Tbilisi GP R6: Svidler & Radjabov Win, Tomashevsky Maintains Full-Point Lead

In Saturday's sixth round GM Peter Svidler & GM Teimour Radjabov scored their first wins at the Tbilisi Grand Prix. GM Evgeny Tomashevsky is still a point ahead of the pack.

All photos courtesy of FIDE.

There's still five rounds to go so anything can happen, but by now we should seriously consider Evgeny Tomashevsky actually winning the Grand Prix in Tbilisi! His one-point lead again wasn't touched as all the top games were drawn.

Lower in the ranks, two players scored their first win. GM Teimour Radjabov had started with five draws, and apparently the thought the time was right to play a sharp game.

Against GM Alexander Grischuk's Najdorf the Azerbaijani chose 6.Bg5, and what we got was a Poisoned Pawn. Always fun!

In such sharp positions only one mistake can be fatal and that's what happened. Strangely, The theoretical novelty turned out to be that mistake.

Annotations by GM Dejan Bojkov:

With three draws and two losses GM Peter Svidler had a rather bad start, but he finally got his first win as well. The grandmaster from St Petersburg was critical of his own play in a 4.d3 Berlin, as his opponent GM Dmitry Andreikin more than equalized, but then continued inaccurately. 

Andreikin ended up with double c-pawns, but with precise play Black could probably still draw the ending. However, one more mistake on move 27 and Andreikin got himself into a technically lost position.

The first five rounds were a rollercoaster for GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, but he finally drew his first game today! Against GM Dmitry Jakovenko he went for the g3-Vienna, an opening he had played several times before but mostly in rapid and blitz events.

The game quickly went from the opening into the endgame, where White was a pawn up but had a horrible structure. In the long run Max Euwe's rule about pawn islands proved more important, and it was Mamedyarov who was defending.

GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov drew another black game rather comfortably — this time using the Petroff against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. In one of the main lines (5.Nc3) White ended up with the bishop pair and a better pawn structure, but it was hardly enough to claim an advantage.

The tournament leader, GM Evgeny Tomashevsky, was under some pressure throughout the game against GM Leinier Dominguez. Black was OK after the opening (an 8.a4 Anti-Marshall) but after a tactical phase White won a pawn. However, with the way Dominguez took the pawn he allowed his too much counterplay.

The longest game was GM Anish Giri vs GM Baadur Jobava. The Georgian GM chose the slightly passive but solid Schlechter System and it became a fight between bishop pair for White against better structure for Black. After a long and interesting fight the players agreed to a draw on move 59.

2015 Tbilisi FIDE Grand Prix | Round 6 Standings

The third FIDE Grand Prix runs February 15-27 in Tbilisi, Georgia. It is a round robin, with 11 rounds in total. There are two rest days, on February 19 and 24.