Sports

7th Vugar Gashimov Memorial underway; Caruana leads

Tuesday, December 21, 2021

The 7^th Vugar Gashimov Memorial got underway December 17^th in Baku, Azerbaijan with eight players competimg in a rapid mini-match tournament combined with a double round robin blitz. The players are

Richard Rapport, Fabiano Caruana, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Rauf Mamedov, Viswanathan Anand, David Navara, Vugar Asadli and Sergey Karjakin.

The tournament is held in mtmory of GM Vugar Gasimov, formerly world number 6 player until he died in 2014 at age 27 while undergoing treatment for a brain tumor.

The winner of the rapid mini-match gets 3 points and the loser gets 0 points. In case of a draw in a mini-match, each player earns 1 point, but an Armageddon game will be played to determine the winner, and the Armageddon winner gets an extra point.

After three rounds in the rapids, Caruana leads the field. The standings after Round 3: 1. Caruana, 8; 2. Rapport, 7; 3-5. Karjakin, Mamedov, Mamedyaeov, 5; 6. Navara, 4; 7-8. Anand, Asadli, 1.

Caruana,F (2792) – Mamedov,R (2656) [C41]

Baku (2.2) 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Bb5+ c6 7.Be2 0-0 8.Bf4 d5 9.exd5 cxd5 10.0-0 Nc6 11.Qa4 a6 12.Rad1 Be6 13.Nd4 Qb6 14.Qb3 Qa7 15.Nxc6 bxc6 16.Na4 a5 17.Qg3 Ne4 18.Qe3 Qxe3 19.Bxe3 Rab8 20.b3 Rb4 21.Bd4 c5 22.Ba1 d4 23.Bd3 Nf6 24.Rfe1 Nd5 25.Bc4 Rxc4 26.bxc4 Nb4 27.c3 Nc2 28.cxd4 cxd4 29.Re5 Bf6 30.Rxa5 Bxc4 31.Rc1 Re8 32.Nb6 Be2 33.Rxc2 d3 34.Bxf6 dxc2 35.Bb2 Ba6 36.h3 Bb7 37.Rc5 Re1+ 38.Kh2 Re2 39.Rc7 Ba6 40.Nd5 1-0

Caruana,F (2792)-Rapport,R (2763) [C18]

Baku (3.1) 2021

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qc7 7.h4 Ne7 8.Rh3 Nbc6 9.h5 h6 10.Qg4 Rg8 11.Qf4 Bd7 12.Bd2 0-0-0 13.Nf3 Rdf8 14.Bd3 f6 15.Qh2 fxe5 16.Nxe5 Nxe5 17.Qxe5 Qxe5+ 18.dxe5 Nc6 19.f4 c4 20.Be2 Be8 21.Be3 b6 22.Kd2 Kb7 23.g4 Rf7 24.Rg1 Rgf8 25.g5 Ne7 26.g6 Rf5 27.Bg4 Bd7 28.Ra1 Rb8 29.a4 Rff8 30.a5 Nf5 31.Bxf5 Rxf5 32.axb6 a6 33.Rh4 Rc8 34.Bd4 Bb5 35.Ke3 Be8 36.Kf3 Bb5 37.Kg3 Bd7 38.Ra5 Bb5 39.Rh1 Rff8 40.Rha1 Ra8 41.Kg4 Kc6 42.Rb1 Kb7 43.Raxb5 axb5 44.Rxb5 Rf5 45.Rxd5 Rxf4+ 46.Kxf4 Rf8+ 47.Ke4 exd5+ 48.Kxd5 1-0

Karjakin,S (2743)-Rapport,R (2763) [C18]

Baku (1.1) 2021

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nc6 7.Qg4 g6 8.Qd1 Bd7 9.Nf3 Qa5 10.Bd2 c4 11.h4 h6 12.a4 0-0-0 13.Qc1 f6 14.Qa3 Rh7 15.Bf4 fxe5 16.Nxe5 Nxd4 17.0-0-0 Nc6 18.Nxg6 b5 19.Ne5 Nge7 20.Rh3 Nxe5 21.Bxe5 Nc6 22.Bh2 Rf7 23.Rf3 Rxf3 24.gxf3 Qxa4 25.Qd6 Qa5 26.Bh3 Kb7 27.Kb2 d4 28.Rxd4 Bc8 29.Qg3 Rxd4 0-1

Rapport,R (2763)-Anand,V (2751) [C44]

Baku (2.1) 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.g3 Bc5 4.Bg2 d6 5.c3 Bb6 6.0-0 g5 7.a4 g4 8.Nh4 a5 9.Na3 Be6 10.Nf5 Bxf5 11.exf5 h5 12.Nc4 Ba7 13.Qb3 Rb8 14.Qb5 Kf8 15.Nxa5 Nxa5 16.Qxa5 Bb6 17.Qb4 Qf6 18.a5 Ba7 19.d3 Ne7 20.Be3 c5 21.Qc4 Nxf5 22.b4 Qg6 23.b5 b6 24.Be4 h4 25.axb6 Bxb6 26.Ra2 hxg3 27.fxg3 Nxe3 28.Bxg6 Nxc4 29.dxc4 1-0

Navara,D (2697)-Mamedyarov,S (2767) [C81]

Baku (1.1) 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Qe2 Nc5 10.Rd1 Nxb3 11.cxb3 Be7 12.Nc3 0-0 13.Bf4 Qd7 14.Rd2 Nd8 15.Rad1 c6 16.h3 Bf5 17.Nd4 Bg6 18.Qg4 Ne6 19.Be3 Rad8 20.Nf5 Bxf5 21.Qxf5 f6 22.exf6 Bxf6 23.Qg4 Qf7 24.Ne2 h5 25.Qg3 c5 26.Rxd5 Nd4 27.R5xd4 cxd4 28.Nxd4 Rd5 29.Rd2 Be5 30.Qh4 Qg6 31.g3 Bf6 32.Qf4 Bxd4 0-1

******

PUZZLERS