Twists and turns in round five set a scene for a tense final day in the group stage of the FIDE Grand Prix Belgrade, organized by World Chess.
Following a day of rest, 16 top-world players gathered in the “Atlantic-Pacific” playing hall of the Belgrade Crowne Plaza Hotel, for the final rounds of the group stage of the Grand Prix. With two more games to play before the knockout, the tension was high.
Round five started at 3 PM CET time, and the first move was made by GM Aleksandar Colovic, ACP president and FIDE Fair Play Councillor, in the game between Sam Shankland and Dmitry Andreikin.
Just half an hour later, at the same hotel, another chess event started – the “Belgrade 2022” GM tournament where ten strong players, from Serbia and abroad (including the likes of Parham Maghsoodloo, David Navara, Nihal Sarin and world rapid champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov), are taking part.
Here are the results from each pool of the second leg of the Grand Swiss, taking place in Belgrade, Serbia.
Pool A:
The derby of Pool A, between leaders Sam Shankland and Dmitry Andreikin ended in a draw. With just over an hour of play, this was the first game to finish.
In the Janowski variation of the Queen’s Gambit, Shankland got caught out in the opening by Andreikin. White played 9.Bh4 instead of the more common line 9.Bf4 and by move 12 Black equalised. Following the exchange of queens, Andreikin had an isolated pawn but got his rooks lined up on the c-file and actively positioned his pieces. Overall it looked very solid for both sides. Following threefold repetition, a draw was agreed on move 24.
Soon afterwards, the second game of Pool A finished, where Etienne Bacrot and Alexander Grischuk decided to split point. In the Ruy Lopez with 6.d3 White achieved a position where he could have exerted some pressure with 14.d4. Instead, Etienne played 14.c4, allowing Black to get a slight edge. After exchanging minor inaccuracies the opponents started repeating moves and agreed to call it a day.
Shankland and Andreikin both have 3/5 and are the joint leaders of Pool A. Bacrot has to win against Andreikin and hope that Shankland loses to Grischuk in order to be the qualifier. Grischuk, however, has no chance to move to the next stage.
Pool B:
It was a day of draws in Pool B.
Amin M. Tabatabaei and Nikita Vitiugov played the Giuoco Piano. After a lot of slow manoeuvring in a roughly equal position, Tabatabaei ventured upon d3-d4, allowing Black to activate his knight and start posing problems for White. At first glance, Vitiugov had some advantage in the endgame but Amin had sufficient defensive resources to hold his ground. In the post-game analysis, both players agreed that “the draw was a fair result”.
Anish Giri got out of the Ragozin with a better position against Pentala Harikrishna but then hastily played 17.Ne5, allowing Black to equalise. While this move is in line with the ideas of the opening, the concrete variations did not favour White. Harikrishna seized the opportunity and played 17…c5, opening the position and creating a protected c4-passer. Giri timely carried out a standard e3-e4 breakthrough in the centre to weaken Black’s c4 pawn. Pentala still had some edge but after he grabbed the a3-pawn further exchanges became inevitable and the two agreed to split a point on move 31.
The clear leader in this group is Anish Giri with 3.5/5 and he is followed by Nikita Vitiugov on 2.5 points, while the other two players are out. In the final round of the group stage, Vitiugov is White against Giri and he will have to win in order to stand chances to move on to the next phase of the tournament.
Pool C:
Alexei Shirov defeated Vladimir Fedoseev in the Sveshnikov System of the Sicilian. This is his first victory in five rounds.
Black got a very promising position after planting his bishop on d3 but then launched a somewhat hasty attack on the kingside which proved to be without venom. Shirov – in his style – played bravely. As Black was mounting pressure on White’s king which looked dangerous but was in fact not really threatening thanks to an excellent defensive manoeuvre Nd5-e3, Shirov advanced his pawns down the d-file opening the a1-h8 diagonal and penetrated with his rook to the seventh rank. White’s arguments were much stronger, and although Shirov made an inaccuracy on move 29, he quickly converted his advantage into a full point.
In an insightful post-game commentary, Shirov gave an in-depth analysis of the game from the first move. Despite not standing chances to move to the next stage, Shirov said that he was happy he managed to beat “one of the youngsters”.
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi lost as White to Richard Rapport. In the French Defence, Rapport got control of the White squares but fell behind in development. Gujrathi didn’t manage to use this temporary advantage, allowing Black’s strategical long-lasting pluses to come to the fore. Rapport got a firm grip over the game, both threatening the white king and having control on the queenside. By move 43 Black had a three-pawn advantage and Gujrathi’s capitulation became just a question of time. The Indian GM resigned on move 61.
With 3.5/5 Rapport is the clear favourite to qualify for the next stage. The only one who could catch up with him is Gujrathi (2.5/5) providing that he defeats Fedoseev as Black and that the Hungarian loses to Shirov as White. Seems it’s too much to hope for, but Caissa can be both generous and cruel.
Pool D:
A strange game transpired on the board where Alexandr Predke was playing as White against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. This was one of the last games to finish in the fifth round.
In the Giuoco Piano White came out of the opening slightly better. However, Predke handed the advantage to Black with 20.Re4 but Mamedyarov did not find the best response – he played 20…d5 and the position was even again. In the subsequent play Mamedyarov emerged a pawn up but White had compensation as his opponent’s king was not safe enough.
The critical moment of the game came after 31…Rf8 – White could have won a piece, sealing the victory. However, instead of responding with winning 32.f4, Predke put his queen on c2 and let Black off the hook. The game transpired into a rook endgame in which two sides tested each other for nearly 20 moves before agreeing on a draw.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Yu Yangyi drew their round five game after 90 minutes of play. The Frenchman got off to a good start in the Petroff but things got very complicated after just 10 moves. On move 13 White spent 19 minutes before grabbing the b7-pawn while Black used 26 minutes thinking. The Frenchman managed to create some chances but it seems that Black had sufficient defence in all the variations. After exchanges in the centre, White had a runner on the a-file while Black had an advanced pawn on the c-file. The opponents liquidated the passers and moved to a three vs two pawn queen endgame known for its drawish tendencies. After 10 more moves, Yu Yangyi showed to Vachier-Lagrave that he knows how to keep a draw in this position and they agreed to split point.
Apart from Alexandr Predke who does not stand chances to qualify to the next stage, the destiny of the other three players in this pool is firmly in their own hands in the final game of the regular part of the event. MVL currently leads with 3.5/5 and is playing in round six as Black against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2.5/5) who has to win in the final round if he wants to qualify for the next stage. Should this game end in a draw and Yu Yangyi (2.5/5) defeats Predke (2/5), there will be two players in the group with the same number of points, requiring a tiebreak.
Round 6
Round six will be played on Monday, 7th March, from 3 PM local (CET) time.
The pairings for the fifth round are as follows:
Pool A:
Dmitry Andreikin (2724) vs Etienne Bacrot (2635)
Alexander Grischuk (2758) vs Sam Shankland (2704)
Pool B:
Nikita Vitiugov (2726) vs Anish Giri (2771)
Pentala Harikrishna (2716) vs Amin M. Tabatabaei (2623)
Pool C:
Vladimir Fedoseev (2704) vs Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2723)
Richard Rapport (2762) vs Alexei Shirov (2691)
Pool D:
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2776) vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2761)
Yu Yangyi (2713) vs Alexandr Predke (2682)
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Text: Milan Dinic
Photo: Mark Livshitz
Official Photo FIDE Grand Prix Belgrade Press kit
