The second leg of the FIDE Grand Prix opened Tuesday in the Serbian capital of Belgrade with 16 of the world’s top chess players participating. The event, as usual, will have two stages. In the first stage, the players are divided into four pools of four, and the players in each pool play a double round-robin mini-tournament. The four winners of the pools progress to the second stage, where the four pool winners play a knock-out tournament, consisting of semi-finals and a final. Both the semi-finals and final will consist of 2 regular time limit games, plus tie-breaks if required.
The 16 players are Alexander Grischuk, Dmitry Andreikin, Sam Shankland, Etienne Bacrot, Richard Rapport, Sanrosh Gujrathi Vidit, Vladimir Fedoseev, Alexei Shirov, Anish Giri, Nikita Vitiugov, Pentala Harikrishna, M. Amin Tabatabaei, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Yu Yangyi and Alexander Predke.
So far, four decisive games have been played and things are likely to heat up as the rounds prograssed.
Grischuk,A (2764)-Andreikin,D (2724) [B46]
Belgrade A (1.1) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.a3 d6 8.f4 Qc7 9.Bd3 Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Kh1 Re8 12.Qf3 Bd7 13.Rae1 Rac8 14.Qg3 Nh5 15.Qf3 g6 16.f5 Ne5 17.Qh3 Qd8 18.fxe6 fxe6 19.Nxe6 Qa5 20.Nd5 Bd8 21.Bh6 Qxe1 22.Rxe1 Bxe6 23.Qe3 Ng4 24.Qd2 Nxh6 25.Be2 Ng7 26.Rf1 Nf7 27.Nf6+ Bxf6 28.Rxf6 Rc5 29.h3 Nh5 30.Bxh5 Rxh5 31.Qf2 Re5 32.Qb6 Re7 33.Rf4 g5 34.Rf2 Rxe4 35.b3 Bd5 0-1
Harikrishna,P (2719)-Vitiugov,N (2726) [B40]
Belgrade B (1.1) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Qd3 d5 7.exd5 Nb4 8.Qg3 Bc5 9.a3 Nbxd5 10.Bb5+ Kf8 11.Nde2 Bd7 12.Bxd7 Qxd7 13.Nxd5 Ne4 14.Qb3 Bxf2+ 15.Kf1 exd5 16.Be3 Qf5 17.Nd4 Qf6 18.Nf3 Bxe3 19.Qxe3 Qxb2 20.Re1 Qxc2 21.Kg1 Qc5 22.Nd4 Rc8 23.h4 h5 24.Kh2 Qd6+ 0-1
Giri,A (2772)-Tabatabaei,MA (2623) [C50]
Belgrade B (1.2) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 0-0 6.h3 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.Nbd2 Be6 9.Ne4 Bb6 10.b4 Ndxb4 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Rb1 h6 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Rxb4 a5 15.Rb1 Qh4 16.Qe2 Rad8 17.Kh2 Qe7 18.f4 Nd7 19.Rf3 Nf6 20.Bd2 Qa3 21.Nc3 Rde8 22.Qe5 Nd7 23.Qb5 Qe7 24.Qc4 Kh8 25.Ne4 c6 26.d4 Rb8 27.Rfb3 Qd8 28.Qxe6 Bxd4 29.Rxb7 Rxb7 30.Rxb7 Nc5 31.Nxc5 Bxc5 32.Rd7 Qf6 33.Qxf6 Rxf6 34.Bc3 Rxf4 35.Bxg7+ Kg8 36.Bxh6 Ra4 37.g4 Rxa2 38.g5 Rxc2+ 39.Kg3 Be3 40.Rd8+ Kh7 41.Kg4 Rd2 42.Re8 Bc5 43.Kh5 Rd5 44.Ra8 Bd4 45.h4 Bc3 46.Bf8 Bd4 47.Rc8 a4 48.Ra8 c5 49.Rxa4 Rd8 50.Ra7+ Kg8 51.Be7 Rc8 52.Kg6 c4 53.Rd7 Bh8 54.Bf6 c3 55.Rh7 Bxf6 56.gxf6 Rc6 57.Rd7 Rc8 58.Rg7+ 1-0
Vidit,SG (2727)-Shirov,A (2704) [B90]
Belgrade C (1.2) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Qd3 Nbd7 7.Be2 b5 8.Nd5 Bb7 9.a4 Nc5 10.Nxf6+ gxf6 11.Qe3 bxa4 12.f3 e5 13.Nf5 d5 14.exd5 Qxd5 15.Qf2 e4 16.Ne3 Qc6 17.0-0 0-0-0 18.Nc4 Qe6 19.b3 axb3 20.cxb3 Nxb3 21.Nb6+ Kb8 22.Bf4+ Bd6 23.Bc4 Qe8 24.Bxd6+ Rxd6 25.Bxb3 Rg8 26.Nc4 Rd3 27.Bc2 exf3 28.g3 Rc3 29.Na5 Qe2 30.Bxh7 1-0
Yu,Y (2713)-Mamedyarov,S (2767) [C45]
Belgrade D (1.1) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.h4 Qe6 9.Nd2 d6 10.exd6 Bxd6 11.Nc4 Bc5 12.a3 0-0 13.Qxe6 Bxe6 14.Bd3 Rfe8 15.0-0 Nf6 16.Be3 Bb6 17.Nxb6 cxb6 18.Rfe1 Nd7 19.Rad1 Ne5 20.Bf1 Bc4 21.b3 Bxf1 22.Kxf1 f6 23.Rd6 Rad8 24.Red1 Rxd6 25.Rxd6 Kf7 26.Bf4 c5 27.a4 Re6 28.Bxe5 Rxe5 29.Rd7+ Re7 30.Rd8 Kg6 31.Rd5 Re4 32.g3 c4 33.a5 cxb3 34.cxb3 bxa5 35.Rxa5 Rb4 36.Rxa7 ½-½
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ba3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rc5 2.Rb4#; 1…Rb5, Bc5 2.B(x)b5#; 1…Be1 2.Ne3#; 1…Bxb6+ 2.Nxb6#.
