Schach Praline 3: FIDE Grand Prix in London: Round 3

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FIDE Grand Prix in London: Round 3

via World Chess Federation - FIDE von bb@fide.com (Baira Tsedenova) am 22.09.12

Today is another matter for Veselin, who is playing against Rustam Kasimdzhanov. In the semi-final of the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2004, Rustam managed to win the tiebreak 2-0, and eventually conquered the World title. The Uzbek player came with a great novelty in his pocket 12...c5! giving away a piece.

Top Kas

Few moves later, white were forced to give back the piece. After 18 moves, Rustam spent only 2 minutes which shows that his home preparation worked well! After the game, Veselin said that he knew this move as well. The game ended very quickly in a draw in 37 moves and less than 1h30min of play.

Today, Boris Gelfand used once more the Sveshnikov Sicilian, which was his main weapon against Vishy Anand during the last World Chess championship. Boris must have worked on that opening for months with his seconds. Alexander Huzman, his oldest second and friend is here in London. After the opening, black was already out of danger and eventually fixed the queen side by playing quickly ...b5-b4. Boris decided to give away the "d6" pawn in order to equalize into an opposite colour bishop endgame. Draw.

Dom Gelfand

Vasily Ivanchuk lost yesterday. The Ukrainian grandmaster is known to have fragile nerves so his reaction today is important regarding the rest of the tournament. His opponent Michael Adams has chosen the solid Nimzo-Indian, and managed to get rid of his isolated pawn "d5". Black took a pawn but had to weaken their pawn structure with double pawns on the "f" file. That's the moment where the English number one gave away this pawn to arrive in a drawn rook endgame.

Ivan Adams

The American player Hikaru Nakamura arrived in a flashy red t-shirt, hair back and in a fighting mood! In hyper modern style, Hikaru went for a quiet double fianchetto development. Leko reacted solidly like in Gruenfeld opening, putting his bishop on "g7". Some pieces were exchanged and white took possession of the "d" file. In the rook endgame, black found some counter play on the queen side with a6-b5. Nakamura kept trying but missed the winning move 61.a6! Draw was finally agreed.

Nakamura Leko

Grischuk who is one of the biggest King's Indian specialists decided to play today the Gruenfeld defence, completely surprising his opponent Wang Hao. The Chinese player went for a side line, forcing black to exchange their powerful bishop "g7". The diagonal "g1-a7" became weak and the Russian grandmaster played a very strong continuation with 23...h5!
On move 27, Grischuk could have won the game with 27...Rxd1 28.Rxd1 Qe2! Players entered in a terrible time trouble with 10 seconds left on the clock. Position became equal and Wang Hao escaped with half a point. Here is Wang Hao comments on Facebook : "Today I played badly again, somehow blundered a simple move and definitely deserved to lose the game, but my opponent missed his chance and after blitzing in the last moves of the first time control, when my heart was beating like a drum. Suddenly I found the game was drawish, a lucky escape!"

Hao Gris

Crazy game today between the youngest player in the event, 17 year old Anish Giri, and Mamedyarov who decided to rush on the king's opponent! Black never managed to get out the opening, and 13...exd5 was already the decisive mistake. The black king had to stay in the centre of the board white many weaknesses on black's camp. The game became a nightmare for Anish and the young Dutch player decided to resign after only 21 moves.

Shak Giri

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Round 2

The players arrived in high spirits, chatting together and joking, thanks probably to the beautiful weather we have here in London.

Gelfand, the only winner in yesterday's round and current leader of the tournament, faced today the former FIDE World Champion (2005), Veselin Topalov from Bulgaria. Queens were very quickly exchanged and white found a comfortable position. The black's bishop was controlled by the strong pawn chain g2-f3-e4. Pressure on Black was not enough and the game eventually was drawn.

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Vasily Ivanchuk started his tournament with the black pieces twice in a row. The Ukrainian GM decided to go for the "French defence". It's well known that Vasily can play any opening against anyone! By taking the control of the "d4" square, it appeared that Leko had the situation under control. Peter mentioned after the game that the decisive mistakes of Ivanchuk were 32...Kf7 and 33...hxg5. The position was hopeless for Ivanchuk who resigned after 42 moves.

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Hikaru Nakamura, who tweeted yesterday "Losing is fun when you decide to fall asleep and blunder right before the time control", felt the need to recover quickly from his loss against the Uzbek player Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Anyhow, the American player was clearly in a fighting mood using the King's Indian. 18...bxc5 seemed to be a novelty. The jumping knights of Hikaru started to create problems for white. On move 59, Rustam made a mistake but the next move was worse with a terrible blunder allowing black to mate in 2! Hikaru is coming back with 50%. Today Hikaru adjusted yesterday's Tweet with "Winning is fun, losing is fun. Playing interesting games of chess with both colours is what makes it all worthwhile.3

Adams against Mamedyarov fell into a very interesting fight of style. Mickey has a very positionnal style of play while "Shak" is known to be an active and agressive player. "Shak" suprised his opponent by choosing the Caro Kann defence, avoiding any home preparation from his opponent. The Azeri player decided to stick to his reputation and made a crazy move with 20...Rd3!? giving away a full piece for the attack. The combination ended in a drawn endgame with an exchange up for white.

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The young Dutch talent Anish Giri was playing the Chinese player Wang Hao today, who said that he was still suffering from jet lag. The youngest players of the tournament went for a solid Slav opening. Position was very close and eventually equal very quickly. The only open file "c" got blocked by the black Knight on "c4". It turned out that both players agreed for a repetition of moves on move 30.

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Alexander Grischuk decided to go today for the English opening and had his white rook on the "c5" square only after 20 moves. The Russian player managed to create a passed pawn on the "d" file, increasing slowly the pressure on black side. Grischuk tried to bring his king into the action but Dominguez found a great way to cut the action with 53...Qc5! The game finished in a rook endgame with a pawn up for white, which was not enough to win. Draw.

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Round 1

The first round of the World Chess Grand Prix in London started at 2pm local time with the first move played by the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Most of the games started smoothly and the Chinese player Wang Hao was playing very quickly the first 20 moves, with still 1h56 on his clock. His opponent, British number one Michael Adams who replaced GM Peter Svidler at the last minute. Adams took his time to fully equalize after exchanging the Queens. Adams was pushing the whole game, got a pawn up in a rook endgame but it was not enough to win. Draw.

The Cuban player Dominguez faced the solid Petroff defence of the young Dutch star Anish Giri. White got a slightly more comfortable position after the opening. Anish played very accurately in the middlegame and fully equalized. The Dutch player had 3 pawns on the « c » line but got a pawn up during the middlegame. Not enough to win the rook endgame however. Draw.

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Rustam Kasimdzhanov declined to go into the main line of the Berlin defence played by Peter Leko. 16…Qf6 ! was a very accurate move from the Hungarian player which eventually equalized the position. Players went into a Bishop versus Knight endgame, which ended in a draw in 34 moves.

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Ivanchuk has chosen today the Nimzo-Indian, which apparently didn't surprise Mamedyarov who picked up a rare line based on 9.Bg5. The Azeri player had some difficulties to castle and was able to do it only after 22 moves. Black got a very slightly better position in the Rook+knight endgame. In time trouble, Vasily managed to win a pawn and arrived in a Knight+3 pawns against Knight+2 pawns endgame. However despite several attempts at trying black could get no more than a draw.

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NIKON D3S

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Camera

NIKON D3S

Focal Length

26mm

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f/5

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7200

For the first game of this event, Boris Gelfand, the former challenger for the World championship match, decided to surprise his opponent by playing a Sicilian Sveshnikov. The American player went for a sideline with 9.a4. Gelfand took slowly the advantage, blocking the queen-side on black squares. Boris played his 40th move with only 7 seconds on the clock, maintaining the pressure! Black slowly squeezed white's position until finally white collapsed definitively.

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NIKON D3S

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The English opening played by the Bulgarian player Veselin Topalov was an interesting choice to avoid the main weapon of Alexander Grischuk: the King's Indian. Pieces were exchanged quickly and white got a slight edge. The game started to get sharp while the players began to be short on time, Grischuk got forced to sac a piece for 4 pawns.

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Position of the Russian player was very solid, and both players agreed for a draw after 43 moves.

Report by GM Robert Fontaine

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Opening Ceremony

players

The first stage of the new FIDE Grand Prix is being held in London on 20 September - 4 October 2012. Twelve top Grandmasters are taking part in the event: Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR), Alexander Grischuk (RUS), Veselin Topalov (BUL), Wang Hao (CHN), Boris Gelfand (ISR), Peter Leko (HUN), Anish Giri (NED), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE), Leinier Dominguez Perez (CUB), Michael Adams (ENG), Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB).

The Chief Arbiter for the London event is the International Arbiter Ms. Carol Jarecki who will be assisted by International Arbiter Mr. Stewart Reuben. Chairman of Appeals Committee is Mr Lakhdar Mazouz, who is also President of African Chess Union. FIDE Press officer and Representative is Mr Geoffrey Borg, FIDE Chief Executive Officer.

The Opening Ceremony was held on 20th September at the Somerset House, on the south side of the Strand in central London, England. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov participated in the ceremony and delivered a welcome speech. Then Chief Arbiter performed the drawing of lots. The players had to pick a Monopoly card which had a lot number at the back.

Such well-known personalities as Gillian Anderson (English American actress), Isaac Ferry (English photographer, video producer and graphic designer), Sophie Ellis Bextor (English singer, songwriter and model), Janet Ellis (British television presenter and actress), Griff Rhys Jones (Welsh comedian, writer, actor and television presenter), Ed (literary agent) & Carol Victor, Noelle Reno (designer) & Scott Young, Detmar Blow, Aita Ighodaro (model), Lisa Appignanesi & John Forrester - Author, Natalie Coyle (Irish singer, songwriter, actress and model) & Zafar Rushdie, Arielle Free (actress), Lily Cole (model) were also present at the event.

A blitz session was also organised during the party.