7th Gashimov Memorial R2-3: Caruana soars to the top
It was a long day for Vishy Anand as he started Round 2 with a loss against Richard Rapport. He had a couple of good chances in the second game, unfortunately he was unable to seize them and the game ended in a draw after 89 moves. The first game of Round 3 went for a 119 moves before he lost against David Navara in a rook vs rook and bishop endgame. The second encounter against the Czech no.1 ended in a draw which means Anand lost both matches 0-3. He is now at 1.0/9. Fabiano Caruana won both his matches to take sole lead 8.0/9. He is closely followed by Rapport 7.0/9. Round 4 and 5 will be played today, starting from 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Gashimov chess
No one remains invincible
The second day of 7th Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2021 witnessed all eight players lose at least one Rapid game.
Round 2: Rapport - Anand: 3-0
Vishy Anand had an interesting response to Richard Rapport's Ponziani opening.
Rapport - Anand, Rapid 1
Rapport responded 6...g5 with 7.a4 g4 8.Nh4 a5 9.Na3 Be6 10.Nf5 Bxf5 11.exf5 and White managed to win the game eventually. He did not allow Black to launch any real attack on the kingside.
Anand drew the second game against Rapport, although he had a couple of good chances.
Anand - Rapport, Rapid 2
Probably the best chance White had in the entire game is after 45...Nc6. Now 46.Bg5 Nf8 47.h6 gxh6 48.Bxh6 should be winning for White as Black cannot save both f8-knight and e6-pawn. This draw meant Anand lost the match 0-3 against Rapport.
Navara - Karjakin: 1-2
Czech Republic no.1 David Navara made an incredible queen sacrifice against Karjakin in the first game.
Navara - Karjakin, Rapid 1
Both White's queen and knight are under attack, thus moving the queen to anywhere means the knight will fall. White decided to sacrifice the queen, 19.Qxc8 Bxc8 20.Nxd6 Qxd6 21.Ba3 and White got himself a rook and knight for a queen. The rest of the game, how Navara won the game is a thing of beauty. Sure it was not a perfect play by either side, one should not expect so especially in the faster format of the game. That is also partly the reason why this is definitely the game of the event so far.
Navara lost the second game. He was completely winning in the Armageddon, the lack of time made it difficult for him to find the winning continuation in the complex endgame, resulting in him losing the game and the match 1-2.
Round 3: Anand - Navara: 0-3
Anand lost the first game in a 119-move long marathon battle. He just needed to survive eight more moves in a rook vs rook and bishop endgame to get a draw by 50-moves rule.
The second game was drawn, thus Navara won the match 0-3.
Replay Round 2-3 games
Results
Round 2
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov - Vugar Asadli: 2-1
Richard Rapport - Vishy Anand: 3-0
David Navara - Sergey Karjakin: 1-2
Rauf Mamedov - Fabiano Caruana: 0-3
Round 3
Vishy Anand - David Navara: 0-3
Vugar Asadli - Rauf Mamedov: 0-3
Fabiano Caruana - Richard Rapport: 2-1
Sergey Karjakin - Shakhriyar Mamedyarov: 3-0
Standings after Round 3
Scoring
Players will get the following points per round:
Victory in the best of two Rapid games: 3 points
Loss in the best of two Rapid games: 0 point
Tie in Rapid games and victory Armageddon: 2 points
Tie in Rapid games and loss Armageddon: 1 point
Armageddon Rules
• If the score after two Rapid games is 1-1, then the players will move on to Armageddon.
• Armageddon time control is 5 minutes for White and 4 minutes for Black. Increment of 3 seconds each starts from move no.61. Black has draw odds.
Replay the Live Stream
Links
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Caruana bests Rapport in Armageddon to win 7th Gashimov Memorial 2021
@ 24/12/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |
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7th Gashimov Memorial Blitz R1-7: Mamedyarov makes an impressive start
@ 23/12/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |
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7th Gashimov Memorial R6-7: Rapport and Karjakin top Rapid standings
@ 22/12/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |
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7th Gashimov Memorial R4-5: Rapport takes sole lead and now World no.6 in Rapid
@ 21/12/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |
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7th Gashimov Memorial R1: Mamedov beats Anand in Armageddon
@ 19/12/2021 by Shahid Ahmed (en) |