London Rd5: All games drawn, Gelfand continues to lead

by ChessBase
9/26/2012 – The longest draw was Dominguez-Nakamura, 90 moves, with the Cuban GM gaining a decisive advantage but failing to bag the point with a nice combination. The shortest game lasted just 26 moves. Of the 30 games played so far 24 were drawn (= 80%), White won four games (13.3%) and Black two (6.7%). Boris Gelfand leads with a 2893 performance. Round five report with GM analysis.

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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 five report

Round 5 on 2012/09/25 at 14:00
Topalov Veselin 2752
½-½
Leko Peter 2737
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2725
½-½
Nakamura Hikaru 2783
Wang Hao 2742
½-½
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2684
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2729
½-½
Gelfand Boris 2738
Ivanchuk Vassily 2769
½-½
Grischuk Alexander 2754
Adams Michael 2722
½-½
Giri Anish 2730

Today is the last game before the first free day. So far, we have only one leader: Boris Gelfand. Due to Yom Kippur, Boris and Shakhriyar had to start the game at 1 p.m. Ivanchuk, who arrived a bit earlier to watch the game, was surprised by the pawn sacrifice from Boris at the very beginning of the game. It ended in a draw after 34 moves.

Vasily Ivanchuk (above left) was probably inspired by this and started in an aggressive mood, playing h4-h5 against the Gruenfeld Defence of Alexander Grischuk (right). The Russian GM decided to play naturally and placed his pieces in the centre. After 15 moves, the position appeared quite balanced. The main action appeared to be on the h-file, and both players repeated the moves by a continuous attack on the queen. Draw in 26 moves.

Wang Hao came up with a new idea in the Meran defence today, quickly installing a powerful knight on e5, with the d4 and f4 pawns behind it. Rustam Kasimdzhanov decided quickly to sacrifice a pawn for the activity, putting pressure on the white king in the centre. The bishop on g7 combined with action from the two rooks was very unpleasant for Hao, who was probably pretty happy to exchange most of the pieces, leading in a drawn endgame.

Nakamura came with a fresh and surprising opening today, playing 3…Nge7 in the Ruy Lopez – the so-called Cozio Defence. Both players were playing very slowly and spending an hour each for the first six moves. Black looked in good shape by putting all his pawns on black squares. Hikaru took the advantage but played the inaccurate 37…Qf6, letting Leinier get back into the game. Strangely, during time trouble Nakamura blocked his bishop on a2 and ended with a significantly worse position. As a result, Leinier, step by step, took the advantage, but missed a great chance to bag the point on move 69 (and again two moves later).

[Event "1st FIDE GP London 2012"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2012.09.25"] [Round "5"] [White "Dominguez Perez, L."] [Black "Nakamura, Hi"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C60"] [WhiteElo "2725"] [BlackElo "2783"] [PlyCount "179"] [EventDate "2012.09.21"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 4. Nc3 d6 5. d4 a6 6. Bc4 b5 7. Be2 exd4 8. Nd5 Ne5 9. Qxd4 c5 10. Qd1 Nxd5 11. Qxd5 Be6 12. Qd1 Be7 13. O-O O-O 14. c3 Qb6 15. Ng5 Bc8 16. Qc2 Bb7 17. Rd1 Rad8 18. Nf3 Ng6 19. a4 Bc6 20. axb5 axb5 21. Be3 Rfe8 22. Nd2 Bf8 23. c4 b4 24. Bf1 Be7 25. f3 Nf8 26. Nb3 Ne6 27. Nc1 Bf6 28. Ne2 Be5 29. Qd2 Ra8 30. g3 Ba4 31. Rdc1 g6 32. Bg2 Bg7 33. Bh3 Qc7 34. Rab1 Bb3 35. Bf1 Qe7 36. Nf4 Nd4 37. Kg2 Qf6 38. Be2 Ba2 39. Nd5 Qd8 40. Bxd4 Bxd4 41. Ra1 b3 42. Re1 Qa5 43. Rad1 Bg7 44. Qxa5 Rxa5 45. Rd2 Ra7 46. Bd3 f5 47. Rde2 fxe4 48. Bxe4 Kf8 49. h4 Bd4 50. g4 Kg7 51. g5 Rf7 52. Kg3 Rff8 53. Kg4 Re5 54. Rh1 h6 55. Rhe1 Rfe8 56. Nc7 Rf8 57. Nd5 Rf7 58. Rd2 Re8 59. Ree2 Ref8 60. f4 Rh8 61. Kg3 Ra7 62. Kg2 Re8 63. Bd3 Rxe2+ 64. Rxe2 hxg5 65. hxg5 Kf7 66. Kf3 Bg7 67. Kg4 Rb7 68. Rh2 Rb8 69. Re2 (69. Bxg6+ $1 Kxg6 70. f5+ Kf7 71. g6+ Kf8 72. f6 $18) 69... Rb7 70. Rh2 Rb8 71. Nf6 (71. Bxg6+ $1 Kxg6 72. f5+ {etc.}) 71... Rh8 72. Rxh8 Bxh8 73. f5 gxf5+ 74. Kxf5 Bg7 75. Be4 Bh8 76. Bd5+ Ke7 77. Be4 Kf7 78. Kf4 Bxf6 79. gxf6 Kxf6 80. Bd3 Ke6 81. Ke4 d5+ 82. cxd5+ Kd6 83. Bc4 Bb1+ 84. Ke3 Bc2 85. Kd2 Be4 86. Bxb3 Bxd5 87. Bxd5 Kxd5 88. Kc3 c4 89. b3 cxb3 90. Kxb3 1/2-1/2

We had a very theoretical fight in a Queen’s Indian played between Topalov and Leko. After 18 moves Topalov had just spent five minutes of his time, and Leko 25 minutes. On move 20, Topalov decided to go for an exchange sacrifice, which was declined by the Hungarian GM. The rook was en prise for a few moves, with both players ignoring it. After a few moves, Leko finally took the exchange on move 22, and tried to make a blockade on the d4 square. Topalov found a good attack but in time trouble Leko managed to exchange queens and the endgame finished in a draw…

For the third time in the tournament, Anish Giri (above right) played the Petrov Defence. Adams surprised his opponent on the eighth move, obliging the young Dutch prodigy to spend more than 20 minutes on his reply. Finally, Adams went for the usual long castling and actually had nothing significant out of the opening. Anish equalized and methodically exchanged the rooks on the e-file, entering into a bishop endgame. Draw in 34 moves.

All photos by Ray Morris-Hill

Veselin Topalov-Peter Leko

[Event "FIDE Grand Prix - London 2012"] [Site "London"] [Date "2012.09.25"] [Round "5"] [White "Topalov, Veselin"] [Black "Leko, Peter"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E15"] [WhiteElo "2752"] [BlackElo "2737"] [Annotator "Ramirez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "112"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] [EventCountry "ENG"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2 c6 8. O-O d5 9. Qc2 Nbd7 10. Rd1 O-O 11. Bf4 Rc8 12. Nc3 Nh5 13. Bc1 Nhf6 {Leko had already employed this knight back-and-forth idea against Grischuk and Anand, with good results. This line of the Catalan is right now considered super solid.} 14. Bb2 Qc7 15. e4 dxc4 16. Nd2 {A well known 'trick' and nothing new.} e5 $1 {Typical - Leko is very well prepared.} (16... cxb3 $2 17. axb3 {leaves black with an amazingly awkward decision on how to defend the bishop.}) (16... b5 17. bxc4 bxc4 18. Na4 {and an eventual 1-0 in Grischuk-Carlsen, 2008}) 17. Nxc4 exd4 18. Rxd4 Rfd8 19. Ne2 Bc5 20. h3 $5 {An amazing move! Topalov sacrifices the exchange by simply leaving it hanging, pushing a pawn to h3 to protect g4. The idea is that the diagonal a1-h8 can potentially be quite dangerous for Black.} Bxc4 21. Qxc4 Ne5 22. Qc3 Bxd4 23. Nxd4 {Black is up the exchange, but he has to suffer for some time, as he has no active plan. The bishop on b2 is potentially deadly.} c5 24. Nf5 Nc6 {This seemingly brave move was already forced. Black gives up what looks to be a crucial pawn on g7, but in turn blockades the critical diagonal.} 25. Nxg7 Nd4 26. Qe3 Nxe4 (26... Kxg7 27. Qg5+ Kf8 28. Qxf6 Qd6 {seems ok for Black, but no more than that. Leko takes a pawn, but this comes with risk as his king is even more exposed.}) 27. Bxe4 Kxg7 28. Qg5+ Kh8 29. Bf5 Rb8 {White's bishops dominate the board, but Black's key piece on d4 lets him hold the balance. It almost seems like there should be a killing blow for White somewhere, but there is none to be found.} 30. Re1 (30. Qh6 f6 31. Qxf6+ Qg7 {Regains a pawn, but the trade of queens leaves White in a worse position.}) 30... Re8 31. Rc1 $6 Qe7 32. Qh5 f6 33. Bxd4 cxd4 34. Rc6 Rf8 35. Re6 Qg7 36. Re4 Qf7 37. Qf3 Qb7 38. Qe2 $6 {Maybe White should go for Bxh7 to avoid being down the exchange in the endgame. That being said he was never in any real danger of losing.} (38. Bxh7 Qxh7 39. Rh4 Qxh4 40. gxh4 Rbd8 {My guess is this would end in a draw as White always has a perpetual.}) 38... Rf7 39. Rxd4 Re7 40. Qf1 Rbe8 41. Qg2 Re1+ 42. Kh2 Qxg2+ 43. Kxg2 R8e7 44. a4 R1e5 45. Bd3 Kg7 46. Kf3 Rh5 47. Kg4 Rg5+ 48. Kh4 Rc5 49. Bc4 Kh6 50. g4 Rce5 51. Rd8 Re8 52. Rd7 R8e7 53. Rd8 Re8 54. Rd7 R8e7 55. Rd8 Re8 56. Rd7 R8e7 1/2-1/2


Daniel King analyses the game Topalov - Leko


Video stream of the whole game


Post-game interviews with Peter Leko and Veselin Topalov [by Macauley Peterson]

Standings after five rounds

Schedule and results

Round 1 on 2012/09/21 at 14:00
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2684
½-½
Leko Peter 2737
Nakamura Hikaru 2783
0-1
Gelfand Boris 2738
Topalov Veselin 2752
½-½
Grischuk Alexander 2754
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2725
½-½
Giri Anish 2730
Wang Hao 2742
½-½
Adams Michael 2722
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2729
½-½
Ivanchuk Vassily 2769
Round 2 on 2012/09/22 at 14:00
Leko Peter 2737
1-0
Ivanchuk Vassily 2769
Adams Michael 2722
½-½
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2729
Giri Anish 2730
½-½
Wang Hao 2742
Grischuk Alexander 2754
½-½
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2725
Gelfand Boris 2738
½-½
Topalov Veselin 2752
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2684
0-1
Nakamura Hikaru 2783
Round 3 on 2012/09/23 at 14:00
Nakamura Hikaru 2783
½-½
Leko Peter 2737
Topalov Veselin 2752
½-½
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2684
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2725
½-½
Gelfand Boris 2738
Wang Hao 2742
½-½
Grischuk Alexander 2754
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2729
1-0
Giri Anish 2730
Ivanchuk Vassily 2769
½-½
Adams Michael 2722
Round 4 on 2012/09/24 at 14:00
Leko Peter 2737
½-½
Adams Michael 2722
Giri Anish 2730
½-½
Ivanchuk Vassily 2769
Grischuk Alexander 2754
1-0
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2729
Gelfand Boris 2738
1-0
Wang Hao 2742
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2684
½-½
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2725
Nakamura Hikaru 2783
½-½
Topalov Veselin 2752
Round 5 on 2012/09/25 at 14:00
Topalov Veselin 2752
½-½
Leko Peter 2737
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2725
½-½
Nakamura Hikaru 2783
Wang Hao 2742
½-½
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2684
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2729
½-½
Gelfand Boris 2738
Ivanchuk Vassily 2769
½-½
Grischuk Alexander 2754
Adams Michael 2722
½-½
Giri Anish 2730
Round 6 on 2012/09/27 at 14:00
Leko Peter 2737
-
Giri Anish 2730
Grischuk Alexander 2754
-
Adams Michael 2722
Gelfand Boris 2738
-
Ivanchuk Vassily 2769
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2684
-
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2729
Nakamura Hikaru 2783
-
Wang Hao 2742
Topalov Veselin 2752
-
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2725
Round 7 on 2012/09/28 at 14:00
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2725
-
Leko Peter 2737
Wang Hao 2742
-
Topalov Veselin 2752
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2729
-
Nakamura Hikaru 2783
Ivanchuk Vassily 2769
-
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2684
Adams Michael 2722
-
Gelfand Boris 2738
Giri Anish 2730
-
Grischuk Alexander 2754
Round 8 on 2012/09/29 at 14:00
Leko Peter 2737
-
Grischuk Alexander 2754
Gelfand Boris 2738
-
Giri Anish 2730
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2684
-
Adams Michael 2722
Nakamura Hikaru 2783
-
Ivanchuk Vassily 2769
Topalov Veselin 2752
-
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2729
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2725
-
Wang Hao 2742
Round 9 on 2012/10/01 at 14:00
Wang Hao 2742
-
Leko Peter 2737
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2729
-
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2725
Ivanchuk Vassily 2769
-
Topalov Veselin 2752
Adams Michael 2722
-
Nakamura Hikaru 2783
Giri Anish 2730
-
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2684
Grischuk Alexander 2754
-
Gelfand Boris 2738
Round 10 on 2012/10/02 at 14:00
Leko Peter 2737
-
Gelfand Boris 2738
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2684
-
Grischuk Alexander 2754
Nakamura Hikaru 2783
-
Giri Anish 2730
Topalov Veselin 2752
-
Adams Michael 2722
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2725
-
Ivanchuk Vassily 2769
Wang Hao 2742
-
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2729
Round 11 on 2012/10/03 at 11:00
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2729
-
Leko Peter 2737
Ivanchuk Vassily 2769
-
Wang Hao 2742
Adams Michael 2722
-
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2725
Giri Anish 2730
-
Topalov Veselin 2752
Grischuk Alexander 2754
-
Nakamura Hikaru 2783
Gelfand Boris 2738
-
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2684

Links

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