Beijing Grand Prix round 8 report

Presented by the official staff

Mamedyarov and Grischuk are still tied for the first place after eight rounds at Grand Prix in Beijing. The leaders made two draws with Black pieces and keep one point distance from their nearest rivals Peter Leko and Veselin Topalov. Former world champion outplayed Sergey Karjakin, who lost the third game in a row while Peter Leko drew against Gata Kamsky. Boris Gelfand, who was suffering in Grand Prix after his success in Moscow, managed to win today against Vassily Ivanchuk. Alexander Morozevich made a draw against Wang Hao. 13th of July is a free day. The ninth round will start on 14th of July at 3 p.m. local time. 

Wang, Yue – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 1/2-1/2

Wang Yue was planning to start with 1. c4 but mixed the moves and played 1.Nf3. Shakhriyar tried to avoid the possible preparation and decided to simplify the position with 7…Nc3. Wang Yue was not happy with his play in the opening and didn’t like the moves 9.Qa4 and 10. Be3. According to Mamedyarov, Black solved all his problems and even got slightly better position after 12…e5 and declined to repeat the moves thinking he can play without risk. However, White found some contra play on the queen’s side and could have grabbed a pawn by playing 27. Ba7. Black moved his knight to the center and the game finished with repletion after 33 moves.

Leko, Peter – Kamsky, Gata 1/2-1/2

Gata Kamsky decided to avoid all theoretical lines and just to get playable position. Peter Leko managed to get the position with initiative, prevented Black from playing c5 and had “feeling it could be a miniature”. However, Black played very precisely in the middle game and changed the queens at the right moment. White managed to get an extra pawn but the activity of Black pieces was strong enough to have compensation for extra material.

Giri, Anish – Grischuk, Alexander 1/2-1/2

Alexander Grischuk came to the game with a head full of many variations and lines after long preparation against Anish Giri. Russian player chose a new plan in Scheveningen Sicilian but, despite the fact that this line had never happened in the games of each of the opponents, Anish was familiar with the position and played quite quickly. It was hard to understand what Black should do and in one moment Alexander had 1 hour and 15 minutes than his opponent. After 20.f5 the game became very sharp. Under time pressure Alexander Grischuk missed an interesting option 22…Nc5. He played 22…Qe7 instead and the position simplified quite quickly.

Karjakin, Sergey – Topalov, Veselin 0-1

Sergey Karjakin didn’t expect Taimanov Sicilian and Black managed to solve all their problems quite quickly. In the position with opposite-side castling White played slowly and didn’t obtain any attack. Former world champion played very precisely and later on transferred the game into the ending. White had few weaknesses, passive pieces and Veselin managed to convert his advantage.

Morozevich, Alexander – Wang, Hao 1/2-1/2

Alexander Morozevich chose an old line played by Romanishin and managed to get complex position with space advantage and extra pawn on the queen’s side. Wang Hoa managed to trade few pieces and transferred the game into the endgame with queens and rooks. Morozevich created a passed pawn but could not make any progress.