Mamedyarov leads London Grand Prix alone with two rounds to go

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FIDE Grand Prix London 2012 (9)

Mamedyarov leads London Grand Prix alone with two rounds to go

Mark Crowther - Tuesday 2nd October 2012

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov takes the lead alone. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov takes the lead alone. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill. | http://raymorris-hill.smugmug.com

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov took the lead of the FIDE London Grand Prix with a score of 6/9 after he ground down Leinier Dominguez Perez and Boris Gelfand went down to defeat by Alexander Grischuk. Veselin Topalov is half a point off the lead after beating Vassily Ivanchuk. Hikaru Nakamura lost yet again after being defeated by Michael Adams. Two rounds to go. Mamedyarov 6, Grischuk, Topalov and Gelfand 5.5.

Mamedyarov beat Dominguez. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill: http://raymorris-hill.smugmug.com.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov took the lead after grinding out a win against Leinier Dominguez Perez. The players reached an ending with 4 pawns each on the kingside. At first glance it looked like Dominguez should draw the position but it quickly became thoroughly unpleasant and Mamedyarov won handily.

Leinier Dominguez Perez

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

Position after 43.Bc3

43.... e5 44. Ke2 Ne6 45. Kd3 Nb6 46. Bxe5 Nd7 47. Bc3 g5 48. Kc4 Ndf8 49. Kd5 Ng6 50. Kd6 Kf8 51. Bb4 Kg8 52. Bd5 Nef4 53. Kd7 Nh5 54. Be7 Ne5+ 55. Ke8 g4 56. Bd8 Nf4 57. Bc7 Nfd3 58. Bxe5 Nxe5 59. Ba2 h5 60. Bd5 h4 61. Ba2 h3 62. Bd5 Kh8 63. Bxf7 g3 64. fxg3 Ng4 65. Ke7 1-0

Ivanchuk was beaten by Topalov. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill: http://raymorris-hill.smugmug.com.

Veselin Topalov beat Vassily Ivanchuk to move to within half a point of the lead with two rounds to go. Ivanchuk played a slightly inaccurate 40th move and collapsed pretty quickly afterwards.

Veselin Topalov

Vassily Ivanchuk

Position after 39...Be7

40. Kd3?!

40. exf5+

40... f4 41. Be1 fxg3 42. Bxg3 Nc5+ 43. Nxc5+ Bxc5 44. Be1 a6 45. Ke2 Be7 46. f4?

This seems very bad.

46...exf4 47. Kf3 Bd6 48. Ba5 Kd7 49. Bd2 Bc7 50. Bc3 Ke6 51. Bh8??

Dreadful and ending the game immediately.

51...Be5 52. Bxe5 Kxe5 0-1

Adams beat Nakamura. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill: http://raymorris-hill.smugmug.com.

There is now a kind of gruesome fascination as to how bad this tournament can get for Hikaru Nakamura who lost yet again this time to Michael Adams. He played a Caro-Kann and he gradually fell into a bad position until 26...Rb8? dropped the entire game. I rather suspect 22...Bxe5 was the start of his problems.

Hikaru Nakamura

Michael Adams

Position after 22.Bc3

22... Bxe5?! 23. fxe5 Nh7 24. b3 Ra6 25. Rd7 Ng5 26. Rhd1 Rb8??

I'm not saying there is a good move for black here but this loses very quickly.

27. Rd8+ Rxd8 28. Rxd8+ Kh7 29. Qc2+ g6 30. Rd7 Kg8 31. hxg6 Kg7 32. gxf7 Nxf7 33. Qe2 Kg8 34. Qf3 Qf8 35. Rxb7 Qg7 36. Kb2 1-0

Alexander Grischuk inflicted the first defeat on world championship challenger Boris Gelfand in Round 9. Gelfand was surely fine at one point. Most probably he should have just castled on move 22 and saved the ending after that a pawn down. Instead Grischuk's bishop sacrifice was decisive.

Boris Gelfand

Alexander Grischuk

Position after 18...c4

19. bxc4 bxc4 20. Bxf6 Bxe4 21.Rxe4 Bxf6 22. Bxc4 Qxd2?

22... O-O

23. Bxe6 fxe6 24. Rxe6+ Kd7 25. Qg4 Kc7 26. Qc4+ Kd7 27. Qa4+ Kd8 28. Qxa6 Kd7 29. Qb5+ Kd8 30. Re8+ 1-0

Wang Hao and Peter Leko drew a Nimzo-Indian which wasn't without interest but never seemed to depart from being equal.

Anish Giri and Rustam Kasimdzhanov drew a manoeuvring Slav Defence which seemed to be level throughout.

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.	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2729	*	0	½	½	.	.	1	1	½	½	1	1	6	2864
2.	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2754	1	*	½	1	½	½	½	.	½	½	½	.	5½	2818
3.	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2752	½	½	*	½	½	½	.	½	1	.	1	½	5½	2820
4.	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2738	½	0	½	*	.	1	½	.	½	1	½	1	5½	2825
5.	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2737	.	½	½	.	*	½	½	½	1	½	½	½	5	2783
6.	Wang, Hao	g	CHN	2742	.	½	½	0	½	*	½	½	.	½	½	1	4½	2736
7.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2730	0	½	.	½	½	½	*	½	½	½	½	.	4	2690
8.	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	g	UZB	2684	0	.	½	.	½	½	½	*	½	1	½	0	4	2700
9.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2769	½	½	0	½	0	.	½	½	*	½	.	1	4	2693
10.	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2722	½	½	.	0	½	½	½	0	½	*	.	1	4	2697
11.	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	g	CUB	2725	0	½	0	½	½	½	½	½	.	.	*	½	3½	2658
12.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2783	0	.	½	0	½	0	.	1	0	0	½	*	2½	2567

Round 9 (October 1, 2012)
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	- Dominguez Perez, Leinier	1-0	65	E11	Bogo Indian Defence
Grischuk, Alexander	- Gelfand, Boris	1-0	30	B23	Sicilian Closed
Wang, Hao	- Leko, Peter	½-½	52	E53	Nimzo Indian
Giri, Anish	- Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	½-½	78	D12	Slav Defence
Ivanchuk, Vassily	- Topalov, Veselin	0-1	52	A07	Barcza System
Adams, Michael	- Nakamura, Hikaru	1-0	36	B19	Caro Kann

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