So's Unbeaten Streak Ended By Mamedyarov
After 67 consecutive classical games without a loss, GM Wesley So's streak ended today in the opening round of Shamkir Chess 2017, colloquially known as the Vugar Gashimov Memorial. The streak dated back to last summer and ended when he blundered right on the time control.
All photos courtesy official site.
Playing Black, the top Azeri grandmaster GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defended his home turf nicely. He rebuffed So's rare opening choice -- the Scotch, which had only been employed a handful of times for the new U.S. champion, although it had been used by So in 2015 to defeat Grenke winner GM Levon Aronian.
The move 8...a5 isn't seen often, although it did sparkle for a top Norwegian GM so Mamedyarov tried out "Hammertime" himself:
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov didn't play great in the first two editions of his country's flagship event, but the last year has gone quite well.
The Azeris had a zero-sum day, however. GM Pavel Eljanov picked up the only other win of the round, as his knight defeated GM Teimor Radjabov's bishop despite pawns on both sides in the ending.
GM Pavel Eljanov (left) showed that there's teeth even in elementary endings against GM Teimour Radjabov.
You can blame the sameness of bishop color and pawn square color for that as Eljanov had no trouble sliding in on the dark squares.
Eljanov has already equalled the number of wins he had last year. In 2016, he finished second to last, only defeating the last-place finisher. Of course, since that event he had a number of successes, including team silver at the Baku Chess Olympiad and winning the Chess.com Isle of Man International.
The other three games ended without anyone making serious headway. Draws were reached in GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek-GM Vladimir Kramnik, GM Veselin Topalov-GM Michael Adams, and GM Sergey Karjakin-GM Pentala Harikrishna.
The tournament is a nine-round round-robin with the time control 40/120, 20/60, SD/15+30 seconds increment beginning move 61. Games will be played every day from April 21-April 30 with the exception of April 26, the lone rest day.
| № | Name | Rtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pts |
| 1 | Radosław Wojtaszek | 2745 | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Veselin Topalov | 2741 | BUL | ½ | 0.5 | |||||||||
| 3 | Wesley So | 2822 | 0 | 0.0 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Sergey Karjakin | 2783 | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Pavel Eljanov | 2781 | 1 | 1.0 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Teimour Radjabov | 2710 | 0 | 0.0 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Pentala Harikrishna | 2758 | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Shakhriyar Mammadyarov | 2772 | 1 | 1.0 | ||||||||||
| 9 | Michael Adams | 2761 | ½ | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Vladimir Kramnik | 2811 | ½ | 0.5 |
Games from TWIC.
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Mike Klein began playing chess at the age of four in Charlotte, NC. In 1986, he lost to Josh Waitzkin at the National Championship featured in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer." A year later, Mike became the youngest member of the very first All-America Chess Team, and was on the team a total of eight times. In 1988, he won the K-3 National Championship, and eventually became North Carolina's youngest-ever master. In 1996, he won clear first for under-2250 players in the top section of the World Open. Mike has taught chess full-time for a dozen years in New York City and Charlotte, with his students and teams winning many national championships. He now works at Chess.com as a Senior Journalist and at ChessKid.com as the Chief Chess Officer. In 2012, 2015, and 2018, he was awarded Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America. He has also previously won other awards from the CJA such as Best Tournament Report, and also several writing awards for mainstream newspapers. His chess writing and personal travels have now brought him to more than 85 countries.
