Shakhriyar Mamedyarov stuns Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with a powerful game at the FIDE Grand Prix organized by World Chess in Riga.

The French finds himself in a critical must-win situation for the second final game on Tuesday.

The FIDE Grand Prix is back to the stage of the National Library in Riga after a break on the weekend. Both finalists had granted themselves an additional free day on Saturday by winning their respective semi-final matches without the need of a tie-break. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov deservedly earned their place in the final. The French qualified in all his matches in convincing manner without ever needing a tie-break. The Azeri won two matches in the classical games and only needed to go to extra time in the second round.



Mamedyarov’s first move 1.d4 was made symbolically by Andis Šteinmanis, General Manager at Kaspersky in Baltic. The cybersecurity company has been a partner of World Chess and the Grand Prix Series since 2017. Mr. Šteinmanis stayed for a long time after the start to follow the action and was keen on listening to the commentary of experts on site.

As expected, the game started with Vachier-Lagrave’s favourite Grunfeld opening. Mamedyarov followed the same strategy as in his semi-final game against Wesley So, when he introduced a small but poisonous novelty. He revealed afterwards that the idea 12.Bf4 had been worked out by one of his helpers. The French soon reacted badly, when he played the natural 13…Nc6 instead of 13…e6 or even the bold capture of the pawn on d4. Things went from bad to worse after 14.d5 when Vachier-Lagrave chose 14…Na5 instead of the centralizing move Nd4. He had failed to spot the strong intermediate 19.exf6, which left his position in ruin. Mamedyarov had no trouble increasing his advantage and forced resignation on move 28.

The French will have to collect himself and draw all the possible energy if he intends to bounce back in the second game.

Sunday was the official free day of the FIDE Grand Prix. Some side events were organized in the touristic seaside resort Yurmala. Grand Masters Igor Kovalenko and Yannick Pelletier played friendly games against passer-by, and several official members of the Latvian and of the International Chess Federations joined in the fun. Later in the afternoon, an exhibition match was organized at the WTA Baltic Open. The President of the Latvian Chess Federation paired up with national star Jelena Ostapenko, who had won Roland-Garros in 2017. They overcame their opponents Bozic-Krums 6-3 in a highly entertaining match.


Final, game 1:

Mamedyarov – Vachier-Lagrave 1 - 0


Pictures can be downloaded from Dropbox.


Text by Press Officer Yannick Pelletier; Photo courtesy: World Chess

 

  





Leading partners supporting the FIDE Grand Prix Riga 2019 include:

EG Capital Advisors as the Official Partner
PhosAgro as the Official Strategic Partner
Kaspersky as the Official Cybersecurity Partner
Algorand as the Exclusive Blockchain Partner

Information for the press: https://worldchess.com/news/2189 
Official website https://worldchess.com/news/2089 

About FIDE
The International Chess Federation (FIDE), 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
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About World Chess
World Chess is a London-based media company. It's a commercial partner of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), and official broadcaster for FIDE events. 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.
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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 EG Capital Advisors
EG Capital Advisors is a UK-headquartered asset management company which offers strategies across multiple asset classes. Specialist areas of focus include emerging markets high yield debt, pre-IPO private equity and biotec public equity. www.egcapitaladvisors.com.

About Kaspersky
Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity company, which has been operating in the market for over 21 years. Kaspersky'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 technologies and we help 270,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com  

About Algorand
Based in Boston and founded by cryptography pioneer and Turing award winner Silvio Micali, Algorand is an open-source software company building technical innovation for the borderless economy with a platform that delivers decentralization, scalability and security. Algorand’s first-of-its-kind permissionless, pure proof-of-stake protocol supports the scale, open participation, and transaction finality needed by users to build opportunity and fulfill the promise of blockchain technology.
For more information, visit www.algorand.com