Giri - Vachier-Lagrave 1/2

The French player repeated the Gruenfeld Indian setup that he used against Navara at the Tromso Chess Olympiad. He attempted to improve the play with 12...Be6.

White responded with the principled advance of the b-pawn. But Vachier-Lagrave went head-in with the risky-looking 16...c5. He shared later that he calculated all lines ten moves ahead and that he was certain the position was holding.

In the resulting ending black had his pawn advanced all the way to a3, confining white rook to the a-file. Giri explained that his only chance was to advance the kingside pawns deep into black's position and try to place the opponent into zugzwang.

Black prevented this with timely 32...h5 and the game was soon drawn.

Jakovenko - Tomashevsky 1/2

Tomashevsky started setting the Slav Triangle structure when white surprised him with an early 4.b4. The game soon transposed into Dutch Stonewall.

Later in the opening black was ready to equalise with c6-c5, therefore Jakovenko took the drastic measure to prevent this advance with 14.b4. However, this allowed black to take the bishop out from behind the pawn chain.

On move 21 black started doubling the rooks on the a-file. Jakovenko proposed 21...b5 22.a5 g5 as an interesting alternative. The board is full of pieces and the passed pawn isn't counting for much.

Tomashevsky considered 21...Ne8, but he didn't like the look of 22.Nb1 Nd6 23.Nd2.

Jakovenko was critical of his move 25.a5, after which he decided to step on the break and go for a draw.

Mamedyarov - Kasimdzhanov 0-1

Kasimdzhanov admitted that he was surprised with an early 2.b3, but he believes it was a very interesting development.

He proceeded with Lasker setup, but later on he made some inaccuracies - namely he didn't like 12...e5. The point is that b3-b4 advance in many lines is very annoying for black.

Still, black got a good game going and the knight sacrifice gave him strong central pressure.

Mamedyarov believes that 27.Qxe5, giving the material back, would have given him equal game. He also pointed that 32.Nd4 with idea Nc2 was possible. Later, he planned 35.Bf3, but ...Qxh3+ 36.Kg1 f5! would have been a huge trouble.

Black proceeded to convert the advantage into full point.




Grischuk - Andreikin 1/2

The match started as Queen's Gambit Exchange variation where Andreikin was standing very solid, as Grischuk explained later at the press conference.

Grischuk added that he made a mistake with 15.b3, which was a hasty reaction to the fact that immediate 15.e4 fails to ...Nxe4 16.bxe7 Nxc3 17.Bxd8 Nxd1 18.Bh4 Nxb2 19.Qb3 Nc4. He said that the regular move 15.Bf2 was better.

Andreikin proposed 14.e4 push one move earlier, as 14...Nxe4 15.fxe4 Bxh4 16.exd5 cxd5 17.Rf5 is strong attack for white because castling is prevented 17...0-0 18.Rh5!

Later in the middlegame Andreikin felt very confident because he believed there were many tactical resources in the fight against the white center. Grischuk showed one such line 28...Rexe5 29.Qxe5 Rxe5 30.dxe5 Qc2 which should lead to perpetual check. Andreikin also said that 32...g5 was interesting.

Grischuk criticised black's decision to exchange the queens, arguing that otherwise the position was good enough to hold. According to him, the resulting rook ending is very dangerous for black.

Andreikin said he wanted to at least trade the queens if he was already dropping a pawn.

Grischuk finally proposed 45.Kg3 as better try to play for a win, delaying the e6-push for the time being. He rushed with 45.e6, missing that black has 51...Kd4 as defending resource. The game was soon drawn.




Dominguez - Svidler 1/2

The longest game of the day started as an interesting Ruy Lopez where black combined plans from different systems. Svidler said he played this setup many times with both colours. But he also admitted that his play had been faulty and that he should search for improvements.

"It was obvious that white will make a series of moves with his knight from f3, but somehow I missed the strong 19.Nec2", Svidler said later. Meanwhile, legendary champion Nona Gaprindashvili, who actively participated in analysis in the press center, correctly guessed most of Dominguez's moves, including Svidler's nightmare Nec2.

White obtained big positional advantage and black was forced to sacrifice an exchange. Svidler continued to defend tenaciously.

Dominguez had the upper hand until he missed the convincing 52.Qe8+ Kh7 53.h5, as pointed by the commentators WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili and GM Tornike Sanikidze.

Black succeeded in trading all the pawns to finally earn a draw on move 78.