Thessaloniki Grand Prix Round 10
Gata Kamsky celebrated his 39th birthday today by taking the sole lead again in the Thessaloniki Grand Prix with just one round remaining. The American champion inflicted a fourth straight defeat on poor Alexander Morozevich, taking his own score to 7½/10.
The Cuban #1 Leinier Dominguez drew a lively encounter with Alexander Grischuk to lie in second place by half a point, and in the last game to finish Fabiano Caruana had a hard fight before eventually overcoming Veselin Topalov to stand in third place.
It promises to be an exciting final round, with Kamsky facing Caruana with the black pieces, while Dominguez will have white against Topalov.
Note that the final round starts 2 hours earlier than usual, at 12:00 local time (09:00 UTC).
Nearly there! Gata Kamsky takes a half point lead into the final round
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Dominguez's draw with Grischuk leaves him half a point adrift of the lead
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Fabiano Caruana eventually defeated Topalov in the last game to finish
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Ruslan Ponomariov defeated Etienne Bacrot
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Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Peter Svidler shared the points
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Vassily Ivanchuk drew his game with Hikaru Nakamura
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The standings after 10 rounds
| Name | Fed | Elo | Pts |
| Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2741 | 7½ |
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier | CUB | 2723 | 7 |
| Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2774 | 6½ |
| Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2779 | 5½ |
| Ponomariov, Ruslan | UKR | 2742 | 5½ |
| Kasimdzhanov, Rustam | UZB | 2699 | 5 |
| Topalov, Veselin | BUL | 2793 | 4½ |
| Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2769 | 4½ |
| Bacrot, Etienne | FRA | 2725 | 4 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2775 | 4 |
| Morozevich, Alexander | RUS | 2760 | 3½ |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2755 | 2½ |
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Final round Pairings
| Kasimdzhanov Rustam | v | Grischuk Alexander |
| Nakamura Hikaru | v | Svidler Peter |
| Bacrot Etienne | v | Ivanchuk Vassily |
| Morozevich Alexander | v | Ponomariov Ruslan |
| Caruana Fabiano | v | Kamsky Gata |
| Dominguez Perez Leinier | v | Topalov Veselin |
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The schedule for the 2013 Thessaloniki Grand Prix
| 21st May 2013 | Arrival & Opening Ceremony |
| 22nd May 2013 | Round 1 |
| 23rd May 2013 | Round 2 |
| 24th May 2013 | Round 3 |
| 25th May 2013 | Round 4 |
| 26th May 2013 | Free Day |
| 27th May 2013 | Round 5 |
| 28th May 2013 | Round 6 |
| 29th May 2013 | Round 7 |
| 30th May 2013 | Round 8 |
| 31st May 2013 | Free Day |
| 1st June 2013 | Round 9 |
| 2nd June 2013 | Round 10 |
| 3rd June 2013 | Round 11 & Closing Ceremony |
| 4th June 2013 | Departure |
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The fourth Grand Prix of the 2012/13 series runs from 21 May - 4 June in Thessaloniki, Greece. The full pairings are available here.
The overall winner and runner-up of the 2012/13 Grand Prix series will qualify for the next Candidates Tournament, expected to be held in March 2014. The first three events were held in London, Tashkent and Zug. The current standings are shown here.
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. The best 3 scores of each player count towards their overall score. The official regulations for the 2012/13 FIDE Grand Prix can be found here.
All rounds start at 14:00 local time (11:00 UTC) except the final round which starts 2 hours earlier. The time control used is 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by 20 moves in 1 hour, then 15 minutes plus a 30 second increment after move 60.
Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich at the official website, which has live games, analysis and video.
Games via TWIC.
