Many draws so far at Astrakhan FIDE GP
After three rounds a group of five players leads the FIDE Grand Prix in Astrakhan with 2/3: Gashimov, Leko, Ponomariov, Gelfand and Eljanov. In today's third round all games ended in a draw.The sixth and final FIDE Grand Prix takes place May 10-24 in Astrakhan, Russia. Akopian (2694), Alekseev (2700), Gashimov (2734), Gelfand (2741), Eljanov (2751), Inarkiev (2669), Ivanchuk (2741), Jakovenko (2725), Leko (2735), Mamedyarov (2763), Ponomariov (2733), Rajabov (2740), Svidler (2735) and Wang Yue (2752) play. More details can be found in our first report.Rounds 2-3
Now that the World Championship match in Sofia has ended, many people wonder what the next cycle looks like. Well, the next big thing is the FIDE Candidates matches, which will provide a new opponent for Anand in 2012. Currently it is scheduled for April 2011, for which the following players have qualified:- Topalov, as the loser of the last match;
- Kamsky, as the loser of the challenger's match;
- Aronian, as the winner of the Grand Prix Series;
- Gelfand, as the winner of the World Cup;
- Carlsen and Kramnik on rating. Two more players will be added to this list: the number two of the FIDE Grand Prix Series, and a wild card from Azerbaijan, because the Candidates will be held in Baku. Which will complicate matters, since Aronian cannot play there.So an important part of the new cycle is the FIDE Grand Prix Series, and as you know these days the sixth and last is taking place in Astrakhan, Russia, where after three rounds the drawing percentage is already as high as 77%. The third round, played today, saw draws only.But first round 2, which was more eventful. Against Leko, Alekseev lost on time for the first time in his life, as he said himself at the press conference. Svidler blundered at an early stage against Ponomariov. In a Berlin Defence, the Russian grandmaster lost an important pawn due to a nasty trick, and resigned immediately.After achieving not much in the opening, Eljanov managed to win a pawn against Akopian around the first time control, and then finished it off with exemplary technique.Of the seven draws of today, some were quite interesting. Especially Gashimov-Gelfand and Inarkiev-Leko are games recommended for replay.
Games rounds 2-3
Game viewer by ChessTempoAstrakhan Grand Prix 2010 | Round 3 Standings
Astrakhan Grand Prix 2010 | Schedule & results
Photo courtesy of FIDE, more here
Links
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms.
Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools.
Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013.
As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
In October, Peter's first book The Chess Revolution will be published!
Company Contact and News Accreditation:
Email: peter@chess.com FOR SUPPORT PLEASE USE chess.com/support!
Phone: 1 (800) 318-2827
Address: 877 E 1200 S #970397, Orem, UT 84097
