The FIDE Grand Prix organized by World Chess in Riga welcomed a very special guest at the start of the tie-break matches on Wednesday. Football legend Māris Verpakovskis kicked off the day by playing 1.d4 in the game between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The Azeri Grand Master was delighted to see the star who had spent two seasons at the FC Baku.
This first rapid game was rather shaky, as Mamedyarov got a significant advantage before blundering inexplicably with 29.h5. Two pawns were gone, but Duda’s king proved vulnerable enough for white to reach a draw by perpetual check. The Pole started the second encounter in typical “Mamedyarov style”, by pushing his g pawn very early on. Indeed, the Azeri has won several brilliant games in different openings with the idea Rh1-g1, followed by g2-g4-g5. Was this strategy too provocative from Duda? His opponent commented afterwards that he knew precisely how to react, and that the key was not to be scared of the white attack. Mamedyarov simply centralized his forces, convincingly repelled the aggressive attempts of his opponent, and cashed in the whole point to qualify to the semi-final.
Źródło: Text by Press Officer Yannick Pelletier; Photo courtesy: World Chess
Jedyna porażka!
Runda 2 (baraże):
So – Karjakin 3,5 – 2,5
Mamedyarov – Duda 1,5 – 0,5
Yu Yangyi – Grischuk 0,5 – 1,5
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