Shakhriyar Mamedyarov has now won his home supertournament

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov has now won his home supertournament for a second year in a row, with his +2 score built on wins with the black pieces over Wesley So, Pavel Eljanov and Vladimir Kramnik.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov retained his Gashimov Memorial title after an anticlimactic final round in Shamkir. His game against Veselin Topalov raced to a draw, meaning only Wesley So could force a playoff if he beat Harikrishna with the black pieces. Soon, however, there was nothing Wesley could hope for but a draw, which he safely achieved.

The day was saved, however, by Vladimir Kramnik, who emerged victorious from a complicated 6-hour battle with Pavel Eljanov. That second win in a row for Big Vlad took him up to second place on the tiebreak of most wins.

See also:

• Official website
• All the games with computer analysis on chess24
• Shamkir Chess 1-2: So’s streak ends, Eljanov leads
• Shamkir Chess 3-5: Mamedyarov leads, So back at no. 2
• Shamkir Chess 6: A bad day for Russia
• Shamkir Chess 7-8: Mamedyarov rocked by Wojtaszek

Save