Author Archives: Yelena Dembo

Grand Prix – Zug 2013 3rd round

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Leko-Nakamura
(Photo taken from the official site)

All games ended in a draw! Ponomariov, Morozevich and Topalov lead the tournament with 2 points.

Round 3 on 2013/04/20 at 14:00

GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2766 ½ – ½ GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2709
GM Caruana Fabiano 2772 ½ – ½ GM Morozevich Alexander 2758
GM Karjakin Sergey 2786 ½ – ½ GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2733
GM Giri Anish 2727 ½ – ½ GM Radjabov Teimour 2793
GM Leko Peter 2744 ½ – ½ GM Nakamura Hikaru 2767
GM Kamsky Gata 2741 ½ – ½ GM Topalov Veselin 2771

Caruana-Morozevich was a quiet Spanish where Black managed to equalize by pushing c7-c6 and exchanges lots of pieces.

Mamedyarov-Kasimdzhanov was a Queen’s Gambit Declined. Black decided to allow exchanges in the center and got an isolated pawn in the opening instead of the usual 9…exd5. Still he controlled the center well and had a half open b-file to play on for it. After exchanging the minor pieces and the appearance of a Q and R middlegame the game became equal.

Karjakin-Ponomariov was a relatively rare line of the Scotch game which was played by many GMs including Carlsen with white. 12.Rhe1 was a novelty instead of Movsesian’s 12.Nd4 played last year. After many pieces came off the board white had a slight advantage in space and better pieces but didn’t manage to transform it into something larger.

Giri-Radjabov was a Catalan where white played the rare 12.a3 instead of the usual 12.Qc2 or 12.Bf4. Perhaps White should have gone for a pawn sacrifice 16.Nc5 but instead decided to repeat the position.

Leko-Nakamura was another “Poisoned Pawn” line but of the French :), with Nakamura playing it before at least twice (against Anand and Karjakin). Known theory ended on move 19 of Black as Nakamura made a novelty 19…Ba3 instead of the usual 19…Rc8. Looks like White was better in the middlegame and perhaps instead of exchange the dark square Bishops it was better to play 30.Qe3 securing a nice advantage.

Kamsky-Topalov was a rare line of the Moscow variation with 4.c3 (usual moves being 4.d4 and 4.0-0). Black got a solid position out of the opening and later initiative with the help of exd4 and knight maneuver Nd7-f8-e6. 26…Rxc3 was definitely an interesting exchange sacrifice but since White didn’t prevent it, it was still good on the next move. After that Black got a much better position and could have sealed it with 34…Qe5 going for the light squares on the kingside which got weakned by …g3.

Pairings of the 4th round

GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2709 – GM Topalov Veselin 2771
GM Nakamura Hikaru 2767 – GM Kamsky Gata 2741
GM Radjabov Teimour 2793 – GM Leko Peter 2744
GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2733 – GM Giri Anish 2727
GM Morozevich Alexander 2758 – GM Karjakin Sergey 2786
GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2766 – GM Caruana Fabiano 2772

Official Site.

The 13th Bangkok Chess Club Open 2013 – 8th round

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Zong-yuan_zhao

GM Zhao from Australia became the leader of the tournament (7 points) after winning against GM Short in round 8. Four players – IM Wan and GMs Gustafsson, Hansen and Schebler are on 6.5

Top 10 board results of round 8 (view all here)

1 GM Schebler Gerhard 2445 6 ½ – ½ 6 GM Hansen Sune Berg 2561
2 GM Short Nigel D 2697 5½ 0 – 1 6 GM Zhao Zong-Yuan 2537
3 GM Gustafsson Jan 2621 5½ 1 – 0 5½ GM Horvath Adam 2509
4 IM Wang Chen 2485 5½ ½ – ½ 5½ GM Koneru Humpy 2597
5 IM Wan Yunguo 2494 5½ 1 – 0 5½ GM Lu Shanglei 2562
6 GM Megaranto Susanto 2541 5½ ½ – ½ 5½ IM Saptarshi Roy 2426
7 GM Laylo Darwin 2491 5½ ½ – ½ 5½ GM Antonio Rogelio Jr 2527
8 WGM Bulmaga Irina 2389 5 0 – 1 5 GM Vajda Levente 2632
9 GM Barbosa Oliver 2563 5 1 – 0 5 FM Menkinoski Riste 2370
10 IM Mas Hafizulhelmi 2341 5 ½ – ½ 5 GM Paragua Mark 2557

Top 10 players after 8th rounds with ELO gain/loss (view full standings here)

1 GM Zhao Zong-Yuan AUS 2537 2537 7.0 2749 19.1
2 IM Wan Yunguo CHN 2494 2494 6.5 2619 13.9
3 GM Gustafsson Jan GER 2621 2621 6.5 2662 5.9
4 GM Hansen Sune Berg DEN 2561 2561 6.5 2638 8.7
5 GM Schebler Gerhard GER 2445 2445 6.5 2496 8.9
6 IM Saptarshi Roy IND 2426 2426 6.0 2645 23.8
7 IM Wang Chen CHN 2485 2485 6.0 2582 12.6
8 GM Koneru Humpy IND 2597 2597 6.0 2582 0.9
9 GM Antonio Rogelio Jr PHI 2527 2527 6.0 2631 12.8
10 GM Laylo Darwin PHI 2491 2491 6.0 2544 7.2

Some games from recent rounds (you can download games from rounds 1 to 8 here)

Pairings of the 9th round (view all of them here)

1 GM Zhao Zong-Yuan 2537 7 6½ IM Wan Yunguo 2494
2 GM Hansen Sune Berg 2561 6½ 6½ GM Gustafsson Jan 2621
3 GM Vajda Levente 2632 6 6½ GM Schebler Gerhard 2445
4 GM Koneru Humpy 2597 6 6 GM Venkatesh M.R. 2508
5 IM Saptarshi Roy 2426 6 6 GM Barbosa Oliver 2563
6 GM Laylo Darwin 2491 6 6 GM Megaranto Susanto 2541
7 GM Antonio Rogelio Jr 2527 6 6 IM Wang Chen 2485
8 GM Short Nigel D 2697 5½ 6 GM Czebe Attila 2479
9 GM Lu Shanglei 2562 5½ 5½ Nouri Hamed 2356
10 GM Paragua Mark 2557 5½ 5½ WGM Kulkarni Bhakti 2231

Official Site.

Grand Prix – Zug 2013 2nd round

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GP Zug, 2nd round
(Photo taken from the official site)

There were many fighting games yesterday and even draws (maybe except Morozevich-Mamedyarov) were not short at all. Topalov, Ponomariov and Morozevich lead the vent with 1.5 out of 2.

Results of 2nd round

GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2709 1 – 0 GM Kamsky Gata 2741
GM Topalov Veselin 2771 1 – 0 GM Leko Peter 2744
GM Nakamura Hikaru 2767 ½ – ½ GM Giri Anish 2727
GM Radjabov Teimour 2793 ½ – ½ GM Karjakin Sergey 2786
GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2733 1 – 0 GM Caruana Fabiano 2772
GM Morozevich Alexander 2758 ½ – ½ GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2766

Kasimdzhanov-Kamsky was a Tarrasch French where Black got his fair share of counterplay but White tried to create an attack on the kingside. 14.Qe3 was a novelty. After the position opened up in the center, Black had the possibility to repeat the moves but since the position was very interesting, he didn’t.

Round 3 on 2013/04/20 at 14:00

GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2766 – GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2709
GM Caruana Fabiano 2772 – GM Morozevich Alexander 2758
GM Karjakin Sergey 2786 – GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2733
GM Giri Anish 2727 – GM Radjabov Teimour 2793
GM Leko Peter 2744 – GM Nakamura Hikaru 2767
GM Kamsky Gata 2741 – GM Topalov Veselin 2771

Official Site.