Mamedyarov Wins In Beijing, Topalov First Qualifier For 2014 Candidates

With the two top boards finishing in quick draws, the FIDE Grand Prix was decided just a few hours into the final round: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won the event, and Alexander Grischuk ended on second place. The two split the point with Boris Gelfand and Peter Leko respectively. Veselin Topalov, who defeated Alexander Morozevich, secured victory in the overall Grand Prix series after five of the six tournaments and is the first player to qualify for the 2014 Candidates Tournament.

In the last round everything was decided rather quickly. Runner-up Alexander Grischuk was the first player to call it a day. He said he was surprised by Leko's 13...Bxc3 and 14...Ne4 and decided to check the board of Mamedyarov-Gelfand. At that point, the Azerbaijani had a solid advantage, and so it was clear that he would never lose. Therefore Grischuk went for a move repetition and Leko didn't mind; he expected a difficult game with Black!

Mamedyarov and Gelfand played the old line with ...c5, dxc5 in the Fianchetto King's Indian, and because 15...Bg4 was inaccurate, White actually had something to play for. However, after Grischuk had drawn his game, Mamedyarov only needed a draw to finish clear first and that made him decide to go for 25.Rxe6.

By then the top three was clear: 1. Mamedyarov, 2. Grischuk, 3. Leko. Veselin Topalov could still join Leko in third place if he beat Alexander Morozevich. He did so, and the win turned out to be of crucial importance for the standings in the overall Grand Prix (see below). The game was quite a nice victory in a Philidor:

Gata Kamsky suffered yet another loss, against Wang Hao. In this Nimzo-Indian the American suggested 18...exd5!? 19.cxd5 and now 19... Nc7 or 19...f4 when Black gives up his bishop on a5 but creates dangerous counterplay against the white king. The game was a one-sided affair and strongly played by China's number one grandmaster. 

Wang Yue and Anish Giri played the same variation as Mamedyarov and Gelfand, and the result was also the same. In this game, however, it was Black who got an advantage after the inaccurate 21.Nd2 (with this move Wang Yue was planning 23. Bf3 Bxf3 24. exf3 but later he saw 24...Rc6! 25. Kf2 Ra6). Giri probably played g5-g4 too quickly and then Black couldn't make progress anymore.

Vassily Ivanchuk and Sergey Karjakin then also finished with a draw, after 51 moves in a Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower Defense. Black's early ...b5 was both positionally ugly and very solid. Perhaps White could have played e3-e4 somewhere, maybe prepared with f2-f3. After 28.h4, a move criticised by Ivanchuk after the game, this plan wasn't possible anymore.

Beijing GP 2013 | Scores

Beijing GP 2013 | Final standings

Grand Prix 2012-2013 | Current Standings

The table above is taken from ChessVibes, who write:

"Veselin Topalov has secured overall victory in the Grand Prix. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is not certain of his second place yet; Alexander Grischuk can reach 400 points with clear first in the last event and Fabiano Caruana can reach 395 points with clear first. Both need clear first to surpass Mamedyarov. The first two places in the Grand Prix qualify directly for the 2014 Candidates Tournament."

Note that each player's total score will be based on his best three tournaments, so for each player who plays four of the six events, his worst score is not used for his total.

The 5th Grand Prix took place 4-16 July, 2013 in Beijing, China. Tournament website: http://beijing2013.fide.com. Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich courtesy of FIDE. Games via TWIC.