Maxime Vachier-Lagrave beats Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in a straight-forward game and equalizes the score.

The tension rises at the final of the FIDE Grand Prix organized by World Chess in Riga, as the fight will be decided on Wednesday in a tie-break.


The final of the Riga FIDE Grand Prix witnesses an unusual scenario. After his disappointment in the first game on Monday, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had to try everything in this must-win situation.



The Grand Prix welcomed Juris Radzevich on the stage of the Ziedonis Hall of the National Library in Riga to play the traditional first move of the match. The Executive Director of the Riga City Council tried the eccentric move 1.b4 for Vachier-Lagrave, but the French “corrected” it and played his favourite 1.e4. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov answered with the solid 1…e5, to which Vachier-Lagrave reacted with the flexible Italian. His choice is understandable, inasmuch his other weapon, the Ruy Lopez, bears a more concrete character. Keeping tension instead of trying to force matters is the best strategy in must-win situations. In the post-game interview, Mamedyarov was very critical of his move 16…Nd7, claiming that this passive more was at the origin of his defeat. Until that moment, the French had played very fast, showing that he had still prepared this variation. He took some time for his next move and continued with 17.d4 in order to gain space in the centre. One of the main problems of the black position was actually the offside queen on the a-file. The danger of having a badly-placed piece becomes concrete when the position opens up or the fight becomes sharper. That’s exactly what happened after black exchanged pawns on d4, as the white knight appeared on the dangerous square f5. Vachier-Lagrave increased the pressure with the strong manoeuver 23.f3 followed by 24.Qf2 and Qg3, ready to threaten mate on g7. With his position about to collapse, Mamedyarov sacrificed a pawn, but this did not ease his defence. Vachier-Lagrave confidently wrapped up the game with a few precise moves.

After a win for each contender, the final proceeds to a tie-break on Wednesday, which promises to be hard-fought. The outcome will depend on the shape of both players on that final day. Both have benefitted of several rest days during the event and could therefore save some energy. All these factors being equal, Vachier-Lagrave can be considered the favourite. His record in rapid chess has been slightly superior to Mamedyarov’s recently. Last but not least, the French leads the world ranking in blitz chess with a stunning rating of 2948. The games will start at 15:00.

Final, game 2:

Vachier-Lagrave – Mamedyarov 1 - 0 (1 – 1 on aggregate)

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