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After First Day of Grand Prix, Three Players in Dire Straits |
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Saturday, 18 May 2019 05:44 |
The race for the 2020 World Chess Championship officially started on Friday in the Central House of Chess Player in Moscow as 16 of the world's best players clashed in the opening round of the FIDE Grand Prix Series organized by World Chess.
Three of the eight games ended decisively, putting three players (Wesley So of the United States, Levon Aronian of Armenia and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan) on the verge of elimination under a new knockout format being used for this year's series.
The FIDE Grand Prix is four tournaments. In addition to Moscow, the sites include Jurmala (a suburb of Riga), Latvia; Hamburg, Germany; and Tel Aviv, Israel. The prize fund is 130,000 euros for each tournament with an additional 280,000 euros allocated among the top 10 finishers in the series, for a total of 800,000 euros.
More importantly, the top two finishers will qualify for next year's Candidates tournament to select a challenger for the World Championship match to be held in November 2020.
There are 21 players in the Grand Prix, with each playing three of the four tournaments. (One additional player will be nominated by the Israeli Chess Federation to participate in the last tournament, but will not play in the rest of the series and therefore cannot qualify for the Candidates.)
The top player in the Grand Prix, based on the current world rankings, is Anish Giri of the Netherlands, who is No. 4. Daniil Dubov of Russia, the reigning World Rapid Champion, is the lowest ranked player at No. 48. It may be the strongest Grand Prix series yet.
The principal sponsors of the series are PhosAgro, a giant Russian fertilizer company, and Kaspersky Lab, a worldwide leader in data security. The series is being organized and broadcast by World Chess on its website under the auspices of FIDE.
The Grand Prix series has been around for more than a decade and has used two formats in the past: a round-robin, in which each player in the tournament played every other once, and a Swiss system in which players were paired based on their standings in each tournament. This year's format is radically different: It is a knockout tournament of mini-matches. Each player faces another one in two classic, or slow games over two days, going to a series of faster tie-breaker games on a third day if the match is tied. The format mirrors the one used in the biennial World Cup. The hope is that it will stimulate more exciting games and discourage draws.
The initial results on Friday did not live up to those hopes as the higher stakes in each game – a loss is potentially fatal to any player's chances – led to short draws.
(Another feature of the tournament is that short draws are permitted, unlike in many high-level tournaments, which usually adopt a rule that requires that games go past at least 30 moves. Several players mentioned that difference in post-game interviews and how strange it felt to have that option.)
The first symbolic moves in the game Nepomniachtchi – Aronian were made by the President of the Russian Chess Federation Andrey Filatov and Chairman of the Israel Chess Federation Moshe Slav.
The first game to finish was between Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Hikaru Nakamura of the United States, who agreed to a truce in under an hour and after only 12 moves. Afterward, in a nod to the tensions and high stakes, Nakamura predicted that there would be many draws in the tournament. His prediction seemed like it might come true as draws soon followed between Sergey Karjakin and Alexander Grischuk, both of Russia, and Nikita Vitiugov and Peter Svidler, who are also Russian.
In an interview, Svidler mentioned another dynamic about the tournament and the format: Some of the matches were between long-time friends and/or colleagues, making protracted fights somewhat less likely. For example, Vitiugov has long assisted Svidler in his preparations for World Championship caliber tournaments, so facing him was difficult. "I hate it," Svidler said.
Wei Yi of China and Dmitry Jakovenko of Russia played a hard-fought draw, trading most of their major pieces by Move 23. Wei, who at 19 is the youngest player in the field, got into a bit of time pressure, which has become a defining characteristic of his career. In the interview afterward, he said that he was a bit surprised by Jakovenko's 4 ... d4, which left White a little cramped in the center.
Giri, though he had White, had to fight uphill against Dubov, who surprised him in the opening with a pawn sacrifice that not only seized the initiative but left Giri's king dangerously stranded in the center. It was an exciting, messy game and Giri was in deep trouble as he consumed a lot of his allotted time and Dubov began to pry open the center. But Dubov missed the best continuations and allowed Giri to generate enough counter play to lead to a dynamically balanced position. The players agreed to a draw after 36 moves.
The first decisive result was between Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland and So. The opening was a Giuoco Piano, which is Italian for quiet game. The game was proceeding down a well-known path when So blundered with 10... Kh8. That allowed Duda to create a difficult choice for So: Trade his light-squared bishop or give up a pawn. So chose to give up a pawn, but he did not really have enough compensation for it. So's position quickly deteriorated and he resigned after only 25 moves. Duda mentioned afterward that he has been lucky against So before as So had blundered against him in a couple of other games.
The two longest games of the day were between Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia vs. Aronian and Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland vs. Mamedyarov.
Nepomniachtchi, who had White, surprised Aronian with a rare sideline in the Ruy Lopez. Aronian seemed in real trouble, but he kept finding resources and fighting back, though he eventually lost a pawn as the game headed into an endgame. Aronian sacrificed a piece to eliminate Nepomniachtchi's queenside pawns, leaving him with a worse position, but some practical chances to draw. The game see-sawed back and forth, with both players making errors until Nepomniachtchi gave up his knight to eliminate Aronian's remaining kingside pawns. Aronian still had chances to draw, but he had to play perfectly. Instead, he blundered, allowing Nepomniachtchi to force a trade of queens that would have led to an easily winning endgame. Aronian promptly resigned.
The other game was a heart-breaking loss for Mamedyarov. Wojtaszek, who had White and is known for his preparation, played quickly in the opening, gaining a slight edge. Mamedyarov found some nice practical moves and, in a very complicated position, managed to turn the tide, ending up with two pieces for a rook and pawn. Though far from being an easy win, Mamedyarov seemed to be firmly in control. But Wojtaszek played stubborn defense and on Moves 55 and 56, Mamedyarov blundered horribly, walking his king into a mating net. The only way to avoid an immediate loss was to give up a knight, leaving him with an insurmountable material deficit. He resigned only 10 moves later.
Game 2 of the first round is Saturday at 3 PM local time. The broadcast can be viewed free and live at worldchess.com. With So, Aronian and Mamedyarov facing elimination, they will have to pull out all the stops to survive. That should lead to several exciting games.
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Information for the press https://mediakit2018.worldchess.com
Official website https://worldchess.com/news/1349
  
Leading partners supporting the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2019 organized by World Chess include:
PhosAgro, a leading chemical company as the Official Strategic Partner
Kaspersky Lab, as the Official Cybersecurity Partner
Russian Post, as the Official Logistics Partner
PRYTEK, as the Technology Transfer Partner
BMW, as the Official Auto Partner
About FIDE
FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Echecs) is recognized by its members and the International Olympic Committee as the international federation in the domain of chess, the supreme body responsible for the sport of chess and its Championships. FIDE has the sole rights to organize the World Chess Championships and the Chess Olympiads. www.fide.com
About World Chess
World Chess is a London-based media company. It's an official broadcaster of the World Chess Federation events and a commercial partner of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). World Chess organized the World Championship Matches in Russia, USA, and the UK. It revolutionized chess by signing the biggest media partnerships in the history of chess. World Chess is also developing Armageddon, the chess league designed for television. It operates worldchess.com.
About PhosAgro
PhosAgro is one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers in terms of production volumes of phosphate-based fertilizers and high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39% and higher. The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe (by total combined capacity for DAP/MAP/NP/NPK/NPS), the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39%, a top-three producer of MAP/DAP globally, one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia, and Russia's only producer of nepheline concentrate (according to the RAFP).
PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, 39 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in 100 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe and Asia. PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes
About Kaspersky Lab
Kaspersky Lab is a global cybersecurity company, which has been operating in the market for over 21 years. Kaspersky Lab's deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into next-generation security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company's comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky Lab technologies and we help 270,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.
About Russian Post
Russian Post is a federal post operator, is included in the Russian Federation strategic companies list. It includes 42,000 offices across the country and has one of the biggest staff – about 335,000 post workers. Operational revenue of Russian Post in 2018 grew by 7% up to 190.4 bln rubles (178.1 bln rubles in 2017). Actual net profit of Russian Post was 3.5 times higher than in 2017 and amounted to 2.7 billion rubles. In 2018, Russian Post processed 433.3 million parcels. Every year, Russian Post delivers over 2.5 billion letters and bills (of them, 1 billion letters are from state authorities). Russian Post services about 20 million subscribers in Russia by delivering 1 billion copies of print publications per year. The annual volume of transactions processed by Russian Post is 3.2 trillion rubles (pensions, payments and transfers).
About BMW Group
The BMW Group is the world's leading manufacturer of premium automobiles and motorcycles, and provider of premium financial and mobility services. The special fascination of the BMW Group not only lies in its products and technology, but also in the company's history, written by inventors, pioneers and brilliant designers. The BMW Group sets trends in production technology and sustainability as an innovation leader with an intelligent material mix, a technological shift towards digitalisation and resource-efficient production. At the same time, flexibility and continuous optimisation of value chains ensure competitiveness.
About PRYTEK
PRYTEK corporation is a global VC integrator that invests in Fintech, HRtech, Cybersecurity, Mediatech, AI and Education, and transfer disruptive technologies to emerging markets. PRYTEK established a unique ecosystem where technologies enter new markets, investors are not charged for assets management and corporates get "one-stop-shop" access to best global innovations which enable them to be ahead of the competitors. PRYTEK corporation operates in 4 countries, with over 30 cutting edge technologies worth $1,8 bln and more than 2500 corporate customers.
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