Sochi R5: Radjabov beats Cheparinov
"A game of patzers," that's how Radjabov described his victory against Cheparinov, in the fifth round of the Sochi Grand Prix tournament. Besides that game there were six draws, and so Radjabov joined Cheparinov,in the standings, together with Grischuk.A few minutes before the start of the fifth round, it was Peter Svidler who came to his board as one of the first players. But this didn't mean he was walking fast; on the contrary, he had some difficulties moving forward actually. He explained: "There's something with my back, I almost cannot move. Yesterday we played football and me and football don't seem to go along very well."Therefore a quick draw with Grischuk was quite welcome for the grandmaster from St Petersburg, and this is exactly what happened. In a line from the Najdorf that's been analysed (and played several times!) to a forced perpetual, the players shook hands after about 45 minutes. The tournament's 'expert' Azmaiparashvili, who just as in Baku is here to advice the arbiter when a draw is offered, summoned the players for a quick talk, but of course there was nothing he could do. But after the game it was a bit ironic to see Grischuk playing blitz for about an hour in the press room! One round before he stated that he isn't really enjoying classical chess, but Sasha, aren't you exaggerating it a bit now? ;-)
The game of the round was of course Radjabov-Cheparinov, and not just because it was the only decisive game. It was full of mistakes and despite having won the game, Radjabov was quite upset afterwards. "Good that there's a rest day tomorrow!"
One of the nice things of working in the press room in Sochi, to create the report and bulletin, is that you often get the players themselves standing right next to you and telling you the story of the game, looking over your shoulder while you're entering the variations into Chessbase. This way I learnt, from first hand, how much Vugar Gashimov had seen in his game against Wang Yue, and what incredible defence he had just to hold this game to a draw. Do check it below!
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Peter Doggers is Chess.com’s Senior Global Correspondent. Between 2007 and 2013, his website ChessVibes was a major source for chess news and videos, acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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