FIDE Grand Prix Tournament 2, Rounds 3 and 4

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 very comfortable position, a point clear going in to round 5.

Group C

Two draws here as well. Both Fedoseev-Rapport and Shirov-Vidit reached endings where white had an extra pawn, but in neither case could the advantage be converted to a win.

Group D 

Yu had a nice position against Mamedyarov, and may possibly have had an opportunity to make it count in the middlegame. Having missed that, the game fizzled out to a draw. In the other game, Vachier-Lagrave got the first full point of the group by winning a nice game against Predke. 



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