Leinier Dominguez Wins The 2013 Thessaloniki Grand Prix
The Thessaloniki Grand Prix ended with a final round of high drama, as befitting a tournament which has brought so much excitement and so many hard-fought games for chess fans!
Leinier Dominguez pulled off the greatest tournament victory of his life by beating Veselin Topalov with a great display of endgame skill. The Cuban #1 ended the tournament with an excellent 8/11 score. His only loss was to Gata Kamsky in the very first round!
Kamsky had led by half a point going undefeated into the final round, but the prospect of a tournament victory blew up in his face after a dramatic blunder with 35...Kh7?? against Fabiano Caruana.
US Champion Gata Kamsky's first loss of the event proved very costly...
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...allowing Fabiano Caruana to catch him in the standings
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Dominguez's victory against Topalov earned him first place!
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Nakamura ended a poor tournament on a high by beating Svidler
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A smile at last from Ivanchuk, presaging his first and only win of the event
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Morozevich ended a disastrous sequence of four losses with a final round draw
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Kasimdzhanov drew his final game with Grischuk
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The Final Standings
| Name | Fed | Elo | Pts |
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier | CUB | 2723 | 8 |
| Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2741 | 7½ |
| Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2774 | 7½ |
| Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2779 | 6 |
| Ponomariov, Ruslan | UKR | 2742 | 6 |
| Kasimdzhanov, Rustam | UZB | 2699 | 5½ |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2775 | 5 |
| Topalov, Veselin | BUL | 2793 | 4½ |
| Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2769 | 4½ |
| Bacrot, Etienne | FRA | 2725 | 4 |
| Morozevich, Alexander | RUS | 2760 | 4 |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2755 | 3½ |
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The winner Leinier Dominguez receives his trophy
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The Grand Prix 2012/13 Standings
| Player | London | Tashkent | Zug | Thess. | Pts | |
| 1 | Veselin Topalov (BUL) | 140 | – | 170 | 45 | 355 |
| 2 | Fabiano Caruana (ITA) | – | 80 | 100 | 125 | 305 |
| 3 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE) | 140 | 80 | 20 | – | 240 |
| 4 | Alexander Morozevich (RUS) | – | 140 | 75 | 25 | 240 |
| 5 | Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR) | – | 50 | 100 | 85 | 235 |
| 6 | Leinier Domínguez (CUB) | 35 | 20 | – | 170 | 225 |
| 7 | Hikaru Nakamura (USA) | 15 | – | 140 | 60 | 215 |
| 8 | Wang Hao (CHN) | 70 | 140 | – | – | 210 |
| 9 | Gata Kamsky (USA) | – | 10 | 75 | 125 | 210 |
| 10 | Sergey Karjakin (RUS) | – | 140 | 50 | – | 190 |
| 11 | Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB) | 35 | 80 | 20 | 70 | 185 |
| 12 | Peter Leko (HUN) | 80 | 50 | 50 | – | 180 |
| 13 | Alexander Grischuk (RUS) | 90 | – | – | 85 | 175 |
| 14 | Boris Gelfand (ISR) | 140 | 30 | – | – | 170 |
| 15 | Peter Svidler (RUS) | – | 50 | – | 45 | 95 |
| 16 | Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR) | 55 | – | – | 10 | 65 |
| 17 | Anish Giri (NED) | 15 | – | 50 | – | 65 |
| 18 | Michael Adams (ENG) | 55 | – | – | – | 55 |
| 19 | Étienne Bacrot (FRA) | – | – | – | 25 | 25 |
| 20 | Teimour Radjabov (AZE) | – | – | 20 | – | 20 |
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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.
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.
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. Games via TWIC. Grand Prix standings via Wikipedia.
