Gelfand Leads Mamedyarov in Kazan

The third day of the Candidates matches in Kazan produced plenty of exciting chess, and one truly amazing game between Mamedyarov and Gelfand.

Gelfand forsook the Petroff for the Najdorf again and Mamedyarov went for the jugular on the kingside immediately. Gelfand responded in textbook fashion with a well-timed d5 break and all hell broke loose!

After Gelfand sacrificed the exchange on c3 he kept picking off weak pawns and then sacrificed a further knight, eventually leaving an extraordinary material imbalance of 6 pawns for a rook!

Gelfand's bishop pair ensured that Mamedyarov had no attack left, and his mighty passed pawns raced down the board to score a fantastic and remarkable victory.

Topalov also chose the Najdorf again against Kamsky and was the first to deviate with 6...e5. Kamsky seemed to be trying to keep the position under control, but Topalov seized the initiative and it was Kamsky who had to hold on for a draw.  Can Topalov equalise with white tomorrow, or will the American gain revenge for his previous match loss to the Bulgarian?

Aronian once again took the game to Grischuk in a complicated Grunfeld, but the Russian held on despite coming under considerable pressure.  Grischuk will now enjoy the advantage of the white pieces in the final game, although white has yet to win a game so far in the event! Could Aronian, the favourite for the event, be in trouble?

Kramnik entrusted his safety to Emanuel Lasker again, and Radjabov utterly failed to make any headway for the second time.  Will we see a King's Indian tomorrow, or is Radjabov aiming to take his chances in rapid tie-breaks?

The fourth and final games of the opening matches are tomorrow at 15:00 local time (11:00 UTC, 07:00 Eastern in the US).  If any of the matches are still all-square then tie-breaks take place on Monday.

Live coverage and more is available at the official website, and live video of the playing hall is available here.

Chess.com/TV will be covering the 4th game of the 1st round on Sunday, May 8th, starting at 5:30 AM Pacific/8:30 AM Eastern time. It will most likely be the first broadcast of several as the tournament goes on. The first broadcast, which is open to Platinum/Diamond members, will be hosted by GM Melik Khachiyan and Jason "The Poet" Stoneking.