Thessaloniki Chess Grand Prix 2013: Leinier Dominguez Wins Title with Last-Round Win

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

Leinier Dominguez outplayed Veselin Topalov in the longest game of the day to overtake Gata Kamsky and claim a clear first place in the Thessaloniki Grand Prix. The Cuban finished the tournament with 8/11 points. In the other key encounter Fabiano Caruana made a good favour for Dominguez by defeating the overnight leader Kamsky to finally catch him on the shared second place. 

Hikaru Nakamura won against Peter Svidler to finish the tournament in good mood, while Vassily Ivanchuk scored his first victory in the game against Etienne Bacrot. Results, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Kasimdzhanov - GrischukWhite employed the English Attack in the Naidorf Sicilian and the play followed an earlier encounter between Leko and Grischuk in London Grand Prix. At one point Kasimdzhanov deviated from Leko's game with the more ambitious 18.Rh8. However, two moves later he refrained from the consistent 20.fxe4 and played the safer 20.Qxe4. Kasimdzhanov said that this has been a very difficult tournament and he was not very ambitious today. Grischuk added that he had to go down the forced line after 10...b4 because otherwise he would simply be worse. Kasimdzhanov concluded that the tournament was very nice, his result is okay, but he wasn't happy about the two games with white pieces that he lost (to Dominguez and Kamsky).

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Thessaloniki Chess Grand Prix 2013 Round 10: Kamsky defeats Morozevich, Leads before Last Round

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

The penultimate round of the Thessaloniki Grand Prix has set the stage for exciting final round on Monday 12:00 local time. Gata Kamsky celebrated his birthday with a quick and convincing victory against Alexander Morozevich, who suffered fourth consecutive loss. Leinier Dominguez survived Alexander Grischuk's assault to stay in the contention for the first place. Fabiano Caruana bounced back after yesterday's loss by defeating Veselin Topalov in a wild game. Ruslan Ponomariov scored a nice victory against Etienne Bacrot. The closing ceremony will be broadcast live in the video section from Monday 19:00 local time. Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Kamsky - Morozevich
This was a rare occasion that Kamsky didn't shy away from the explored theoretical position. In the Chigorin variation of Ruy Lopez black played the rare plan of trading on d4 twice and then 13...Re8. This was not new for Morozevich, who already used the same setup against Peter Leko back in 2002. White's 14.Nc3 (also played by Ivanchuk once) looks more natural than Leko's 14.Bg5. Kamsky didn't remember exact theory but he believed that Knight on f5 would create some threats.

After one risky pawn grab by black Kamsky missed the chance for brutal assault that starts with 18.Nd5 Bxd5 19.exd5 Rxc2 20.Rxe7 and if Rxe7 21.Bxf6 gxf6 22.Qxf6 Re1+ 23. Rxe1 Qxf6 24. Re8 is checkmate. He was calculating this line but he missed the final Re8. Nevertheless, his plan of lifting the Rook to g3 also posed serious problems for black. The last chance for black to defend was to harass the Rook with 20...Ne5 21.Rg3 Nh5, trading a couple of pieces in the process.

Kamsky didn't waste the second chance and fine tactical shot 21.Nxg7 shattered Morozevich's hopes. American champion pointed that it was important that 21...Bb6 doesn't work for black. The Russian soon resigned.

Svidler - Kasimdzhanov
This time Svidler started with 1.e4 but Kasimdzhanov was ready to repeat the Ruy Lopez Arkhangelsk variation which brought him success against Ponomariov in round 8. White refrained from the main 8.c3 and instead went for the pair of Bishops with 8.Nxe5. It is interesting that both players already had this line in practice - Svidler drew Caruana and Kasimdzhanov beat Salgado Lopez. White repeated the recent novelty 12.Qd3, but black came up with his own improvement in 14...Qe7. The players have shown some fascinating lines at the press conference, but nothing of those fireworks were actually seen in the game. After the constant exchanges of the pieces, the game fizzled out in a draw.

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Thessaloniki Chess Grand Prix 2013 Round 9: Kamsky, Dominguez in Joint Lead

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

Leinier Dominguez defeated Fabiano Caruana with black pieces to join Gata Kamsky in the shared first place with 6,5 points each. The American Chess Champion 2013 was held to a draw by Etienne Bacrot. Veselin Topalov scored against Alexander Morozevich who extended the losing row to three rounds. The other four games were drawn. Caruana is third with 5,5 points, while Grischuk is fourth with 5 points. Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Bacrot - Kamsky
The tournament leader started with the Chebanenko Slav but he quickly fianchettoed the dark-squared Bishop to reach his favourite pawn structure of Slav-Gruenfeld hybrid. Kamsky said he analysed this line for awhile, the conclusion being that white is slightly better but the position is playable.

Bacrot was unhappy about his play in the opening. He moved 11.Qc2 because he wanted to push e4, but then admitted that 11.Rd1 might have been better. Both players agreed that 15.Bd2 was too slow and that the most consistent was 15.a3. Bacrot added that 16...Re6 was very strong.

Black kept pressing on the weak isolated pawn but white was able to recapture on e7 and maintain the material balance. The resulting endgame was slightly better for black, however white succeeded in setting a theoretical draw and the game concluded shortly.

Kamsky revealed that he walked on the street and black cat crossed his road, so he decided to play solid. Bacrot joked that despite the cat black position was very good. On question about his own superstitions, Bacrot said - "Just in case I decided not to walk today."

Kasimdzhanov - Ivanchuk
Kasimdzhanov started with the Moscow variation in the Sicilian and Ivanchuk covered the check with his Bishop, deviating from 3...Nc6 which he played in round 4 against Topalov.

The play developed along the well known lines which have already be seen in many games. 17...Nc6 was regular, but black developed the Knight to a6 with idea to jump to c5.

Kasimdzhanov thought that long castle was a good move. He wanted to keep the Knights on the board, but he couldn't avoid the exchange because f2-pawn was hanging. He added that after 36.Re4 it became interesting because there were some chances for white. 38.Rh4 h5 39.Re4 might have been a better try as white can go with h3-h4 and continue to press.

When playing 45.Rxh7 Kasimdzhanov became excited because he thought he was winning, but "45...g5 was a great move that saves the game".

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Thessaloniki Chess Grand Prix 2013 Round 8: Gata Kamsky in Sole Lead

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

Gata Kamsky defeated his compatriot Hikaru Nakamura to score third consecutive victory and move into sole lead after round 8 of the Thessaloniki Grand Prix. Five games started with Ruy Lopez and only Nakamura defended with French.

Leinier Dominguez remains in contention for the first place after beating Alexander Morozevich in a fine positional style. He is now sharing the second place with Fabiano Caruana who held an inferior game against Alexander Grischuk.

Etienne Bacrot got his first tournament win in the match with Veselin Topalov. Peter Svidler and Rustam Kasimdzhanov were also successful to complete the fantastic round with five decisive games. Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Ivanchuk - Svidler
The game followed an earlier clash between Dominguez and Svidler, until Ivanchuk deviated by exchanging the Bishop on e7 and not the Knight on f6. Svidler joked that "...despite getting slaughtered in this line, I just keep playing it on and on. Probably I am too lazy to learn something else." Referring to the position around 17.b4, Svidler revealed that he has pages and pages of analysis on this position. He did review some of them before the round.

With 17...Rfe8 black is ready for c5-c4 and it is not clear what white can do. Ivanchuk thought for awhile and went for 18.f5. White played all in with 21.e5, giving an exchange but hoping to compensate with an attack on the black King. Svidler believes that preparatory 21.Re1 was better option (21.Qf3 not that good because of 21...Nd7 and next f6).

The Russian also expected 24.Qf3 where he would reply with 24...Qd5. After 25.Rxf1 he calculated all the long lines and saw that he will not get mated. With 28...Qg4 black started the final phase in the fight for a win. 35.Qf3 might have been more resilient but it was already difficult to save the game.

Kamsky - Nakamura
In the all-American derby Kamsky chose the quiet Tarrasch system and sidelined the complicated positions that would arise in the main lines of 3...Be7. Kamsky was surprised by 8...f6, but he quickly decided that the best plan was to take the Knight on h6 in order to prevent Nf7. The American champion suggested that 10...dxe5 might have been better, with probably only small advantage for white. Just as black was ready to castle short and reposition the pair of Bishops, white got the action going with 12.b4. It was also too late for long castle because 14...0-0-0 15.Rb1, and there is no time for sacrifice on f3 as b4-b5 is coming in fast.

Kamsky said that Nakamura probably blundered 16.Bg6+, after which white is winning. He finally converted the advantage on move 50. Remembering back to the first round when Grand Prix sponsor Ivan Savvidis made a ceremonial move for Kamsky, the American said - "It was nice, he told me something like 'now you cannot lose' and I felt obliged to try hard in the tournament".

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Thessaloniki Chess Grand Prix 2013 Round 7: Caruana, Kamsky Win Again, Share Lead

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

Fabiano Caruana and Gata Kamsky continued the winning streak to remain joint leaders after the 7th round of Thessaloniki Grand Prix 2013. Kamsky outplayed Rustam Kasimdzhanov with black pieces, while Caruana took advantage of Alexander Morozevich's blunder to keep up the pace. In one of the longer games of the day Hikaru Nakamura defeated Veselin Topalov.

Tournament sponsor Ivan Savvidis visited the playing hall and watched the games before heading to the football match of his club PAOK. Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Ivanchuk - Grischuk
Just as the Tournament Director Τheodoros Tsorbatzoglou was presenting FIDE Press Officer Anastasya Karlovich with a birthday cake, the game finished in a draw and the players entered the press room! 

Knowing that Grischuk is very well prepared for the openings with kingside fianchetto, Gruenfeld and King's Indian, Ivanchuk decided to go with a more reserved English opening. Black made an early excursion with the Queen, allowing white to repeat the moves and make a much needed break from the losing streak. Ivanchuk took the microphone and a river of words followed. He discussed the game emotionally and showed many interesting lines from an apparently quiet opening.

Ivanchuk also shared an interesting story about his opponent. Vassily said that the Russian is a difficult opponent because he is rarely accepting draws, even if he doesn't have better position or better time on the clock. Ivanchuk believes that this attitude brought Grischuk good results recently: "Maybe he is using some poker tricks that I am not familiar with :)"

Svidler - Ponomariov
Svidler remained consistent and opened with 1.d4 while Ponomariov replied with the Queen's Gambit Accepted. The Russian said he expected something else in the opening.

11.a3 took black by surprise and he spent almost one hour for the next move. Svidler believed that after 11.Be3 black is just comfortable and he wanted to give him a choice to possibly make a mistake.

11...Bd6 was a decent choice, but after spending so much time Ponomariov "wanted to play a simpler game". Svidler thought he could exercise some pressure after 15.b5, but black's 15...f5 is a very precise answer. Svidler mentioned that 18.b6!? would have been an interesting try, but "...as the tournament goes for me, it was best to keep things under control." The game soon fizzled out to a draw.

On the question about the time control in the tournament, Ponomariov said: "I think the discussions about which time control is better are pointless, it is like people have nothing better to do. I would prefer to have one, any time control, to be used throughout the whole WCC cycle, but without changing."

Kasimdzhanov - Kamsky
Gata Kamsky spent 7-8 minutes for the first move before opting for the Dutch defence. He took up this opening because he "wanted to play something interesting". The game was an interesting battle that you can replay with Chess King. 

Morozevich - Caruana
This was another English opening and white angled to set the reversed Hedgehog structure. Already after 8.b3 Caruana was unhappy with this opening and that is why he decided to exchange the light-squared Bishops. Morozevich might have felt black's discomfort as he immediately replied with aggressive-looking 11.h4. But Caruana kept his cool and calmly exchanged another pair of pieces to reduce the attacking potential. Black came up with a nice win which you can replay with Chess King.

Nakamura - Topalov
The game started with Naidorf Sicilian, which Hikaru Nakamura himself played earlier against Morozevich. But instead of the English Attack, this time white opted for the good old positional 6.Be2. White obtained the Bishops' pair and Topalov tried to restrict the light-squared piece with g6-h5 formation. This turned to be a bit too slow because white quickly summoned the pawns on e5 and c5. Replay the full game with Chess King.

On question about Thessaloniki, Nakamura said that he likes the city and that he enjoys the weather "which is better than in previous tournaments he played in." 

"It's great to see that many people are coming to the playing hall to follow the games," he added.

Bacrot - Dominguez
Leinier Dominguez repeated the Bogo Indian, which he successfully used against Kasimdzhanov in the 5th round, but Bacrot was prepared and answered with the principled 8.cxd5 heading for the Carlsbad pawn structure.

One of the advantages was that the Rook was on b1 (Kasimdzhanov had the Rook on d1), allowing white to organise a quick advance on the queenside.

Dominguez said that he wanted to repeat the solid line and be safe, but then he committed some mistakes and had to suffer for a long time.

Bacrot refused the repetition on two occasions, then conveniently exchanged the pieces and passed the time control with a better pawn structure.

The backward c6-pawn was a constant source or worry for black. White's advantage was moderate but lasting.

Bacrot kept on pressing for another 40 moves, but Dominguez finally escaped with a draw in the Knights endgame.

GM Papaioannou and FM Logothetis believed that white's best try was to play with three pawns versus lone Knight, as in 71.f5 Kg5 72.Kxg3 Kf6 73.Nxd5 Nxd5 74.e4 etc. It is still unclear however whether this would be sufficient for a win. (Report by Goran Urosevic/official website)

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Also see her personal blog at
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Thessaloniki Chess Grand Prix 2013 Round 6: Caruana, Kamsky, Dominguez in Joint Lead

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

Fabiano Caruana and Gata Kamsky won their games in the 6th round of Thessaloniki Grand Prix 2013 to join Leinier Dominguez in shared lead. Dominguez outplayed Hikaru Nakamura, but couldn't convert the winning position into the full point. Vassily Ivanchuk collapsed again and lost to Ruslan Ponomariov after only 19 moves and barely 75 minutes of play.

Ponomariov - Ivanchuk
Again the game of Vassily Ivanchuk finished quickly, as the legendary Ukrainian fell down to his compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov. Ponomariov kept his options open, with possibility to play on either of the flanks. Ivanchuk underestimated white's flexibility and carelessly castled long and lost. Replay the full game with Chess King. 

Ivanchuk apologised to Ponomariov - "I am sorry that I played this bad," and then resigned. Ponomariov said that after five draws in a row he wanted to play for a win. Yesterday he missed some chances against Grischuk and is happy that today he won so quickly.

On question about opponent's form, Ponomariov said that it would have been easier for Ivanchuk if this was a knockout event where - "...You lose and you go home, but here you have to stay until the end and suffer."

About the World Chess Championship match in Chennai, Ponomariov said, "Everyone is claiming that Carlsen is clear favorite to win the WCC match, but as you can see he also loses some games. Besides, the match is being held in India, so I don't think everything is so clear. Having been World Champion at the age of 18, I am always rooting for younger players, so I am Carlsen's fan in this match."

Caruana - Bacrot
The Italian Grandmaster refrained from Ruy Lopez and used the Scotch opening. He has pleasant memories about the system as he used it to defeat the great Vladimir Kramnik. Caruana said his preparation finished after 21.f3, where computer is giving advantage to white, and pointed that e5-e6 is a very dangerous threat. Eventually, Caruana ground down Black. Replay the full game with Chess King. 

Grischuk - Morozevich
The two Alexanders, who kept confusing our commentators used to mention the players by their first names, were involved in an interesting discussion of a Ruy Lopez sideline. Grischuk played the quiet 5.d3, and Morozevich answered with kingside fianchetto, carefully preparing the expansion with the pawns.

Black pieces started looming around the opponent's King, but the timely reaction in the center allowed white to weather the storm. Grischuk said that he played in a logical manner, he didn't see many alternatives, just kept going with the natural moves, bu Morozevich played creatively and kept posing challenges. The draw was recorded shortly after the time control.

Topalov - Kasimdzhanov
Another game with d3 in Ruy Lopez, only this time played on the 6th move. The setup was similar to Dominguez - Svidler, but Kasimdzhanov jumped his Knight to a5 instead of d4. He considered this to be a slight improvement. Topalov was satisfied after 12.b4 - "I like this structure. But sometimes this pawn can be a target for counterplay with a6-a5." He criticised 16.h3 and felt that is was unnecessary I saw something like he pushes d6-d5, I answer e4-e5, and his Knight jumps to g4. I am not sure if this was any good."

About the exchange 18.bxc5, Topalov said - "I was not afraid of advance c5-c4 because I always have this nice Bb4." 22.f4 might have been a little too ambitious as it allowed Kasimdzhanov to sacrifice a piece for two pawns and get the avalanche rolling. Rustam believed he was nearly winning after 24...Qxc2.

Apparently Topalov wasn't too concerned about the pawn mass, but later he admitted that he underestimated its potential. There was an interesting endgame with B+N+2P for white and R+4P for black. Kasimdzhanov was definitely pressing for a win, but with reduced material and accurate defence Topalov held a draw.

Kamsky - Svidler
As usual, Gata Kamsky avoided theoretical discussion and started calmly with the English opening. In reply, Svidler set the reversed Sicilian Dragon. The play developed slowly with lots of maneuvering, but as the time was passing by, white attained better pawn structure. Black decided not to wait too long and started operating on the kingside. However, the position opened to white's benefit. The game still remained very complicated and Kamsky was not sure by how much he was better until he played 42.Rh2. Already after the next move Svidler resigned. Replay the game with Chess King.

Dominguez - Nakamura
We are already used to have Hikaru Nakamura playing the longest game of the day and closing the press center with the final interview. He surprised tournament leader Leinier Dominguez with the Scandinavian defence. In any case, the Cuban couldn't really prepare for the last two rounds because his computer has broken down. According to Nakamura, 7.Bd3 was a clever way to take advantage of black's move order. He also considered 8...e6 to be a mistake and said that he planned 8...Qa6 (recently played by tournament commentator GM Papaioannou), but he can't explain why he forgot about it. 10.Qg3 reminded black that he will have serious trouble to get the King into castle. Nakamura suggested that he should have dug in with Be7 and if Bf4 to play Qc8, where he is clearly worse but he could play on - "After 14.Qxf6 black is simply lost".

Nevertheless, the American put up a stubborn defence. It looked like Dominguez was trying to always be on the safe side, but he said he just played a normal game. The players have agreed that 34.f5 was premature and that it was better to start with preparatory 34.Ke3 and then f5 on the next move. Dominguez confirmed that the resulting endgame was winning but difficult to convert.

Nakamura said he was preparing to resign, but he changed his mind when white traded the Rooks with 46.Rg4 "because then suddenly black has drawing chances." Both players promoted to Queens and the resulting endgame is worthy of teaching manuals. It looked like white should be winning, but the magical dance of black pieces saved the draw for Nakamura who defended brilliantly.

The players have suggested possible improvements for white - probably 60.Kg7 instead of 60.h5 should win because black king cannot move closer. Also 61.Kg5 was mentioned by Nakamura. (Report by Goran Urosevic/official website).

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
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Thessaloniki Chess Grand Prix 2013 Round 5: Dominguez Takes Lead

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

Leinier Dominguez continued the winning row in Thessaloniki Grand Prix as he defeated the former World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov with black pieces in the 5th round. After the third consecutive victory Dominguez is leading the race with 3,5 points. For some time it looked like Caruana and Morozevich will join in the shared lead, but they couldn't convert their games into full points. Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Ivanchuk - Kamsky
The game finished rather quickly, after only 30 minutes of play. Ivanchuk had a poor start, but Kamsky was cautious because the Ukrainian is very unpredictable and no one knows when he could shine. Thus black chose to be solid and defended with the Caro-Kan. Ivanchuk surprised him with a quiet line, that can be poisonous if black neglects the danger, but the American champion knew the way to equality.

Kamsky said he felt relief when he realised that Ivanchuk "might not kill him". He added that he was happy after 14.Bxf6 because he knew the game will be drawn. When asked if he knows why is Ivanchuk in bad form, Kamsky didn't want to speculate but he recollected an earlier tournament in Linares: "When I saw Ivanchuk beating Kasparov, I thought the guy will be the next World Champion."

Svidler - Topalov
The play started with the Queen's Gambit Declined and Svidler opted for the popular line with 5. Bf4. The position quickly sharpened up as black grabbed a pawn but white pushed his own all the way to c7. Topalov wanted to cover the c-file with Nc5, but he discarded the idea because he "would simply be a piece down".

Disappointed about the miscalculation, black decided to trade some pieces and retain two pawns for the exchange. After 23...Nf8 it looked like there could be some trouble on the back-rank (Topalov suggested 23...Bf8 as better option).

Svidler thought he would win after 26.Ne5, but he "didn't see that the Knight is coming out that fast". This changed his mood and he went to look how to make a draw. He said he was very worried about 30...Rc5+ and Topalov agreed that this might have been good attempt to keep the action going - "I don't even know why I didn't play it".

The position simplified as many pawns went off (It was very important to keep the h-pawn alive - Svidler) and the draw was signed after the repetition.

Topalov said at the press conference that he was mainly preparing for 1.e4. Svidler replied - "He did seem to know what I was aiming for, but that's just the general feeling you get when you play Topalov".

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Thessaloniki Chess Grand Prix 2013 Free Day Photo Feature

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

We left the 'chess story' in Greece after the fourth round at the Thessaloniki Chess Grand Prix 2013 when seven players were in joint lead! Sunday was the free day. Here are the photos by Fide press officer Anastasiya Karlovich. 

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

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Also see her personal blog at
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Don't miss Chess Queen™
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Thessaloniki Chess Grand Prix 2013 Round 4: Seven Players in Joint Lead

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

Veselin Topalov and Leinier Dominguez won their games in the 4th round of the Thessaloniki Grand Prix to catch the other five players in the shared lead. The remaining games were drawn, but not without fight. Morozevich and Nakamura played the spectacular game in Naidorf Sicilian. Caruana pressed for a long time but Kasimdzhanov was able to hold on to a draw. Kamsky and Ponomariov had a fairly even position until the American made a mistake. However, the winning sequence was visible only to the computer eyes and the game ended in a draw. Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated at the official website.

Topalov - Ivanchuk
The game started as a Rosolimo Sicilian, which is nowadays a popular way to avoid the deeply explored Sveshnikov. Topalov said that Ivanchuk obviously prepared 8...Bh5, the main move being 8...Bf3. 9.g4 was supposed to be better for white, according to GM Ioannis Papaioannou, but he quickly added "of course Topalov knows better". The Bulgarian spent a lot of time in the opening, but it looks like he found a good way to put the black setup to test.

White was slightly better until Ivanchuk decided not to recapture the pawn on e6. Immediately on the next move Topalov pushed e6-e7 and locked the black King in the center. Black's position collapsed and he resigned a couple of moves later. Replay the full game with Chess King.

Morozevich - Nakamura
Namakura started with the Sheveningen Sicilian, but the play quickly transposed to the reputable English Attack. The American obviously didn't mind this setup, but he probably wanted to avoid 6.Bg5 in Naidorf Sicilian, which is again springing to popularity. Morozevich deviated from the main theory as early as on move ten, pushing the pawn to a3. This indeed slows black's counterplay for awhile, but it can also turn to be a convenient target for b5-b4 later on. A sharp battle, typical for the opening, ensued and soon Morozevich offered a Knight sacrifice on b5. Nakamura delayed the capture until his Queen moved to a more active place.

Black King was stuck in the center and white gave up the Queen for R+B to keep the attack going. Nakamura, however, quickly found a way to take the game to draw with perpetual check.

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Thessaloniki Chess Grand Prix 2013 Round 3: Exciting Games all Around

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone,

Cuban Grandmaster Leinier Dominguez improved his ranking after defeating Vassily Ivanchuk in the third round of the Thessaloniki Grand Prix. Ivanchuk lost on time failing to execute the last 40th move. Dominguez was ready to repeat the moves but there was no time to claim a draw. The remaining games were drawn and five players continue to share the lead.

Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Rank after round 3
1 2 GM Kamsky Gata 2741 USA 2
2 9 GM Morozevich Alexander 2760 RUS 2 

3 12 GM Grischuk Alexander 2779 RUS 2
4 10 GM Caruana Fabiano 2774 ITA 2
5 6 GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2699 UZB 2 

6 5 GM Svidler Peter 2769 RUS 1½
7 11 GM Dominguez Perez Leinier 2723 CUB 1½
8 1 GM Topalov Veselin 2793 BUL 1½
9 3 GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2742 UKR 1½
10 8 GM Bacrot Etienne 2725 FRA 1
11 4 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2755 UKR ½
12 7 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2775 USA ½

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Thessaloniki Chess Grand Prix 2013 Round 2: More Decisive Games, Five Players in the Lead

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone, 

The second round of the FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Thessaloniki produced more decisive results and now we have as many as five players sharing the lead with 1,5 points each. Alexander Morozevich, Fabiano Caruana and Alexander Grischuk took advantage of the white pieces and signed important victories. The other three games were drawn.

Hikaru Nakamura, arriving directly from Norway Chess tournament, has a difficult start with two losses in two consecutive games with black pieces. The Grand Prix tournament is attracting huge attention in Thessaloniki, the chess capital of Greece. Even on the working days, around 100 people join the commentator GM Ioannis Papaioannou in the Salonika bar of Makedonia Palace.

In addition, GM Stelios Halkias and FM Sotiris Logothetis are providing live English commentary for the official website. Guests are commonly joining in to share their thoughts on the games. Today we had an honour to welcome the reigning Greek champion Antonios Pavlidis in the commentary room.

Nelly Serefidou, reigning Greek U18 Girls champion, and Elisavet Papathanasiou, two-times Greek U18 Girls champion, also analysed with the commentators.

Leinier Dominguez - Ruslan Ponomariov 1/2-1/2
Ponomariov aimed to play the popular Marshall Attack in the Ruy Lopez, but Dominguez deviated with the quiet 8.h3 and 9.d3. Black prepared the d5-push and comfortably equalised. White released the tension on the a-file and exchanged a couple of pieces. Immediately after that the players silently agreed to a draw with the three-fold repetition. Dominguez said that he was surprised by the black's opening choice and decided to play solid. Ponomariov based his preparation on the game that Leinier played with white against Kasimdzhanov in Tashkent. He also analysed some games from the recent European Championship in Poland.

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Thessaloniki Chess Grand Prix 2013 Round 1: Svidler, Kamsky, Kasimdzhanov Win

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone,

The first round of the fourth stage of FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Thessaloniki got under way on 22nd May, with the Greek-Russian businessman Ivan Savvidis, main sponsor of the event, making the first symbolic move in the game Kamsky - Dominguez.

After playing 1.e2-e4, Savvidis told Kamsky "now you have no right to lose this game". The American champion lived up to the expectations and went on to defeat Leinier Dominguez.

To complete the fortunate day for Mr Savvidis, his club PAOK Saloniki also beat Asteras Tripolis 2-1 in the Greek Football Super-Liga play-off. Peter Svidler and Rustam Kasimdzhanov also started with victories, while the other three games ended in draws. Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Ponomariov - Caruana 1/2-1/2
The first game to finish was the match between Ruslan Ponomariov and Fabiano Caruana. The players opened with Ruy Lopez and Caruana pointed that 9...Na5 was in important move to hold the setup. Ponomariov noted that none of the pieces or pawns were exchanged before move 16. Caruana then released tension in center and moved his Knight to f4 because there was no other way to defend the e5-pawn. Within the next dozen of moves a large number of pieces were exchanged. After the Queens also went off, a draw was signed according to Sofia rules.

Ponomariov was happy with the result as "it is important to properly adjust to the new setting, and the new tournament." He also added that he is playing similar setups with black, he is familiar with many opening ideas, and that is why he took some time to find the most appropriate plan. He played all the logical moves, but black also played well and the draw is a fair result.

Caruana reminded that most of the players competing in Thessaloniki also played last month in Zug Grand Prix and that he has the feeling "of playing the same tournament again".

Ponomariov finally said that he is happy that the tournament is receiving a lot of attention from media and local chess fans.

Svidler - Bacrot 1-0
Peter Svidler was the first to score a victory in Thessaloniki. His game with Etienne Bacrot started as Semi-Tarrasch and for awhile it looked like black is doing fine. But later he started to err and Svidler used the opportunity to invade the seventh rank with the rooks. Replay the full game with Chess King.

Svidler feels greater pressure in Thessaloniki than he had in Norway Chess tournament because this event is a part of the World Championship cycle. He's been playing continuously in many tournaments, but after the Thessaloniki Grand Prix he will probably take a break until the World Cup in Tromso. He added that he might do live commentary for the Tal Chess Memorial.

Bacrot said he had some time to work on the openings, but he still didn't get into the proper competitive shape. He hopes to play better as the tournament progresses.

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