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 ChessTempo




Astrakhan Grand Prix 2010 | Round 3 Standings






Astrakhan Grand Prix 2010 | Schedule & results





Photo courtesy of FIDE, more here





Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN via TWIC