Zug R03: all games drawn

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 three report

In the third round of the Grand Prix all games ended in draws. One of the leaders, Veselin Topalov, could have take the sole but missed winning chances in time trouble. Peter Leko also had an opportunity to fight for a big advantage in a French Defence against Hikaru Nakamura but failed to find the critical move. Rustam Kasimdzhanov managed to defend worse endgame against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Ruslan Ponomariov held the position in a Scottish Defence against Sergey Karjakin. Fabiano Caruana didn’t manage to create real threats against Alexander Morozevich.

Rustam Kamsky and Veselin Topalov analysing with press officer Anastasiya Karlovich

Kamsky-Topalov ½-½
A Sicilian with 3.Bb5 happened in the game and the first key moment appeared on the move 15th. Gata Kamsky spent a lot of time trying to choose between 15.Bg5 and 15.Bf4 but couldn’t assess the position after the possible 15…d5. Veselin Topalov played creatively, sacrificed the exchange, activated his pieces and got a winning position. The white position was about to collapse but unexpectedly the Bulgarian player failed to find the winning continuation. After solving the worst problems Kamsky started to play precisely and made a draw in the endgame.

Caruana-Morozevich ½-½
Alexander Morozevich spent only 20 minutes for 26 moves at the start of the game and got quite a comfortable position with black in the Ruy Lopez. Fabiano Caruana was not so familiar with the line and tried to play logically, getting a slight edge. According to Caruana, Black had a good move 28…a5 but Alexander didn’t want to have a weak pawn on b5 and preferred to protect his kingside with 28…g6 and 29…h5. There were no real chances to play for more than a draw for both sides.

Karjakin-Ponomariov ½-½
Sergey Karjakin chose to play the Scotch against his former compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov. According to Karjakin, 10.g3 is a very rare move, as the normal continuation is f3. “ I thought this position is slightly better for White and easier for me to play”, explained Sergey. Karjakin tried to increase his advantage little by little, but then made a mistake on 27th move. “I’m not really happy with 27.Qd2 because I blundered that after 27..Qh5 28. Rd6 Black has Qd1. I was lucky I had 28.Bf3 after Qh5! I should have played 27.Bf3 instead and then Qd2,” said the Russian player. White was still trying to play for initiative but Ruslan defended precisely.

Hikaru Nakamura, USA, and Peter Leko, Hungary in the press conference

Leko-Nakamura ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura repeated the Boleslavsky Variation in the French, which had happened in his game against Sergey Karjakin at the first round, but chose another continuation on his 15th move. Peter Leko didn’t devote all his attention to preparing for this line after yesterday’s game, but was familiar with the main ideas and plans in the variation. The Hungarian player managed to get a small but stable edge. It was not obvious for both players at which moment Black could have improved his play, but on the 35th move White missed the real chance to fight for a win after 35.e6. After that key moment the American player was not in danger any more and confidently drew the game.

Teimour Radjabov, Azerbaijan, vs Anish Giri, The Netherlands

Giri-Radjabov ½-½
Less than one hour has passed when Anish Giri and Teimur Radjabov started to repeat moves and agreed for a draw in the Anti-Nimzo-Indian.

Mamedyarov-Kasimdzhanov ½-½
In the press-conferences Rustam Kasimdzhanov said he could have avoided the problems in the opening by playing 10…Qd5 instead of 10…Bd5. After the opening the position became quite sharp and the critical moment happened on the 19th move. The Azeri player could have played 19.Nd6 instead of Bd6 and grabbed the pawn on c5. Former FIDE world champion Kasimdzhanov was ready to defend the endgame a pawn down, but analysis showed it was not that easy. Rustam Kasimdzhanov found an accurate maneuver Rb5-Rd5 and didn’t leave any illusions for White.

During the press-conference Rustam Kasimdzhanov commented on his decision not to participate in the next match as second of Vishwanathan Anand. “I think three World championship matches are enough for me. They were all very tough – each tougher than the other. At the end I think I deserve some rest (smiles). I’m a bit worried that the match is going to be held in India and Magnus is seriously opposed to the idea to play there. If they push it and Magnus gets nervous we can have the situation where the Norwegian will just refuse to play, as he had done with previous candidates tournament. It’s a great match and it would be a pity if something happens. I will be happy if they find some neutral ground. On the other hand India deserves to host the World Championship match because Anand has held the title for many years. So the situation is difficult”,said the former FIDE world champion.

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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.