Tashkent R4: Caruana, Svidler, Wang Hao win

The second stage of the 2012-2013 FIDE Grand Prix Series is taking place from November 21 to December 5th in the Gallery of Fine Art in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The games start at 14:00h local time (= 10:00h CET, 13:00h Moscow, 04:00 a.m. New York). The tournament has a prize fund of 240,000 Euros.

Round four report

GM commentary by Romain Edouard

Fabiano Caruana and Boris Gelfand at the start of their round four game

Any complaints? Wang Hao checks out the game Caruana vs Gelfand

GM commentary by Romain Edouard

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Kasimdzhanov-Karjakin: Sergey Karjakin decided to surprise his opponent already on the second move. Queens Gambit Accepted didn’t appear in his practice for the last four years. Rustam Kasimdzhanov (above) was not in a mood to go for the principle but sharp lines against the seemingly well prepared opponent, so he chose one of the quietest continuations. White didn’t get anything out of the opening, so a draw seemed to be logical outcome of the game.

Both players (Kasimdzhanov and Karjakin, above) are following the women's world championship in Khanty Mansiysk. “Women don’t play so bad!” said Sergey Karjakin. When he learnt that Anna Ushenina is going to play in the final he said he is going to root for her because they played for the same team. Rustam Kasimdzhanov is hoping that Antoaneta Stefanova would be the winner, not only because she is his good friend, but because both of them became world champions at the same year in 2004. “If she wins the championship I will take it as a good omen”, said Rustam.

Leko-Dominguez: Once again Black’s second move came as a big surprise. Peter Leko expected the Grünfeld but Leiner Dominguez changed to the Nimzo. Peter explained that he used to play this as Black, so he spent some time trying to choose which line to play and finally went for 4.Qc2, as this move has never been played in his games with White. Right in the opening the position became very sharp, both opponents played quite precisely and ended up in an endgame where White kept on hoping to get an advantage. Leiner Dominguez found exact moves and game finished in a draw.

Morozevich-Mamedyarov: Despite the opening choice (Exchanged Slav) the game was sharp and complex. Shakh was happy with his position after 13…Bd6 but underestimated 14.Rb3. The following forced line led to a position where Black had four pawns for the knight, but superb coordination of white pieces gave Morozevich better chances. At the same time the position was so unbalanced that both players were not entirely sure where to look for improvements, even after the game had finished. Perhaps, 39.Ne7 Kh8 40.Qd6 would offer White better chances to win the game.

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Standings after four rounds

Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich

Schedule and results

Video Reports

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