London Grand Prix Round 5
Leader Boris Gelfand was permitted to play his 5th round game at a slightly earlier time by the organisers, in respect of the Jewish holy day Yom Kippur. The result was a draw with the black pieces for the Israeli against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
Despite some exciting chess, round five produced no decisive games. Vassily Ivanchuk played aggressively against Alexander Grischuk, but the game fizzled out to a repetition draw, while Anish Giri comfortably held for a draw against Michael Adams.
Wang Hao recovered from his loss yesterday, engaging in an exciting battle with Rustam Kasimdzhanov which finished all-square. In another gripping game, Veselin Topalov was in an aggressive mood against Peter Leko, but the Hungarian managed to survive a strong attack to achieve a draw.
Last to finish - again - was Hikaru Nakamura, but this time it was the American who was holding on for a draw against Leinier Dominguez Perez, who missed winning sacrificial ideas with Bxg6 in the endgame.
The standings after round five
| Name | Fed | Elo | Pts |
| Gelfand, Boris | ISR | 2738 | 3½ |
| Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2754 | 3 |
| Leko, Peter | HUN | 2737 | 3 |
| Topalov, Veselin | BUL | 2752 | 2½ |
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier | CUB | 2725 | 2½ |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2783 | 2½ |
| Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | AZE | 2729 | 2½ |
| Adams, Michael | ENG | 2722 | 2½ |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2769 | 2 |
| Kasimdzhanov, Rustam | UZB | 2684 | 2 |
| Wang, Hao | CHN | 2742 | 2 |
| Giri, Anish | NED | 2730 | 2 |
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Boris Gelfand
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Rustam Kasimdzhanov
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Alexander Grischuk
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Peter Leko
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Leinier Dominguz Perez and Hikaru Nakamura
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The London Grand Prix is the first tournament of the 2012/13 FIDE Grand Prix series. After the first contest in London, the series moves on to Tashkent, Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin and Paris. 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. Details of dates and participants can be found here.
The overall winner and runner-up of the Grand Prix qualify for the March 2014 Candidates Tournament.
The schedule for the London Grand Prix:
| Arrival & Opening | 20th September |
| 1st Round | 21st September |
| 2nd Round | 22nd September |
| 3rd Round | 23rd September |
| 4th Round | 24th September |
| 5th Round | 25th September |
| Free Day | 26th September |
| 6th Round | 27th September |
| 7th Round | 28th September |
| 8th Round | 29th September |
| Free Day | 30th September |
| 9th Round | 1st October |
| 10th Round | 2nd October |
| 11th round & Closing | 3rd October |
| Departure | 4th October |
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Rounds start at 14:00 local time (13:00 UTC). The time control is 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by 20 moves in 1 hour, then an extra 15 minutes to a finish with a 30 second increment after the second time control.
Draws can only be claimed for triple-repetition of position, theoretical draws, or 50-move rule.
The official regulations for the 2012 FIDE Grand Prix can be found here.
Official website here. Games via TWIC. Photos by Macauley Peterson at the official website.
Look out for coverage at Chess.com/TV!
