Maxime leads Sharjah Grand Prix

Mamedyarov among three in second place after three chess rounds

French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France maintained the solo lead with 2.5 points after three rounds of the €130,000 FIDE Sharjah Grand Prix at the Sharjah Chess Club. In a closed Ruy Lopez game, Vachier sacrificed a knight on the 38th move and advanced his kingside pawns. Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Hamid Oglu Mamedyarov defended accurately and Vachier forced the draw by perpetual check.

Mamedyarov and two others follow with 2 points each, namely Michael Adams of England and Hikaru Nakamura of the USA. Nakamura beat Richard Rapport of Hungary in 55 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Chigorin defence. Rapport gave a knight on the 44th move but his attack fizzled out and he resigned on the 55th move. Adams drew in 43 moves against the Sicilian defence of Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine.

Ten players are in the middle of the 18-man field with 1.5 points each in the 9-round Swiss system, namely Eljanov, Ding Liren and Hou Yifan of China, Jon Ludvig Hammer of Norway, Dmitry Jakovenko, Alexander Riazantsev, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Alexander Grischuk of Russia, Levon Aronian of Armenia and Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain.

Ding Liren drew with Hammer in 48 moves of a Reti Opening Capablanca System. Grischuk drew with Aronian in only 20 moves of a Close Ruy Lopez. Hou Yifan and Jakovenko drew in 34 moves of a Closed Ruy Lopez. Riazantsev halved the point after only 20 moves of a Fianchetto Gruenfeld defence against Li Chao of China.

With 1 point each are Rapport, Li Chao and Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia followed in the bottom by Salem A. R Saleh of the UAE with a half point. Tomashevsky and Salem drew in 21 moves of a Colle System.