Belgrade GP R4: Vachier-Lagrave wins to take sole lead in Pool D

by Shahid Ahmed - 05/03/2022

Both Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna drew their games against Alexei Shirov and Nikita Vitiugov respectively. Vidit still shares the lead with Richard Rapport at 2.5/4 in Pool C. Anish Giri drew with Tabatabaei to maintain his full point lead 3.0/4 in Pool B. Harikrishna's score is now 1.5/4. Sam Shankland and Dmitry Andreikin shares the top spot in Pool A at 2.5/4 each. Meanwhile, the newly crowned World Blitz champion, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave scored the only win of Round 4 against Alexandr Predke to gain sole lead 2.5/4. Today is a rest day. Round 5 of Pool stage starts tomorrow, Sunday 6th March at 7:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Giri still at the top of Pool B

The fourth round of FIDE Belgrade GP had seven draws. It is the highest number of draws conceded in a single round of this event so far.

The World Blitz champion is aiming to advance to the Quarterfinals | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Pool D: Predke - Vachier-Lagrave: 1-0

Alexandr Predke got into trouble against the Najdorf specialist and the new World Blitz champion, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Position after 26.g3

White's position was already uncomfortable. 26.g3 only made things worse. Find out why.

MVL leads Pool D 2.5/4 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Nikita Vitiugov - Pentala Harikrishna: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

Alexei Shirov - Vidit Gujrathi: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

The tournament hall | Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

FIDE Grand Prix 2022 Belgrade GP Round 4 Live Commentary by IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 4 games

Round 4 results

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave scored the sole victory of Round 4 | Photo: FIDE

Pool A standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1
1	3	GM	Shankland Sam	USA	2704	2,5	0
	4	GM	Andreikin Dmitry	FID	2724	2,5	0
3	2	GM	Bacrot Etienne	FRA	2635	2,0	0
4	1	GM	Grischuk Alexander	FID	2758	1,0	0

Details

Pool B standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1
1	2	GM	Giri Anish	NED	2771	3,0	0
2	4	GM	Vitiugov Nikita	FID	2726	2,0	0
3	1	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	IND	2716	1,5	0
	3	GM	Tabatabaei M. Amin	IRI	2623	1,5	0

Details

Pool C standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1
1	1	GM	Rapport Richard	HUN	2762	2,5	0
	2	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2723	2,5	0
3	4	GM	Fedoseev Vladimir	FID	2704	2,0	0
4	3	GM	Shirov Alexei	ESP	2691	1,0	0

Details

Pool D standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1
1	2	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	FRA	2761	2,5	0
2	1	GM	Yu Yangyi	CHN	2713	2,0	0
	4	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	AZE	2776	2,0	0
4	3	GM	Predke Alexandr	FID	2682	1,5	0

Details

Time control

The time control for each standard game in pools and play-off is: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1. In case if a player arrives at the chessboard with a delay of up to 15 minutes from the actual start of the game, he/she should be charged of five hundred (500) euros deducted from his/her prize money. In case of delay of more than 15 minutes, the player loses the game (without financial penalty).

Draw

The players cannot draw any game by mutual agreement before black’s 30th move. A claim for a draw before black’s 30th move is permitted only in the case of a draw by repetition.