tag: London Grand Prix 2012 - Page 1

London Rd11: Final Grand Prix round – watch it live!

10/3/2012 – The leader of the tournament, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, is currently playing white against Peter Leko. The baying pack, half a point behind, is hoping to catch or in fact overtake the Azeri. Boris Gelfand and Alexander Grischuk have white against Hikaru Nakamura and Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Veselin Topalov is playing black against Anish Giri. We show you how best to follow the action live.

London Rd11: Topalov, Gelfand, Mamedyarov tie for first

10/3/2012 – Boris Gelfand beat Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Veselin Topalov outplayed Anish Giri with black, while the previous tournament leader Shakhriyar Mamedyarov settled for a draw against Peter Leko. This left three players tied for first, with 7.0/11 points each, and although Topalov had the highest tiebreak the official tournament report calls all three winners. Video interviews and GM commentary.

London Rd10: Nakamura beats Giri, Mamedyarov stays in the lead

10/2/2012 – Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov took the lead yesterday for the first time, and kept it today after five out of six games were drawn. The top seed in the tournament, Hikaru Nakamura, who by his own tweet says he seems to do his absolute best to commit harakiri, won his game against Anish Giri after four losses in a row. Note: the final round games tomorrow start two hours early.

London Rd9: Gelfand loses, Mamedyarov takes the lead

10/1/2012 – Alexander Grischuk almost managed to arrive late and forfeit the game, but he went on to beat the tournament leader Boris Gelfand. Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeated Leinier Dominguez Perez to go into the sole lead with 6.0/9 points. He is followed by Grischuk, Topalov and Gelfand, all half a point behind. Round nine report with GM commentary.

London Rd7: Gelfand leads, Mamedyarov a half point behind

9/29/2012 – After the sixth round we still had one leader: Boris Gelfand, with 4/6, chased by a pack of four players (Grischuk, Topalov, Mamedyarov and Leko) with 3.5/6. Today the Israeli GM scored his third win in this tournament, with no losses, and with it has displayed a 2900+ performance. One player is half a point behind him: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who won a nice game against Nakamura.

London Rd8: Gelfand leads, Nakamura loses three in a row

9/29/2012 – “So far so good,” said the tournament leader Boris Gelfand when leaving the playing venue yesterday evening. Today he came close to increasing his half-point lead over the field, but an inaccurate move allowed his opponent Anish Giri to escape with a draw. Down in the dumps is Hikaru Nakamura, who lost his third game in a row and now is on minus three. Round eight report.

London Rd6: Gelfand leads, four players follow

9/28/2012 – Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria both won their games to climb into the follow-up slot of 3.5/6 points, half a point behind the leader Boris Gelfand of Israel. Top US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura lost his second game in this event, this time to Chinese GM Wang Hao. This game is analysed in today's round six report.

London Rd5: All games drawn, Gelfand continues to lead

9/26/2012 – The longest draw was Dominguez-Nakamura, 90 moves, with the Cuban GM gaining a decisive advantage but failing to bag the point with a nice combination. The shortest game lasted just 26 moves. Of the 30 games played so far 24 were drawn (= 80%), White won four games (13.3%) and Black two (6.7%). Boris Gelfand leads with a 2893 performance. Round five report with GM analysis.

London Rd4: Gelfand, Grischuk win, Gelfand leads

9/25/2012 – Alexander Grischuk won a fine game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, one that both our GM commentators, Alejandro Ramirez and Daniel King, have chosen to show us as the game of the day. The other really interesting game was Boris Gelfand vs Wang Hao. Just when the Chinese GM seemed to have saved a tough rook ending he blundered into a mate in one. It was all captured on video!

London Rd3: Mamyedyarov beats Giri in spectacular miniature

9/23/2012 – The round was one more marked by near misses than big wins. Topalov neutralized a spectacular opening sacrifice uncorked by Kasimdzhanov, while Grischuk built a winning position against Wang Hao, only to miss the money shot. Nakamura also narrowly missed Leko, but the game of the day was Mamedyarov's impressive miniature against Giri. Full video reports plus GM analysis.

London Rd2: Leko beats Ivanchuk, Nakamura bounces right back

9/22/2012 – The games for the most part continue to be very exciting. Leko shows Hungarian precision and positional mastery, while Nakamura punishes his opponent with sheer willpower and tenacity. Gelfand and Giri were easily neutralized by Topalov and Wang Hao respectively, and although Dominguez also drew against Grischuk it was not exactly easy. Annotated report by GM Alejandro Ramirez.

FIDE Grand Prix London R1: Gelfand beats Nakamura with black

9/22/2012 – All of the black players can leave satisfied today. Some of them held easy draws, while most of them were pushing for a win! Only through cleverness and resourcefulness were the white players able to hold to most of those half points. Nakamura, however, was not so lucky against Gelfand. Illustrated report with summary and game of the day analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez.
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