Karjakin Sole Leader at Beijing Grand Prix

At the Beijing Grand Prix Sergey Karjakin won his second consecutive game and he's now the only player left with a perfect score. On Friday the Russian crushed Wang Hao of China with the white pieces, while the other five games ended in draws.

Karjakin scored quite a smooth win against Wang Hao's Pirc Defence. The point of his fifth move is to avoid one of the two main lines, 5...c5, and normally White continues 6.Nf3 anyway. The Chinese played the principled 5...e5 and the next few moves are quite old theory in fact. White kept an advantage and his attack seemed to go by itself; 14...Bxg5 was probably a mistake.

Co-leader Veselin Topalov could not follow suit. For the second time in one month, the Bulgarian faced the tough task of trying to get an opening advantage against Peter Leko's Queen's Indian (they also played each other in Kiev last month). White sacrificed a pawn for quick development but Black gave it back at the right moment and then there was little to play for.

Alexander Grischuk, the third winner in the first round, drew with Vassily Ivanchuk. Aron Nimzowitsch would probably have approved of the way the Ukrainian played the Kan Sicilian: trading his king's bishop for a knight to spoil White's structure and using the blockading square on c5 for a knight. Grischuk decided to just give away one of his c-pawns and seek activity on the kingside, but it only led to a move repetition.

Anish Giri and Alexander Morozevich drew a Classical French. Black's 7...b6 is a sideline that should not be underestimated; if White just goes 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0-0-0 Black continues 9...c4! followed by ...b5 with a strong attack. The Dutchman played it safe and castled kingside, which however was not enough for an advantage.

Wang Yue started with 1.g3!? but the game transposed into a Fianchetto Grünfeld. Boris Gelfand found a good setup for his pieces and equalized without problems.

Gata Kamsky equalized with remarkable ease in his black game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Playing the Chebanenko Slav, the American improved upon his game with Wang Hao played last year in the same city. He played the opening quite fast, and so he probably earned this easy half point thanks to good preparation (and huge experience in this opening).

Beijing GP 2013 | Scores

Beijing GP 2013 | Round 2 standings

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.