Thessaloniki Grand Prix Round 6
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The sixth round of the Thessaloniki Grand Prix served up another three decisive games, all of them victories for the white pieces. So far in the tournament there have only been two wins for the black pieces - both by Leinier Dominguez!
Gata Kamky and Fabiano Caruana joined Dominguez at the top of the standings by beating Peter Svidler and Etienne Bacrot respectively.
Kamsky took full advantage of Svidler's time-trouble to gain a winning advantage, while Caruana gradually outplayed Bacrot after surprising him with his opening choice in another game marked by time-trouble.
The third decisive game was Ruslan Ponomariov's first win, and Vassily Ivanchuk's fourth loss. This time the end came after just 19 moves, and before a single capture had taken place! Ivanchuk is in one of his terrible downward spirals which are hard to watch, like a car crash played out in slow-motion. Will the Ukrainian find a way to recover his composure and show us how he can really play?
Gata Kamsky moved into a share of first place
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Fabiano Caruana chose the Scotch Opening to defeat Etienne Bacrot
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Don't give up Chucky!
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Hikaru Nakamura held Leinier Dominguez to a draw in a long endgame fight
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Veselin Topalov and Rustam Kasimdzhanov fought an exciting game down to bare kings
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In the battle of the Sashas, Morozevich (pictured) and Grischuk drew
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The standings after 6 rounds
| Name | Fed | Elo | Pts |
| Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2741 | 4 |
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier | CUB | 2723 | 4 |
| Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2774 | 4 |
| Ponomariov, Ruslan | UKR | 2742 | 3½ |
| Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2779 | 3½ |
| Topalov, Veselin | BUL | 2793 | 3½ |
| Morozevich, Alexander | RUS | 2760 | 3½ |
| Kasimdzhanov, Rustam | UZB | 2699 | 3 |
| Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2769 | 2 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2775 | 2 |
| Bacrot, Etienne | FRA | 2725 | 2 |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2755 | 1 |
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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.
