London Rd11: Topalov, Gelfand, Mamedyarov tie for first

The First FIDE Grand Prix took place from September 21 to October 3rd in Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, London. The tournament had a prize fund of 240,000 Euros.

Round eleven report

Final standings (after eleven rounds)

Three winners in the first Grand Prix in London: Boris Gelfand, Veselin Topalov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov! Before the last round the Azeri player was leading with half a point ahead of Topalov, Grischuk and Gelfand, but a draw in the last round by Mamedyarov gave the others a chance to catch him at the top. Veselin Topalov managed to win with black against Anish Giri, and Boris Gelfand triumphed with the white pieces over Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Alexander Grischuk faltered at the end and could only draw against Nakamura.

Prize money and Grand Prix points

Three winners? The regulations – specifically section 7.2 – state that "all prizes and Grand Prix ranking points are shared equally, in cases of any tied position/s. No tie break system will be utilised for the individual Grand Prix tournaments. ... The prize money, which will be paid by AGON for each tournament, is 240,000 Euros (170,000 Euros for the tournament and 70,000 Euros towards an accumulated prize fund for the overall Series positions)." The prize money for each individual tournament is as follows:

The final round – game by game

In the final round all the eyes were on the leader of the tournament, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (above left). With a peaceful variation of the Nimzo Indian against Peter Leko it was obvious that the Azeri was playing for a draw, to secure at least a tie for first place. Step by step both players exchanged the pieces, and the knight’s endgame was equal from the very beginning. Draw in 41 moves.

Many quick exchanges were made in the game between Anish Giri and Veselin Topalov. After twenty minutes of play, there was rook + bishop + knight endgame on the board. Everyone expected a quick draw, but Topalov started to play for the win. The 41st move by Anish was a mistake, but his position was already difficult. The two black pawns e5/f5 looked unstoppable and Giri could not hold the position. 0-1 in 52 moves.

Michael Adams decided to play it safe today, using 3.Bb5+ against the Sicilian of Dominguez, and more exactly a form of the Maroczy Bind. Dominguez found a way to equalize, by opening the centre with 14…d5! The position was symmetrical without any real perspective for any side. Pieces were exchanged and the draw was agreed after 46 moves.

Hikaru Nakamura (above right) again showed his fighting spirit, playing the Sicilian Dragon against Alexander Grischuk. The Russian player accepted the challenge, entering in the main sharp line. There was never a real danger on Black’s king and the tension was about the c-file. After exchanging rooks, the position became equal and players repeated the moves. Draw in 31 moves.

Vassily Ivanchuk (above left) probably surprised his opponent by playing the Sozin Attack. Wang Hao got a worse position after the opening and was forced to give up his pair of bishops quickly. The a6 pawn also became weak and Black couldn’t avoid a space domination. The attack seemed very promising, but Wang Hao played few accurate moves, forcing the draw repetition on move 39.

Boris Gelfand (above left) went for the Moscow Variation of the Slav Defence against Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Boris made a courageous decision with 14.b4, giving up an exchange on purpose. In compensation White had a very strong pawn centre with b4/c4/c5. Rustam had to lose some tempi with his bishop from a4 to c2, and meanwhile White was pressing. 31…Rf-a8? was the decisive mistake, which gave away the b7 pawn. The position became too difficult to defend and Boris, by winning his last game, is finally sharing the first place!

All games of the round for replay

Game of the day analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez

Video stream of the whole game

Commentary by Boris Gelfand on his game against Kasimdzhanov, 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 – Gelfand - Kasimdzhanov

Interview with Boris Gelfand

Interview with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site Live games and video from London 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 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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