Zug 2013 FIDE Grand Prix Round 10

Official Website Report

In the tenth round of the FIDE Grand Prix in Zug Veselin Topalov defeated his rival Fabiano Caruana and now is in the sole lead with 7 points, one point ahead of Hikaru Nakamura. American player won against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to take second place. Alexander Morozevich managed to outplay Teimour Radjabov, while Gata Kamsky won against Sergey Karjakin.  Kasimzdhanov-Ponomariov, Giri-Leko were drawn. Ruslan Ponomariov and Fabiano Caruana share third place while Kamsky, Morozevich, and Karjakin share fifth place.

The Tie Break Criteria for trophies only is: 1. direct encounter 2. number of wins 3. Sonnenborn-Berger System 4. Koya System. Veselin Topalov won against Hikaru Nakamura in the fifth round and that means even in the worst scenario for him, he will take the gold at the Zug Grand Prix.

Despite the victory in the game and, as a result, the victory in the tournament, Veselin Topalov looked very serious and tired at the press-conference.  It’s obvious that the tournament is not over for the former world champion and he will fight for the sole victory in the tournament at the last round.

Fabiano Caruana got a pleasant position and managed to create threats on the king’s side.  The players showed many possible variations on the laptop and agreed that White could have played more precisely but at the same time they didn’t find any direct attack. Things went wrong when White lost a few tempos after the dubious Qf2-Qa7 but Caruana was in time trouble and it wasn't easy for him to find the right plan. After the first time control, the Italian player could have kept the queens on the board to have better chances for a draw because the knight and bishop endgame turned to be absolutely winning for Black.

Veselin Topalov (left) defeated Fabiano Caruana

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We had a Slav Defence in the Mamdyarov - Nakamura game and Shakhriyar got an unpleasant position out of the opening. White could not prove he had enough compensation for the pawn and after 21. ..f5 his position became really bad.  It was still not necessary to resign after 22…Rc4, even if the position was still much better for Black but the Azeri player miscalculated the variation and thought he would end up in a position with rook against 3 pieces.  The game could have continued after 23. bc Bc4 24. Nb4 Be2 25. Nd5 ed 26. Be2 Nd2 27. Rc7… and according to Hikaru Nakamura his position was still winning.   However, White keeps some drawing chances in the endgame.

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Hikaru Nakamura

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Teimour Rajabov chose to play Sveshnikov variation against Alexander Morozevich and Black was OK until the moment he has to find a very accurate move 21…Qb3! The difference with the move in the game was that Black had 22…Qd5 after 22.Rc8 and after 23. Qa3 there was an important resource 23…Ra2. After 21…Qa4 White won an exchange and was increasing his advantage. Alexander Morozevich could have won more easily but Black never got a real chance to fight for a draw. On the 43rd move Black could have tried for stalemate by playing 43…Kh6 44. Rg7?? Qg2!

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Alexander Morozevich

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Sergey Karjakin managed to get slightly better position after the opening.  Nevertheless, Black was looking for counter play and the position became very sharp. Black could have had a huge advantage after 27…Qd5 but both players missed this opportunity. After that the game was dynamically equal but with the 41st move Sergey Karjakin made a big mistake. After 41. Qf3 the game would most probably finish in a draw. Gata Kamsky found the forced winning line and after 15 moves the game was over.

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Gata Kamsky

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Ruslan Ponomariov

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Anish Giri

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The Zug Grand Prix standings after 10 rounds

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The Zug Grand Prix runs from 17 April - 1 May, and 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 current standings are 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.

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The schedule for the 2013 Zug Grand Prix

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All rounds start at 14:00 local time (12:00 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.

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Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich and games from the official website.