The Week in Chess

After two rounds of all draws there was something of a bloodbath in Round 5 of the FIDE Grand Prix in Zug, Switzerland. Wins for Veselin Topalov over Hikaru Nakamura and Alexander Morozevich over Anish Giri left them a point clear of the field on 3.5/5.

Sergey Karjakin caught out Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in a Caro-Kann with a powerful piece sacrifice 16.Nxh6+ when apparently 18...Kg7 was the best defence. Instead Karjakin brought home the point easily. The sacrifice is apparently known in GM circles as Leko expressed his disappointment in not getting to play it having prepared it three years ago.

Peter Leko switched to 1.d4 was surprised by the Bogo-Indian and quickly allowed Ruslan Ponomariov to equalise.

Teimour Radjabov seems there for the taking as he tore apart his own defensive attempts against a monosyllabic Gata Kamsky in the press conference. Kamsky eventually won the game in a rook ending.

Anish Giri didn't really liked his position against Alexander Morozevich almost from the opening and this seems to be the right assessment but it did lead to some feeble play well into the game. Giri suggested 18...Nb6 seems strong (Morozevich wasn't sure his knight belonged on c4 but Giri seems to be right). Giri never really settled and he got further into trouble on the run up to the first time control when he played the losing 40.Rd1? (40.fxg4) after which there was no chance.

Veselin Topalov defeated Hikaru Nakamura in a Steinitz Ruy Lopez where there were plenty of interesting tactical ideas as you would expect between such players. They had a friendly and interesting post-mortem at the press conference, Nakamura made a few inaccuracies which meant holding was difficult but as late as 33...Nef5 Nakamura had good saving chances. After 33...Ngf5 34.h5! Topalov was close to winning and did so after 72 moves.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov gave up a Queen for Rook and Bishop for a defensive fortress against Fabiano Caruana. Both players thought this should hold but Kasimdzhanov eventually went wrong in his thankless defensive task and lost.

Round 5 Standings: Morozevich, Topalov 3.5, Caruana, Ponomariov, Karjakin 3, Kamsky 2.5, Kasimdzhanov, Mamedyarov, Giri, Nakamura, Leko 2, Radjabov 1.5.

Round 6 24th Apr 2013: Kasimdzhanov-Nakamura, Radjabov-Topalov, Ponomariov-Kamsky, Morozevich-Leko, Mamedyarov-Giri, Caruana-Karjakin.