London Chess Grand Prix R8: Hikaru Loses to Ivanchuk; Gelfand Leads

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

“So far so good” were the words of Boris Gelfand while leaving the playing venue after the seventh round. On Saturday, his opponent Anish Giri decided to go for a sharp King’s Indian. Boris had to think for a while and opted for the bayonet attack. First moves were played very fast and after 22 moves, Gelfand decided to sacrifice a piece! The two white bishops were very dangerous and Anish decided to give up an exchange with 25…dxc5?! Boris took a good advantage but 30.Rf1 was an inaccurate move and gave the opportunity for Anish to come back in the game and eventually equalised. A disappointing draw for Boris who could have increase the lead.

The first game to end in the eighth round was between Topalov and Mamedyarov. In a well-known line of Caro Kann, Mamedyarov equalised right after the opening. “Shak” didn’t know 18.Be1 but it was not a big danger for Black and after one hour of play, both players decided to repeat the moves. Draw in 31 moves.

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London Chess Grand Prix R7: Gelfand Holds on to Lead; Mamedyarov half-a-point Behind

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

Here is the Round 7 report by GM Robert Fontaine straight from the London Chess Grand Prix 2012.

Before the 7th round, we still had one leader, Boris Gelfand (4/6), chased by a pack of four players (Grischuk, Topalov, Mamedyarov and Leko) with 3.5/6. Strangely, none of them are facing each other today. The UK production company Sunset+Vine, famous for their innovations in televising major events, are shooting the whole day for the second time this week. Game-by-game summary is as follows:


 

Dominguez-Leko: 

Leinier avoids the main line of the Berlin defence and decides to go for the closed Spanish opening. Right after the opening, Peter decided to destroy the pawn centre with 15…c6 and 16…d5!? The endgame, which arose from these exchanges, was a bit better for White due to the pawn structure. Not enough to break Leko’s defence and the draw was agreed.



Wang Hao-Topalov: 

A very exciting Gruenfeld played by Veselin, who was 2 pawns down after 8 moves, but of course still in his preparation. As compensation, Veselin immediately had a better development. After 13 moves, White didn’t develop the king’s side at all with the bishop still on f1 and pawns on “e2” and “g2”! All the black squares were weakened and Topalov logically took the advantage step by step.

Approaching the time trouble, Hao managed to survive from his opponent’s attack and eventually equalized. A tough draw for the young Chinese player and a disappointment for Topalov.



Mamedyarov-Nakamura:
Anyone is expecting blood in that game! “Shak” and Hikaru have explosive styles based on attack. So far, Hikaru’s results are not as he expects. Without any big surprise, we had a King’s Indian arriving on the board and Shakhriyar went for a quiet line based on g3, Bg2. White took the space and Hikaru decided to change the course of the game by playing 17…c5?!

It appeared that White suddenly took the advantage by creating some attack after 18.e5! Mamedyarov kept on pressuring his opponent until the time trouble, where Black couldn’t find the best defence. Mamedyarov is scoring his second full point in a row.



Ivanchuk-Kasimdzhanov: 

After few moves, Vasily was not writing his moves. Carol Jarecki, the arbiter, made the small remark to the Ukrainian player. Vasily just forgot about it! In a strange move order (Reti), Rustam took the c4-pawn and tried to keep it as long as possible with 10…Qd4. Vasily didn’t go to the arbiter to ask for a draw (2 times repetition only) and finally the draw was agreed after only 11 moves!



Adams-Gelfand: 

These two players know each other well very well and are from the same generation (Boris is born in 1968 and Michael in 1971). Michael went for the Rossolimo line of the Sicilian, choosing the b3, Bb2 plan. Boris decided to develop his pieces in an original way with f6, Kf7. Position looked pretty equal but Black had compensation with the two bishops.

Boris even went for the a2-pawn, which seemed risky. Black kept his two pawn advantage until the rook endgame and managed to win. An important victory for Boris who is in real good shape so far!



Giri-Grischuk: 

Anish played the solid Maroczy Bind against Grischuk's 6…Ba7 Paulsen Sicilian. The young Dutch player went for the usual plan with a4-a5 in order to take space on the queen’s side. Grischuk’s position remained solid, exchanging all the pawns on the queen’s side and equalizing comfortably. The draw was agreed after a long fight!

All photos used in this report kindly provided by Ray Morris-Hill Photography.

Standings after seven rounds have Boris Gelfand at 5 points out of 7 with Mamedyarov right behind at 4.5. Three players are at 4 points each - Grischuk, Topalov and Leko. Wang Hao is at 3.5 points. Four players are at 3 points each - Ivanchuk, Adams, Dominguez, Giri. Two players are at 2.5 each - Kasimdzhanov and Nakamura.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
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London Chess Grand Prix R6: Wang Hao Wins on Nakamura Blunder

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

Here is GM Robert Fontaine's summary report from the sixth round at the London Fide Grand Prix where Israel's Boris Gelfand continues to be in lead. 

We had a fight of continents between Hikaru Nakamura and Wang Hao! Surprisingly, Hikaru chooses a quiet line with double fianchetto 2.g3 and 4.b3. Wang Hao had a pretty safe position and waited the time control to see a big blunder (45.Nxa4??) from the American player. You can see the game in the Chess King applet.

Alexander Grischuk and Peter Leko in pursuit of Gelfand have white pieces today and tried to reduce the gap. Alexander avoided the main weapon of Michael Adams (Marshall gambit) and went for 6.d3. White opened quickly the centre forcing black to give away a pawn. In compensation, Adams had pair of bishops. It was enough to secure the draw in the endgame.

The last game of the day saw Veselin Topalov facing Dominguez. Veselin faced the 4…a6 Slav defence and decided to take immediately space with 7.Ne5 and 8.f4. Topalov took gradually the advantage, sacrificed a piece to win beautifully on the endgame.

Meanwhile, Boris Gelfand (3,5/5) played against Vasily Ivanchuk. The Israeli player went for an aggressive line against Queen’s Indian, sacrificing a pawn very early in the game. Both players said it was a complicated game and finally the draw was agreed before the time trouble, on move 25.

The Uzbek player Kasimdzhanov plays the Azeri Mamedyarov in one of the latest modern lines of the Meran. The position became very sharp when Mamedyarov decided to develop his initiative on the King’s side, pushing his “f” and “h” pawns. The 38th move was a terrible blunder from the Uzbek player and “Shak” jumped on the opportunity to score a full point.

Peter Leko played Giri in a very fashion line of Sicilian Najdorf. Peter gives a pawn quickly in order to have initiative and two bishops. Anish started the counter attack on the “a” file and managed to equalize. Both players decided than to repeat quickly the moves and agreed for a draw.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
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London Chess Grand Prix Round 3: Grischuk Lets Wang Hao Escape in Time Trouble

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

The third round was a sort of deja vu for Veselin Topalov who played against Rustam Kasimdzhanov. In the semi-final of the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2004, Rustam managed to win the tiebreak 2-0, and eventually conquered the World title. The Uzbek player came with a great novelty in his pocket 12...c5! giving away a piece.

Few moves later, white were forced to give back the piece. After 18 moves, Rustam spent only 2 minutes which shows that his home preparation worked well! After the game, Veselin said that he knew this move as well. The game ended very quickly in a draw in 37 moves and less than 1h30min of play.

Today, Boris Gelfand used once more the Sveshnikov Sicilian, which was his main weapon against Vishy Anand during the last World Chess championship. Boris must have worked on that opening for months with his seconds. Alexander Huzman, his oldest second and friend is here in London. After the opening, black was already out of danger and eventually fixed the queen side by playing quickly ...b5-b4. Boris decided to give away the "d6" pawn in order to equalize into an opposite colour bishop endgame. Draw.

Vasily Ivanchuk lost yesterday. The Ukrainian grandmaster is known to have fragile nerves so his reaction today is important regarding the rest of the tournament. His opponent Michael Adams has chosen the solid Nimzo-Indian, and managed to get rid of his isolated pawn "d5". Black took a pawn but had to weaken their pawn structure with double pawns on the "f" file. That's the moment where the English number one gave away this pawn to arrive in a drawn rook endgame.

The American player Hikaru Nakamura arrived in a flashy red t-shirt, hair back and in a fighting mood! In hyper modern style, Hikaru went for a quiet double fianchetto development. Leko reacted solidly like in Gruenfeld opening, putting his bishop on "g7". Some pieces were exchanged and white took possession of the "d" file. In the rook endgame, black found some counter play on the queen side with a6-b5. Nakamura kept trying but missed the winning move 61.a6! Draw was finally agreed.

Grischuk who is one of the biggest King's Indian specialists decided to play today the Gruenfeld defence, completely surprising his opponent Wang Hao. The Chinese player went for a side line, forcing black to exchange their powerful bishop "g7". The diagonal "g1-a7" became weak and the Russian grandmaster played a very strong continuation with 23...h5! Here is Wang Hao comments on Facebook : "Today I played badly again, somehow blundered a simple move and definitely deserved to lose the game, but my opponent missed his chance and after blitzing in the last moves of the first time control, when my heart was beating like a drum. Suddenly I found the game was drawish, a lucky escape!"

Check the game with Chess King! 

Crazy game between the youngest player in the event, 17 year old Anish Giri, and Mamedyarov who decided to rush on the king's opponent! Black never managed to get out the opening, and 13...exd5 was already the decisive mistake. The black king had to stay in the centre of the board with many weaknesses on black's camp. The game became a nightmare for Anish and the young Dutch player decided to resign after only 21 moves.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
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Also see her personal blog at
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London Chess Grand Prix Round 1: Gelfand Begins with Win; Others Draw

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

The first round of the World Chess Grand Prix in London started at 2 pm local time with the first move played by the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.  Round 1 Report by Grandmaster Robert Fontaine. 

Most of the games started smoothly and the Chinese player Wang Hao was playing very quickly the first 20 moves, with still 1h56 on his clock. His opponent, British number one Michael Adams who replaced GM Peter Svidler at the last minute. Adams took his time to fully equalize after exchanging the Queens. Adams was pushing the whole game, got a pawn up in a rook endgame but it was not enough to win. Draw.

The Cuban player Dominguez faced the solid Petroff defence of the young Dutch star Anish Giri. White got a slightly more comfortable position after the opening. Anish played very accurately in the middlegame and fully equalized. The Dutch player had 3 pawns on the c-line but got a pawn up during the middlegame. Not enough to win the rook endgame however. Draw.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov declined to go into the main line of the Berlin defence played by Peter Leko. 16…Qf6 ! was a very accurate move from the Hungarian player which eventually equalized the position. Players went into a Bishop versus Knight endgame, which ended in a draw in 34 moves.

Ivanchuk has chosen today the Nimzo-Indian, which apparently didn’t surprise Mamedyarov who picked up a rare line based on 9.Bg5. The Azeri player had some difficulties to castle and was able to do it only after 22 moves. Black got a very slightly better position in the Rook+knight endgame. In time trouble, Vasily managed to win a pawn and arrived in a Knight+3 pawns against Knight+2 pawns endgame. However despite several attempts at trying black could get no more than a draw.

For the first game of this event, Boris Gelfand, the former challenger for the World championship match, decided to surprise his opponent by playing a Sicilian Sveshnikov. The American player went for a sideline with 9.a4. Gelfand took slowly the advantage, blocking the queen-side on black squares. Boris played his 40th move with only 7 seconds on the clock, maintaining the pressure! Black slowly squeezed white’s position until finally white collapsed definitively.

The English opening played by the Bulgarian player Veselin Topalov was an interesting choice to avoid the main weapon of Alexander Grischuk: the King’s Indian. Pieces were exchanged quickly and white got a slight edge. The game started to get sharp while the players began to be short on time, Grischuk got forced to sac a piece for 4 pawns. Position of the Russian player was very solid, and both players agreed for a draw after 43 moves.

You can follow the live broadcast of games at the official website.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

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Also see her personal blog at
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