Tashkent R6: Moro regains sole lead

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 six report

Morozevich-Dominguez 1-0: A Grünfeld with 7.Qa4 was played this game, and it seems Leinier was not well prepared for this line. 16…Bh6 was a mistake and, as was pointed out during the press conference, Black could have tried 16…Re4 instead. After 18…Qb6 the position of the Cuban player became absolutely lost and Alexander Morozevich found the most precise way to finish him off: 19.Qa4, after Black missed his last chance to resist the pressure by playing 18…Rf4.

Gelfand-Mamedyarov 1/2-1/2: Boris Gelfand’s 8.Ne5 in the opening was met by the ambitious 8…Ba3. White tried to get some play after15.e4 and 18.f5, but Black had just enough time to exchange the pieces and make a draw in a dead-equal rook endgame. As Boris Gelfand pointed out, perhaps, he could have chosen a quieter strategy in order to avoid simplification of the position.

Alexander Morozevich kibitzing Caruana-Ponomariov

Caruana-Ponomariov 1/2-1/2: In a Scotch Game Ruslan, playing black, chose the line with 4…Bc5 and 5…bxc6, but after the seventh move the theory finished for both players. As the former world champion said during the press conference: Black had to solve many problems during the game, as his pieces were a bit passive and displaced. 22…c5 was a good attempt to organize counterplay, as the possible 22…b5 would lead to unpleasant position for Black.

Svidler and Karjakin before the start of their game

Svidler-Karjakin 1/2-1/2: Peter Svidler chose the English Opening and Sergey Karjakin managed to equalize with black quite easily. Both players agreed that the final position is absolutely balanced, with the white pieces placed nicely and logically. The game was finished after a three-fold repetition.

Clearly there is no personal hostility – this is not your boxing prefight staredown

Okay, getting closer – but no smiles, people! Peter Leko and Wang Hao

Leko-Wang Hao 1/2-1/2: Peter Leko was a bit surprised by Wang Hao's choice 7.e6, as the Chinese player used to play 7…b6. The position after the opening seemed very complicated, with many different options for both sides. As Peter Leko put it during the press conference: after White played 18.Bf3 and 19.Ne2 he had feeling his position should be close to winning. However, he didn’t use a very promising option to play 25.g5, chose 25.Bf6, after which the ending turned to be drawish.

The peripatetic Morozevich kibitzing the game Leko vs Wang Hao

No theoretical debates: Kasimzhanov and Kamsky with press officer Anastasiya Karlovich

Kamsky-Kasimdzhanov 1/2-1/2: Gata Kamsky explained during the press conference that his second, Emil Sutovky, had told him not to go into theoretical fights against Rustam, as that can be really dangerous. The American player chose the Anti-Marshal and got a slight edge, but after 21.Rxb6 cxb6 both players agreed that the position is too solid to be lost by either side. Two moves earlier Gata Kamsky could have tried to fight for an advantage by playing 19.Rb8 Rb8 20.Rb1.

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Standings after six rounds

Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich

Schedule and results

Video Reports

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