The Week in Chess

Leinier Dominguez Perez continued his fantastic form by defeating Fabiano Caruana with black in a Najdorf Sicilian in the FIDE Grand Prix in Thessaloniki. Queens were swapped off on move 16 and the resulting position seemed very comfortable for Dominguez, on move 29 he gave up the exchange for a long lasting initiative and put Caruana under pressure, 52.a5? gave more ground and 56.Rd7+ lost. Dominguez thus caught Gata Kamsky on 6.5/9.

Kamsky had a comfortable draw with black against Etienne Bacrot with the Chebanenko/Schlechter Slav he specialises in. Bacrot thought he should be better out of the opening but gradually realised he wasn't in time to trade down to a draw.

Veselin Topalov and Alexander Morozevich were on a run of losses and it was Topalov who emerged the winner after choosing a variation against the Caro-Kann that didn't impress. 20.a4 was risky and 23.Nd2 (23.Nc5! although even when pointed out Topalov wasn't convinced) was almost the last error. Morozevich fought on but Topalov managed to remain in control for the full point.

Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk had almost diametrically opposed opinion of their game in a Benoni. Svidler thought he was doing OK and was looking for chances before things became a bit difficult and his opponent let him back in the game. Grischuk thought he so outplayed Svidler in the opening he wouldn't even like to joke about it. Personally I think white's structure always looked ropey but it was space and that was their battleground. I would rather have been black and I guess I'm not alone.

Kasimdzhanov eventually got a small advantage in an ending against Ivanchuk but it didn't amount to quite enough for a win after good defence.

Hikaru Nakamura surprised Ruslan Ponomariov with a Veresov which the latter hadn't really studied at all. Ponomariov thought that he relaxed after getting a reasonable opening and Nakamura was a bit better for a while. Things then became very complicated but likely as not the position remained equal and eventually drawn.

Round 9 Standings: Kamsky, Dominguez 6.5/9, Caruana 5.5pts, Grischuk 5pts, Ponomariov, Kasimdzhanov, Topalov 4.5pts, Bacrot, Svidler 4pts, Nakamura, Morozevich 3.5pts, Ivanchuk 2pts.

Round 10 Pairings: Grischuk-Dominguez, Topalov-Caruana, Kamsky-Morozevich, Ponomariov-Bacrot, Ivanchuk-Nakamura, Svidler-Kasimdzhanov.