Mamedyarov Repeats; Wins Shamkir 2nd Year In A Row
Despite yesterday's slip, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov successfully defended his title in the 2017 Vugar Gashimov Memorial today after a last round draw with Veselin Topalov; a draw by his only other rival, Wesley So, clinched first place for the top Azeri grandmaster. Last year Mamedyarov needed to defeat Fabiano Caruana in a playoff to win the the title, but this year will have won clear first with 5.5/9.
A confident Mamedyarov walking to his game. | Photo courtesy Shamkir Chess.
Going into today's round Topalov trailed Mamedyarov by half-point, but with the Black pieces it is always difficult to create winning chances without taking on extreme risk. The two players played it safe and drew without much intrigue:
Wesley So also had a chance to tie for first, but would need to overcome Pentala Harikrishna, also with Black. A Catalan took place on the board but So could not create any chances and the players eventually drew as well:
In the only decisive round of the day, Vladimir Kramnik managed to outplay Pavel Eljanov in another Catalan, ending with an interesting king hunt, this is our game of the day!
Kramnik finished his roller coaster event with a win.| Photo courtesy Shamkir Chess.
The final two games of the day ended peacefully, but not without some interest. First Radoslaw Wojtaszek demonstrated some nice strategic concepts to hold against Michael Adams:
Meanwhile, Sergey Karjakin chose the ultra-solid Semi-Tarrasch defense against Teimour Radjabov, who found a way to put some pressure on the 2016 Candidate:
2017 Vugar Gashimov Memorial | Final Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rating | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar | 2772 | 2842 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 5.5/9 | |||
| 2 | So,Wesley | 2822 | 2798 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5.0/9 | 22 | ||
| 3 | Topalov,Veselin | 2741 | 2806 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 5.0/9 | 21.75 | ||
| 4 | Kramnik,Vladimir | 2811 | 2799 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5.0/9 | 20.5 | ||
| 5 | Wojtaszek,Radoslaw | 2745 | 2767 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.5/9 | 20.5 | ||
| 6 | Adams,Michael | 2761 | 2765 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.5/9 | 20 | ||
| 7 | Karjakin,Sergey | 2783 | 2764 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.5/9 | 19.75 | ||
| 8 | Radjabov,Teimour | 2710 | 2732 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 4.0/9 | |||
| 9 | Harikrishna,P | 2755 | 2688 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 3.5/9 | 16.5 | ||
| 10 | Eljanov,Pavel | 2751 | 2689 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.5/9 | 14.5 |
Games from TWIC.
Previous Reports:
- Brilliant Wojtaszek Surging In Shamkir
- Mamedyarov Maintains Firm Lead In Shamkir
- Mamedyarov Extends Lead As Kramnik Struggles
- Karjakin, So Notch 1st Wins In Shamkir
- Kramnik Wins With Amazing Rook Sac In Shamkir
- Mamedyarov Bamboozles Eljanov, Steals Lead In Shamkir
- Topalov Wins A Brilliancy In Shamkir
- So's Unbeaten Streak Ended By Mamedyarov
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Bio
IM Kostya Kavutskiy is a professional chess author, journalist, coach, commentator, and player. As a part of Chess.com's content team since 2009, Kostya has recorded many video lectures, covered elite tournaments, written instructive articles & blogs, and has done many live commentary shows for Chess TV. Kostya has also written a number of articles for Chess Life magazine and Chess Life Online, and is currently an instructor for Chess University. In 2015, Modernized: The Open Sicilian was released, which Kostya co-authored with IM Zhanibek Amanov. Kostya's tournament accomplishments include winning the 2014 Southern California Closed Championship, as well as achieving his IM title in November 2016. In April 2017, he placed 6th in the star-studded 2017 Reykjavik Open. He currently resides in Mountain View, CA, and his plans are to pursue the GM title while working actively as a coach.
