Zug GP R10: four wins, three with black

From April 14 to April 30, 2013, the third stage of the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2012-2013 is taking place in Zug, Switzerland. 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

Veselin Topalov (second from right above in a post-game chat with GM Robert Fontaine, FIDE CEO Geoffrey Borg, FIDE Continental President for Africa Lakhdar Mazouz and chief arbiter Panagiotis Nikolopoulos) defeated his main rival Fabiano Caruana and is now on a sole lead with seven points, one point ahead of Hikaru Nakamura. The American player beat Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to take the second place. Alexander Morozevich managed to outplay Teimur Radjabov, while Gata Kamsky won against Sergey Karjakin. Kasimzdhanov-Ponomariov, Giri-Leko were drawn. Ruslan Ponomariov and Fabiano Caruana share the third place while Kamsky, Morozevich, Karjakin share the fifth place.

Commentary for the spectators provided by Robert Fontaine and Geoffrey Borg

Caruana-Topalov 0-1
Fabiano Caruana (above right) got a pleasant position and managed to create threats on the kingside. The players showed many possible variations on the notebbok and agreed that White could have played more precisely, but at the same time they didn’t find any direct attack. Things went wrong when White lost a few tempos after the dubious Qf2-Qa7, but Caruana was in time trouble and it was not easy for him to find the right plan. After the first time control the Italian player should have kept queens on the board to have better chances for a draw, because the knight and bishop endgame turned out to be absolutely winning for Black.

Despite victory in the game and, as a result, victory in the tournament, Veselin Topalov looked very serious and tired at the press conference. It is obvious that the tournament is not over for the former world champion and he will fight for the sole victory in the tournament at the last round.

Mamedyarov-Nakamura 0-1
The Slav Defence was played in this game, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (above) got an unpleasant position out of the opening. White could not prove he has enough compensation for the pawn, and after 21...f5 his position became really bad. It was still not necessary to resign after 22…Rc4, even the position was still much better for Black but the Azeri player miscalculated the variation and thought he would end up in the position with rook against three pieces. The game could have continued after 23.bxc4 Bxc4 24.Nxb4 Bxe2 25. Nxd5 exd 26.Bxe2 Nxd2 27.Rc7.

According to Hikaru Nakamura (above right in the press conference) his position was still winning. However, White keeps some drawing chances in the endgame.

Morozevich-Radjabov 1-0
Teymur Rajabov (above left) chose to play the Sveshnikov Variation against Alexander Morozevich. Black was okay until the moment he has to find a very accurate move, 21…Qb3! The difference to the move in the game was that Black had 22…Qd5 after 22.Rc8, and after 23. Qa3 there was an important resource: 23…Ra2. After 21…Qa4 White won an exchange and increased his advantage.

Alexander Morozevich (above) could have won easier, but Black never got a real chance to fight for a draw. On move 43 Black could have tried to trick White with a stalemate idea by playing 43…Kh6 44. Rxg7?? Qg2!

Commentary by GM Giorgi Margvelashvili

Karjakin-Kamsky 0-1
Sergey Karjakin (above) managed to get a slightly better position after the opening. Nevertheless Black were looking for counterplay and the position became very sharp. Black could get a huge advantage after 27…Qxd5, but both opponents missed this move. After that the game was dynamically equal but with his 41st move Sergey Karjakin made a big mistake. After 41.Qf3 the game would most probably finish in a draw.

Gata Kamsky (above) found the force winning line and after 15 moves the game was over.

Uzbek beauty Firzua Kasimdzanova, wife of ...

... this well-known former FIDE world champion

Current standings

The tie Break criteria for trophies only:

1. direct encounter
2. number of wins Sonnenborn-Berger System
3. Koya System.

Veselin Topalov won against Hikaru Nakamura at the fifth round, and this means even in the worst-case scenario for him he will take the gold at Grand Prix in Zug.

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Information and pictures by WGM Anastasiya Karlovich (above) and GM Robert Fontaine

Schedule and pairings

The games start at 14:00h European time, 16:00h Moscow, 8 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 will be 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.