Azerbaijani chess grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeated the French No 1 grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to win the vital FIDE Grand Prix in Riga, Latvia, last week.
The arduous contest went all the way to Armageddon, in which a winner must be declared when the game ends. The 2019 Riga Grand Prix was a qualifying event for the 2019-2020 World Championship cycle. Both Armageddon contenders required a victory to enhance their chances of qualifying for a ticket to the Candidates super-tournament.
Only the very top grandmasters gain entry to the Candidates Tournament, which is strictly by invitation. Whoever wins the Candidates faces the world chess champion in a battle for supremacy. Italian American grandmaster Fabiano Caruana won the last Candidates.
In the Armageddon game, the Frenchman had the white pieces, an additional minute on the clock and was placed to win. But Mamedyarov seized the initiative from white, and eventually the game, to become the champion in Riga. For his effort, Mamedyarov collected €24,000 and 10 Grand Prix points tying with Russia’s Alexander Grischuk who won the previous Grand Prix in Moscow. Vachier-Lagrave headed home with €14,000 and 8 Grand Prix points. The remaining two matches of the Grand Prix series would be played shortly.
