Paris 02: Fressinet scores, many draws

by ChessBase
9/23/2013 – In what seems like a conspiracy to figure out how to circumvent the Sofia anti-draw rules that are active in this tournament, the players managed to draw in less than thirty moves in two games while two others were somewhat pale games anyways. Fressinet takes advantage of this by beating Grischuk and catches Gelfand at 1.5/2. Report of the games and pictures of the second round.

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Sixth FIDE Grand Prix - Paris 2013

The sixth and final Grand Prix of the system is taking place at the Chapelle de la Villedieu, founded in 1180 by soldier-monks of the Order of the Temple. The playing site is considerably west of Paris. The tournament will determine the last qualifiers for the Candidates tournament for the next World Chess Championship cycle. This leg of the series is being played under classical time controls: Time control: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves, and then each player gets 15 minutes and an increment of 30 seconds per move after the second time control). No draws offers: Sofia rules!

A beautiful mix of the classical and the modern

Round 2

Round 02 – September 23 2013, 15:00h
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2756
½-½
Giri, Anish 2737
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2703
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2764
Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2757
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2772
Bacrot, Etienne 2723
½-½
Ivanchuk, Vassily 2731
Wang Hao 2736
½-½
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
Fressinet, Laurent 2708
1-0
Grischuk, Alexander 2785

Tomashevsky, Evgeny ½-½ Gelfand, Boris
Both players know each other very well as Tomashevsky was one of Gelfand's second in the important match against Anand. Gelfand neutralized his opponent completely and accepted a draw by repetition in a position where he had a queen for a rook and a bishop but it was somewhat dangerous to play on.

Tomashevsky spent a lot of time in the opening and he was clearly not happy with the result

Bacrot, Etiene ½-½ Ivanchuk, Vassily
Ivanchuk equalized easily, Bacrot allowed a repetition on move 15.

Ivanchuk didn't really walk around for that long, between both of his games he hasn't yet played 40 moves of chess

Ponomariov, Ruslan ½-½ Giri, Anish
Ponomariov was unable to obtain much against Giri's Petroff. The bishop agaisnt knight duel really didn't favor the bishop. At least some credit has to be given to Ponomariov as he refused a repetition in an equal position to try to play for more. Even though he wasn't able to push through in the end it is refreshing that at least one player wanted to play chess today.

Anish Giri started with two blacks in the first two games, but he was able to hold the second one

Sergey Tiviakov (left) interviewing GM Robin van Kampen, Giri's second. Giri, van Kampen and Tiviakov all play under the Dutch flag.

Dominguez Perez, Leinier ½-½ Nakamura, Hikaru
Nakamura showed an impressive preparation and was able to obtain a good position against Dominguez's Spanish. He continued to play quickly but Dominguez position was still solid and Nakamura was unable to do anything with his huge time advantage. He finished the game with over two hours on the clock, despite starting the game with only two hours (he was added an extra one when they crossed move 40).

China's number one starts with two solid draws, like most of the tournament

Wang Hao ½-½ Caruana, Fabiano
Wang Hao employed the unusual 6.Na4!? idea against Caruana's Gruenfeld, but even in this variation the Italian was well prepared. The Chinese player sacrificed a pawn for some initiative but was too hasty in recovering it. After the move 18...Re8 it was clear that Black had enough counterplay and eventually a very drawish endgame was reached in which neither side could do much.

One of the local players is now tied at the lead: Laurent Fressinet with 1.5/2

Fressinet, Laurent 1-0 Grischuk, Alexander
An interesting game that went back and forth. It seemed that Grischuk's position was good from the opening and he had no issues in the resulting endgame. It seems that the Russian underestimated how much of a problem his bishop on b7 would become as after the strong pawn push 29.b4 and 30.b5! this light-squared bishop was completely entombed. Fressinet opened the queenside to highlight this point and in an already very difficult position Grischuk blundered.

"But I just beat this guy in Riga last week!" Fressinet took revenge from Grischuk eliminating him in the ACP cup not too long ago

Photos by Alin l'Ami

Replay round two games

Select games from the dropdown menu above the board

Schedule

Round 01 – September 22 2013, 15:00h
Fressinet, Laurent 2708
½-½
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2756
Grischuk, Alexander 2785
½-½
Wang Hao 2736
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
½-½
Bacrot, Etienne 2723
Ivanchuk, Vassily 2731
½-½
Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2757
Nakamura, Hikaru 2772
½-½
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2703
Gelfand, Boris 2764
1-0
Giri, Anish 2737
Round 02 – September 23 2013, 15:00h
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2756
½-½
Giri, Anish 2737
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2703
½-½
Gelfand, Boris 2764
Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2757
½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru 2772
Bacrot, Etienne 2723
½-½
Ivanchuk, Vassily 2731
Wang Hao 2736
½-½
Caruana, Fabiano 2779
Fressinet, Laurent 2708
1-0
Grischuk, Alexander 2785
Round 03 – September 24 2013, 15:00h
Grischuk, Alexander 2785   Ponomariov, Ruslan 2756
Caruana, Fabiano 2779   Fressinet, Laurent 2708
Ivanchuk, Vassily 2731   Wang Hao 2736
Nakamura, Hikaru 2772   Bacrot, Etienne 2723
Gelfand, Boris 2764   Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2757
Giri, Anish 2737   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2703
Round 04 – September 25 2013, 15:00h
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2756   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2703
Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2757   Giri, Anish 2737
Bacrot, Etienne 2723   Gelfand, Boris 2764
Wang Hao 2736   Nakamura, Hikaru 2772
Fressinet, Laurent 2708   Ivanchuk, Vassily 2731
Grischuk, Alexander 2785   Caruana, Fabiano 2779
Round 05 – September 27 2013, 15:00h
Caruana, Fabiano 2779   Ponomariov, Ruslan 2756
Ivanchuk, Vassily 2731   Grischuk, Alexander 2785
Nakamura, Hikaru 2772   Fressinet, Laurent 2708
Gelfand, Boris 2764   Wang Hao 2736
Giri, Anish 2737   Bacrot, Etienne 2723
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2703   Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2757
Round 06 – September 28 2013, 15:00h
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2756   Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2757
Bacrot, Etienne 2723   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2703
Wang Hao 2736   Giri, Anish 2737
Fressinet, Laurent 2708   Gelfand, Boris 2764
Grischuk, Alexander 2785   Nakamura, Hikaru 2772
Caruana, Fabiano 2779   Ivanchuk, Vassily 2731
Round 07 – September 29 2013, 15:00h
Ivanchuk, Vassily 2731   Ponomariov, Ruslan 2756
Nakamura, Hikaru 2772   Caruana, Fabiano 2779
Gelfand, Boris 2764   Grischuk, Alexander 2785
Giri, Anish 2737   Fressinet, Laurent 2708
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2703   Wang Hao 2736
Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2757   Bacrot, Etienne 2723
Round 08 – September 30 2013, 15:00h
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2756   Bacrot, Etienne 2723
Wang Hao 2736   Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2757
Fressinet, Laurent 2708   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2703
Grischuk, Alexander 2785   Giri, Anish 2737
Caruana, Fabiano 2779   Gelfand, Boris 2764
Ivanchuk, Vassily 2731   Nakamura, Hikaru 2772
Round 09 – October 02 2013, 15:00h
Nakamura, Hikaru 2772   Ponomariov, Ruslan 2756
Gelfand, Boris 2764   Ivanchuk, Vassily 2731
Giri, Anish 2737   Caruana, Fabiano 2779
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2703   Grischuk, Alexander 2785
Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2757   Fressinet, Laurent 2708
Bacrot, Etienne 2723   Wang Hao 2736
Round 10 – October 03, 14:00h
Ponomariov, Ruslan 2756   Wang Hao 2736
Fressinet, Laurent 2708   Bacrot, Etienne 2723
Grischuk, Alexander 2785   Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2757
Caruana, Fabiano 2779   Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2703
Ivanchuk, Vassily 2731   Giri, Anish 2737
Nakamura, Hikaru 2772   Gelfand, Boris 2764
Round 11 – October 04, 14:00h
Gelfand, Boris 2764   Ponomariov, Ruslan 2756
Giri, Anish 2737   Nakamura, Hikaru 2772
Tomashevsky, Evgeny 2703   Ivanchuk, Vassily 2731
Dominguez Perez, Leinier 2757   Caruana, Fabiano 2779
Bacrot, Etienne 2723   Grischuk, Alexander 2785
Wang Hao 2736   Fressinet, Laurent 2708

The games start at 15:00h European time, 17:00h Moscow, 9 a.m. New York. You can find your regional starting time here.

Links

The games will be 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.


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