answer was what Aron Nimzowitsch called a "mysterious rook move," although it wasn't so mysterious since the g-file was opened right away. 

Would you have played 20...Rg8 here?

Black was setting up a typical attack on the white king, even though the queens had already left the board. It is really instructive to see that White could have solved her problems twice by simply allowing Black to take on g2. Allowing the pawn on f3 was killing, when Rapport could have ended the game with a beautiful, not mysterious but silent rook move.

WGM Anna Burtasova spoke with Richard Rapport after the game.

Another player won his first game, and was proud of it: Ernesto Inarkiev. The Russian grandmaster not only scored his first win in the tournament, but also in the whole series as he didn't manage to beat anyone in the Moscow GP.

"When you play Najdorf it's always quite tricky because you need some special mood to play," he said. "Today I was in this mood, despite that I had two very long games; both games I played more than six hours. Still, I felt that this is the right day to play this Najdorf."

Inarkiev was in the mood for a Najdorf. | Photo: WorldChess.

Inarkiev actually was surprised when his opponent went 13...Qh4+, a move he didn't know. There he spent a lot of time, and found an original plan: castling queenside. A few pawn sacrifices followed, and White's domination of the h-file suddenly made Black's "active" pieces look rather clumsy.

FIDE Press officer Goran Urosevic spoke with Ernesto Inarkiev after the game.

One drawn game from round five definitely needs to be included here. After the first round Radjabov pointed out that Anish Giri's reputation of a drawish player is rather unfortunate. And indeed, against Alexander Riazantsev, Giri once again showed what an enterprising player he often is:

That was almost Tal-like play from Giri in round five! | Photo: WorldChess.

Geneva Grand Prix | Round 5 Standings

Round six, on Wednesday, has these pairings: Grischuk-Radjabov, Aronian-Harikrishna, Svidler-Mamedyarov, Jakovenko-Giri, Nepomniachtchi-Inarkiev, Li Chao-Eljanov, Gelfand-Adams, Rapport-Riazantsev, and Salem-Hou Yifan.

The Geneva Grand Prix takes place July 6-15 in the Hotel Le Richemond in Geneva. The prize fund is €130,000 / $148,520. The time control is 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 1.

Previous reports:

• Nepomniachtchi, Salem, Svidler Win In Geneva Round 4
• Eljanov-Nepomniachtchi: Was The Pawn Ending Winning?
• Radjabov Sacrifices His Way To 2/2 In Geneva
• Agonized Grand Prix Resumes In Geneva