Ding and Mamedyarov Remain in the Lead at the FIDE Grand Prix Leg in Moscow

Nakamura, Gelfand and Adams won in the 6th round. 

On Thursday, May 18, the sixth round of the FIDE Grand Prix leg was played in the Central Telegraph building.
 
The games Radjabov-Mamedyarov and Grischuk-Svidler ended in a draw quite quickly.  

The duel between Ding Liren and Vachier-Lagrave was rather interesting, but didn’t determine a winner. The Chinese grandmaster, who played White, sacrificed the exchange for the initiative. White organized an attack on the rival’s king and got a considerable advantage. However, Ding wasn’t quite precise before the time control, and after several tactical blows from both sides, his edge came to naught. An extra pawn didn’t help White in the rook endgame; after Black’s 52nd move a draw was agreed. 

Hikaru Nakamura outplayed Ian Nepomniachtchi with White in the Sicilian Najdorf with an opposite-side castling. White sacrificed a pawn to create a swift attack and succeeded: soon Black had to give back the material, but he didn’t manage to protect himself from all the threats. Nepomniachtchi resigned in a tough position after his own blunder.  

Boris Gelfand celebrated his first victory by winning against Pentala Harikrishna. After White’s pieces had been placed harmonically, Gelfand broke through in the centre, carried out a tactical blow and won a pawn. Boris demonstrated his brilliant technique in converting his material edge into win.  

Michael Adams managed to reach Ernesto Inarkiev’s king in the Ruy Lopez. White were methodically shaking the opponent’s defense on different sides of the board, and eventually conducted an exemplary attack on black squares. 

Evgeny Tomashevsky, who played White against Anish Giri, got an advantage in the Benoni Defence. In the middlegame, the Dutch managed to find an interesting protective resource by giving up his queen for a rook and a bishop. The opponents decided not to risk in a sharp position with an irregular material correlation and agreed to a draw. 

Hou Yifan, who played Black with Saleh Salem, had to exercise an extraordinary ingenuity in order to neutralize White’s pushing in the Semi-Tarrasch Defense and make a draw. 

Jon Ludvig Hammer and Francisco Vallejo were waging a complex maneuvering fight in the English Opening. White won a pawn but lagged in the development. Black’s active pieces allowed him to maintain a balance. The game ended in a draw by perpetual.  

Round 6 standings:

1-2. Ding Liren, Mamedyarov 4
3-8. Svidler, Radjabov, Grischuk, Vachier-Lagrave, Nakamura, Gelfand - 3.5
9-11. Giri, Tomashevsky, Hammer - 3
12-16. Nepomniachtchi, Harikrishna, Hou Yifan, Vallejo, Salem - 2.5
17. Adams 2
18. Inarkiev - 1.5

Round 7 pairings:

Nakamura - Ding Liren, Mamedyarov - Grischuk, Vachier-Lagrave - Radjabov, Svidler - Gelfand, Giri - Salem, Harikrishna - Tomaskevsky, Hou Yifan - Hammer, Vallejo - Adams, Inarkiev - Nepomniachtchi.

Event on Chess-Results

Official website

Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich