Zug R05: five decisive games

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 five report – five decisive games

During the free day players charged their batteries to show tough fights on all boards. Five decisive results in the fifth round as Topalov, Caruana, Karjakin, Morozevich and Kamsky defeated their opponents. The only draw happened in the game Leko-Ponomariov. After five rounds Topalov and Morozevich are leading with 3.5 points. Caruana, Ponomariov and Karjakin share third place half a point behind.

Sergey Karjakin - Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 1-0
The Russian GM showed why he is amongst the world’s top ten as he cruised to a strong victory over the creative player from Azerbaijan, Shakriyar Mamedyarov. Karjakin blitzed out his opening moves including the positional sacrifice 16.Nxh6+! which was prepared by GM Alexander Motylev and other members of Karjakin’s team. According to Peter Leko, he also prepared this move with the Hungarian team three years ago, so he was distressed to see it played in Zug. After 24 moves Black was already one hour behind on the clock and blundered with 24…Qc7. Sergey recovered his piece with a winning position after 27.Qg3.

At the press-conference Shakhriyar said he knew he would lose this game after c3 as it was obvious for him his opponent had prepared everything at home and it would be hard to find the exact defending moves over the board. This game is analysed by GMs Giorgi Margvelashvili and Danny King.

Anish Giri - Alexander Morozevich 0-1
Giri has been playing solid chess so far, and today was no exception. He went for the exchange variation in the King’s Indian g3, but as is to be expected Morozevich decided to go for some early complications with 9…Nd4. The exchange on d4 left Giri with a worse position already out of the opening, and after 11..Qa5 Morozevich got the type of position which normally he is very comfortable with. The key question was whether Black could convert his better position into victory. Before the first time control the game became very sharp and White decided to exchange queens, which turned out to be an unfortunate decision. According to Anish Giri it was not really clear for him how to assess the position before that exchange. He had feeling that White should have a good position. After f5 the advantage of Black became decisive and the Russian player did not give any chances to his opponent.

Peter Leko - Ruslan Ponomariov ½-½
Peter Leko decided to switch to 1.d4 after the rest day, but Ruslan Ponomariov was ready for the changes as his opponent almost never chose 1.e4 against him. The Ukrainian player opted for a Bogo Indian Variation against Leko’s 3.Nf3, and White devoted some time early in the opening to choose which variation he would play. The line that occurred in the game was played in Aronian-Carlsen recently, and Ruslan Ponomariov decided that Black’s position should be safe if number 1 in the chess world chooses it. Nevertheless, he preferred to play 9...dxc4, instead of Carlsen’s 9...a6. Peter Leko tried but could not create any problems for Black.

Fabiano Caruana - Rustam Kasimdzhanov 1-0
Caruana (above right) needed to win, although in the Grand Prix it is definitely a very tough task to say which opponent one can try to win against. Despite Rustam having the lowest rating he has proved that he is still one of the top players in the world, and whilst Fabiano chose a side variation of the Queen’s Gambit Exchange, he found a way to equalize the position with Black and keep dynamic possibilities on the board. Just before the end of the first time control the former world champion decided to give a queen for rook and knight, as Rustam was sure the position was drawish. His estimation was correct and Black had opportunities to save the game. However, he put his king on f5 and gave playing options for White. The last chance to try to make a draw was on the 67th move, when Black could have played 67...Ra2 68. a5 f5!? instead of 67... Rb7 in order to try to build a fortress. During the press conference Fabiano Caruana was surprised to see a draw after f5, as he was sure the position was winning for White.  His initial instincts were right as the engines confirm a win for White, though far from obvious.

Gata Kamsky – Teimour Radjabov 1-0
The dark series continues for Teimour Rajabov after the Candidates Tournament. Both players have met each other on the board quite a few times, and whilst Radjabov has a good score overall against Kamsky he has never managed to beat him with black. In the round five game Kamsky chose a delayed exchange in the Rossolimo Variation.

Teimour (above left) surprised his opponent after a reasonably long think with 6…bxc6, but as GM Robert Fontaine pointed out this is a well-studied line and Radjabov presumably preferred to go into lines he has analysed before. According to Kamsky, he was not familiar with the position after the opening and was not sure if his plan with c3-d4 was good. Black managed to equalize after the opening and it looked like the game would finish in a draw quite soon but Teimour didn’t play accurately and Gata Kamsky got an extra pawn in the rook ending.

Veselin Topalov - Hikaru Nakamura 1-0
Both Topalov (above right) and Nakamura are well known for fighting play, and Topalov surprised his American opponent with 1.e4 and then choosing a Closed Ruy Lopez. Hikaru then went for a line frequently played by GM Michael Adams, but then selected the interesting 10…b5, whereas Black normally goes 10...h6 to try and exchange black squared bishops. “I was satisfied to get a position where I had bishop and knight against two knights. Eventually a4 is a good move and here I think I have slightly better position,” Veselin Topalov noted. Later on White managed to increase his advantage in the endgame, playing on the queenside. It was hard for Black to defend the weakness on c5 and create some counterplay on the kingside at the same time. In the rook endgame White queened his pawn one tempo faster and got a decisive mating attack. This game is analysed by our guest commentator Giorgi Margvelashvili.

Contemplative: top US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura

Struggling but cheerful: GM Peter Leko from Hungary

In a slump: GM Teimour Radjabov from Azerbeijan

In the lead: Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov

Sporting a 2899 performance: Russian GM Alexander Morozevich

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Information and pictures by FIDE press chief WGM Anastasiya Karlovich

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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.

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