Belgrade Grand Prix | Round One

The second leg of the FIDE World Chess Grand Prix got off to a sharp start with four players securing victories and four games ending in a draw

The first round was opened with a brief ceremony where the players were welcomed by the Serbian minister for sport, Vanja Udovicic, who was one of the world’s best ever water polo players (the sport is very popular in Serbia and southern Europe). Together with the head of the Serbian Chess Federation Dragan Lazic, Mr Udovicic made the first move in the game between Richard Rapport and Nikita Vitiugov.

The first round of the second leg of the FIDE Grand Prix concluded with Dmitry Andreikin, Nikita Vitiugov, Anish Giri and Vidit Gujrati scoring victories. The four other games all ended in a draw.
The 16 players are split into four pools with four participants each. The winner of each pool progresses to the knockout semi-final, and the two winners meet in the final.

Photos: Mark Livshitz (FIDE)

Pool A

The first game in Pool A was between two seasoned players – Alexander Grischuk and Dmitry Andreikin, which was won by Black – Andreikin out-calculated his countryman in a sharp Sicilian battle. Most likely, Grischuk missed a queen sacrifice 21…Qxe1! which gave Black a rook and two minor pieces in return. After Andreikin regrouped his pieces to launch a decisive attack, Grischuk capitulated.
It was a rough day for both players. Andreikin landed in Belgrade just a few hours before the round, having to endure an almost epic travel ordeal changing flights between Moscow – St Petersburg – Istanbul and, finally, Belgrade.

“I didn’t sleep much, and I was afraid of entering into a long boring endgame and that I might fall asleep”, noted Andreikin explaining that this made him opt for some sharper lines. At one point, he also semi-jokingly added that he wanted to play more interesting lines.

Grischuk also said that it wasn’t his day, voicing his concerns about the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and making a long sharp statement about the actions of the Russian government.

The second game of Pool A, between Etienne Bacrot and Sam Shankland, ended in a draw.
Bacrot took the initiative and created an edge for White, approaching a significantly better – if not won – position. However, he missed a couple of relevant moves giving space to the American to jump back into the game. After White’s 24.Qxb7?, Black equalised. There were plenty of interesting skirmishes afterwards, but nobody managed to get the upper hand.

In the post-game interview, Shankland confessed to being “over-optimistic” with certain moves: “After 15.e5 Ne8, the more I was looking at the position, the more I thought I was checkmated”, said Shankland adding that afterwards “it got messy” and that he was “under a lot of pressure”, but that towards the end he managed to improve.

Bacrot noted that he wasn’t very precise with executing his advantage. “I am not completely professional anymore. I had chances today, but I needed to play one or two good moves more”.

Pool B

This pool of players produced the longest and the shortest game played in the first round.
The first game to finish on the first day of the Belgrade Grand Prix was between Pentala Harikrishna and Nikita Vitiugov.

There isn’t really much to say about the game as White blundered on move 13. with Nxd5, ending up a pawn down and in a hopeless position.

“I missed 13…Ne4… It just happened. I thought Black would take on d5…”. It just goes to show that these things happen even to the best professionals.

“This is not the first time I blundered, and it won’t be the last time. It happens. But I will just think about tomorrow’s game and fight,” said Harikrishna.

A much tougher struggle unfolded in the game between Anish Giri and Amin Tabatabaei, who were the last ones to finish, after nearly five hours of play. In the Giuoco Pianissimo of Italian Game so popular nowadays, Giri introduced a very interesting novelty with 10.b4. Tabatabaei struggled to find the best solution for a new situation that emerged. In the subsequent battle, Giri handily outplayed his opponent and scored a full point.

In the post-game analysis, the two players reflected on the issue of dealing with mistakes and how to keep on fighting. Giri pointed out that even after making a big mistake, “it’s never too late” to make a comeback.

“In chess and in life, you make a mistake, and it often happens that you continue making mistakes one after the other. In theory, if you’re able to improve just after one mistake, but in life, it’s different… You can learn from your mistakes; it’s just important that they don’t come at the crucial moment”, said Giri.

Pool C

The game between Richard Rapport – who has for some time now been living in Belgrade – and Vladimir Fedoseev ended in a draw.

White managed to grab the initiative in the opening, putting Black in an uncomfortable position. Fedoseev resiliently held his ground, managed to find the right balance and, eventually, saved half a point.

In the second game of the pool, Vidit Gujrathi scored an impressive victory over Alexei Shirov in a very sharp game. In a rare line of the Najdorf, Vidit introduced a novelty 8.Nd5 and the opponents found stepped into uncharted territory. Shirov equalised with active play but was then maybe too aggressive with pawn-push, handing White the edge. The position remained dynamic and sharp, but after 23…Qe8 Shirov lost a piece and, with it, the game.

Pool D

Both games in Pool D ended in a draw.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, playing as White, tested Alexandr Predke in the Ruy Lopez. Predke not only passed the test but also emerged better after a fierce clash in the centre. Maxime had to work hard for a draw and, eventually, he reached it.

Following the game, the World Blitz Champion said that despite not being very satisfied with his performance, it was a “useful exercise” for him to play such a long game where he had to work a lot and calculate and that it will help him get into his form for the rest of the event.

The second game of Pool D was a peaceful duel between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Yu Yangyi. White had a slight edge but couldn’t create anything substantial, and both players agreed to split a point.

The second round

The FIDE Grand Prix continues on Wednesday, 2nd March, with the second round starting at 3 PM local (CET) time.

The pairings for the second round are as follows:
Pool A:
Etienne Bacrot (2635) vs Dmitry Andreikin (2724)

Sam Shankland (2704) vs Alexander Grischuk (2758)

Pool B:
Anish Giri (2771) vs Nikita Vitiugov (2726)

Amin M. Tabatabaei (2623) vs Pentala Harikrishna (2716)

Pool C:
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2723) vs Vladimir Fedoseev (2704)

Alexei Shirov (2691) vs Richard Rapport (2762)

Pool D:
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2716) vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2776)

Alexandr Predke (2682) vs Yu Yangyi (2713)


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