Belgrade GP R3: Harikrishna holds Anish Giri to a draw

by Shahid Ahmed - 04/03/2022

Vidit Gujrathi was denied a hat-trick by Hungary no.1 Richard Rapport. Now both Rapport and Vidit share the lead in Pool C at 2.0/3 each. Anish Giri made an interesting queen sacrifice against Harikrishna. However, it lacked enough venom to score a hat-trick. The India no.3 drew the game comfortably against the Dutch no.1. Giri still leads Pool B by a full point 2.5/3 and has good chances of advancing to the Quarterfinals. Apart from Rapport, Fedoseev was the only other victor of Round 3 which saw the least number of decisive games of the event so far. Round 4 of Pool stage starts today at 6:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Rapport denies Vidit's hat-trick

The last time we saw Anish Giri play at his best was at Tolstoy Cup in September last year, which he won and finished 2.5 points ahead of the field. The present world no.7 knows that he needs to bring his A-game in the last two legs of the FIDE Grand Prix to secure a place at the Candidates 2022. In the first three games, Giri has definitely showed a glimpse of that. The chess universe certainly would like to see this version of Giri more often.

Harikrishna is still in search of his first win of the event | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Pool B: Harikrishna - Giri: 1-0

Anish Giri made an interesting queen sacrifice in the middlegame against Harikrishna.

Position after 23.c4

23...Nxd4 24.Nxd4 Qb6 is fine for Black. However, the Dutch no.1 chose a very intriguing queen sacrifice 23...Qxf3 24.gxf3 Nxd4 25.Qe4 Nxf3+ 26.Kh1 Nxe1 27.Qxe6+ Rf7 28.Rxe1 Raf8. The position was balanced and the game ended in a draw in another seven moves.

Anish Giri is focused on his goal | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Pool C: Rapport - Vidit: 1-0

A positional inaccuracy by Vidit tilted scale in Richard Rapport's favor.

Position after 22...Re6

Black needed to play c5 a couple of moves ago. Even now also 22...c5 is better than 22...Re6. 23.d5 was better. 23.Bb2 which was played in the game also ensures White has the upper hand. Black's position disintegrated in a hurry and there was no scope to get back in the game.

Always put the blame on yourself | Vidit Gujrathi | Video: World Chess

Things can turn very quickly! | Video: World Chess

Both Rapport and Vidit are now at 2.0/3 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

FIDE Vice President Nigel Short made the inaugural move on Fedoseev-Shirov's board | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

The tournament hall | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

FIDE Grand Prix 2022 Belgrade GP Round 3 Live Commentary by IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 3 games

Round 3 results

Only Pool C had decisive games | Photo: FIDE

Time control

The time control for each standard game in pools and play-off is: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1. In case if a player arrives at the chessboard with a delay of up to 15 minutes from the actual start of the game, he/she should be charged of five hundred (500) euros deducted from his/her prize money. In case of delay of more than 15 minutes, the player loses the game (without financial penalty).

Draw

The players cannot draw any game by mutual agreement before black’s 30th move. A claim for a draw before black’s 30th move is permitted only in the case of a draw by repetition.