Shakhriyar Mamedyarov winner of ShamkirChess2016

Games of the last ninth round have been played at the Vugar Gashimov Memorial “ShamkirChess 2016”. The final day was very successful for Azerbaijani players. In particular, the leader of the national team, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, beat Anish Giri of Holland to move to first place. Another representative of Azerbaijan Rauf Mamedov beat Hou Yifan of China, while Eltaj Safarli won against India’s Pentala Harikrishna. Teimour Radjabov drew his game with Ukraine’s Panel Eljanov. Fabiano Caruana, who was the tournament’s leader until the last round, drew his game against Sergey Karjakin and had to play a tie-breaker with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. 

After the first rapid games, the score was still even, while our fellow compatriot proved stronger in two blitz games – 2.5-1.5.

ShamkirChess 2016, 4 June, ninth round

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov(Azerbaijan, 2748) - Anish Giri (Holland, 2790) – 1:0

Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2779) - Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2804) – 0.5:0.5

Pentala Harikrishna (India, 2763) - Eltaj Safarli (Azerbaijan, 2664) – 0:1

Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine, 2765) - Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan, 2726) – 0.5:0.5

Hou Yifan (China, 2663) - Rauf Mamedov (Azerbaijan, 2655) – 0:1

Final standings  

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Fabiano Caruana – 6; Giri – 5.5; Karjakin – 5; Rauf Mamedov – 4.5; Harikrishna, Radjabov, Safarli – 4; Eljanov – 3.5; Hou Yifan – 2.5

Tie-breakers  

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov(Azerbaijan, 2748) - Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2804) – 2.5:1.5 (1:1 after two rapid games, 1.5:0.5 after two blitz games)