The Week in Chess

The second round of the FIDE Grand Prix in Thessaloniki provided three more decisive games and ended with Alexander Morozevich, Fabiano Caruana, Gata Kamsky, Alexander Grischuk and Rustam Kasimdzhanov tied for first on 1.5/2.

The first game to finish was a rather shocking defeat for Peter Svidler in only 22 moves of a Four Knights Rubinstein variation by Alexander Morozevich. Morozevich's preparation for the game didn't go well and he found 13.b4!? over the board, this move sharpened the struggle. In a double edged position Svidler then miscalculated with 16...e4 (17... Rxc6 18. Nbxd5! was his miscalculation although that doesn't look all that convincing even without this) and rather than just be two pawns down Svidler played the immediately losing 18...Nh4?

Fabiano Caruana outplayed Vassily Ivanchuk in a Modern Steinitz Ruy Lopez. Caruana played a very interesting exchange sacrifice which left him with a big bind. He brought home the full point in 55 moves although in truth Ivanchuk didn't put up much resistance in the end.

Hikaru Nakamura went dead last after losing to Alexander Grischuk in the final game to finish. Nakamura thought he should only be slightly worse but Grischuk got more than that. 70.Bf8? was a strange error, Nakamura apparently thought it was some kind of repetition, and then his defensive task became close to impossible from the 50/50 drawing chances Grischuk thought he had at that point.

The remaining games were drawn. Gata Kamsky seeemed very content to draw with black calling all the variations drawish in the press conference but I suspect he had very significant winning chances against Veselin Topalov who has recently been picking up points in a rather unconvincing manner, not that he ever seems all that impressed with his own play either, Topalov has higher standards for himself. The way the game went Kamsky had pressure but not more. Etienne Bacrot and Rustam Kasimdzhanov was yet another topical outing of the 8.Rb1 against the Gruenfeld. Apparently both players are a bit puzzled at the popularity as nothing has happened to change the theoretical verdict of drawish. Leinier Dominguez Perez and Ruslan Ponomariov drew quickly in a Ruy Lopez Closed.

Round 2 Standings: Morozevich, Caruana, Kamsky, Grischuk, Kasimdzhanov 1,5pts, Topalov, Ponomariov, Svidler, 1pt, Bacrot, Ivanchuk, Dominguez 0.5pts, Nakamura 0.

Round 3 Pairings: Kamsky-Grischuk, Ponomariov-Topalov, Ivanchuk-Dominguez, Svidler-Caruana, Kasimdzhanov-Morozevich, Nakamura-Etienne.