Topalov still leads in Zug, Caruana moves 2nd after 9 rounds

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FIDE Grand Prix Zug 2013 (9)

Topalov still leads in Zug, Caruana moves 2nd after 9 rounds

Mark Crowther - Monday 29th April 2013

It's always hard to tell what's going on with Morozevich. Here he was winning but lost to Nakamura. Photo © Anastasiya Karlovich

It's always hard to tell what's going on with Morozevich. Here he was winning but lost to Nakamura. Photo © Anastasiya Karlovich | http://zug2013.fide.com

The FIDE Grand Prix in Zug resumed with Round 9 on Sunday. There were three decisive games including a third loss in a row for Morozevich who is claiming some unspecified illness. Veselin Topalov retains the lead now by half a point from Fabiano Caruana, they have yet to meet. Ponomariov, Karjakin and Nakamura are a further half point back.

Fabiano Caruana beat Gata Kamsky in a rather strange Ruy Lopez where white gradually lost the initiative and eventually allowed a mating attack along the a and h files.

Teimour Radjabov beat Ruslan Ponomariov after his opponent blundered with 40...Bxf4. This was a first win for Radjabov in 20 games. He admitted he was lucky.

Veselin Topalov drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in a difficult tactical Caro-Kann and he leads the tournament alone.

Anish Giri was completely busted against Rustam Kasimdzhanov but created some practical chances. 25.Rc1? was an error for Giri and 32...e6 won for Kasimdzhanov . There was a half hour video of their press conference about this complicated game.

Hikaru Nakamura beat Alexander Morozevich in a game that was "terrible frankly according to Nakamura where he was losing for a long time but at the end Morozevich blundered it away. Morozevich claimed he couldn't play as he was sick without specifying what, was wrong, he didn't look all that sick.

Peter Leko got a comfortable advantage in the Queen's Indian against Sergey Karjakin but it seemed that advantage disappeared after first time control and the game was drawn.

Round 9 Standings: Topalov 6pts, Caruana 5.5pts, Ponomariov, Karjakin, Nakamura 5pts, Giri, Radjabov, Leko, Mamedyarov, Kamsky, Morozevich 4pts, Kasimdzhanov 3.5pts.

Round 10 pairings: Kasimdzhanov-Ponomariov, Morozevich-Radjabov, Mamedyarov-Nakamura, Caruana-Topalov, Karjakin-Kamsky, Giri-Leko.

Kamsky,Gata (2741) - Caruana,Fabiano (2772) [C84]
Renova FIDE GP Zug Zug SUI (9.3), 28.04.2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Be3 0-0 10.axb5

[10.h3 Na5 11.Ba2 bxa4 12.Nc3 Rb8 13.Qc1 Qc8 14.Kh2 Qb7 15.Bb1 Qxb2 16.Qxb2 Rxb2 17.Nxa4 Rbb8 18.Nc3 Nc6 19.Rxa6 Ra8 20.Rxa8 Rxa8 21.Ba2 Nb4 22.Bb3 Be6 23.Bxe6 fxe6 24.Rc1 Nd7 25.Ne1 c5 26.Nb5 Ra5 27.Nc3 Nb8 28.Bd2 N8c6 29.Ne2 Ra2 30.Nc3 Ra8 31.Ne2 Ra2 32.Nc3 Ra8 33.Ne2 Ra2 34.Nc3 Ra6 35.Ne2 Ra2 1/2-1/2 Guseinov,G (2623)-Eljanov,P (2678)/Moscow RUS 2013/The Week in Chess 954]

10...axb5 11.Nc3 Nb4

Not usually seen in a Ruy Lopez but interesting here according to Caruana.

12.Qe2 c6 13.h3 Rxa1 14.Rxa1 h6 15.Qd2?

Fabiano Caruana

Gata Kamsky

Position after 15.Qd2

A big mistake according to Caruana.

[15.d4 and black still has to show how to equalise. 15...Qb8 16.Qd2 c5 17.dxc5 dxc5 18.Nd5 Nbxd5 19.Bxd5 should be about equal.]

15...c5

"I'm already slightly better. White's position has no point and there's almost no ideas. Although it's only very slight and white should be OK here." - Caruana.

16.Qe2

"White goes back it's obvious something went wrong." Caruana.

16...Qb6 17.Nh2 Be6 18.Ng4 Nxg4 19.hxg4 Bxb3 20.cxb3

Although black is better Caruana didn't see any way for black to get winning chances as his knight is stuck on b4 protecting the d5 square which the white knight will occupy if he is given the chance..

20...Qb7 21.g3 Qd7 22.Qf3 Bg5 23.Bxg5 hxg5

[23...Nc2 was a "strange option" for black. 24.Rc1 (24.Bxh6 Nxa1) 24...Nd4 25.Qd1 hxg5]

24.Qf5 Qe7 25.Kg2 g6 26.Qf3 Rb8 27.Ra5 Kg7 28.Rxb5 Ra8

Black is already threatening some mating ideas using the a and h files.

29.Nd5

[29.d4 Nc2 30.Nd5 Ne1+]

29...Nxd5 30.exd5 Qa7 31.b4 cxb4

Fabiano Caruana

Gata Kamsky

Position after 31...cxb4

32.Rxb4

[32.Qe3 "Of course" Kamsky but he's getting mated. "I didn't see Qa1 so it's not clear what I do." 32...Qa1 33.Rxb4 Qb1 34.Qe4 Ra1 35.Kh3 Qd1 36.Rb8 f5 37.Rb7+ Kf6 38.Qg2 Qxg4+ 39.Kh2 Qh5+]

32...Rh8 33.Qe3

[33.Qd1 Qa5 34.Re4 Qxd5 35.Qf3 was Caruana's plan to try and hold out for black.]

33...Qa1

Now white is just getting mated or losing material.

34.Kf3 Qd1+ 35.Qe2 Qh1+ 36.Ke3 Qxd5 37.Qc2 Rh1 38.Qb3 Qg2 39.Qc3 Rf1 40.Qd2 d5 0-1

Nakamura,Hikaru (2767) - Morozevich,Alexander (2758) [E91]
Renova FIDE GP Zug Zug SUI (9.5), 28.04.2013

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.Be2 c5 7.d5 e6 8.0-0 Re8 9.Nd2 Na6 10.Re1

[10.Rb1 with a queenside push immediately was probably better.]

10...Nc7 11.Rb1?

Bad not even a playable move according to Nakamura.

11...exd5

[11...b6 12.a3 a6 13.f3 exd5 14.cxd5 b5 15.Nf1 Nd7 16.Be3 Rb8 17.Qd2 Ne5 18.f4 Nc4 19.Bxc4 bxc4 20.Ng3 Nb5 21.Nxb5 axb5 22.e5 Bb7 23.Rbd1 f5 24.Ne2 Ba6 25.e6 b4 26.axb4 Rxb4 27.Nc3 Qb6 28.Re2 Rb8 29.Ra1 Rb3 30.h3 Bb5 31.Kh2 Be8 32.Ra2 Qb4 33.Qe1 Qb7 34.Qd2 Ra8 35.Rxa8 Qxa8 36.Re1 Qa5 37.Rc1 Kf8 38.Rc2 Qa1 39.Qc1 Qa5 40.Qd2 Qb4 41.Bf2 Bf6 42.Qe2 Qb7 1/2-1/2 Holst,C (2205)-Brinck Claussen,B (2380)/Copenhagen DEN 1996]

12.cxd5 a6 13.a4 b5 14.axb5 axb5 15.b4

Black should be just better here out of the opening - Nakamura.

[15.Nxb5 Nxe4 16.Nxc7 Nxf2 was something Nakamura didn't like at all.]

15...Ng4 16.Bxg4 Bxg4 17.Qxg4 Bxc3 18.bxc5 dxc5 19.Qf3 b4 20.Rd1

Alexander Morozevich

Hikaru Nakamura

Position after 20.Rd1

Somewhere around here it's already very bad, probably just losing. - Nakamura.

20...Nb5 21.Nc4 Bd4

There are so many good moves something has to be winning [for black] - Nakamura.

22.Bd2 Nc3

Now it gets very tricky.

[22...Nd6 Nakamura.; 22...Na3! seems strongest much better for black Nakamura.]

23.Bxc3 bxc3 24.Rbc1 Ra4 25.Ne3 Ra6 26.Nc2 Bg7?!

[26...Rf6 27.Nxd4 Rxf3 28.Nxf3 Rxe4 29.Rxc3 Nakamura thought he was holding the draw but this seems Morozevich's best. 29...c4 30.d6]

27.Ra1 Rxa1 28.Rxa1 Qb6 29.g3 Qb2 30.Qd1 Bh6?!

Alexander Morozevich

Hikaru Nakamura

Position after 30...Bh6

[30...Bd4 holding was Nakumura's suggestion]

31.f4 Rxe4?

Already it's very difficult to play for black.

[31...g5 32.d6 gxf4 33.d7 Rd8 34.Qd6 Bf8 35.Qxf4 Bg7 and although it's difficult for black he has chances to hold.]

32.Ra8+ Kg7 33.d6 Rd4 34.Nxd4

"If you're sick you can't play, that's the problem with a closed tournament" was Morozevich's explanation.

1-0

FIDE Grand Prix Zug Zug SUI Thu 18th Apr 2013 - Tue 30th Apr 2013 Leading Final Round 11 Standings:
Rk	SNo	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	8	Topalov Veselin	GM	BUL	2771	8	0	5	43.00
2	9	Nakamura Hikaru	GM	USA	2767	6½	0	3	33.00
3	11	Ponomariov Ruslan	GM	UKR	2733	6	1	2	33.50
4	3	Caruana Fabiano	GM	ITA	2772	6	0	3	30.25
5	7	Kamsky Gata	GM	USA	2741	5½	1	3	29.50
6	1	Morozevich Alexander	GM	RUS	2758	5½	0	3	27.25
7	4	Karjakin Sergey	GM	RUS	2786	5	1	1	26.00
8	5	Giri Anish	GM	NED	2727	5	1	0	27.75
9	6	Leko Peter	GM	HUN	2744	5	1	0	26.50
10	10	Radjabov Teimour	GM	AZE	2793	4½	1	1	25.25
11	12	Kasimdzhanov Rustam	GM	UZB	2709	4½	1	1	24.50
12	2	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	GM	AZE	2766	4½	1	0	25.00
12 players

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