Zug R01: Morozevich and Caruana win

From April 14 to April 30, 2013, the third stage of the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2012-2013 is taking place in Zug, Switzerland. Twelve players are competing in a round robin tournament with time controls of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes and an increment of 30 seconds per move for each player. The Grand Prix Series consists of six tournaments to be held over two years, with 18 top players, each participating in four of the six tournaments. The winner and second placed player overall of the Grand Prix Series will qualify for the Candidates Tournament to be held in March 2014.

Round one report

By GM Alejandro Ramirez

The Zug Grand Prix fired up with some very creative games. Even though many of the games were drawn, the players exhibited a good amount of fighting chess in which unorthodox setups seemed to be the norm.

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov finding out which move he will ceremonially execute on the board Caruana-Radjabov, while chief arbiter Panagiotis Nikolopoulos makes sure he gets it right.

Caruana-Radjabov 1-0
Radjabov continued on his freefall from the Candidates tournament and lost his first round against the rising Italian star. The game featured a Jaenisch Gambit in the Spanish that has recently become less of a risky opening and more of a solid way of dealing with 1.e4. However in this case Caruana was left with a pleasant edge from the opening and was able to overcome the opposite colored bishops in the endgame to convert a win after bagging two of black's tripled pawns.

Karjakin-Nakamura ½-½
Nakamura is probably best known for his fighting spirit, and he was certainly hungry for victory after a dubious variation for White in the French left Karjakin's position in a questionable state. Black's pair of bishops and slightly better structure gave the American the edge, but Karjakin's stubborn defense allowed him to hang on to his half point after suffering for well over one hundred moves.

American's top GM Hikaru Nakamura

Ruslan Ponomarov vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, with FIDE officer Lakhdar Mazouz looking on

Mamedyarov-Ponomariov ½-½
Black employs a quick Be7 setup in the Queen's Gambit Declined to obtain a position that is passive but also extremely solid. Mamedyarov was unable to break through effectively and had to be content with the draw.

The other top American GM: Gata Kamsky

Leko-Kamsky ½-½
A bizarre iteration of the Open Spanish left White's pair of bishops battling against a superbly posted knight in the center. White eventually got rid of it, but this meant that simplifications began and the game was eventually drawn after White's king was too weak and couldn't prevent a perpetual.

Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov facing the youngest participant: Anish Giri of Holland

Giri-Topalov ½-½
The Dutch player tried a new approach in the fianchetto Gruenfeld by playing a quick h3 and Qc2, but it simply didn't help as Topalov was well prepared and held equality without problems.

Former FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzanov playing Alexander Morozevich

Morozevich-Kasimdzhanov 1-0
Morozevich beeing the creative player that he is played a very strange opening that quickly paid off dividends. It seemed that Kasimdzhanov was a little lost on how to exactly handle the resulting position, and White's positional assets kept piling up. Eventually this became too much to handle: after establishing a strong pawn center and rounding up a weak pawn on the kingside, Morozevich obtained an advantage strong enough that it forced his opponent to resign.

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Information and pictures by FIDE press chief WGM Anastasiya Karlovich

Schedule and pairings

The games start at 14:00h European time, 16:00h Moscow, 8 a.m. New York. You can find your regional starting time here. The commentary on Playchess begins one hour after the start of the games and is free for premium members.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.