Karjakin on 3/3 in Beijing
Having won his first three games, Sergey Karjakin is having an excellent Grand Prix tournament so far. On Saturday the 23 year old grandmaster won against Alexander Morozevich with the black pieces to increase his lead in Beijing to a full point. Boris Gelfand lost on time against Anish Giri, while Vassily Ivanchuk blundered material on move 40 against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
Karjakin scored third victory in a sideline of the Queen's Indian: 10.Bd3, where 10.e5 is the normal move. "The last time I looked at this was about seven years ago," said Karjakin, who remembered that it was important to put back the knight on c6 to prevent White from playing a3 and b4. After both players missed the tactic 14...Ngxe5! Nxe5 Bf6 16.f4 d6, the position was just very complicated. At some point Black started dominating the game completely; afterwards Morozevich called 16.Be3 a strategic mistake, where he should have taken en passant on f6.
Vassily Ivanchuk versus Shakhriyar Mamedyarov saw the interesting material imbalance BBN - Q and it looked like White was having an advantage. Black needed to give another exchange with 31...Re6, and because of his passed pawn he had just enough counterplay. In timetrouble Ivanchuk forgot to play h2-h4 and at move 40 he suddenly seemed to be in Zugzwang. In the game, his 40th move was losing but it was not easy to spot 40.h4! gxh4 41.gxh4 Qg4+ 42.Kf2 Qxh4+ 43.Rg3=.
The third winner of the day was Anish Giri, who also had a bit of luck. Being Dutch didn't help his Dutch Defence much and it was Boris Gelfand who controlled the position from the very start. Somehow Giri managed to avoid serious trouble, and then, before making is 38th move, Gelfand simply forgot about the clock and with two minutes on the clock he just let his flag fall!
In Wang Hao versus Alexander Grischuk, the Chinese repeated the move 7.f4!? which Peter Svidler used during the Candidates Tournament against Gelfand. White didn't continue well and got himself into a worse ending, but with a neat pawn sac he could reach a drawn opposite-coloured bishop ending.
Peter Leko and Wang Yue drew a Semi-Tarrasch where White found some original rook moves right after the opening. On move 24 the Chinese decided to sacrifice a pawn because in the resulting ending it would be 4 against 3 on one wing and indeed after many more moves he held it to a draw.
Gata Kamsky and Veselin Topalov played the longest game of the day; a great strategical fight that started as an Open Catalan. Was White winning in the ending? Who knows.
Beijing GP 2013 | Scores
| Round 1 | 15:00 CST | 04.07.13 | Round 2 | 15:00 CST | 05.07.13 | |
| Giri | 0-1 | Karjakin | Karjakin | 1-0 | Wang Hao | |
| Morozevich | ½-½ | Wang Yue | Grischuk | ½-½ | Ivanchuk | |
| Gelfand | 0-1 | Topalov | Mamedyarov | ½-½ | Kamsky | |
| Leko | ½-½ | Mamedyarov | Topalov | ½-½ | Leko | |
| Kamsky | 0-1 | Grischuk | Wang Yue | ½-½ | Gelfand | |
| Ivanchuk | ½-½ | Wang Hao | Giri | ½-½ | Morozevich | |
| Round 3 | 15:00 CST | 06.07.13 | Round 4 | 15:00 CST | 07.07.13 | |
| Morozevich | 0-1 | Karjakin | Karjakin | - | Grischuk | |
| Gelfand | 0-1 | Giri | Mamedyarov | - | Wang Hao | |
| Leko | ½-½ | Wang Yue | Topalov | - | Ivanchuk | |
| Kamsky | ½-½ | Topalov | Wang Yue | - | Kamsky | |
| Ivanchuk | 0-1 | Mamedyarov | Giri | - | Leko | |
| Wang Hao | ½-½ | Grischuk | Morozevich | - | Gelfand | |
| Round 5 | 15:00 CST | 09.07.13 | Round 6 | 15:00 CST | 10.07.13 | |
| Gelfand | - | Karjakin | Karjakin | - | Mamedyarov | |
| Leko | - | Morozevich | Topalov | - | Grischuk | |
| Kamsky | - | Giri | Wang Yue | - | Wang Hao | |
| Ivanchuk | - | Wang Yue | Giri | - | Ivanchuk | |
| Wang Hao | - | Topalov | Morozevich | - | Kamsky | |
| Grischuk | - | Mamedyarov | Gelfand | - | Leko | |
| Round 7 | 15:00 CST | 11.07.13 | Round 8 | 15:00 CST | 12.07.13 | |
| Leko | - | Karjakin | Karjakin | - | Topalov | |
| Kamsky | - | Gelfand | Wang Yue | - | Mamedyarov | |
| Ivanchuk | - | Morozevich | Giri | - | Grischuk | |
| Wang Hao | - | Giri | Morozevich | - | Wang Hao | |
| Grischuk | - | Wang Yue | Gelfand | - | Ivanchuk | |
| Mamedyarov | - | Topalov | Leko | - | Kamsky | |
| Round 9 | 15:00 CST | 14.07.13 | Round 10 | 15:00 CST | 15.07.13 | |
| Kamsky | - | Karjakin | Karjakin | - | Wang Yue | |
| Ivanchuk | - | Leko | Giri | - | Topalov | |
| Wang Hao | - | Gelfand | Morozevich | - | Mamedyarov | |
| Grischuk | - | Morozevich | Gelfand | - | Grischuk | |
| Mamedyarov | - | Giri | Leko | - | Wang Hao | |
| Topalov | - | Wang Yue | Kamsky | - | Ivanchuk | |
| Round 11 | 13:00 CST | 16.07.13 | ||||
| Ivanchuk | - | Karjakin | ||||
| Wang Hao | - | Kamsky | ||||
| Grischuk | - | Leko | ||||
| Mamedyarov | - | Gelfand | ||||
| Topalov | - | Morozevich | ||||
| Wang Yue | - | Giri |
Beijing GP 2013 | Round 3 standings
| # | Player | Rating | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Points | SB |
| 1 | Karjakin,S | 2776 | * | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.0/3 | |||||||||
| 2 | Mamedyarov,S | 2761 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 2.0/3 | 2.25 | ||||||||
| 3 | Grischuk,A | 2780 | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 2.0/3 | 2.00 | ||||||||
| 4 | Topalov,V | 2767 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 2.0/3 | 1.75 | ||||||||
| 5 | Leko,P | 2737 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 1.5/3 | 2.75 | ||||||||
| 6 | Wang Yue | 2705 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 1.5/3 | 1.50 | ||||||||
| 7 | Giri,A | 2734 | 0 | * | ½ | 1 | 1.5/3 | 1.00 | ||||||||
| 8 | Kamsky,G | 2763 | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 1.0/3 | 2.00 | ||||||||
| 9 | Wang Hao | 2752 | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 1.0/3 | 1.50 | ||||||||
| 10 | Morozevich,A | 2736 | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | 1.0/3 | 1.50 | ||||||||
| 11 | Ivanchuk,V | 2733 | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | 1.0/3 | 1.50 | ||||||||
| 12 | Gelfand,B | 2773 | 0 | ½ | 0 | * | 0.5/3 |
The 5th Grand Prix takes place 4-16 July, 2013 in Beijing, China. The games start 15:00 CST (09:00 CET, 03:00 EDT); the final round starts two hours earlier. Tournament website: http://beijing2013.fide.com. Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich courtesy of FIDE. Games via TWIC.
