Thessaloniki R08: Kamsky wins again

From May 22 to June 03, 2013, the fourth stage of the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2012-2013 is taking place in Thessaloniki, Greece. 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 eight report

Fact:
Today five out of the six games featured the Spanish opening, the only exception being Kamsky-Nakamura, which was a French.

Ivanchuk, Vassily - Svidler, Peter 0-1
Ivanchuk sacrificed an exchange for some dark-square control and the possibility of obtaining play against his opponent's king, which was now exposed due to the lack of a g-pawn. However with every simplification on the board Ivanchuk's position kept deteriorating, to the point where he had three pawns for the exchange and was still worse due to his lack of coordination and exposed pawns. He resigned in a position with equal material that was almost impossible to hold.

A jolly Svidler prior to the game. Ivanchuk didn't give him any reason to be any less happy either.

Topalov, Veselin - Bacrot, Etienne 0-1
Bacrot started the game by, in the first ten moves, executing the maneuver Nf6-d7-b8-c6. Due to the close nature of the position, this was not only feasible but perhaps the best course of action! Topalov tried to open some lines early, perhaps trying to take advantage of Black's sub-par development. However this backfired badly as Black's bishops became the masters of the board, and they soon claimed an extra exchange that Bacrot cleanly converted into victory.

Dominguez, Leinier - Morozevich, Alexander 1-0
Morozevich quickly sacrificed a pawn for the pair of bishops and for pressure on a very weak c6 pawn, which was not supported by the rest of White's pieces. Dominguez instead of giving the c-pawn back, sacrificed his e-pawn to retain the advance position on c6 which cramped his opponents pieces. This worked well as despite the bishops, Morozevich had trouble coming up with a useful plan. A beautiful sequence allowed White to exploit weaknesses against Black's king, and the combined power of the centralized queen, rook and knight were too much for Morozevich.

Typical poses: Gata staring intently at the board, Hikaru thinking without looking at it.

Kamsky, Gata - Nakamura, Hikaru 1-0
The duel of the Americans was a one-sided affair as Kamsky swept Nakamura off the board. Kamsky's understanding of the position was perfect, and his 12.b4!, which left a pawn en prise, created insurmountable problems for Nakamura in the center. Black's decisive mistake came early as 15...Qa3?! as White's sequence exposed his true weakness on e6. Nakamura played resiliently as usual after that, and his moves were always difficult to deal with and as stubborn as possible, but Kamsky had too great of an advantage and was able to convert.

"How did I beat this guy last time...?" Hikaru Nakamura pondering his opening moves.

Grischuk, Alexander - Caruana, Fabiano ½-½
The game was very level throughout the opening and the middlegame up until Caruana played the dubious 30...Qc6?! The simplification to the endgame meant that White's passed e-pawn, safer king and better bishop gave him significant chances to win. Caruana can consider himself very lucky as Grischuk missed several ways of gaining a decisive advantage. Through a series of mistakes Grischuk simplified into an opposite colored bishop endgame with no chances of winning.

Grischuk missed a key opportunity to catch Caruana in the standings and be in striking distance of the leaders.

Ponomariov, Ruslan - Kasimdzhanov, Rustam 0-1
A topsy-turvy game in which both sides missed their chances. Ponomariov created some tactical threats against Black's misplaced queen on h4 and the weakness on g7, but didn't execute it properly. Black took advantage of this and won two pieces for a rook and a pawn, but White's position remained solid and due to the reduced material count it seemed that the game was headed for a draw. However Ponomariov took the valiant and suicidal decision to break on the kingside with g4, after which Black's passed pawns were simply unstoppable.

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All pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich

Schedule and results

The games start at 14:00h Eastern European Summer time, 15:00h Moscow, 7 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 are being 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.