Tashkent R6: Moro regains sole lead

by ChessBase
11/28/2012 – Alexander Morozevich was once again the highlight of the round, as he came back from a disappointing loss against Ruslan Ponomariov, sharing the lead with four others, to beat Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez for the only win of the day. Many of the other games showed promise, such as Gelfand against Mamedyarov, or Leko versus Hao, but all drew. Full report with GM commentary.

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

The second stage of the 2012-2013 FIDE Grand Prix Series is taking place from November 21 to December 5th in the Gallery of Fine Art in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The games start at 14:00h local time (= 10:00h CET, 13:00h Moscow, 04:00 a.m. New York). The tournament has a prize fund of 240,000 Euros.

Round six report

Round 6 on Wednesday 28.11.2012 at 14:00
Kamsky Gata 2762
½-½
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2696
Leko Peter 2732
½-½
Wang Hao 2737
Svidler Peter 2747
½-½
Karjakin Sergey 2775
Morozevich Alexander 2748
1-0
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726
Caruana Fabiano 2786
½-½
Ponomariov Ruslan 2741
Gelfand Boris 2751
½-½
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2764

Morozevich-Dominguez 1-0: A Grünfeld with 7.Qa4 was played this game, and it seems Leinier was not well prepared for this line. 16…Bh6 was a mistake and, as was pointed out during the press conference, Black could have tried 16…Re4 instead. After 18…Qb6 the position of the Cuban player became absolutely lost and Alexander Morozevich found the most precise way to finish him off: 19.Qa4, after Black missed his last chance to resist the pressure by playing 18…Rf4.

[Event "FIDE Grand Prix-Tashkent 2012"] [Site "Tashkent"] [Date "2012.11.28"] [Round "6"] [White "Morozevich, Alexander"] [Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D85"] [WhiteElo "2748"] [BlackElo "2726"] [Annotator "Ramirez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] [EventCountry "UZB"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Qa4+ {With all the mainlines of the Gruenfeld giving the second player a very solid game, it is no surprise that White has recently been trying some clever early deviations. The problem for Black now is that he doesn't want to interpose with any piece on d7, since it blocks the pressure on d4.} Nd7 8. Nf3 c5 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O a6 (10... cxd4 11. cxd4 Nc5 $1 12. Qc2 Bg4 $1 {was the idea of Knott (a clever 2370!) in 2006. This sequence not only looks awesome, it seems to equalize.} (12... Ne6 {is also a decent move and it allowed Ivanchuk to vanquish Miton in 2007.})) 11. Qa3 Qc7 12. Bg5 Re8 13. Rad1 Rb8 14. d5 e6 15. dxe6 Rxe6 16. Bh4 $5 {Morozevich sacrificies a pawn to avoid his opponent from expanding on the queenside.} (16. Bd3 b5 {gives Black very easy play.}) 16... Bh6 $4 {Black simply can't hold on to material equality after this move. White's next move is much more powerful than what it seems at first.} (16... Rxe4 {was critical, but there certainly is reason to be worried.} 17. Bg3 Ne5 18. Bxe5 (18. Qb2 $5 {is some computer contraption.}) 18... Bxe5 19. Bd3 Rg4 20. Nxe5 Qxe5 21. Rfe1 {which looks massively unclear. A pawn is a pawn but Black's coordination is laughable.}) 17. Bc4 $1 Rxe4 18. Bg3 Qb6 (18... Bf4 19. Bxf7+ $1 {Is the painful problem with Black's idea. Since the bishop is taboo because of Ng5+, black is simply lost.}) (18... Rf4 19. Rfe1 $1 b5 20. Bb3 { was maybe a more resilient try but it's also winning for White.}) 19. Qa4 $1 { Beautiful precision. Black gets no respite, the rest is mop up. White is threatening both the f7 pawn (with a discovery on the e4 rook) and the knight on d7. Oh and let's not forget that hanging rook on b8. Ouch!} Re7 20. Bd6 Qd8 21. Bxe7 Qxe7 22. Rfe1 {It's not that Black is down the exchange for a pawn, it's the fact that he hasn't even moved his bishop from c8 and that he can't hold all his pieces together.} Qf8 23. Rxd7 b5 24. Bxf7+ Kg7 (24... Qxf7 25. Rd8+ Bf8 26. Qh4 $18) 25. Qd1 Bxd7 26. Qxd7 {The bishop cannot be taken so White is a piece up, which is plenty for these folk.} Rd8 27. Qc7 Rc8 28. Qb7 Rb8 29. Qe7 {A painful reminder to Dominguez that one bad move is not forgiven in this competition.} 1-0

Gelfand-Mamedyarov 1/2-1/2: Boris Gelfand’s 8.Ne5 in the opening was met by the ambitious 8…Ba3. White tried to get some play after15.e4 and 18.f5, but Black had just enough time to exchange the pieces and make a draw in a dead-equal rook endgame. As Boris Gelfand pointed out, perhaps, he could have chosen a quieter strategy in order to avoid simplification of the position.


Alexander Morozevich kibitzing Caruana-Ponomariov

Caruana-Ponomariov 1/2-1/2: In a Scotch Game Ruslan, playing black, chose the line with 4…Bc5 and 5…bxc6, but after the seventh move the theory finished for both players. As the former world champion said during the press conference: Black had to solve many problems during the game, as his pieces were a bit passive and displaced. 22…c5 was a good attempt to organize counterplay, as the possible 22…b5 would lead to unpleasant position for Black.


Svidler and Karjakin before the start of their game

Svidler-Karjakin 1/2-1/2: Peter Svidler chose the English Opening and Sergey Karjakin managed to equalize with black quite easily. Both players agreed that the final position is absolutely balanced, with the white pieces placed nicely and logically. The game was finished after a three-fold repetition.


Clearly there is no personal hostility – this is not your boxing prefight staredown


Okay, getting closer – but no smiles, people! Peter Leko and Wang Hao

Leko-Wang Hao 1/2-1/2: Peter Leko was a bit surprised by Wang Hao's choice 7.e6, as the Chinese player used to play 7…b6. The position after the opening seemed very complicated, with many different options for both sides. As Peter Leko put it during the press conference: after White played 18.Bf3 and 19.Ne2 he had feeling his position should be close to winning. However, he didn’t use a very promising option to play 25.g5, chose 25.Bf6, after which the ending turned to be drawish.


The peripatetic Morozevich kibitzing the game Leko vs Wang Hao


No theoretical debates: Kasimzhanov and Kamsky with press officer Anastasiya Karlovich

Kamsky-Kasimdzhanov 1/2-1/2: Gata Kamsky explained during the press conference that his second, Emil Sutovky, had told him not to go into theoretical fights against Rustam, as that can be really dangerous. The American player chose the Anti-Marshal and got a slight edge, but after 21.Rxb6 cxb6 both players agreed that the position is too solid to be lost by either side. Two moves earlier Gata Kamsky could have tried to fight for an advantage by playing 19.Rb8 Rb8 20.Rb1.

Replay all the games of this round on our Javascript board

Standings after six rounds

Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich

Schedule and results

Round 1 on Thursday 22.11.2012 at 14:00
Morozevich Alexander 2748
1-0
Kamsky Gata 2762
Caruana Fabiano 2786
½-½
Svidler Peter 2747
Gelfand Boris 2751
½-½
Leko Peter 2732
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2764
½-½
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2696
Ponomariov Ruslan 2741
½-½
Wang Hao 2737
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726
0-1
Karjakin Sergey 2775
Round 2 on Friday, 23.11.2012 at 14:00
Kamsky Gata 2762
½-½
Karjakin Sergey 2775
Wang Hao 2737
½-½
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2696
½-½
Ponomariov Ruslan 2741
Leko Peter 2732
½-½
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2764
Svidler Peter 2747
½-½
Gelfand Boris 2751
Morozevich Alexander 2748
1-0
Caruana Fabiano 2786
Round 3 on Saturday 24.11.2012 at 14:00
Caruana Fabiano 2786
1-0
Kamsky Gata 2762
Gelfand Boris 2751
½-½
Morozevich Alexander 2748
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2764
1-0
Svidler Peter 2747
Ponomariov Ruslan 2741
½-½
Leko Peter 2732
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726
½-½
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2696
Karjakin Sergey 2775
½-½
Wang Hao 2737
Round 4 on Sunday 25.11.2012 at 14:00
Kamsky Gata 2762
0-1
Wang Hao 2737
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2696
½-½
Karjakin Sergey 2775
Leko Peter 2732
½-½
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726
Svidler Peter 2747
1-0
Ponomariov Ruslan 2741
Morozevich Alexander 2748
½-½
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2764
Caruana Fabiano 2786
1-0
Gelfand Boris 2751
Round 5 on Tuesday 27.11.2012 at 14:00
Gelfand Boris 2751
0-1
Kamsky Gata 2762
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2764
½-½
Caruana Fabiano 2786
Ponomariov Ruslan 2741
1-0
Morozevich Alexander 2748
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726
½-½
Svidler Peter 2747
Karjakin Sergey 2775
½-½
Leko Peter 2732
Wang Hao 2737
0-1
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2696
Round 6 on Wednesday 28.11.2012 at 14:00
Kamsky Gata 2762
½-½
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2696
Leko Peter 2732
½-½
Wang Hao 2737
Svidler Peter 2747
½-½
Karjakin Sergey 2775
Morozevich Alexander 2748
1-0
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726
Caruana Fabiano 2786
½-½
Ponomariov Ruslan 2741
Gelfand Boris 2751
½-½
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2764
Round 7 on Thursday 29.11.2012 at 14:00
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2764
-
Kamsky Gata 2762
Ponomariov Ruslan 2741
-
Gelfand Boris 2751
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726
-
Caruana Fabiano 2786
Karjakin Sergey 2775
-
Morozevich Alexander 2748
Wang Hao 2737
-
Svidler Peter 2747
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2696
-
Leko Peter 2732
Round 8 on Friday 30.11.2012 at 14:00
Kamsky Gata 2762
-
Leko Peter 2732
Svidler Peter 2747
-
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2696
Morozevich Alexander 2748
-
Wang Hao 2737
Caruana Fabiano 2786
-
Karjakin Sergey 2775
Gelfand Boris 2751
-
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2764
-
Ponomariov Ruslan 2741
Round 9 on Sunday 2.12.2012 at 14:00
Ponomariov Ruslan 2741
-
Kamsky Gata 2762
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726
-
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2764
Karjakin Sergey 2775
-
Gelfand Boris 2751
Wang Hao 2737
-
Caruana Fabiano 2786
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2696
-
Morozevich Alexander 2748
Leko Peter 2732
-
Svidler Peter 2747
Round 10 on Monday 3.12.2012 at 14:00
Kamsky Gata 2762
-
Svidler Peter 2747
Morozevich Alexander 2748
-
Leko Peter 2732
Caruana Fabiano 2786
-
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2696
Gelfand Boris 2751
-
Wang Hao 2737
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2764
-
Karjakin Sergey 2775
Ponomariov Ruslan 2741
-
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726
Round 11 on Tuesday 4.12.2012 at 12:00
Dominguez Perez Leinier 2726
-
Kamsky Gata 2762
Karjakin Sergey 2775
-
Ponomariov Ruslan 2741
Wang Hao 2737
-
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2764
Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2696
-
Gelfand Boris 2751
Leko Peter 2732
-
Caruana Fabiano 2786
Svidler Peter 2747
-
Morozevich Alexander 2748

Video Reports

Live video coverage with English language commentary is available on the player above. There is also Russian commentary on the video page of the tournament site.

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

Copyright ChessBase


Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register