10/2/2012 – Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov took the lead yesterday for the first time, and kept it today after five out of six games were drawn. The top seed in the tournament, Hikaru Nakamura, who by his own tweet says he seems to do his absolute best to commit harakiri, won his game against Anish Giri after four losses in a row. Note: the final round games tomorrow start two hours early.
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The First FIDE Grand Prix is taking place from September 21 to October 3rd
in Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, London. The games start at 14:00h local time
(= 15:00h CEST, 17:00h Moscow, 09:00 a.m. New York). The tournament has a prize
fund of 240,000 Euros.
Round ten report
Round 10 on 2012/10/02
at 14:00
Leko Peter
2737
½-½
Gelfand Boris
2738
Kasimdzhanov Rustam
2684
½-½
Grischuk Alexander
2754
Nakamura Hikaru
2783
1-0
Giri Anish
2730
Topalov Veselin
2752
½-½
Adams Michael
2722
Dominguez Perez Leinier
2725
½-½
Ivanchuk Vassily
2769
Wang Hao
2742
½-½
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
2729
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov appeared very relaxed when he arrived at Simpson`s with
his manager. Shakhriyar decided to play the Caro Kann Defence, his opening of
choice for this tournament. Wang Hao prepared a surprise for his opponent, 5.Nc5,
trying to defuse any preparation. “Shak” paused for thought, and
then replied 5…e5!? which caught Wang Hao unprepared, as he had not expected
Mamedyarov to know this variation deeply. The forced line that followed saw
a quick exchange of queens which led to the endgame with a slightly better pawn
structure for white. Hao-ever it was not enough and a draw was the
result [pun in the official tournament report]
The main question was how Boris Gelfand (above right) would recover from yesterday's
loss. Boris seemed in a good mood and was smiling before the game. Peter Leko
went for a quiet line based on Nc3/Bc4 in the Closed Sicilian. Nothing much
happened until move 20, after which some pieces were exchanged. White started
to take the initiative by opening the f-file, and putting a strong bishop on
d5. White started to control the black squares, and the knight on e3 defended
the whole white pawn centre. Draw in 59 moves.
Almost all the players of the tournament want to avoid the Marshall Gambit.
In this game there was no exception, as Rustam Kasimdzhanov (above left) chose
the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez. White decided to open the centre and
found a very interesting plan, putting the queen on b1 in order to push c3/d4.
Sasha Grischuk took a long time to play the first 15 moves and had just 14 minutes
left for 22 moves. However, the two times world blitz champion is quite used
to time trouble. Taking the initiative on the kingside and centre, Grischuk
increased his advantage, pressuring the f2 pawn. Kasimdzhanov survived the attack
when Grischuk offered the exchange of queens with 38…Qf3? The rook endgame,
which appeared, was finally drawn. A disappointment for Grischuk, who could
have won and taken the lead.
The only chance for Veselin Topalov (above left) to catch the leader was to
win today with the white pieces against Michael Adams. We saw one of the first
Queen’s Gambit of the tournament, which looked pretty safe for Black.
Veselin managed to double Black’s pawns on the b-file and took a small
advantage into the endgame. But it was not enough to provide a win, and the
draw was agreed after fifty moves.
Vasily Ivanchuk (above right) was in a good mood before the start of the game,
looking at the pictures of Staunton on the wall of the Simpson’s in the
Strand. The famous Immortal Game was played in the same building between Adolf
Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky on 21 June 1851. The Ukrainian player decided
today to play a rare variation of the Ruy Lopez (4…d6). Leinier replied
with a safe line, putting all his pieces in the centre and obtained a slight
advantage, due to the doubled black pawns on c7 and c6. Ivanchuk managed to
exchange queens and equalized by putting a strong bishop on e3. Draw in 40 moves.
Anish Giri (above right) did not not change his main weapon against 1.e4, and
so the Petrov appeared once again on the board. Hikaru Nakamura exchanged queen
after five moves and decided to play a long endgame. The white pieces had more
space, but the black pieces found good placing. The bishop on b6 protected by
the a5 pawn was controlling the queenside. Hikaru settled his other bishop on
e6. The position of Anish was very solid, with the bishops on c6 and d6, but Hikaru
managed to break through and finally won the game!
1.e4e52.Nf3Nf63.Nxe5d64.Nf3Nxe45.Qe2Qe76.d3Nf67.Nc3Qxe2+8.Bxe2Be79.0-00-010.h3h6Nothing could be more dull than this variation Hikaru
chose, but Giri starts going haywire pretty quickly. Maybe he was trying to
capitalize on Hikaru's seemingly poor form? But then why choose a Petroff
to begin with?11.Re1Rd8?!I have no clue what the rook is doing on d8.12.Nd4Bf813.Bf3c614.b4Nbd715.g3A few inaccurate moves and it's
obvious White's position is slightly more pleasant, but nothing out of the
ordinary yet.Nb616.Bg2a517.bxa5Rxa518.a4White's weak a-pawn is
no weaker than Black's b-pawn, also the knight has no stability on b6.Nbd719.Nb3Ra620.a5Nc521.Nxc5dxc522.Ra4Nd522...c4!=23.Nxd5cxd524.Bf4Bd724...Be625.Bc7Rd726.Bb6Ra8=25.Raa1Bc626.Bc7Rc827.Bb6Bd628.h4With Black's clumsy rooks it seems that White
is a little better. The bishop would've been better placed on e6 rather than
c6, by the way.Raa829.Bh3Rcb830.c3Kf831.h5Re832.Bg2Rxe1+33.Rxe1Rc834.Rd1Be735.f4f636.Kf2d4?This doesn't quite work, but
in time pressure it might seem like it does.37.Bh337.Bxc6Rxc638.cxd4cxd439.Rb1!±was probably missed by both players.39.Bxd4?Bc5!leads to a relatively simple draw as the d-pawn will never be able to
cause serious threats in the ensuing Rook endgame.39...Bc539...Rc2+40.Kf3Bc541.Bc7!doesn't work either.40.Rc1is the point.37...Ra838.c4Bd639.Re1Re840.Be6Re741.g4Re842.f5Re743.Re2Re8Black
is still super restricted but it's not easy how to break through.44.Rb2Ra844...Re745.Ba7!Re846.Bd5±45.Rb1Ke846.Re1Be5?This
move simply loses the game to a wonderful stroke. I am not 100% sure how Hikaru
would've continued had Giri simply shuffled his king on the e-file, as White
has no useful discoveries.46...Ke7!admittedly not very human, but
then again I wouldn't have ever played the king to the e-file to start with
with 45... Ke8 47.Bd5+Kd747.g5For some reason computers take
forever to find this move, but honestly it is not very hard to calculate.
Black is so restricted it is obvious he will lose material.hxg548.h6gxh649.Rxe5fxe550.f6The threat is Bxc5 and f7+, winning a full rook. Black's
position is lost.Bd751.f7+Ke752.Bxd7Kxd7?52...Kxf753.Bf5h554.Be4Rb8 might be winning for White, but it at least put up some resistance.
With the passed pawns on the kingside creating some counterplay it might have
been possible to try something. The move in the game loses without any fun.53.Bxc5h554.f8QRxf8+55.Bxf8h456.Bh6g457.Bg5h358.Bh4The
pawns are blocked, so it is good game and time to shake hands. I'm not sure
what Giri was expecting from this endgame.Kd659.Bg3Ke660.Ke2Kd661.Kd2Kc561...Ke662.Kc2Kd663.Kb3Ke664.Kb4Kf565.Kc5+-62.Bxe5Kb463.Kc2Kxa564.Kb3Kb665.Bxd4+In a round robin, you can never underestimate
'the weak'. Hikaru scores a morally important victory against a Giri who just
never really seemed to understand what he was aiming for.1–0
Commentary by Giri and Nakamura on the game, provided by Macauley Peterson
Video stream and commentary of all games – Note that you
can watch each of the games in full or get postgame analysis from the players
as in the Nakamura-Giri game above.
Daniel King: Play of the Day – Kasimdzhanov - Grischuk
Post mortem with Rustam Kasimdzhanov
Interview with Kasimdzhanov
Standings after ten rounds
Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov still in the sole lead
With one round to go Topalov, Gelfand and Grischuk all share the
2nd place, half a point behind the leader Mamedyarov, who has white against
Peter Leko in the final round. Both Grischuk and Gelfand also have white, against
Nakamura and Kasimdzhanov repectively, while Topalov play with the black pieces
against Anish Giri. Please remember: the last round starts at 12 noon British
time.
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the
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