Thessaloniki R05: Dominguez takes the Lead

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 five express report

Ponomariov, Ruslan - Grischuk, Alexander 1-0
Ponomariov was able to win a pawn in this Berlin Wall, however due to the presence of opposite colored bishops there never was any hope for winning.

Svidler, Peter - Topalov, Veselin ½-½
This very long theoretical line has given white victories here and there but almost always ends in a draw. The first twenty moves of this game had been played before, and the resulting position in which White had an extra exchange for two pawns was not significantly better for Svidler.

"No one's going to outprepare me." - Veselin Topalov holding a solid draw with black.

Ivanchuk, Vassily - Kamsky, Gata ½-½
Perhaps still trying to recuperate, Ivanchuk played as solidly as possible, exchanged as many pieces as he could and the opposite colored bishop endgame was dead drawn by move 25.

Kamsky didn't wear his usual cap today, but his formal attire might have been
wasted as his was the shortest game of the day.

The man of the day, Dominguez is the surprise leader in Thessaloniki after losing round one.

Kasimzdhanov, Rustam - Dominguez Perez, Leinier 0-1
Dominguez takes a slightly surprising lead, as he has now won three games in a row. Kasimdzhanov could not have been too displeased with the result of the opening, as he seemed to have a minor but comfortable edge out of the opening, an early exchange Bogo-Indian. However from that point on Dominguez started outplaying him, until they reached an endgame in which White was simply worse. The move 31.Rb3?! was not the best defense, and afterwards the Cuban showed great technique and collected the full point.

A rollercoaster endgame ended in a draw for Bacrot and Morozevich.

Bacrot, Etienne - Morozevich, Alexander ½-½
Morozevich had a dream structure: a passed pawn on the c-file, no weaknesses, facing a shattered and exposed White center. However Bacrot ahd the initiative and the open lines against Black's kingside. This battle forced Morozevich to sacrificed an exchange for a pawn, and the resulting endgame was still far from clear. After refusing to finish the game with a threefold repetition, the Russian made the strange decision to trade rooks and landed in an endgame only he could lose. He blundered 64...gxh5? which simply gave Bacrot the passed pawn he needed to win the game. White had to find the accurate 66.Kd4! to bring the king closer to the pawn, catching the passed h-pawn with the rook. Luckily for Morozevich this is not what Bacrot did and the game ended in a draw.

Nakamura, Hikaru - Caruana, Fabiano ½-½
Caruana played an excellent Gruenfeld and slowly started outplaying Nakamura. The Italian found himself up two pawns after time control, and although it wasn't the easiest position to win due to his somewhat exposed king, everything indicated that he would take home the full point. However it was precisely from this moment on that Hikaru was the one that started outplaying Caruana. With each move the American added some pressure to his opponent's position, until he had to simplify into a bishop endgame after returning one of the pawns. Black tried as hard as he could in the resulting endgame but to no avail.

Replay all games of the round

Select games from the dropdown menu above the board

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.