
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 eight report
Round 8 on Friday
30.11.2012 at 14:00 |
Kamsky Gata |
2762 |
0-1 |
Leko Peter |
2732 |
Svidler Peter |
2747 |
½-½ |
Kasimdzhanov Rustam |
2696 |
Morozevich Alexander |
2748 |
½-½ |
Wang Hao |
2737 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2786 |
½-½ |
Karjakin Sergey |
2775 |
Gelfand Boris |
2751 |
½-½ |
Dominguez Perez Leinier |
2726 |
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
2764 |
½-½ |
Ponomariov Ruslan |
2741 |
Kamsky-Leko 0-1: In a Nimzo Indian with 4.e3 Peter Leko (above)
went for a solid line. Gata Kamsky appeared to be very well prepared, as he
played his next few moves quite quickly. Peter tried to avoid forced lines and
seemed to have solved his opening problems after 13...Bxd4 14.exd5 Ng6. Kamsky
didn't feel the critical moment, continued to play in ambitious way. Black got
a huge advantage in the endgame, which he converted after avioding any stalemate
traps.
Commentary by GM Alejandro Ramirez

[Event "FIDE Grand Prix-Tashkent 2012"] [Site "Tashkent"] [Date "2012.11.30"]
[Round "8"] [White "Kamsky, Gata"] [Black "Leko, Peter"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO
"E55"] [WhiteElo "2762"] [BlackElo "2732"] [Annotator "Ramirez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount
"96"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] [EventCountry "UZB"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3
Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4 Nbd7 {The Las Palmas Variation
of the Nimzo Indian has always been a solid choice for Black. The Karpov variation
with cxd4 and b6 remains more popular, but it's possible that Black has several
choices that lead into equality.} 9. Bd2 {I've never seen this move before,
and it looks quite strange.} (9. Qb3 { is an interesting sideline, and was my
choice against Charbonneau, Pogorelov and Carlsen.} Qe7 10. Rd1 Nb6 11. Be2
cxd4 12. exd4 Bd7 13. Ne5 {and maybe I had a little pull in Ramirez Alvarez-Carlsen,
Wijk Aan Zee (b) 2005. The game was eventually drawn.}) 9... cxd4 10. Nxd4 Ne5
11. Be2 Bc5 {White has a very solid position but his pieces are mighty clumsy.
How he would love to teleport that bishop out of the e3 pawn block.} 12. Rc1
b6 (12... Bxd4 13. exd4 Qxd4 14. Nb5 $5 {is just no fun for Black, and all he
got was a pawn. The pair of bishops seems very strong.}) 13. b4 {"This is pretty
weird. Superior development, so I'm looking for an advantage, but after Bd4
and Ng6, it took me almost an hour to realize that Black is just better :) ~
13. b4 was a crucial mistake. Again, amazing, but this is chess!" - Kamsky}
Bxd4 (13... Bxb4 $2 14. f4 $36) 14. exd4 Ng6 {It's hard to believe Black is
better in this position, but if he for some reason blockades on d5 then it is
hard to see White's plan.} 15. Bf3 Rb8 16. Re1 h6 17. Nb5 (17. d5 $5 Bb7 $1
{is proof that in this position that d-pawn is so bad Black isn't even going
to take it for free.}) 17... a6 18. Na7 (18. Nc7 {trapping his own knight was
the last chance for equality. The point is to control some key squares, namely
d5, while pressuring a6 and binding Black's position. Of course it looks insanely
risky.} ) 18... Bb7 19. b5 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 Ra8 21. Nc6 Qd5 22. Qxd5 Nxd5 23. Nb4
Nxb4 24. Bxb4 Rfd8 25. bxa6 {White lets go of the pawn, but the alternatives
were not much better} (25. Red1 axb5 $17) (25. Re4 a5 $1 (25... axb5 26. a3
$15) 26. Bd2 Rac8 $17) 25... Rxd4 26. a3 Nf4 27. Rc6 Nd5 {The knight finally
cements itself on d5, and a pawn is a pawn.} 28. g3 Rxa6 29. Bd6 Raa4 30. Rc8+
Kh7 31. Rf8 Ra7 32. Rc1 Rd7 33. Be5 Re4 34. Ba1 Re2 35. h4 h5 36. Bd4 Rd2 37.
Be5 f6 38. Bc3 Ra2 39. Bb4 Nxb4 40. axb4 Rdd2 {After White having no choice
but to uselessly maneouver his bishop while his opponent improved his position,
we have reached move 40. The situation is very grim for White: he is down a
pawn and about to lose another.} 41. Rf1 Rab2 42. Rf7 Kg6 43. Rb7 Rxb4 44. Rc1
Rbb2 45. Rcc7 Rxf2 46. Rxg7+ Kf5 47. Rxb6 Rg2+ 48. Kh1 Rxg3 $1 {A final tactical
stroke that seals the game. This retains the two pawn advantage and even more
importantly it forces a pair of rooks off the board. The rest is cake, so Kamsky
resigned. This game just shows how tricky isolated pawn positions can be, even
for positional geniuses such as Gata.} 0-1

Fourth loss in this tournament: Gata Kamsky, USA
Svidler-Kazimdzhanov 1/2-1/2: Peter Svidler (above) decided
not to compete with Rustam Kasimdzhanov's Marshal or Anti-Marshal preparation
and played 1.Nf3 instead. But even in the Reti Kazimdzanov seems to have his
own opinion on what to do! Peter was blaming himself after the game for 10.Qc2,
as the logical follow-up to this move, 11.e4, didn't actually happen in the
game, as it seemed to be too risky. Black equalized easily after the precise
17...Bc3 and 18...d4, and the position when they started to repeat moves doesn't
offer real chances to win for either side.

Theoretical master Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan)

Gelfand-Dominguez 1/2-1/2: Once again Lenier Dominguez (above)
changed his opening on 1.d4 and this time he went for King's Indian. Boris Gelfand
(below) played one of his main systems, 9.Nd2 in the so-called Classical Variation,
and was immediately surprised by 9...c6, as the line with 9...a5 is much more
common.

It's really hard to suggest anything concrete for White, as his play seemed
logical, but after the precise 16...Bf6 he failed to get any advantage. Later
on Black got comfortable play and could have tried to gain some initiative after
24…Rc7, proposed by Boris Gelfand during the press conference. A sequence
of forced moves after 28. h4 h5 finally lead to perpetual check.

Morozevich-Wang Hao 1/2-1/2: Once again an Exchange Slav was
played by Alexander Morozevich (above), as in the exciting game against Mamedyarov,
which also started with this "boring" line. The Russian player managed to get
an interesting position after Wang Hao's inaccurate 12...Bg6, but failed to
convert White's positional pressure into something concrete. 25.Nc3 might be
the one of the possible improvements of White's play. White's chances to fight
for a win seem problematic, after the rooks had all left the board. Black is
just in time to exchange queenside pawns with 38...b6. Right after a time control
a draw was agreed.

With 50% in place nine: top Chinese GM Wang Hao

Mamedyarov-Ponomariov 1/2-1/2: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (above)
and Ruslan Ponomariov were first to finish their game after roughly two hours
of play. The Ukrainian grandmaster used to play Queens Gambit Accepted, so Shahriyar
was ready for it and decided to play the most principal line with 3.e4. As the
Azeri player explained during the press conference, he was not familiar with
Ruslan's 12...Nxe3, which recently happened in the game Tomashevsky-Romanov,
Eilat 2012. 16.Qb3+ was already a novelty, as the abovementioned game continued
with 16.a4. White's play looked logical, but Mamedyarov did not get any advantage.
In order to complicate matters he decided to sacrifice an exchange by simply
leaving his rook under attack by the opponents knight after 21.Ne2. Instead
of accepting the sacrifice, which looks quite dubious according to chess engines,
Ponomariov (below) found a way to repeat the moves, and White had no convenient
way to resist a draw.


Caruana-Karjakin 1/2-1/2: In the game of the two leaders in
this event a Catalan Opening was played. Sergey Karjakin went for one of the
most solid lines, 6...dxc4, where White cannot hope for more than just a slight
edge. Fabiano Caruana's 11.Nh4, which seems to be a novelty, failed to prove
the opposite, as after some natural moves Black got reasonable play. Both players
agreed after the game that all Black’s problems were solved after 18...Ne4.
However, it was never too late to fall into a trap on the 25th move...
Replay all the games of this round on our Javascript board
Standings after eight rounds

Summaries from the official web site, photos by Anastasiya
Karlovich
Schedule and results
Round 1 on Thursday
22.11.2012 at 14:00 |
Morozevich Alexander |
2748 |
1-0 |
Kamsky Gata |
2762 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2786 |
½-½ |
Svidler Peter |
2747 |
Gelfand Boris |
2751 |
½-½ |
Leko Peter |
2732 |
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
2764 |
½-½ |
Kasimdzhanov Rustam |
2696 |
Ponomariov Ruslan |
2741 |
½-½ |
Wang Hao |
2737 |
Dominguez Perez Leinier |
2726 |
0-1 |
Karjakin Sergey |
2775 |
Round 2 on Friday,
23.11.2012 at 14:00 |
Kamsky Gata |
2762 |
½-½ |
Karjakin Sergey |
2775 |
Wang Hao |
2737 |
½-½ |
Dominguez Perez Leinier |
2726 |
Kasimdzhanov Rustam |
2696 |
½-½ |
Ponomariov Ruslan |
2741 |
Leko Peter |
2732 |
½-½ |
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
2764 |
Svidler Peter |
2747 |
½-½ |
Gelfand Boris |
2751 |
Morozevich Alexander |
2748 |
1-0 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2786 |
Round 3 on Saturday
24.11.2012 at 14:00 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2786 |
1-0 |
Kamsky Gata |
2762 |
Gelfand Boris |
2751 |
½-½ |
Morozevich Alexander |
2748 |
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
2764 |
1-0 |
Svidler Peter |
2747 |
Ponomariov Ruslan |
2741 |
½-½ |
Leko Peter |
2732 |
Dominguez Perez Leinier |
2726 |
½-½ |
Kasimdzhanov Rustam |
2696 |
Karjakin Sergey |
2775 |
½-½ |
Wang Hao |
2737 |
Round 4 on Sunday
25.11.2012 at 14:00 |
Kamsky Gata |
2762 |
0-1 |
Wang Hao |
2737 |
Kasimdzhanov Rustam |
2696 |
½-½ |
Karjakin Sergey |
2775 |
Leko Peter |
2732 |
½-½ |
Dominguez Perez Leinier |
2726 |
Svidler Peter |
2747 |
1-0 |
Ponomariov Ruslan |
2741 |
Morozevich Alexander |
2748 |
½-½ |
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
2764 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2786 |
1-0 |
Gelfand Boris |
2751 |
Round 5 on Tuesday
27.11.2012 at 14:00 |
Gelfand Boris |
2751 |
0-1 |
Kamsky Gata |
2762 |
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
2764 |
½-½ |
Caruana Fabiano |
2786 |
Ponomariov Ruslan |
2741 |
1-0 |
Morozevich Alexander |
2748 |
Dominguez Perez Leinier |
2726 |
½-½ |
Svidler Peter |
2747 |
Karjakin Sergey |
2775 |
½-½ |
Leko Peter |
2732 |
Wang Hao |
2737 |
0-1 |
Kasimdzhanov Rustam |
2696 |
Round 6 on Wednesday
28.11.2012 at 14:00 |
Kamsky Gata |
2762 |
½-½ |
Kasimdzhanov Rustam |
2696 |
Leko Peter |
2732 |
½-½ |
Wang Hao |
2737 |
Svidler Peter |
2747 |
½-½ |
Karjakin Sergey |
2775 |
Morozevich Alexander |
2748 |
1-0 |
Dominguez Perez Leinier |
2726 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2786 |
½-½ |
Ponomariov Ruslan |
2741 |
Gelfand Boris |
2751 |
½-½ |
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
2764 |
Round 7 on Thursday
29.11.2012 at 14:00 |
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
2764 |
½-½ |
Kamsky Gata |
2762 |
Ponomariov Ruslan |
2741 |
½-½ |
Gelfand Boris |
2751 |
Dominguez Perez Leinier |
2726 |
0-1 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2786 |
Karjakin Sergey |
2775 |
1-0 |
Morozevich Alexander |
2748 |
Wang Hao |
2737 |
½-½ |
Svidler Peter |
2747 |
Kasimdzhanov Rustam |
2696 |
½-½ |
Leko Peter |
2732 |
Round 8 on Friday
30.11.2012 at 14:00 |
Kamsky Gata |
2762 |
0-1 |
Leko Peter |
2732 |
Svidler Peter |
2747 |
½-½ |
Kasimdzhanov Rustam |
2696 |
Morozevich Alexander |
2748 |
½-½ |
Wang Hao |
2737 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2786 |
½-½ |
Karjakin Sergey |
2775 |
Gelfand Boris |
2751 |
½-½ |
Dominguez Perez Leinier |
2726 |
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
2764 |
½-½ |
Ponomariov Ruslan |
2741 |
Round 9 on Sunday
2.12.2012 at 14:00 |
Ponomariov Ruslan |
2741 |
- |
Kamsky Gata |
2762 |
Dominguez Perez Leinier |
2726 |
- |
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
2764 |
Karjakin Sergey |
2775 |
- |
Gelfand Boris |
2751 |
Wang Hao |
2737 |
- |
Caruana Fabiano |
2786 |
Kasimdzhanov Rustam |
2696 |
- |
Morozevich Alexander |
2748 |
Leko Peter |
2732 |
- |
Svidler Peter |
2747 |
Round 10 on Monday
3.12.2012 at 14:00 |
Kamsky Gata |
2762 |
- |
Svidler Peter |
2747 |
Morozevich Alexander |
2748 |
- |
Leko Peter |
2732 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2786 |
- |
Kasimdzhanov Rustam |
2696 |
Gelfand Boris |
2751 |
- |
Wang Hao |
2737 |
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
2764 |
- |
Karjakin Sergey |
2775 |
Ponomariov Ruslan |
2741 |
- |
Dominguez Perez Leinier |
2726 |
Round 11 on Tuesday 4.12.2012 at 12:00 |
Dominguez Perez Leinier |
2726 |
- |
Kamsky Gata |
2762 |
Karjakin Sergey |
2775 |
- |
Ponomariov Ruslan |
2741 |
Wang Hao |
2737 |
- |
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar |
2764 |
Kasimdzhanov Rustam |
2696 |
- |
Gelfand Boris |
2751 |
Leko Peter |
2732 |
- |
Caruana Fabiano |
2786 |
Svidler Peter |
2747 |
- |
Morozevich Alexander |
2748 |
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