London Rd9: Gelfand loses, Mamedyarov takes the lead

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 nine report

Today, we almost had a forfeit as Sasha Grischuk arrived just before the zero tolerance kicked in. The Russian player decided to go for a rare Closed Sicilian, to avoid the Sveshnikov of Boris. Right after the opening, Grischuk converted his development advantage into a clear pawn up. On move 23 he decided to go for a direct attack, sacrificing a piece on e6, which gave him a winning position. Boris blundered with 24…Kd7?? Allowing 25.Qg4. With that the Israely GM lost his lead! The game is analysed by GM Alejandro Ramirez below.

Nakamura and Mamedyarov both chose Caro Kann as a main weapon against 1.e4. Once more, the American player seemed well prepared and spent just fourteen minutes for 21 moves! Adams managed to install the strong knight on e5, with the bishop on c3 and pawn on f4. White increased the advantage and Nakamura made a huge mistake 26…Rb8? and found himself in an absolutely hopeless position. The tournament has been a nightmare for Hikaru who has now lost his fifth game.

Anish Giri (above left) chose a closed line of the Slav Defence with 4.e3 today. White managed to get the pair of bishops and an impressive pawn structure with c3-c5-d4-e3-f4! After 30 moves, the position was totally blocked and the only possibility was to break through by g3-g4, which Anish did succeed in doing on the 36th move. Rustam kept the balance, by putting his rooks on h7 and h8. Dutch player tried all he could and found another breaking point with 48.c4! It was not enough to win, however, and Rustam managed a draw.

Vassily Ivanchuk opted for a strange opening choice – a kind of King’s Indian reverse. The Ukrainian player played solidly and didn’t create a lot of danger for his opponent. Topalov's position looked even better, because of pressure on the d3 pawn. The following exchanges were in favour of Black and it was difficult for White to defend the bishop endgame with the passed a-pawn.

Leinier Dominguez (above right) went for a solid Bogo-Indian today against Mamedyarov. Probably the Cuban player wanted to play a safe line, but “Shak” showed his intentions with the aggressive 10.g4, 11.g5. Dominguez decided logically to counter-attack on the queen-side and in the centre with d6-d5. Mamedyarov kept control of the position, exchanging pieces to arrive in a very comfortable endgame with two bishops against knights. He won in 65 moves.

Wang Hao decided to go quickly to the endgame in one of the main line of the Nimzowich. White looked a bit better thanks to his powerful bishop on d4. The Chinese player had to exchange a pair of rooks but couldn’t penetrate Black’s position. Leko created a strong blockade with his king on f7 and his rook on d7. After suffering, Peter managed to draw the endgame!

All photos by Ray Morris-Hill

All games of the round for replay

Game of the day analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez

Daniel King: Play of the Day – Grischuk - Gelfand

Video stream of the whole game

Commentary by Grischuk on the game, provided by Macauley Peterson

• Video stream of all games

Standings after nine rounds

Schedule and results

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