Beijing Rd7: Five 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.

An interested Grischuk observes as Leko knocks Karjakin out of the top spot

Leko, Peter - Karjakin, Sergey 1-0
Under normal circumstances Karjakin would probably have easily held this draw against Peter Leko. He successfully simplified the position and it seemed like he was out of dangerous waters when the symmetrical structure and the endgame appeared on the board. However this was not the case as an important slip in time pressure forced him to weaken his kingside decisively. Leko pounced, took a pawn and converted the endgame.

Kamsky and Gelfand still wish to rebound from this tournament, as they are both in the last two places

Kamsky, Gata - Gelfand. Boris ½-½
Kamsky's opening experiment left him with the pair of bishops, however it was Gelfand that was better in the endgame with a passed a-pawn that seemed difficult to stop. The American defended accurately and held the draw.

Despite recent good performances, Gelfand has been uanble to win a game this tournament

Ivanchuk, Vassily - Morozevich, Alexander 1-0
Morozevich destroyed his pawn structure to obtain active play for his pieces and an initiative on the queenside. Through some inacuracies by the Russian and excellent play from Ivanchuk White was able to obtain a winning advantage since the initiative evaporated but the pawn deficiencies remained. Ivanchuk grabbed one pawn and Morozevich started sacrificiing trying to complicate the issue, but to no avail.

Anish had no idea what was coming his way this game

Wang Hao - Giri, Anish 1-0
A quick and daring sacrifice gave Wang Hao two pawns and the initiative against an exposed king for a piece. Giri immediately lost his way and sacrificed one pawn for unclear reasons, while his king remained exposed. Every move that Giri played allowed the Chinese to be more and more incisive with his attack, until his position collapsed in only 22 moves.

Grischuk had to work hard for his win, but eventually achieved it and is also in the lead

Grischuk, Alexander - Wang Yue 1-0
A strong pawn sacrifice by Grischuk shattered Wang Yue's structure. Grischuk kept playing very precise moves throughout the game, eventually seizing the initiative and recuperating his pawn. The endgame was very unpleasant for Black as Grischuk was able to net yet another pawn and with absolutely impeccable technique he won the full point.

Mamedyarov took advantage of a serious miscalculation by Topalov to keep the lead

Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar - Topalov, Veselin 1-0
In a nearly equal position Topalov decided to simplify the position a little by trading off some pieces and placing his knight on e4. This turned out to be a huge mistake as after the simplifications his knight was trapped and he was forced to resign. Proof that even players of Topalov's caliber can make serious mistakes.

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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