Mamedyarov and Grischuk qualify for Candidates

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk topped the final standings of the FIDE Grand Prix series to qualify for the 2018 FIDE Candidates Tournament in Berlin.

Mamedyarov and Grischuk completed their respective Grand Prix campaigns this summer in Geneva and could only watch from distance as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Teimour Radjabov fought in Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix in attempt to overtake them in the GP standings.

It was a dramatic conclusion of the GP series as everything was to be decided in the last round in Palma, but both the Frenchman and the Azeri faltered in the end.

Vachier-Lagrave over-pressed against Dmitry Jakovenko and even lost, while Radjabov, who had a strong run in the previous days, could not achieve more than a draw against Richard Rapport.

Levon Aronian held Hikaru Nakamura in the last round in Palma de Mallorca to share the first place with Dmitry Jakovenko.

As a result, Levon Aronian (Armenia) and Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia) won the Palma leg of the Grand Prix Series, both scored 5 ½ points.

The remaining six games were drawn.

The field for the 2018 FIDE Candidates Tournament is now complete as Mamedyarov and Grischuk join Sergey Karjakin (world championship match 2016), Aronian, Ding Liren (World Cup 2017), Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So (average rating) and Vladimir Kramnik (wildcard).

Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix final standings:

1-2. GM Aronian Levon ARM 2801 and GM Jakovenko Dmitry RUS 2721 - 5.5
3-9. GM Nakamura Hikaru USA 2780, GM Ding Liren CHN 2774, GM Svidler Peter RUS 2763, GM Radjabov Teimour AZE 2741, GM Harikrishna P. IND 2738, GM Tomashevsky Evgeny RUS 2702 and GM Rapport Richard HUN 2692 - 5
10-12.GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime FRA 2796, GM Eljanov Pavel UKR 2707 and GM Inarkiev Ernesto RUS 2683 - 4.5
13-15. GM Giri Anish NED 2762, GM Li Chao B CHN 2741 and GM Vallejo Pons Francisco ESP 2705 - 4
16. GM Riazantsev Alexander RUS 2651 - 3.5
17-18. GM Gelfand Boris ISR 2719 and GM Hammer Jon Ludvig NOR 2629 – 3

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Round 8: Radjabov and MVL keep chances to qualify for the Candidates

The sole leader of the Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix Levon Aronian made a quick draw with Evgeny Tomashevsky, inviting the group of rivals to join him on the top. But same as in the previous rounds all games on the top boards finished peacefully and not even one player came close to catch him up. Richard Rapport and Dmitry Jakovenko signed the peace right after the opening stage. Playing with black pieces Maxime Vachier-Lagrave decided not to take risk in the game against Ernesto Inarkiev. Ding Liren was not familiar with the opening but managed to equalize against Peter Svidler. Hikaru Nakamura and Pentala Harikrishna played a very sharp and complex game with chances for both sides which eventually ended in a draw too.

As in the previous day three decisive games were played on the lower boards. Li Chao defeated Anish Giri. It seems that Giri underestimated the strength of White's position after the opening. The Chinese Grandmaster transferred the game into the slightly better ending and showed good technique while converting his advantage.

Two longest games of the round finished in a draw. Ion Ludvig Hammer had huge advantage in the game against Alexander Riazantsev but it slipped away after few inaccurate moves. Francisco Vallejo Pons was slightly pressing Pavel Eljanov in drawish ending and after 7 hours of play the Spanish Grandmaster finally got winning chances. However, he didn't find the way to covert his advantage.



The hero of the day was Teimour Radjabov, who defeated Boris Gelfand. After two consecutive victories the Azerbaijani Grandmaster shares the second place and keeps chances to qualify for the Candidates. He needs to win against Richard Rapport in the last round. The Frenchman will play against Dmitry Jakovenko. The leaders of the Grand Prix Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk can only follow the games and wait for the outcome.

The fate of two places in the Candidates will be decided in the ninth round of the Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix. The games start at 2 pm local time.  

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The seventh round did not change much in the Grand Prix situation.

After 7 rounds Aronian is in the lead with 4,5 points. A group of 8 players is half a point behind, including Vachier-Lagrave. In order to qualify for the Candidates, the Frenchman needs to win at least one more game. Boris Gelfand defeated Alexander Riazantsev, Pavel Eljanov won against Ion Ludvig Hammer, while Teimour Rajabov outplayed Li Chao. After the victory the Azerbaijani Grandmaster can hope to qualify but needs to win both games.



Levon Aronian continues his successful season with a great performance in the Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix. He was close to winning against Richard Rapport with Black today. The players entered a rather early endgame which seemed safe for White but the game continued. Aronian was pressing his opponent and on the 6th hour of play Rapport started to make mistakes. However, the Hungarian Grandmaster pulled himself together and held the position to a draw.



Other games on the top boards were quite peaceful. Vachier-Lagrave tried an interesting opening idea with a pawn sacrifice on c2, but Evgeny Tomashevsky wasn't tricked into it. He was clearly aware of this line, although some of the engines were sure that the pawn can be taken. “I think you need more powerful computer to understand whats going on”, explained the Russian Grandmaster after the game. The Frenchman looked disappointed with the result, as he believed he had a good position, more time after the opening and could have put more pressure on his opponent. This game ended in a draw, as well as Svidler-Nakamura, Jakovenko-Harikrishna, Ding Liren-Giri and Inarkiev-Vallejo.

The players of the lower boards were more uncompromising, resulting in three decisive games.



According to Teimour Radjabov, he got a comfortable position with White but was sure if Black played precisly there was not much to hope for. He thought Black unnecessary spoiled the structure after bc and let his knight on h5 out of play. After that Teimour realized he had many ways to press his opponent but was not sure he chose the best one. Nevertheless, the Azerbaijani Grandmaster managed to defeat Li Chao after yesterday’s “hara-kiri”.



Pavel Eljanov won against Jon Ludvig Hammer. It seems that the Norwegian player confused himself in the opening and went for a line where White got an easy play. Hovewer Hammer managed to complicate the position and Pavel Eljanov was not sure if he is better at all after the most principal continuation 18...Bf5 instead of 18...Re8. He thought Black should have enough compensation for a pawn. After the move in the game the Norwegian Grandmaster gave up another pawn to keep e-file but it didn't help to create real threats against White’s king.



Boris Gelfand improved his tournament situation, winning with Black against Alexander Riazantsev.

The current Russian champion surprised his opponent with a Catalan and the players got a very complex position on the board. Once Boris Gelfand occupied the c-file with his rooks he was sure Black had a better position and easy play. After the inaccurate 22.Ne5, the Israeli Grandmaster increased his advantage and converted it into a full point after 40 moves of play.

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Round 6: Levon Aronian misses chances but keeps leading in the Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix.

Levon Aronian made a draw with Peter Svidler and remains the sole leader of the tournament after six rounds. Richard Rapport and Evgeny Tomashevsky defeated Alexander Riazantsev and Teimour Rajabov accordingly to join the group of six players with plus one, including Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, Ding Liren, Peter Svidler, Dmitry Jakovenko and Pentala Harikishna. Boris Gelfand suffered another loss in the tournament, this time at the hands of Ernesto Inarkiev. Other games finished in a draw.

IM Sabrina Vega Gutiérrez, current women’s champion of Spain, made a first symbolic move in the game Levon Aronian-Peter Svidler.

It seems Peter Svidler was in trouble right from the opening: “I have a suspicion that Levon Aronian looked at the line which happened in the game in more detail because I think it’s more difficult to look it in less detail than I did.” Levon Aronian was happy about his position after the opening but was disappointed with his decision of 20.Ng5: “While I was playing fast I was doing the right moves, than I thought for 25 minutes, got carried away and blundered 21...Rae8.”

The White’s advantage slipped away and the game finished in a draw after a few moves.

According to Richard Rapport, he was satisfied with his position after the opening but believed that things got out of control afterwards. Alexander Riazantsev declined a draw offer after 25...Qg5 but most probably missed a strong idea 27...c5. It was White’s turn to be careful but the Russian Grandmaster didn’t manage to hold the position playing under time pressure.

Ernesto Inarkiev and Boris Gelfand have played two matches against each other in Ingushetia (Russia) and continued a theoretical discussion in the English opening. Inarkiev had difficult times with Black after 1.c4 and it was his first victory in classical game over Gelfand with Black pieces. The Russian Grandmaster managed to equalize comfortably and, at the moment Gelfand decided to complicate the position, he felt it should not work for White. Ernesto was happy to find 20...Na2 and thought his position was better after.

Teimour Rajabov dropped back to minus one with a loss against Evgeny Tomashevsky. The game could have finished in a draw around move 20 but Teimour decided to play on. “At least I tried! #chess“, wrote Azerbaijani Grandmaster in his twitter.

Evgeniy Tomashvesky had the same experience as his opponent in the last stage of the previous Grand Prix Series in Khanty-Mansiysk. He also had chances to qualify for the Candidates back then and knew how difficult it was to play under such pressure when two opponents have different motivation. The Russian Grandmaster was slowly increasing his advantage and won a pawn on move 40. He was sure that Black could have defended better but at the same time believed White’s position should be winning.

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Round 5: a peaceful day after the storm in the Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix

After an extremely tense fourth round, today was the most peaceful day so far with all draws. “It’s the most important game generally in the tournament. I mean you don’t want to go to a rest day being upset,” said Levon Aronian after the game. Anish Giri had another opinion: “Levon considers a draw as a good result today because he beat me yesterday, so it depends...Two games before the rest day are important”.

Sebastia Nadal, President of the Winter Chess made a first symbolic move in the game between the finalists of recently finished World Cup in Tbilisi Ding Liren-Levon Aronian. Ding Liren decided not to repeat the openings from the final match in Georgia but to play something new against Levon Aronian. Until some moment the players were following the line which happened in the game Nakamura-Aronian in the previous Grand Prix. Hikaru chose 10.Bf6 after 9...h6 but Ding Liren opted for 10.Bh4. After an unpopular but interesting 10...g5 it turned out that Ding Liren was out of his preparation. The Chinese Grandmaster decided to simplify the position and after few exchanges the draw was agreed.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave didn’t achieve much with white pieces against Hikaru Nakamura and after 13 moves players agreed for a draw.

Teimour Rajabov tried to find a playable position not to make a fast draw today. Reversed King`s Indian happened in the game and this type of the position was not so common for Pentala Harikrishna “I think I got some play and Pentala had to solve some problems and he did it well”, said Teimour after the game.

The standings remain the same as after the round 4.

Tomorrow is a free day and the sixth round will be played at 2 pm local time on 22nd of November.

All results of the fifth round:

The pairing for the sixth round:

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Round 4: Aronian emerged sole leader in the Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix.

Javier Ochoa, Honorary FIDE Vice President and President of the Spanish Chess Federation made the first symbolic move to start the fourth round, which turned to be the most exciting round so far, with six decisive games out of nine.

Levon Aronian outplayed Anish Giri and became the sole leader of the tournament with 3 points. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Peter Svidler drew their game and share the second place together with Hikaru Nakamura, Pentala Harikrishna, Ding Liren and Dmitry Jakovenko, who won their games and moved to a plus one score.

According to Levon Aronian, his opponent had to exchange queens in the opening to stop White’s ambitions in creating an attack on the King’s side. It turned out Anish Giri was not in time to bring back the knight from a5 into the game while White prepared his pieces and got ready to break through.



Intuition told the Armenian Grandmaster that the knight sacrifice should be correct and he made this decision rather quickly. Anish Giri could have put more resistance after 24.Rg4 but most probably missed 27.d6 in the line which happened in the game.




Hikaru Nakamura was not sure that after spectacular 20.Qd6 his position is better but kept on trying to create some play on the Queen’s side. “Psychologically it was very hard for him," explained Nakamura. After few innacurate moves, Teimour Rajabov, who tries to qualify for the Candidates, ended up in a lost position.

Jon Ludvig Hammer decided to play in a creative style against one of the most creative chess players Richard Rapport. After 11...g5 12.Bd3 gf the Norwegian Grandmaster reached his goal as the position on the board became complicated. “Maybe it was not the best idea but I thought it looked interesting...I defended worse than Richard attacked”, said Jon Ludvig Hammer after the game.

Ding Liren, who was trying to find his feet after St.Louis, eventually won his first game in the tournament. The Chinese Grandmaster was glad to find such critical moves as 16...g5 and especially 18...Rg7 which took him more than 40 minutes of thinking. His opponent Ernesto Inarkiev could not cope with all threats and after 19. Nf3 his position became lost.

Pentala Harikrishna created a fatal attack on the King’s side and defeated Francisco Vallejo Pons.

In the longest game of the round Dmitry Jakovenko defeated Pavel Eljanov in the rook endgame after almost 7 hours of play. Pavel sacrificed a pawn in the opening but could not prove there was enough compensation.

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Round 3: MVL misses victory against Aronian, Peter Svidler and Francisco Vallejo Pons score.

In the third round of the Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix, games between the four leaders Vachier-Lagrave – Aronian, Rajabov-Giri finished in a draw. Peter Svidler joined the group of leaders by beating Jon-Ludvig Hammer in the third round.

Many spectators have gathered in the playing hall today to watch the games and see their favourite chess players. It was clear that many of them came today to support their local hero Francisco Vallejo Pons. The Spanish Grandmaster paid them back for six hours wait by winning his first game in the Grand Prix Series.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave came close to defeating Levon Aronian, but missed his chance to “pay back” his opponent for elimination from the semifinal of the World Cup. At the post-game interview, the French Grandmaster was sure he had an advantage and was blaming himself for exchanging queens. He underestimated Aronian’s counterplay in the centre, which turned out to be enough to keep the balance in the game.

Jon-Ludvig Hammer spend almost half an hour on his move 16.Nf5 and, as it often happens when players think for too long, chose not the best continuation. After 16...Bf5 17.ef d5 Peter Svidler got an obvious advantage. The Russian Grandmaster still had to show a precise way to win the game and among other decisions was happy to find 34...Ng4 (instead of tempting 34...e1Q), which prevents White’s conterplay on the King’s side.



The game finished with checkmate on the board, a rare guest in top-level events.

The longest game of round 3 Rapport-Li Chao finished in a draw. The Hungarian Grandmaster was pressing his opponent but Li Chao held the ground with black pieces.

The first symbolic move was made by Carles Vich, President of the Balearic Chess Federation.

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Round 2: Four players share lead after the second round of the Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix.

Teimour Rajabov and Levon Aronian scored their first victories in the tournament and tie for the first place with Anish Giri and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who drew their game today.

Paula Guinard, the Island Tourism Manager, made the first symbolic move in the game Giri - Vachier-Lagrave. This encounter turned out to be a very interesting theoretical battle in Najdorf, Poisoned Pawn Variation. After an exchange sacrifice, Anish Giri got a very promising position but failed to find the precise way to increase his advantage. In the post-game interview Giri noted that 26.h5 was not the right decision as after 26...Qc4, 27...Qc8 queens were exchanged and MVL had nothing to worry about.

After a quiet draw in the first round Teimour Rajabov got a chance to play his favorite King’s Indian Defence against Francisco Vallejo Pons. According to Rajabov, he declined a draw offer in the middle game because he already liked Black's position and his tournament situation required him to play. The Azerbaijani Grandmaster sacrificed a pawn in order to solve a problem of dark-square bishop and suddenly all his pieces became active. It seems Paco was not happy with his position when he chose to play 29.Nf2 and 30.e5 but after Black’s precise response his position became hopeless.

A long theoretical line led to the spectacular position where Levon Aronian had more knowledge than Ernesto Inarkiev. The Russian Grandmaster was obviously surprised by 16.Nd5 followed by 17.b4 and spent almost an hour over the board on 17...Qa6. According to Aronian, he had not analyzed this move before so he tried to use his intuition to find the right choices afterwards. The Armenian Grandmaster was sure that after 25.g4 White’s position should be better as Black has no resources to continue his attack.

All other games finished in a draw.

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Round 1: Three decisive games in the first round of the Palma de Mallorca Grand Prix.

The 2017 FIDE World Chess Grand Prix series continued with the fourth and final tournament, which is taking place in Palma de Mallorca, from 16th to 25th of November.

The tournament is being held in the Hotel Iberostar Bahia de Palma, set right on the beach. In the post-game interviews many players were satisfied with the great location of the tournament and warm weather.

The first symbolic move in the game Jakovenko-Aronian was made by Rodrigo Moscardó, General Manager of the Iberostar Spain and the Mediterranean, in the presence of Javier Ochoa, FIDE Honorary Vice President and President of the Spanish Chess Federation, players and honorary guests.

Teimour Rajabov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are the only players who take part in the last stage and keep chances to qualify for the Candidates Tournament. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk are leading in the Grand Prix Series but have already finished their tournaments.

In the first round Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Ernesto Inarkiev and Anish Giri outplayed their opponents, while 6 other games finished in a draw. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave showed better preparation in the opening against Boris Gelfand, where the two players resumed their theoretical battle in the Accelerated Dragon from the Moscow Grand Prix, and was satisfied with his position. He could not point out where things went wrong for the Israeli player and was not sure if it was the right idea for him to enter this line at all.

Alexander Riazantsev comfortably equalized with Black pieces against Teimour Rajabov and the players agreed for a draw after 2 hours of play.

Ernesto Inarkiev played a game full of prophylactic moves against Li Chao. The Russian player was enjoying a slightly better position and was trying not let his opponent to get any activity. This strategy worked out well for him, as the Chinese player still tried to break through by playing 19...c5 but this attempt failed. According to Inarkiev, after 20.Bc5 Black has no Be5 because of 21. de Rd1 22.Rd1 Qc5 23.Rd8 Kg7 24. Qb5! After 20...f6 Black’s position was lost.



In the longest game of the day, Anish Giri won against Richard Rapport. The Dutch Grandmaster was not sure about his decision to castle long. It turned out that after unexpected 14...b5 white was in trouble. Surprisingly, a few moves after this Anish was more optimistic about his position and declined the draw offer of his opponent. Later on, Richard Rapport made few errors and went for a dubious sacrifice that was proven wrong in the game.

The local hero Francisco Vallejo Pons showed an interesting idea in the opening with 3...b5 against Ding Liren and after 8...Bd5 Black got a comfortable position. After most of the pieces were traded, the game finished in a draw.

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The final stage of the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2017 opens in Palma de Mallorca

The world’s best chess players and chess establishment came together in Bellver Castle to celebrate the opening of the final leg of the FIDE Grand Prix Palma de Mallorca.

Palma de Mallorca is now looking forward to 9 days of intense chess battles, which will finally determine the two winners of the series – participants of the FIDE Candidates tournament.

The Opening Ceremony was held at the landmark hilltop Bellver Castle, former residence for the Kings of Mallorca built in the 14th century in a Gothic style. At the castle’s unique circular yard guests had a good opportunity to mingle with each other and enjoy modern Spanish guitar music.

Javier Ochoa, Honorary FIDE Vice President and President of the Spanish Chess Federation, thanked FIDE for the opportunity to host the tournament and welcomed the participants. “Spain is a country with a great Chess tradition and a thousand-year long history of playing chess,” he added.

Sebastia Nadal, President of the Winter Chess: “It is very rewarding to know that one of the best Spanish chess players of our time, Francisco Vallejo Pons, who was born and who resides here in our islands, could take part in this cycle of the World Chess.”

In the drawing of colours, the top player of the tournament Levon Aronian chose black pieces for the first round. The pairings for the first round are the following:

Dmitry Jakovenko – Levon Aronian
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Boris Gelfand
Pavel Eljanov – Hikaru Nakamura
Ding Liren – Francisco Vallejo Pons
Evgeny Tomashevsky – Peter Svidler
Anish Giri – Richard Rapport
Ernesto Inarkiev – Li Chao
Teimour Radjabov – Alexander Riazantsev
Jon Ludvig Hammer – Harikrishna Pentala

The Palma Grand Prix is supported by Official Partner EG Capital Advisors, an international asset management company, Kaspersky Lab, World Chess and FIDE Official Cybersecurity Partner, S.T. Dupont, Official Writing Instrument, and Isklar, Official Water.

First round starts tomorrow at Hotel Iberostar Bahia de Palma.

Opening Ceremony Photo Gallery

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