Three White victories in Thessaloniki... again!

by ChessBase
5/23/2013 – White had a good round again in Greece. Caruana dispatched Ivanchuk and Morozevich destroyed Svidler in a miniature. Grischuk played almost six times more moves than Morozevich but also took down Nakamura, who has no points in two rounds. The other games were solidly drawn and five people share the lead at 1.5/2. GM analysis, pictures and report.

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

Untitled Document

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 two report

Round 02 – May 23 2013, 14:00h
Grischuk Alexander 2779 1-0 Nakamura Hikaru 2775
Bacrot Etienne 2725 ½-½ Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699
Morozevich Alexander 2760 1-0 Svidler Peter 2769
Caruana Fabiano 2774 1-0 Ivanchuk Vassily 2755
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723 ½-½ Ponomariov Ruslan 2742
Topalov Veselin 2793 ½-½ Kamsky Gata 2741

Bacrot's openings haven't lived up to standard - his expressions show that he knows it.

Bacrot, Etienne - Kasimdzhanov, Rustam ½-½
A relatively boring Gruenfeld forced Bacrot to exchange more pieces than he wanted and Black obtained an easy draw. Bacrot's openings in rounds one and two have left much to be desired, and he will have to improve drastically if he wants to score full points. Maybe this is due to his last minute replacement of Radjabov?

Dominguez is in the typical meditative pose of "oh god how did my preparation go?!".

Dominguez Perez, Leinier - Ponomariov, Ruslan ½-½
In one of the most questionable three move repetitions seen in recent times, Ponomariov "forced" Dominguez to accept a draw in what was already a very equal position nonetheless.

Topalov, Veselin - Kamsky, Gata ½-½
Kamsky is known to be an expert in the solid systems that involve c6/d5 and a kingside fianchetto against pretty much any version of 1. d4. This game was no exception and again White couldn't prove anything special against the setup. Kamsky equalized and never let Topalov take any sort of advantage throughout the game.was

Kamsky and Topalov had an interesting post-mortem, but they never found a real advantage for either side.

Morozevich, Alexander - Svidler, Peter 1-0
Just as Svidler demolished Bacrot in a miniature, today he is on the receiving end! In what can only be described as a bizarre game, probably because it was played by Morozevich, both sides had completed a fair amount of anti-development by move 14. Precisely on this move Svidler decided to launch an all-in attack against Morozevich's king, which was never in any real danger. Moro's b5 pawn took on c6, b7 and a8 and promoted to a queen after which Svidler simply resigned.

Ivanchuk joins the group as the third person not happy with his opening.

Caruana, Fabiano - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1-0
Caruana sacrificed an exchange for a pawn and an impressive knight on d5, which gave him chances for an advantage. White's light square control was accentuated move by move and Black had to give back another pawn to clear the strong knight. The endgame was far from hopeless for Ivanchuk, but it was still quite difficult. Caruana slowly advanced his pawns and Black simply didn't figure out how to stop them.

Grischuk, Alexander - Nakamura, Hikaru 1-0
Black shed two pawns early in this opening to obtain good positional pressure against White's crippled pawn structure and weak king. Grischuk had the pair of bishops and seemingly dominated his opponent's position, but the pawns were simply too weak. He gave one back and started torturing Nakamura, who had little to do but sit down and defend. After Grischuk won another pawn the task became harder for Black, but maybe not impossible. His last chance might have been 70...Ra5 trying to keep the White king out of play, since once it entered the game effectively Grischuk cruised to victory.

All pictures by Anastasiya Karlovich

Replay all games of the round

Select games from the dropdown menu above the board

Schedule

Round 01 –May 22 2013, 14:00h
Topalov Veselin 2793 ½-½ Grischuk Alexander 2779
Kamsky Gata 2741 1-0 Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723
Ponomariov Ruslan 2742 ½-½ Caruana Fabiano 2774
Ivanchuk Vassily 2755 ½-½ Morozevich Alexander 2760
Svidler Peter 2769 1-0 Bacrot Etienne 2725
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699 1-0 Nakamura Hikaru 2775
Round 02 – May 23 2013, 14:00h
Grischuk Alexander 2779 1-0 Nakamura Hikaru 2775
Bacrot Etienne 2725 ½-½ Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699
Morozevich Alexander 2760 1-0 Svidler Peter 2769
Caruana Fabiano 2774 1-0 Ivanchuk Vassily 2755
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723 ½-½ Ponomariov Ruslan 2742
Topalov Veselin 2793 ½-½ Kamsky Gata 2741
Round 03 – May 24 2013, 14:00h
Kamsky Gata 2741 - Grischuk Alexander 2779
Ponomariov Ruslan 2742 - Topalov Veselin 2793
Ivanchuk Vassily 2755 - Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723
Svidler Peter 2769 - Caruana Fabiano 2774
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699 - Morozevich Alexander 2760
Nakamura Hikaru 2775 - Bacrot Etienne 2725
Round 04 – May 25 2013, 14:00h
Grischuk Alexander 2779 - Bacrot Etienne 2725
Morozevich Alexander 2760 - Nakamura Hikaru 2775
Caruana Fabiano 2774 - Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723 - Svidler Peter 2769
Topalov Veselin 2793 - Ivanchuk Vassily 2755
Kamsky Gata 2741 - Ponomariov Ruslan 2742
Round 05 – May 27 2013, 14:00h
Ponomariov Ruslan 2742 - Grischuk Alexander 2779
Ivanchuk Vassily 2755 - Kamsky Gata 2741
Svidler Peter 2769 - Topalov Veselin 2793
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699 - Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723
Nakamura Hikaru 2775 - Caruana Fabiano 2774
Bacrot Etienne 2725 - Morozevich Alexander 2760
Round 06 – May 28 2013, 14:00h
Grischuk Alexander 2779 - Morozevich Alexander 2760
Caruana Fabiano 2774 - Bacrot Etienne 2725
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723 - Nakamura Hikaru 2775
Topalov Veselin 2793 - Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699
Kamsky Gata 2741 - Svidler Peter 2769
Ponomariov Ruslan 2742 - Ivanchuk Vassily 2755
Round 07 – May 29 2013, 14:00h
Ivanchuk Vassily 2755 - Grischuk Alexander 2779
Svidler Peter 2769 - Ponomariov Ruslan 2742
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699 - Kamsky Gata 2741
Nakamura Hikaru 2775 - Topalov Veselin 2793
Bacrot Etienne 2725 - Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723
Morozevich Alexander 2760 - Caruana Fabiano 2774
Round 08 – May 30 2013, 14:00h
Grischuk Alexander 2779 - Caruana Fabiano 2774
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723 - Morozevich Alexander 2760
Topalov Veselin 2793 - Bacrot Etienne 2725
Kamsky Gata 2741 - Nakamura Hikaru 2775
Ponomariov Ruslan 2742 - Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699
Ivanchuk Vassily 2755 - Svidler Peter 2769
Round 09 – June 01 2013, 14:00h
Svidler Peter 2769 - Grischuk Alexander 2779
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699 - Ivanchuk Vassily 2755
Nakamura Hikaru 2775 - Ponomariov Ruslan 2742
Bacrot Etienne 2725 - Kamsky Gata 2741
Morozevich Alexander 2760 - Topalov Veselin 2793
Caruana Fabiano 2774 - Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723
Round 10 – June 02 2013, 14:00h
Grischuk Alexander 2779 - Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723
Topalov Veselin 2793 - Caruana Fabiano 2774
Kamsky Gata 2741 - Morozevich Alexander 2760
Ponomariov Ruslan 2742 - Bacrot Etienne 2725
Ivanchuk Vassily 2755 - Nakamura Hikaru 2775
Svidler Peter 2769 - Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699
Round 11 – June 03 2013, 12:00h
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699 - Grischuk Alexander 2779
Nakamura Hikaru 2775 - Svidler Peter 2769
Bacrot Etienne 2725 - Ivanchuk Vassily 2755
Morozevich Alexander 2760 - Ponomariov Ruslan 2742
Caruana Fabiano 2774 - Kamsky Gata 2741
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723 - Topalov Veselin 2793

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.

Links

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.


Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register