Morozevich beats Giri in second round Reggio Emilia

Alexander Morozevich took an early lead at the 54th Torneo di Capodanno in Reggio Emilia, Italy. On Wednesday the Russian grandmaster beat Anish Giri of The Netherlands with Black, while the other two games ended in draws.

Morozevich leads in Reggio after round 2 | All photos © Circolo Scacchistico Ippogrifo

In round 2 the game between Giri and Morozevich was the most exciting: the Dutch player started with brave moves, but Morozevich, who has been called “the magician” among the audience, took control of the situation and in few moves he imprisoned the white king, which became an easy target.

[Event "54th Reggio Emilia"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia ITA"]
[Date "2011.12.28"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2762"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2011.12.27"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. e3 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 6. Nc3 e6 7. g4 Bg6 8. Ne5
Nbd7 9. h4 dxc4 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. g5 Nd5 12. Bxc4 Bb4 13. Bd2 Qe7 14. a3 Nxc3
$146 (14... Ba5 15. Qc2 Nxc3 16. Bxc3 Bxc3+ 17. Qxc3 Nb6 18. Bb3 Qxg5 19. hxg5
Rxh1+ 20. Ke2 Rxa1 21. d5 cxd5 22. Qxg7 Rh1 23. Ba4+ Ke7 24. Bc2 Ke8 25. Qg8+ {
1/2-1/2 (25) Tregubov,P (2628)-Inarkiev,E (2676)/Dagomys 2009}) 15. bxc3 Ba5
16. f4 O-O-O 17. Qb3 Nb6 18. Bd3 Kb8 19. Ke2 Qd7 20. Be4 f6 $1 21. gxf6 (21.
Bxg6 e5 $1) 21... gxf6 22. Rag1 (22. Bxg6 e5 $1) 22... e5 23. fxe5 fxe5 24. Rg5
exd4 $1 25. Rxa5 $2 Rhe8 (25... Qg4+ 26. Bf3 d3+ 27. Kf2 Rdf8 28. Qd1 Rxh4 {
was also winning.}) 26. Bg2 $6 ({Houdini tries to defend with} 26. cxd4 Rxe4
27. Kd1 {but it's hard to believe that White will survive.}) 26... dxe3 27. Bc1
Qd3+ ({Or} 27... Qg4+ 28. Bf3 Qg3 29. Bxe3 Qf4 $19) 28. Ke1 e2 29. Bf4+ Ka8 30.
Kf2 Rf8 31. Qb4 Nc4 32. Rxa7+ Kxa7 33. Qa4+ Kb6 34. Qb4+ Ka6 35. Qa4+ Na5 36.
Bf3 b5 0-1

Morozevich is now leading alone with 6 points (because also in this tournament a win yields 3 points instead of 1 for every victory, and a draw 1) and just behind him we find Hikaru Nakamura. The American played the English against Caruana and continued safely and solidly. His opponent always seemed prepared for a potential White attack by obstructing his opponent's attempts to break through.

[Event "54th Reggio Emilia"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia ITA"]
[Date "2011.12.28"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2727"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2011.12.27"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. g3 Bb4 4. Nf3 Qe7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O c6 7. e4 $146 (7. d3
Rd8 8. Qc2 d5 9. Bg5 dxc4 10. dxc4 Nbd7 11. a3 Bxc3 12. Qxc3 Re8 13. Nd2 h6 14.
Be3 Ng4 15. Rfd1 f5 16. b4 Nxe3 17. Qxe3 Nf6 18. c5 {Markowski,T (2558)
-Campora,D (2547)/Ciudad Real 2004}) 7... d6 8. d3 a6 9. Qb3 Bc5 10. Na4 Ba7
11. Nb6 Bxb6 12. Qxb6 c5 13. Ne1 Bg4 14. f3 Be6 15. Bg5 Nbd7 16. Qa5 h6 17. Bd2
Nb8 18. Nc2 Nc6 19. Qc3 b5 20. Ne3 Nd4 21. Rae1 Rab8 22. Qc1 bxc4 23. dxc4 Qd7
24. Rf2 Rfe8 25. Bc3 a5 26. Qd1 a4 27. Bf1 Ra8 28. Bd3 Kh8 29. Kh1 Qb7 30. h4
Rf8 31. Kh2 Qd7 32. Ref1 Rae8 33. a3 Ra8 34. Qd2 Nb3 35. Qd1 Nd4 36. Rg1 Rae8
37. Qf1 Qd8 38. Qd1 Qd7 39. Nd5 Bxd5 40. cxd5 Rc8 41. Re1 Ra8 42. Bf1 Qe7 43.
Bd3 1/2-1/2