Thessaloniki Grand Prix Round 1
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The opening round of the fourth Grand Prix of the 2012/13 series started today in Thessaloniki, Greece. There were 3 decisive games, all of them won by the player with the white pieces.
Gata Kamsky made a good start, beating the Cuban #1 Leinier Perez-Dominguez. Dominguez stood worse against the 2013 US Champion, and finally blundered with 44...Rxh4??
Peter Svidler thrashed Etienne Bacrot in 27 moves in a one-sided game. The Russian established doubled rooks on the 7th rank and his opponent faced heavy material losses to avoid checkmate.
The final decisive game came when Rustam Kasimdzhanov defeated Hikaru Nakamura in 69 moves. An unusual opening choice from Nakamura didn't go well, and the Uzbek Grandmaster eventually found a winning plan in a knight v bishop endgame.
Gata Kamsky's sports cap violates FIDE's proposed new dress code policy!
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Alexander Morozevich (left) and Peter Svidler relaxing at the opening ceremony
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Hikaru Nakamura often gazes up at the ceiling while thinking
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Fabiano Caruana sporting a new style of glasses
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Veselin Topalov and Alexander Grischuk played down to bare kings
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Vassily Ivanchuk drew his opening game
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The schedule for the 2013 Thessaloniki Grand Prix
| 21st May 2013 | Arrival & Opening Ceremony |
| 22nd May 2013 | Round 1 |
| 23rd May 2013 | Round 2 |
| 24th May 2013 | Round 3 |
| 25th May 2013 | Round 4 |
| 26th May 2013 | Free Day |
| 27th May 2013 | Round 5 |
| 28th May 2013 | Round 6 |
| 29th May 2013 | Round 7 |
| 30th May 2013 | Round 8 |
| 31st May 2013 | Free Day |
| 1st June 2013 | Round 9 |
| 2nd June 2013 | Round 10 |
| 3rd June 2013 | Round 11 & Closing Ceremony |
| 4th June 2013 | Departure |
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The fourth Grand Prix of the 2012/13 series runs from 21 May - 4 June in Thessaloniki, Greece. The full pairings are available here.
The overall winner and runner-up of the 2012/13 Grand Prix series will qualify for the next Candidates Tournament, expected to be held in March 2014. The first three events were held in London, Tashkent and Zug. The current standings are shown here.
Each tournament is a single round-robin featuring 12 out of the 18 players in the Grand Prix, and each player competes in four of the six events. The best 3 scores of each player count towards their overall score. The official regulations for the 2012/13 FIDE Grand Prix can be found here.
All rounds start at 14:00 local time (11:00 UTC) except the final round which starts 2 hours earlier. The time control used is 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by 20 moves in 1 hour, then 15 minutes plus a 30 second increment after move 60.
Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich at the official website, which has live games, analysis and video.
