
Andreikin Crushes Karjakin, Catches Nakamura in Tashkent GP
Sergey Karjakin got crushed today at the Grand Prix in Tashkent by Dmitry Andreikin, who now leads the pack together with Hikaru Nakamura, who drew with Fabiano Caruana.
The theme of the sixth round seemed to be calculating in time trouble. Jobava held a draw by the skin of his teeth thanks to accurately checking tactics with less than a minute on the clock. Karjakin spent too much time in the opening, and was missing too many things later on. Both Gelfand and Vachier-Lagrave overlooked a nasty tactic, and also in Nakamura-Caruana the computer pointed out some improvements.
It was the key battle of the round: the tournament leader versus the top seed, and also the longest game today. Nakamura said he tried to “keep it simple” in the opening, but was worse out of the opening when Black got in the move 25...a4, “disconnecting” White's queenside pawns.
The American GM sacrificed a pawn to get a knight to d4 but that didn't bring enough compensation. After missing more small things (e.g. 39...h5) he was clearly worse just after the time control.
Caruana spent thirteen minutes on his 41st move, a critical moment in the game, but it seems like the Italian didn't find the most dangerous continuation.

Dmitry Andreikin reached the final of the World Cup in 2013 where he lost to Vladimir Kramnik. The 24-year-old grandmaster from Ryazan played a very decent Candidates’ Tournament (7.0/14), but last month he finished on -2 and the 11th place at the Baku Grand Prix.
But after six rounds in Tashkent we find Andreikin in shared first place with Nakamura thanks to a spectacular victory over Karjakin, who was on plus one but has now lost two games in a row.
Karjakin needed too much time in the opening (trying to figure out if he could do without ...Bb4 and ...Bxc3) and later came under huge pressure on both the board and the clock. GM Dejan Bojkov analyses:
Mamedyarov defeated Kasimdzhanov and is now one of the three players trailing the leaders by half a point. Starting with 1.e4 is very rare for the Azeri GM (“I can't remember the last time,” he said), and it wasn't a big success. On the contrary, Black was more than OK out of the opening.
However, Kasimdzhanov missed a key tactic. “Somehow this idea of Rg1, Ne2+ never crossed my mind,” said Kasimdzhanov, who made another mistake in time trouble that decided the game.

And it's still all about tactics! Let's do a puzzle — a really nasty one. Below the last, tactical part of the game Gelfand - Vachier-Lagrave is shown.
Two questions:
1) Couldn't Black play the tricky 28...Rc8?
2) Does this option mean anything to the game sequence?
Find out the answers below in the annotations.
Although for a moment he seemed to be winning, Vachier-Lagrave was clearly relieved to have drawn this game. Despite huge experience in the Grünfeld, he erred in he opening.
The French GM was surprised by 4.Bf4, and where he normally plays 6...Be6, this time he went for 6...c5 to avoid his opponent's preparation. And then? “I didn't take on c4 and I still don't know why at this time of the day.”

Giri-Radjabov was another Berlin Ending, and... another draw. As a result, both players still have played only draws so far!
The story of the game was that Radjabov played it as Black this time, while he was behind the white pieces yesterday in this ending. Asked about this, the players reacted jokingly:
“Everyboy does it. Otherwise you're not in fashion anymore!” (Giri)
“Yeah otherwise you're really out of trend.” (Radjabov)
It seems that Giri missed one small chance early on, and then it was always a draw. “In order to get my king to c5 I misplaced all of my beautiful pieces,” said the Dutch GM.

Jobava-Jakovenko was quite a nice game as well and these two gentleman gave an absolutely splendid press conference. You can find their lines in the game viewer below. About the opening (a 4.e3 Nimzo) Jobava joked: “To play some safe game. I can sometimes play like this!”

2014 Grand Prix, Tashkent | Round 6 Standings
# | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Pts | SB |
1 | Nakamura,H | 2764 | 2880 | ![]() |
½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.0/6 | 12.00 | |||||
2 | Andreikin,D | 2722 | 2882 | ½ | ![]() |
1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 4.0/6 | 11.50 | |||||
3 | Mamedyarov,S | 2764 | 2817 | ½ | 0 | ![]() |
½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3.5/6 | 8.25 | |||||
4 | Jobava,B | 2717 | 2817 | 0 | ![]() |
½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3.5/6 | 8.25 | |||||
5 | Vachier-Lagrave,M | 2757 | 2814 | ![]() |
½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 3.5/6 | 7.75 | |||||
6 | Radjabov,T | 2726 | 2746 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ![]() |
½ | ½ | ½ | 3.0/6 | 9.75 | |||||
7 | Jakovenko,D | 2747 | 2737 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ![]() |
0 | ½ | ½ | 3.0/6 | 8.50 | |||||
8 | Giri,A | 2768 | 2759 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ![]() |
½ | ½ | ½ | 3.0/6 | 8.25 | |||||
9 | Caruana,F | 2844 | 2691 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ![]() |
2.5/6 | 9.00 | |||||
10 | Karjakin,S | 2767 | 2678 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ![]() |
½ | 2.5/6 | 7.25 | |||||
11 | Gelfand,B | 2748 | 2641 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ![]() |
2.0/6 | ||||||
12 | Kasimdzhanov,R | 2706 | 2555 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ![]() |
1.5/6 |
xxx
2014 Grand Prix, Baku | All Results
Round 1 | 15:00 UZT | 21.10.14 | Round 2 | 15:00 UZT | 22.10.14 | |
Giri | ½-½ | Gelfand | Gelfand | ½-½ | Karjakin | |
Mamedyarov | 0-1 | Andreikin | Jakovenko | ½-½ | Radjabov | |
Nakamura | 1-0 | Jobava | Vachier-Lagrave | 1-0 | Kasimdzhanov | |
Caruana | 0-1 | Vachier-Lagrave | Jobava | ½-½ | Caruana | |
Kasimdzhanov | ½-½ | Jakovenko | Andreikin | ½-½ | Nakamura | |
Radjabov | ½-½ | Karjakin | Giri | ½-½ | Mamedyarov | |
Round 3 | 15:00 UZT | 23.10.14 | Round 4 | 15:00 UZT | 24.10.14 | |
Mamedyarov | 1-0 | Gelfand | Gelfand | ½-½ | Jakovenko | |
Nakamura | ½-½ | Giri | Vachier-Lagrave | ½-½ | Karjakin | |
Caruana | ½-½ | Andreikin | Jobava | ½-½ | Radjabov | |
Kasimdzhanov | 0-1 | Jobava | Andreikin | ½-½ | Kasimdzhanov | |
Radjabov | ½-½ | Vachier-Lagrave | Giri | ½-½ | Caruana | |
Karjakin | 1-0 | Jakovenko | Mamedyarov | ½-½ | Nakamura | |
Round 5 | 15:00 UZT | 26.10.14 | Round 6 | 15:00 UZT | 27.10.14 | |
Nakamura | 1-0 | Gelfand | Gelfand | ½-½ | Vachier-Lagrave | |
Caruana | ½-½ | Mamedyarov | Jobava | ½-½ | Jakovenko | |
Kasimdzhanov | ½-½ | Giri | Andreikin | 1-0 | Karjakin | |
Radjabov | ½-½ | Andreikin | Giri | ½-½ | Radjabov | |
Karjakin | 0-1 | Jobava | Mamedyarov | 1-0 | Kasimdzhanov | |
Jakovenko | 1-0 | Vachier-Lagrave | Nakamura | ½-½ | Caruana | |
Round 7 | 15:00 UZT | 28.10.14 | Round 8 | 15:00 UZT | 29.10.14 | |
Caruana | - | Gelfand | Gelfand | - | Jobava | |
Kasimdzhanov | - | Nakamura | Andreikin | - | Vachier-Lagrave | |
Radjabov | - | Mamedyarov | Giri | - | Jakovenko | |
Karjakin | - | Giri | Mamedyarov | - | Karjakin | |
Jakovenko | - | Andreikin | Nakamura | - | Radjabov | |
Vachier-Lagrave | - | Jobava | Caruana | - | Kasimdzhanov | |
Round 9 | 15:00 UZT | 31.10.14 | Round 10 | 15:00 UZT | 01.11.14 | |
Kasimdzhanov | - | Gelfand | Gelfand | - | Andreikin | |
Radjabov | - | Caruana | Giri | - | Jobava | |
Karjakin | - | Nakamura | Mamedyarov | - | Vachier-Lagrave | |
Jakovenko | - | Mamedyarov | Nakamura | - | Jakovenko | |
Vachier-Lagrave | - | Giri | Caruana | - | Karjakin | |
Jobava | - | Andreikin | Kasimdzhanov | - | Radjabov | |
Round 11 | 11:00 UZT | 02.11.14 | ||||
Radjabov | - | Gelfand | ||||
Karjakin | - | Kasimdzhanov | ||||
Jakovenko | - | Caruana | ||||
Vachier-Lagrave | - | Nakamura | ||||
Jobava | - | Mamedyarov | ||||
Andreikin | - | Giri |
The total prize fund is €120,000. The games start each day at 14:00 local time which is 11:00 in Amsterdam, 10:00 in London, 05:00 in New York, 02:00 in Los Angeles and 19:00 in Sydney. The last round starts three hours earlier. The winner and second placed player in the overall final standings of the Grand Prix will qualify for the Candidates’ Tournament to be held in the last quarter of 2015 or the first half of 2016. | Games via TWIC
Previous report
- Round 5: Nakamura Grabs the Lead in Tashkent as Vachier-Lagrave Loses First
- Round 4: “MVL” Still Leads in Tashkent After 6 Draws in Round 4
- Round 3: Three Winners in Tashkent; Vachier-Lagrave Still on Top
- Round 2: Vachier-Lagrave Moves to 2/2 in Tashkent; Did Caruana Miss a Win?
- Round 1: Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave, Andreikin Win as Tashkent Grand Prix Takes Off