3-Way Tie In The Tashkent Grand Prix
The 2012 FIDE Tashkent Grand Prix has ended with a 3-way tie for first place between Sergey Karjakin, Wang Hao and Alexander Morozevich on a score of 6½/11.
Alexander Morozevich and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had led into the final round, but their fortunes didn't follow the same path. Morozevich drew an exciting final game with Peter Svidler, whereas Mamedyarov lost to Wang Hao to slip back from the leaders.
In the last game of the day to finish Sergey Karjakin defeated Ruslan Ponomariov to earn a share of first place, along with Alexander Morozevich and Wang Hao.
The winner's prize-money is shared between Karjakin, Wang Hao and Morozevich with each receiving €22,500. Grand Prix points will also be shared, as shown in the table below. If the tournament had used the common Sonnenborn-Berger tie-break method, then Karjakin would have been first, Wang Hao second, and Morozevich third.
The final standings of the 2012 FIDE Tashkent Grand Prix
| # | Name | Fed | Elo | Pts | GP Pts |
| 1 | Karjakin, Sergey | RUS | 2775 | 6½ | 140 |
| 2 | Wang, Hao | CHN | 2737 | 6½ | 140 |
| 3 | Morozevich, Alexander | RUS | 2748 | 6½ | 140 |
| 4 | Kasimdzhanov, Rustam | UZB | 2696 | 6 | 80 |
| 5 | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | AZE | 2764 | 6 | 80 |
| 6 | Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2786 | 6 | 80 |
| 7 | Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2747 | 5½ | 50 |
| 8 | Ponomariov, Ruslan | UKR | 2741 | 5½ | 50 |
| 9 | Leko, Peter | HUN | 2732 | 5½ | 50 |
| 10 | Gelfand, Boris | ISR | 2751 | 4½ | 30 |
| 11 | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | CUB | 2726 | 4 | 20 |
| 12 | Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2762 | 3½ | 10 |
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Alexander Morozevich drew with Peter Svidler in the final round
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Wang Hao defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
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Sergey Karjakin beat Ruslan Ponomariov to claim a share of first place
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Leinier Domiguez beat Gata Kamsky in the battle to avoid last place
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Peter Leko and Fabiano Caruana drew their game
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Rustam Kasimdzhanov drew with Boris Gelfand
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The Grand Prix standings after 2 events
| Name | London | Tashkent | Total |
| Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 140 | 80 | 220 |
| Wang Hao | 70 | 140 | 210 |
| Boris Gelfand | 140 | 30 | 170 |
| Veselin Topalov | 140 | 140 | |
| Sergey Karjakin | 140 | 140 | |
| Alexander Morozevich | 140 | 140 | |
| Peter Leko | 80 | 50 | 130 |
| Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 35 | 80 | 115 |
| Alexander Grischuk | 90 | 90 | |
| Fabiano Caruana | 80 | 80 | |
| Michael Adams | 55 | 55 | |
| Vasily Ivanchuk | 55 | 55 | |
| Leinier Dominguez Perez | 35 | 20 | 55 |
| Peter Svidler | 50 | 50 | |
| Ruslan Ponomariov | 50 | 50 | |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 15 | 15 | |
| Anish Giri | 15 | 15 | |
| Gata Kamsky | 10 | 10 | |
| Teimour Radjabov | 0 | ||
| Vugar Gashimov | 0 |
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The overall winner and runner-up of the 2012/13 FIDE Grand Prix will qualify for the March 2014 Candidates Tournament. Before then, the 2013 Candidates take place in March in London, with the winner challenging Vishy Anand for the title in October/November 2013.
The Tashkent Grand Prix was the second tournament of the 2012/13 FIDE Grand Prix series (the first was in London). The third Grand Prix event will be in Lisbon in April/May next year. The remaining venues will be Madrid, Berlin and Paris. Details of dates and participants 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 overall winner and runner-up of the Grand Prix qualify for the March 2014 Candidates Tournament.
The time control used in all events 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 and Bakhtiyor Jiyanov at the Tashkent Grand Prix website. Games via TWIC.
The official regulations for the 2012 FIDE Grand Prix can be found here.
