Chess Go Spinny

 Semi-finals Rapport went through to the final fairly easily, winning smoothly with white against Vachier-Lagrave, and then drawing the second game. The Giri-Andreikin match was much tighter, with Giri having multiple opportunities to win, but eventually losing the second tie-break game from a position in which he had been doing well.   Final The first game of the final was a rather tame affair, as Andreikin chose a drawish variation with white. It later emerged that his family had arrived on a delayed flight, and he'd been up most of the night worrying about them. The second game was much more entertaining, with Rapport making the bold decision in a time-scramble to avoid a draw by repetition, and it proved to pay off, as he won shortly afterwards. Overall Grand Prix standings Rapport is now the leader in the clubhouse with 20 points from his two events. Given the way the event 3 draw has panned out (with Aronian and Nakamura in the same group), he can only fail to qualify fo...

Round 5 Group A Two relatively short draws ensured that Grischuk was out, leaving Andreikin and Shankland half a point ahead of Bacrot going into the final round. Group B Giri happily agreed a draw with some play left against Harikrishna, knowing that he would then only need a draw in the final round to qualify. The game between Tabatabaei and Vitiugov lasted rather longer, but that too was drawn.  Group C Rapport took a full-point lead in the group by beating Vidit with black. In the other game, Shirov managed his first win of the Grand Prix by beating Fedoseev. Group D  Predke missed a golden opportunity to notch up his first win, as he failed to spot a blunder by Mamedyarov, and the game was eventually drawn. The other game saw Vachier-Lagrave reach a Q+3 v Q+2 ending against Yu, but with all the pawns on the same side, he could not make any serious progress, and thus his lead remained at just half a point. Round 6 Group A Huge drama on the final day in this group; Grischuk...

Round 3 Group A Nothing much happened this round, with two rather tame draws in opposite-coloured bishop endings in both Andreikin-Shankland and Grischuk-Bacrot. Group B Two draws here as well, with Harikrishna-Giri the more interesting of the two, as Giri forced a rather unusual perpetual to draw a queen for a rook down. Group C Rapport's win over Vidit meant the two tied for the lead at the half-way stage. In the other game, Fedoseev beat Shirov. Group D Two more draws here, in this most finely tied of groups. In both games, white ended up a pawn up in a rook ending, but in neither case was it sufficient to win. Round 4  Group A Andreikin sacrificed a piece against Grischuk in a middlegame without queens; accurate defence from the latter meant the game ended in a perpetual. In the other game, Shankland had an advantage against Bacrot but couldn't quite convert it, and this game was also drawn. Group B Two very quiet and uneventful draws in this group, which left Giri in a ver...

Group A Bacrot-Andreikin had a flurry of tactics in the middlegame to take play into an ending with R+P v B+N, but neither side could make anything of this imbalance. In the other game, Grischuk's bad start continued as he lost to Shankland. Group B Harikrishna obtained what should have been a winning attack against Tabatabaei, but couldn't convert it, and the game ended in a draw by repetition. In the other game, Giri extended his lead with a nice kingside attack against Vitiugov. Group C Shirov-Rapport was the sort of game people use to disparage the Petroff Defence: a game with a symmetrical pawn structure, opposite-coloured bishops and an early queen exchange, resulting in an unventful draw. Meanwhile, Vidit won a nice positional game against Fedoseev. Group D Vachier-Lagrave and Mamedyarov's game was one to draw the spectators, with white sacrificing both his rooks to force perpetual. The other game, Predke-Yu, was a somewhat quieter draw, although not without its own ...

  Note: I am reporting on this event while visiting my family. Coverage of it will be complete, but it may not be particularly timely. The second leg of the FIDE Grand Prix has started, this time in the Serbian capital Belgrade. Ding Liren's visa struggles have continued, and he has withdrawn from this event and from the Grand Prix as a whole. Dmitri Andreikin, however, has recovered from COVID, and has taken Ding's place in this event, thus keeping his qualification hopes alive. However, it has suddenly become unclear just how many qualification places there actually are, and who would be eligible to take them up. Thanks to an ongoing geopolitical crisis , it is possible - although so far not confirmed either way - that players from Russia may not be allowed to take part in the Candidates. As two Russians, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Sergey Karjakin, have already qualified, this would leave gaps in the tournament - which could potentially be filled by players from the Grand Prix. ...