Tashkent Chess Grand Prix Round 1: Andreikin, Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave begin with Wins

Hello chess blog friends, the Tashkent Chess Grand Prix has begun with chess stars Andreikin, Nakamura and Vachier-Lagrave scoring in the first round. Dmitry Andreikin, Hikaru Nakamura and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated their opponents, perhaps, inspired by the great Champions Bobby Fischer, Tigran Petrosian and Mikahil Tal (whose portraits are on the background of the photo from the opening ceremony). Maxime Vachier-Lagrave started the Grand Prix series with victory over the top seed of the tournament Fabiano Caruana. 

Photo: FIDE/Yulia Monakova

In a “must see” game Nakamura vs Jobava, the Georgian player sacrificed a rook for three pawns but blundered in a very complex position being short of time. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov unexpectedly lost in the endgame with pawn up against Dmitry Andreikin. Three other games Giri-Gelfand, Kasimdzhanov-Jakovenko, Radjabov-Karjakin were drawn. 

Round 1 resultsSNo. Name Rtg Res. Name Rtg SNo.
1 GM Giri, Anish 2768 ½ - ½ GM Gelfand, Boris 2748 12
2 GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2764 0 - 1 GM Andreikin, Dmitry 2722 11
3 GM Nakamura, Hikaru 2764 1 - 0 GM Jobava, Baadur 2717 10
4 GM Caruana, Fabiano 2844 0 - 1 GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2757 9
5 GM Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 2706 ½ - ½ GM Jakovenko, Dmitry 2747 8
6 GM Radjabov, Teimour 2726 ½ - ½ GM Karjakin, Sergey 2767 7

You can find lots of lovely photos and a detailed report at the official website.

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