/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijani grandmaster Shahriyar Mammadyarov became the best at the 3rd Shamkir Chess Tournament in Azerbaijan’s region of Shamkir, thus honoring in the best way the memory of his countryman Vugar Gashimov winning the third edition of the Memorial dedicated to him.

The 31-year-old Azerbaijani GM beat Anish Giri in the regular round, and then won the blitz playoff against Fabiano Caruana.

Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri had been at the top of the leaderboard all the time, and did not expect that someone else would take home the trophy. But being only half a point behind the leaders, Mammadyarov was obviously in contention as well.

Mammadyarov had excellent three games, alternately beating Eltaj Safarli, Caruana and Anish Giri. The game with Dutch Giri was particularly important, since both had a chance to win the Memorial. Shahriyar, received a significant advantage in the duel with Giri and as a result, the Azerbaijani grandmaster, as well as Caruana, scored six points.

For players tied for the first place the regulations stipulated that a playoff had to be played. And so Caruana and Mammadyarov returned to the stage for the first part: two games of ten minutes and three seconds increment per move.

In the first game Caruana outplayed Mammadyarov in the opening, and won a pawn at some point. However, with heavy pieces and opposite-colored bishops it was not easy to convert. At some point the American GM got the chance to win another pawn but this wasn't possible without trading the rooks. He went for something else, which led to a draw, chesscom reports.

The second game Caruana could have won. The opening was hardly over when he already had a huge strategical advantage, and the computer pointed out a winning line as early as move 17. Caruana played strong, human moves but then missed a less difficult win at move 26, and two moves later he spoilt everything with a badly timed pawn push.

That must have been a blow for the American, and there was hardly any time to recuperate. The second part started almost immediately: two games of five minutes and three seconds increment per move.

Mammadyarov had black again and treated the same Dragon much better. Black was very comfortable in this game, but Caruana was holding on until a crazy timetrouble phase started. The rook endgame was full of mistakes typical of blitz play, and in the end Mammadyarov won.

And so Caruana had the arduous task of winning with the black pieces. He tried hard, but failed because Mammadyarov was just too solid. A tough result for Caruana, who was leading throughout and was so close in that second playoff game. Mammadyarov, on the other hand, is definitely a deserved winner after beating both Caruana and Giri in the classical games.

Here are the final results: Mammadyarov, Caruana -- 6pts, Giri 5.5pts, Karjakin 5pts, Mammadov 4.5pts, Harikrishna, Radjabov, Safarli 4pts, Elyanov 3.5pts and Yifan 2.5pts.