Karjakin Leads In Tashkent Grand Prix
Sergey Karjakin is the sole leader of the Tashkent Grand Prix after his former co-leader Fabiano Caruana lost against Wang Hao in round 9.
Karjakin drew his game with Boris Gelfand to lead with a score of 5½/9, but six players are just half a point behind with two rounds remaining!
Wang Hao beat the co-leader Fabiano Caruana
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Sergey Karjakin drew with Boris Gelfand
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Alexander Morozevich drew his game with Rustam Kasimdzhanov
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Gata Kamsky drew with Ruslan Ponomariov
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Leinier Dominguez drew against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
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Peter Leko drew with Peter Svidler
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The standings after round nine
| Name | Fed | Elo | Pts |
| Karjakin, Sergey | RUS | 2775 | 5½ |
| Kasimdzhanov, Rustam | UZB | 2696 | 5 |
| Wang, Hao | CHN | 2737 | 5 |
| Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | AZE | 2764 | 5 |
| Leko, Peter | HUN | 2732 | 5 |
| Morozevich, Alexander | RUS | 2748 | 5 |
| Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2786 | 5 |
| Ponomariov, Ruslan | UKR | 2741 | 4½ |
| Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2747 | 4½ |
| Gelfand, Boris | ISR | 2751 | 3½ |
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier | CUB | 2726 | 3 |
| Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2762 | 3 |
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Games start at 14:00 local time in Tashkent (09:00 UTC) except the final round which is 2 hours earlier. Live video coverage and commentary is available at the official website.
The time control 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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The Tashkent Grand Prix Schedule
| 21/11/2012 | Arrival & Opening |
| 22/11/2012 | Round 1 |
| 23/11/2012 | Round 2 |
| 24/11/2012 | Round 3 |
| 25/11/2012 | Round 4 |
| 26/11/2012 | Free Day |
| 27/11/2012 | Round 5 |
| 28/11/2012 | Round 6 |
| 29/11/2012 | Round 7 |
| 30/11/2012 | Round 8 |
| 01/12/2012 | Free Day |
| 02/12/2012 | Round 9 |
| 03/12/2012 | Round 10 |
| 04/12/2012 | Round 11 & Closing |
| 05/12/2012 | Departure |
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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, we are due to have the 2013 Candidates in March 2013 in London, with the winner challenging Vishy Anand for the title in October/November 2013.
Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich and Bakhtiyor Jiyanov at the official website. Games via TWIC.
