Thessaloniki 10: Kamsky wins and leads

From May 22 to June 03, 2013, the fourth stage of the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2012-2013 is taking place in Thessaloniki, Greece. Twelve players are competing in a round robin tournament with time controls of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes and an increment of 30 seconds per move for each player. The Grand Prix Series consists of six tournaments to be held over two years, with 18 top players, each participating in four of the six tournaments. The winner and second placed player overall of the Grand Prix Series will qualify for the Candidates Tournament to be held in March 2014.

Round ten report

Round ten under way in the playing hall of the FIDE Grand Prix in Thessaloniki

On his 39th birthday Gata Kamsky destroyed Alexander Morozevich in a 25-move Chigorin

Guest annotator, GM Christian Ioan Chirila, former World Youth Champion from Romania

Only one word to describe Morozevich: brilliant but erratic (sorry, two words!)

Ponomariov-Bacrot 1-0
The game started as an Italian but it soon reached the familiar Ruy Lopez contours. Ponomariov wanted to keep as many pieces as possible on the board and press for a win, because today was his last game with the white pieces. The position was somewhat better for White throughout the middlegame, as he had more space and a pair of bishops. In Bacrot's time trouble White finally pushed f4-f5 and Black had to make some important decisions with only minutes on the clock. He decided to exchange the minor pieces, but Ponomariov dubbed this a mistake and suggested that Black should have kept the knight on g7, as it is good defender of the King. After 46.dxc5 the Ukrainian knew that he was winning, but he spent a lot of time trying to find the best way and hoping to avoid the scenario from his game against Rustam Kasimdzanov. "Chess is such a strange game. Sometimes you are trying to increase your advantage but then you make a few inaccurate moves and can even lose the game".

Ruslan Ponomariov defeated Etienne Bacrot in an unusual Giuoco Piano

Topalov-Caruana 0-1
This was certainly one of the most exciting games of the whole tournament. It started badly for Caruana, who had black after an unpleasant loss in the previous round. Topalov continued to insist on the Ruy Lopez with a quick Nc3-Nd5. Black reacted poorly and was forced to concede the right to castle. White kept on pressing and Caruana admitted that he had difficult time finding the only moves in a long sequence. As the fatigue grew and the second time trouble approached, the players started exchanging mistakes. Caruana honestly said he had no idea what was happening and whether he was supposed to play for a win or for a draw. The old saying that the player who makes second to last mistake wins is perfectly relevant for this game.

Italian GM Fabiano Caruana

Grischuk-Dominguez ½-½
Grischuk used the popular 3.f3 against the Gruenfeld Indian Defence, but was very critical of his preparation because he had completely neglected the line with 8...e5. He somehow remembered the plans used in the match Anand-Gelfand and in the game Rodstein-Navara, to include d6 and Kb1. Dominguez said he couldn't remember much of the theory but he was able to introduce a novelty and improve Black's play. After the exchange sacrifice, he went after the c3-pawn, leaving the e4-pawn alive for the time being. In the end after 33 moves the game was drawn by perpetual check.

Alexander Grischuk vs Leinier Dominguez ended in a draw in 33 moves

Svidler-Kasimdzhanov ½-½
Svidler started with 1.e4 and Kasimdzhanov was ready to repeat the Ruy Lopez Arkhangelsk variation which brought him success against Ponomariov in round eight. White refrained from the main 8.c3 and instead went for the pair of Bishops with 8.Nxe5. It is interesting that both players already had this line in practice – Svidler drew Caruana and Kasimdzhanov beat Salgado Lopez. White repeated the recent novelty 12.Qd3, but Black came up with his own improvement in 14...Qe7. The players showed some fascinating lines at the press conference, but nothing of those fireworks were actually seen in the game. After the constant exchanges of the pieces, the game fizzled out in a draw.

On the friendliest of terms: Rustam Kasimdzhanov facing Peter Svidler

Chess fans following the games in the commentary area

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Standings before the final round

Free day simuls

Chess and pigeons: on the second rest day of Grand Prix the local chess clubs organized
an outdoor simul on Aristotelous Square, the main city square of Thessaloniki

Grandmasters Ioannis Papaioannou (Grand Prix commentator) and Athanasios Mastrovasilis started the event against 50 opponents. Due to high interest of by-passers, in the end 70 games were played.

GM Athanasios Mastrovasilis in a simul section with youthful opposition

GP players visit the simul: Dominguez, Ponomariov, Kamsky, Kasimdzhanov, Svidler

Etienne Bacrot gives autographs to young fans

Gata Kamsky poses for pictures with a couple of others

Firuza Kasimdzhanova enjoying a Greek caffè macchiato

Game summaries by Goran Urosevic, all pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich

Schedule and results

The games start at 14:00h Eastern European Summer time, 15:00h Moscow, 7 a.m. New York. You can find your regional starting time here. The commentary on Playchess begins one hour after the start of the games and is free for premium members.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being 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.