9/28/2012 – Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria both won their games to climb into the follow-up slot of 3.5/6 points, half a point behind the leader Boris Gelfand of Israel. Top US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura lost his second game in this event, this time to Chinese GM Wang Hao. This game is analysed in today's round six report.
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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 six report
By GM Robert Fontaine
Round 6 on 2012/09/27
at 14:00
Leko Peter
2737
½-½
Giri Anish
2730
Grischuk Alexander
2754
½-½
Adams Michael
2722
Gelfand Boris
2738
½-½
Ivanchuk Vassily
2769
Kasimdzhanov Rustam
2684
0-1
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
2729
Nakamura Hikaru
2783
0-1
Wang Hao
2742
Topalov Veselin
2752
1-0
Dominguez Perez Leinier
2725
The start of round six in Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, London
Round six saw a fight of continents between Hikaru Nakamura and Wang Hao: Surprisingly,
Hikaru chose a quiet line with double fianchetto 2.g3 and 4.b3.
Wang Hao had a pretty safe position and waited for the time control before benfiting
from a big blunder (45.Nxa4??) from the American player. The
game is analysed by GM Alejandro Ramirez below.
Alexander Grischuk and Peter Leko, both pursuing Grand Prix leader Boris
Gelfand, had the white pieces today to try to reduce the gap. Alexander (above
left) avoided the main weapon of Michael Adams, the Marshall Gambit, and went
for 6.d3. White quickly opened the centre forcing black to
give away a pawn. In compensation, Adams had pair of bishops. It was enough
to secure the draw in the endgame.
The longest game of the day saw Veselin Topalov facing Dominguez. Topalov
faced the 4…a6 Slav Defence and decided to gain space immediately with
7.Ne5 and 8.f4. He gradually took the advantage,
sacrificing a piece to win beautifully in the endgame.
Back to business with the sole leader of the tournament, Boris Gelfand (3.5/5),
playing against Vasily Ivanchuk. The Israeli GM went for an aggressive line
against the Queen’s Indian, sacrificing a pawn very early in the game.
Both players admitted later that it was a complicated affair and finally the
draw was agreed before time trouble, on move 25.
The Uzbek GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov played Azeri Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in one
of the latest lines of the Meran. The position became very sharp when Mamedyarov
decided to develop his initiative on the kingside, pushing his f and h-pawns.
The 38th move was a terrible blunder from the Uzbek player and “Shak”
jumped on the opportunity to score a full point.
Peter Leko played Anish Giri in a very fashionable line of the Sicilian Najdorf.
Peter gave a pawn away quickly in order to have the initiative and two bishops.
Anish started the counter-attack on the a-file and managed to equalize.
Both players decided to quickly repeat the moves and agreed a draw.
I asked an
open question on Facebook - why does Wang Hao do so well against Hikaru? "He
is tactically opportunistic and can really put the heat on. Nobody likes having
to find super accurate defenses against sudden attacks." was the reply of
IM Mark Ginsburg. It's hard to conceive that Hikaru is the type of player
that gives his opponents too many opportunities, but in this game, he definitely
allowed this 'opportunist' to do whatever he wanted with the dark squares.1.Nf3d52.g3Nf63.Bg2g64.b3Unorthodox, but when you are 2783 you
can do whatever you want and people will think something good of it.Bg75.Bb2c56.c4d47.b40-08.d3Nc69.b5Nb810.0-0Basically in this
position we have an off-beat variation of the Benko Gambit, with reversed
colors, in which White (who is usually Black) has a bunch of extra tempos
- mainly the knight c6-b8 tempo loss. I fancy said variation for Black under
normal circumstances, so White has to be more than fine here!Ne811.Nbd2Nd612.Nb3Nd713.Qc2a514.Rae1e515.e3dxe3White is faced with a
typical Benoni-ish choice: take on e3 with the rook or the pawn? They both
come with their own pros and cons. White's lead in development and strong
control over d4 makes it seem instinctively that taking with the pawn and
trying to push d4 might be a good idea.16.fxe3Qc717.Nfd2?!Personally
I don't like this move.17.Nbd2f617...Re818.Ng5with the idea of
Ne3-c3 looks dangerous for Black.18.d4!Leads to complications that
should favor White. In either case, even without d4, the knight on d2 is fine
and in the game it is very awkward.17...Re818.Bc318.Nb1!?Students
of IM Greg Shahade - an advocate of backward rerouting knight maneouvers -
should instantly find this move. The knight will eventually find its way to
d5!18...a419.Nc1Nb6After some innacuracies by Hikaru I'd say that
Black has equalized. White has an awkward time trying to make use of that
knight on c1, but at least he is solid for now.20.a3Be621.e4This pawn
push changes the character of the position by closing the center shut. Now
White has a strong control over d5, though no pieces can reach it just yet,
and Black has a permanent strong hold over d4, though no pieces can reach
it just yet. But eventually they will.Red822.Rf2Qd723.Nf3f624.Bf1Ne825.Bd2Nc726.Be3Qd627.Na2Bf728.Nc3Ne629.Nd2Nd430.Qd1Be631.Nd5Many maneouvers later, the knight on c1 is strongly placed on d5,
and the knight on d6 managed to get to d4. So both sides improved their knights
- now the real game begins.Rf832.Bg2Rf733.Ref1Nd734.Nb1Bxd535.exd535.cxd5!? is an interesting suggestion. The point is to vacate c4,
while at the same time suppressing f5. The pawn on b5 falls, but White does
get some pressure because of it.35...f536.g4?!Raf837.Bc1?!I don't
fully understand White's last two moves.e4!A thematic and very instructive
break. In some ways, the structure should remind you of the Nakamura-Gelfand
game from a couple of days ago. Here Black sacrifices his e-pawn to shut down
White's pieces and allow him a blockade. The immediate f4 would've spoiled
everything.38.dxe4f4Black's knight wants to hop into e5 - his position
just kind of plays itself. It's hard to find a constructive plan for White,
even though he (technically) has two passed pawns.39.g5f3!Very forceful.
Black didn't have to do this, but before White sets up a counter blockade,
he sacrifices his pawns to give life to his pieces.40.Bxf3Be5White is
in a near zugzwang state.41.Kh141.Be3Bxh2+!42.Kh1Bg3-+41...Bxh2As obvious as it is strong.42.Rxh2With Bg3 looming, White had no
choice.Nxf343.Rh3Nde544.Nc3Ng4Logical.44...Nd3!?has the tactical
trick of45.Qxd3Ne546.Rxf7Nxd347.Rxf8+Qxf848.Rxd3Qf1+and Black
wins.45.Nxa4It was very hard to come up with a move, and almost everything
lost.Nfh246.Rxf7Rxf747.Qe2Rf2The game is obviously over and Hikaru
finally resigned - despite being up two pawns for a few moves his position
deteriorated very rapidly. With this Wang Hao moves to an impressive 4-0 against
Nakamura in tournament games (disregarding draws).0–1
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