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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.
For the second day in a row all games finished in draws, leaving Alexander Morozevich, Veselin Topalov and Ruslan Ponomariov on the top with 2.5/4 points. With the exception of Ruslan Ponomoriov, who didn’t get any advantage against Anish Giri, all other players with the white pieces managed to create problems for their opponents. Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Veselin Topalov played a thrilling game, which started with a piece sacrifice by Kasimdzhanov on the 13th move. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov managed to get a very dynamic position and was hoping to use the activity of his pieces but Fabiano Caruana defended precisely. Sergey Karjakin went for a worse bishop endgame but manage to hold it against Alexander Morozevich. Teymur Radjabov had good winning chances against Peter Leko but the Hungarian player managed to defend. Hikaru Nakamura tried to convert his extra pawn in a rook endgame into a full point, but Gata Kamsky was also not in the mood to lose today.
Round 04 – April 21 2013, 14:00h | ||||
Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 2709 |
½-½
|
Veselin Topalov | 2771 |
Hikaru Nakamura | 2767 |
½-½
|
Gata Kamsky | 2741 |
Teimour Radjabov | 2793 |
½-½
|
Peter Leko | 2744 |
Ruslan Ponomariov | 2733 |
½-½
|
Anish Giri | 2727 |
Alexander Morozevich | 2758 |
½-½
|
Sergey Karjakin | 2786 |
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2766 |
½-½
|
Fabiano Caruana | 2772 |
Rustam Kasimdzhanov - Veselin Topalov ½-½
The two former FIDE world champions played a very interesting line of the Classic
King’s Indian, which Topalov (above left) had previously played with white!
Undoubtedly, Kasimdzhanov had analyzed this line, as it has been played by a
number of tops grandmasters, including Boris Gelfand. “Unfortunately I
didn’t check this idea with a computer, and it was a pity to play 13.Nf5
without real preparation,” said Rustam during the press conference. Topalov
gave back the piece and then played the very daring 20…Kh7. However, Kasimdzhanov’s
sacrifice paid off as he recovered the exchange. But Topalov had very active
pieces, and his defence was quite impressive despite the position looking very
difficult for him.
Hikaru Nakamura - Gata Kamsky ½-½
The American derby saw White (Nakamura) adopting a line which gave Kamsky few
problems. After Kamsky adopted his favorite opening structure we got an e3 variation
of the Grunfeld. Black had no problem in equalizing with 10…c5 and White
remained saddled with a backward b-pawn. “I forgot what I’ve prepared
against 10…c5. I checked the line with e4 but I think I confused the order.
Today it was the day when I could not remember anything or calculate clearly
at all. Almost every move Gata played took me by surprise,” said Hikaru
Nakamura with smile. Eventually White unraveled his pieces and Black made an
error with 23…Rxc5. Once again Kamsky got into time trouble and eventually
decided to enter an endgame a pawn down in a rook endgame, which he managed
to save.
Teimour Radjabov - Peter Leko ½-½
Radjabov (above right) has not had a great start in this event and
today chose a solid, rarely played line the Queen’s Gambit Declined, Ragozin
Variation. It seems the Azeri player was more familiar with the position after
the opening than Peter Leko, who hadn’t “checked the rare line deep
enough”. Peter said he decided to play quickly today, but still spent
a huge amount of time in the middle game and around move 17 he had left himself
with 18 minutes for 23 moves. Teimur Radjabov found a very strong move, 17.Rb1,
with many threats, and it was not easy for Black to find the right way. The
Hungarian player went for Rc7 and after more or less force line White got the
better endgame. Leko defended very well but could have finished the game earlier
with stalemate: 58…Rg1 + 59…Rg5.
Alexander Morozevich - Sergey Karjakin ½-½
White chose the Alekhine Variation against the Nimzo Indian. Black
was well prepared and chose Romanishin’s line with 6…Qf5. Whilst
Morozevich tried to keep the position complicated, Black managed to equalize
in a straightforward manner with 10…e5. Black may have played for a little
bit more with 15 or 16…g6, but after the exchange of queens it was very
difficult for either side to create much in the resulting position. Karjakin
managed however to get into serious time trouble and gave Morozevich chances
in bishop endgame. It’s hard to draw final conclusions on whether it was
winning for White or not, as the ending should be analyzed quite deeply. But
both players said at the press conference that they didn’t see chances
for White to improve his position.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov - Fabiano Caruana ½-½
White played out a main line of the Be2 variation in the Exchange Grunfeld.
As is the norm for Mamedyarov (above standing) he played his first 22 moves
very quickly, but maybe he should have paused to consider 19.d6!? as an option.
During the press conference Fabiano indicated he might have played 19.d6 Nxd6
20.Qd5 Be6?? which would have been answered by 21.Qxe6 fxe6 22.Bxe6+ Kh8 23.Ng5
winning! The position was unclear after 19.Rxf7, and Fabiano Caruana consumed
a lot of time in the opening and middlegame. Black then decided to facilitate
his defence with the counter exchange sacrifice 28..Rxe3!? and created enough
counter play. An inaccuracy 33.Bc8?! by Mamedyarov gave Caruana the opportunity
to equalize and despite a tough time control Black maintained equality.
Ruslan Ponomariov - Anish Giri ½-½
Anish Giri (above middle, analysing with Ponomariov and press chief Anastasiya
Karlovich) played confidently against former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov.
He chose the Archangel Variation in the Ruy Lopez with black and his moves came
fast and thick. White spent a lot of time on 13.Qb1, but this posed no problems
to Giri’s preparation, as he continued to play quickly and was always
well ahead of Ponomariov on the clock. Maybe 16.e5 could have posed some more
difficulties for black, but Anish showed in the press conference he was well
prepared.
AGON CEO GM Robert Fontaine and FIDE CEO Geoffrey Borg doing commentary
Select games from the dropdown menu above the board
Information and pictures by FIDE press chief WGM Anastasiya Karlovich
Round 01 – April 18 2013, 14:00h | ||||
Alexander Morozevich | 2758 |
1-0
|
Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 2709 |
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2766 |
½-½
|
Ruslan Ponomariov | 2733 |
Fabiano Caruana | 2772 |
1-0
|
Teimour Radjabov | 2793 |
Sergey Karjakin | 2786 |
½-½
|
Hikaru Nakamura | 2767 |
Anish Giri | 2727 |
½-½
|
Veselin Topalov | 2771 |
Peter Leko | 2744 |
½-½
|
Gata Kamsky | 2741 |
Round 02 – April 19 2013, 14:00h | ||||
Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 2709 |
1-0
|
Gata Kamsky | 2741 |
Veselin Topalov | 2771 |
1-0
|
Peter Leko | 2744 |
Hikaru Nakamura | 2767 |
½-½
|
Anish Giri | 2727 |
Teimour Radjabov | 2793 |
½-½
|
Sergey Karjakin | 2786 |
Ruslan Ponomariov | 2733 |
1-0
|
Fabiano Caruana | 2772 |
Alexander Morozevich | 2758 |
½-½
|
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2766 |
Round 03 – April 20 2013, 14:00h | ||||
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2766 |
½-½
|
Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 2709 |
Fabiano Caruana | 2772 |
½-½
|
Alexander Morozevich | 2758 |
Sergey Karjakin | 2786 |
½-½
|
Ruslan Ponomariov | 2733 |
Anish Giri | 2727 |
½-½
|
Teimour Radjabov | 2793 |
Peter Leko | 2744 |
½-½
|
Hikaru Nakamura | 2767 |
Gata Kamsky | 2741 |
½-½
|
Veselin Topalov | 2771 |
Round 04 – April 21 2013, 14:00h | ||||
Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 2709 |
½-½
|
Veselin Topalov | 2771 |
Hikaru Nakamura | 2767 |
½-½
|
Gata Kamsky | 2741 |
Teimour Radjabov | 2793 |
½-½
|
Peter Leko | 2744 |
Ruslan Ponomariov | 2733 |
½-½
|
Anish Giri | 2727 |
Alexander Morozevich | 2758 |
½-½
|
Sergey Karjakin | 2786 |
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2766 |
½-½
|
Fabiano Caruana | 2772 |
Round 05 – April 23 2013, 14:00h | ||||
Fabiano Caruana | 2772 |
-
|
Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 2709 |
Sergey Karjakin | 2786 |
-
|
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2766 |
Anish Giri | 2727 |
-
|
Alexander Morozevich | 2758 |
Peter Leko | 2744 |
-
|
Ruslan Ponomariov | 2733 |
Gata Kamsky | 2741 |
-
|
Teimour Radjabov | 2793 |
Veselin Topalov | 2771 |
-
|
Hikaru Nakamura | 2767 |
Round 06 – April 24 2013, 14:00h | ||||
Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 2709 |
-
|
Hikaru Nakamura | 2767 |
Teimour Radjabov | 2793 |
-
|
Veselin Topalov | 2771 |
Ruslan Ponomariov | 2733 |
-
|
Gata Kamsky | 2741 |
Alexander Morozevich | 2758 |
-
|
Peter Leko | 2744 |
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2766 |
-
|
Anish Giri | 2727 |
Fabiano Caruana | 2772 |
-
|
Sergey Karjakin | 2786 |
Round 07 – April 25 2013, 14:00h | ||||
Sergey Karjakin | 2786 |
-
|
Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 2709 |
Anish Giri | 2727 |
-
|
Fabiano Caruana | 2772 |
Peter Leko | 2744 |
-
|
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2766 |
Gata Kamsky | 2741 |
-
|
Alexander Morozevich | 2758 |
Veselin Topalov | 2771 |
-
|
Ruslan Ponomariov | 2733 |
Hikaru Nakamura | 2767 |
-
|
Teimour Radjabov | 2793 |
Round 08 – April 26 2013, 14:00h | ||||
Rustam Kasimdzhanov
|
2709 |
-
|
Teimour Radjabov | 2793 |
Ruslan Ponomariov
|
2733 |
-
|
Hikaru Nakamura | 2767 |
Alexander Morozevich
|
2758 |
-
|
Veselin Topalov | 2771 |
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
|
2766 |
-
|
Gata Kamsky | 2741 |
Fabiano Caruana
|
2772 |
-
|
Peter Leko | 2744 |
Sergey Karjakin
|
2786 |
-
|
Anish Giri | 2727 |
Round 09 – April 28 2013, 14:00h | ||||
Anish Giri | 2727 |
-
|
Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 2709 |
Peter Leko | 2744 |
-
|
Sergey Karjakin | 2786 |
Gata Kamsky | 2741 |
-
|
Fabiano Caruana | 2772 |
Veselin Topalov | 2771 |
-
|
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2766 |
Hikaru Nakamura | 2767 |
-
|
Alexander Morozevich | 2758 |
Teimour Radjabov | 2793 |
-
|
Ruslan Ponomariov | 2733 |
Round 10 – April 29 2013, 14:00h | ||||
Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 2709 |
-
|
Ruslan Ponomariov | 2733 |
Alexander Morozevich | 2758 |
-
|
Teimour Radjabov | 2793 |
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2766 |
-
|
Hikaru Nakamura | 2767 |
Fabiano Caruana | 2772 |
-
|
Veselin Topalov | 2771 |
Sergey Karjakin | 2786 |
-
|
Gata Kamsky | 2741 |
Anish Giri | 2727 |
-
|
Peter Leko | 2744 |
Round 11 – April 30 2013, 12:00h | ||||
Peter Leko | 2744 |
-
|
Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 2709 |
Gata Kamsky | 2741 |
-
|
Anish Giri | 2727 |
Veselin Topalov | 2771 |
-
|
Sergey Karjakin | 2786 |
Hikaru Nakamura | 2767 |
-
|
Fabiano Caruana | 2772 |
Teimour Radjabov | 2793 |
-
|
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 2766 |
Ruslan Ponomariov | 2733 |
-
|
Alexander Morozevich | 2758 |
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.
LinksThe 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. |