Beijing Rd4: Three white wins

The fifth stage of the FIDE Grand Prix Series is taking place between the 3rd and 17th of July 2013 on the premises of the Chinese Chess Association in Beijing. The time controls are 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move 61 onwards. The games start at 3 p.m. local time, except the last round. The Grand Prix Series consists of six tournaments to be held over two years (2012-2013). 18 top players participate in four of these 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.

The first game to end was Sergey Karjakin vs Alexander Grischuk, which ended in a 31-move draw. It left Karjakin in the lead by half a point, ahead of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who outplayed Wang Hao in this round. Alexander Morozevich and Wang Yue won their first games in the tournament. The games Giri-Leko and Topalov-Ivanchuk were drawn.

Sergey Karjakin– Alexander Grischuk ½-½
Karjakin played a safe line and everything depended on whether his opponent would remember the exact moves. During the press conference Alexander Grischuk (above) recalled his previous games in the same variation against Peter Leko and Rustam Kasimdzanov: “It's a very interesting line, White has a lot of options. I’ve played it three times already, and every time White went for drawish continuation with me. When it's the third game in the same line in one year even I can remember the variations." The game finished in a draw.

Remembering the moves: Alexander Grischuk

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – Wang Hao 1-0
Wang Hao tried to surprise Mamedyarov today and went for quite a sharp and principal line. After twelve moves Shakhriyar was out of his analysis and had to find moves at the board. According to Wang Hao, 19.Rc1 was a very strong move and it was clear for him something was missed during his preparation. White managed to get an advantage but had to play very precisely as Black had contra play on the queen’s side. The Chinese player came close to make a draw but blundered on 35th move.

Once again our express analysis comes from GM Alexander Ipatov from Turkey,
a bungy-jumping adventurer whom you can follow his blog at http://blog.alexipatov.com/.

Alexander Morozevich – Boris Gelfand 1-0
The players repeated the same variation from the game Gelfand-Topalov until the tenth move but this time Gelfand was playing with reversed colors. According to Alexander Morozevich (above), he didn’t expect the variation with 7…Na6 and was not ready to test the main lines after 10.0-0. White didn’t achieve anything special in the side-line 10. Bg5, and after the opening the position was approximately equal. Gelfand could have defended against the sacrifice on f7 by playing 20…Rd7, but 20…Nc6 seemed also good enough for him. 21…Rf8 was just a blunder. Black could have taken on f7 and all the fight would be ahead after 22.d7 Rf8 23. Ng5 Kg8.

Wang Yue - Gata Kamsky 1-0
Wang Yue (above) gained the first victory in the tournament after a seven-hour battle against Gata Kamsky. In the middlegame the American player decided to sacrifice a pawn, but could not prove he had enough counterlay. Wang Yue played very creatively and gave an exchange in order to get a very strong passed pawn on e6. Later on Gata Kamsky gave back an exchange and had to defend a worse rook endgame. 47. Rc7 was the original idea of Chinese player, but for some reason he played Kh5 and gave his opponent good chances for a draw.

Veselin Topalov - Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½
Ivanchuk managed to surprise his opponent with his third move, 3...Qb6. Topalov was not happy with the position he got. "I had to play actively, maybe even make long castling, because after 18 moves I've got an unpleasant position." Nevertheless, the Bulgarian tried to play for initiative and was keeping the balance. Both players missed an interesting option for Black, 37…Kg7. After this move it is unclear if White has enough recourses to hold a draw. After 37…h6 Veselin forced a draw with perpetual check.

Anish Giri - Peter Leko ½-½
This game ended in a repetition after 25 moves. Neither side had moved away from the draw margin.

Information and pictures by FIDE press chief WGM Anastasiya Karlovich

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Schedule and pairings

The games start at 9:00h European time, 11:00h Moscow, 3 a.m. New York.
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