Alexander Grischuk sole leader of the Baku Grand Prix

a fighting 3rd round saw wins of Grischuk, Bacrot, Gashimov, Karjakin and Carlsen

Round 3 results:

Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2752 ½ - ½ Kamsky Gata 2726
Carlsen Magnus 2765 1 - 0 Inarkiev Ernesto 2684
Gashimov Vugar 2679 1 - 0 Svidler Peter 2746
Radjabov Teimour 2751 ½ - ½ Yue Wang 2689
Cheparinov Ivan 2695 0 - 1 Bacrot Etienne 2705
Karjakin Sergey 2732 1 - 0 Adams Michael 2729
Navara David 2672 0 - 1 Grischuk Alexander 2716

Tomorrow LIVE on Chessdom: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Magnus Carlsen. See you there!

All news about Baku Grand Prix

White's worst nightmare, Petroff defence, survived another massive test in Radjabov-Wang Yue in the 3rd round of Baku Grand Prix tournament. For awhile it looked like white is gaining momentum, but Chinese player initiated a series of exchanges that eliminated all queenside pawns and left white with nothing to play on. Radjabov admitted that Yue's accurate play left him no other choice.

Mamedyarov again used rare opening line, this time quiet 5. e3 after Kamsky surprised him with Gruenfeld Indian defence. French Grandmaster Pavel Tregubov also likes to play this way but Kamsky was well prepared. American is very good in deploying pieces on nice squares and today he had just enough time to do that. White should be credited for imaginative attacking attempt, and Kamsky also found a fine defending sequence that allowed him to transpose to the drawn Queen endgame. Mamedyarov continued playing for another 20 moves, but eventually had to agree to a draw.

Svidler insisted on grabbing a juicy h2-pawn in front of white's castled king, even at the cost of losing queenside integrity. Black cramped pieces were standing on each other's way and Gashimov established a French-like pawn structure where Svidler's king was left without defence. Rook lift and awfully weak dark squares won this blitzkrieg for white. Svidler admitted that one the reasons why he lost was his aim for creativity. Even before arriving to Baku he decided that this tournament will be played for fun.

The game between Carlsen and Inarkiev had a weird course. Carlsen already used The Torre Attack to avoid King's Indian defence before, for example against Cheparinov at the 2007 World Cup and against Radjabov at 2008 Corus, and it was hard to believe that this came as a surprise to young Russian. Nevertheless, he spent a great deal of time in the opening, but still managed to gain some advantage after white's careless play. Carlsen championed escaping from weaker positions, see his game with Topalov for instance, and sacrificed pawn on the first occasion to open the queen and bishop. Inarkiev further weakened light squares with 27...f6, and white's battery immediately started with invasion. Another mistake 37...Qd8 left black king surrounded in the corner and white easily brought this win home by pushing passed a-pawn.

Magnus Carlsen

Etienne Bacrot

Round 3 standings:

1. Grischuk Alexander 2716 RUS - 2.5
2-6. Kamsky Gata 2726 USA, Radjabov Teimour 2751 AZE, Karjakin Sergey 2732 UKR, Gashimov Vugar 2679 AZE and Carlsen Magnus 2765 NOR - 2.0
7-9. Adams Michael 2729 ENG, Yue Wang 2689 CHN and Bacrot Etienne 2705 FRA - 1.5
10-13. Navara David 2672 CZE, Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2752 AZE, Svidler Peter 2746 RUS and Inarkiev Ernesto 2684 RUS - 1.0
14. Cheparinov Ivan 2695 BUL - 0.0

It is interesting to note that local betting houses are considerably in favor of white pieces, thus giving better chances to Mamedyarov and Svidler in tomorrow's games against Carlsen and Radjabov.

Round 4 on 24th April at 15:00 local time

Kamsky Gata 2726 - Grischuk Alexander 2716
Adams Michael 2729 - Navara David 2672
Bacrot Etienne 2705 - Karjakin Sergey 2732
Yue Wang 2689 - Cheparinov Ivan 2695
Svidler Peter 2746 - Radjabov Teimour 2751
Inarkiev Ernesto 2684 - Gashimov Vugar 2679
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2752 - Carlsen Magnus 2765