Leko catches Gelfand to lead on 1.5 after 2 rounds of London Grand Prix

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FIDE Grand Prix London 2012 (2)

Leko catches Gelfand to lead on 1.5 after 2 rounds of London Grand Prix

Mark Crowther - Saturday 22nd September 2012

Hikaru Nakamura recovered to reach 50% with a lengthy second round win settled only in the last few minutes. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill.

Hikaru Nakamura recovered to reach 50% with a lengthy second round win settled only in the last few minutes. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill. | http://raymorris-hill.smugmug.com

Peter Leko defeated Vassily Ivanchuk in a French Defence to catch Boris Gelfand (who drew) on 1.5 after two rounds of the London Grand Prix. Ivanchuk's passive opening choice made life relatively simple for Leko. Hikaru Nakamura got back to 50% with a lengthy win against Rustam Kasimdzhanov who went wrong on the run up to second time control. The remaining games were drawn.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov against Hikaru Nakamura. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill: http://raymorris-hill.smugmug.com.

Hikaru Nakamura defeated Rustam Kasimdzhanov after a complex and balanced struggle in the King's Indian. The players followed Nakamura's win against Giri for 18 moves before 18...bxc5 varied. The position remained complex to the last until Kasimdzhanov started to go wrong before second time control and then finally blundered into mate.

Hikaru Nakamura

Rustam Kasimdzhanov

Position after 56.Nhg5

57. a4?!

(57. Kc1 Rf6 58. Ba5 Rc6+ 59. Kb1 Kf6 60. Rf8+ Ke7 61. Bb4+ Nd6 62. Rf5 Ngf7 63. Rf1)

57... Rf6 58. Rd7+?! Kg6 59. a5? Rc6! 60. Bd3?! Rd2+ and mate follows 0-1

Peter Leko against Vassily Ivanchuk. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill: http://raymorris-hill.smugmug.com.

Peter Leko beat Vassily Ivanchuk in 42 moves of a French Defence. Ivanchuk's opening seemed to be at fault as he was left with a passive position with not much counter-play and eventually was ground down.

Michael Adams drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in 49 moves of a lively Caro-Kann. Mamedyarov sacrificed a whole rook to expose Adams King and this eventually proved enough to hold the balance.

Anish Giri's quiet treatment of the white side of a Slav against Wang Hao led to nothing and they repeated to draw in 30 moves.

Alexander Grischuk drew a lively Gruenfeld against Lenier Dominguez Perez in 74 moves but it seems that it didn't stray very far from balanced throughout.

Vesselin Topalov followed a game between his opponent Boris Gelfand and Vladimir Kramnik in the Queen's Gambit with Bf4 for some time and they traded down to a totally equal rook and pawn ending.

1st FIDE GP London (ENG), 21 ix-3 x 2012															cat. XX (2739)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2
1.	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2738	*	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	1½	2960
2.	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2737	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	1	1½	2919
3.	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2752	½	.	*	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	2746
4.	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2754	.	.	½	*	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	1	2738
5.	Wang, Hao	g	CHN	2742	.	.	.	.	*	½	.	½	.	.	.	.	1	2726
6.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2730	.	.	.	.	½	*	½	.	.	.	.	.	1	2733
7.	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	g	CUB	2725	.	.	.	½	.	½	*	.	.	.	.	.	1	2742
8.	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2722	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	*	½	.	.	.	1	2735
9.	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2729	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	*	.	.	½	1	2745
10.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2783	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	1	.	1	2711
11.	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	g	UZB	2684	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	0	*	.	½	2567
12.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2769	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	*	½	2540

Round 2 (September 22, 2012)
Gelfand, Boris	- Topalov, Veselin	½-½	36	D37	QGD 5.Bf4
Leko, Peter	- Ivanchuk, Vassily	1-0	42	C11	French Defence
Grischuk, Alexander	- Dominguez Perez, Leinier	½-½	74	A30	English Symmetrical
Giri, Anish	- Wang, Hao	½-½	30	D10	Slav Defence
Adams, Michael	- Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	½-½	49	B18	Caro Kann
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	- Nakamura, Hikaru	0-1	60	E98	King's Indian Classical

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