Gashimov Memorial 2016 - GOTD Round 8

Opening: B33: Sicilian

Player(s): Caruana, Mamedyarov

And when you think it's all over... BOOM! Only one decisive game today in round 8, but what a result! Mamedyarov beat Caruana and, with Giri drawing Hou, now the two top players share first going into the last round. Mamedyarov, after a rough start, is playing great chess. In today's game he challenged Fabiano in the Sveshnikov,. Caruana got a comfortable position, but Mamedyarov found a brilliant move to avoid the squeeze and start harassing white on the queen side: 16 Qb7. Caruana spent a lot of time to organize his troops, to found himself in time trouble. After the time control at move 40, it was clear that Memedyarov had got the upper hand in the game. The strong Azeri didn't let it go, and played very well to bring home the full point. now Mamedyarov follows the two co-leaders by  only half a point, and tomorrow he plays Giri with white, in an all-important game. Should Mamedyarov win, he would be first, waiting for Caruana's result in the American's game against Karjakin - with black. In case of tie, the playoff system contemplates two rapid games with time control 10+3; if still tied, 2 blitz games with time control 5+3; if still tied, it'll be Armageddon time: a blitz game with white getting 6 minutes and black 5 minutes; black has draw odds, as usual. Last round tomorrow, at 6AM EDT - 12:00 CEST: Mamedyarov-Giri, Karjakin-Caruana, Harikrishna-Safarli, Eljanov-Radjabov, Hou Yifan-Mamedov. 

Teacher's library (453) B33 Caruana Mamedyarov recap