Wins for Alekseev, Bacrot and Wang Yue

Peter Leko suffered his second loss in Elista today; this time it was Frenchman Etienne Bacrot who forced the Hungarian to resign with a beautiful queen sacrice. Wang Yue ground down Eljanov while Alekseev beat Kasimdzhanov with Black.

The 3rd Grand Prix takes place December 13-29 in Elista, Kalmykia. The 14 participants are Radjabov, Leko, Jakovenko, Wang Yue, Mamedyarov, Eljanov, Grischuk, Alekseev, Bacrot, Gashimov, Cheparinov, Akopian, Kasimdzhanov and Inarkiev. Rounds start daily at 15:00 local time (13:00 CET; 07:00 EST); rest days December 19 & 24; live games here.

Results Round 4, December 17 Kasimdzhanov - Alekseev 0-1 Wang Yue-Eljanov 1-0 Akopian-Gashimov ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? Grischuk-Inarkiev ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? Cheparinov-Jakovenko ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? Bacrot-Leko 1-0 Radjabov-Mamedyarov ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?

Round 4

One of the most solid "elite" grandmasters in the circuit is Peter Leko, but perhaps this status is mostly based on his normal repertoire with 1...e5: the Marshall Gambit of the Ruy Lopez. Today the Hungarian tried the Caro-Kann but was demolished by Etienne Bacrot, who probably had his sharp treatment with 17.g4!? lying on a shelf for a while.



It was played only in the game Pesoa-Romero, Villa Ballester 2002 and eight years ago Black didn't dare to take the pawn, but Leko did. And considering the next few moves, Black seems to be fine indeed (as usual in the Caro-Kann, co-editor Merijn would say!) but he really needs to put his bishop on g5 on either move 21 or 22, and a move later his rook. Leko thought he'd be in time himself, but had missed the beautiful queen sacrifice that's known since 1869 from the famous Anderssen-Zukertort game.

If Bacrot was Anderssen today, Evgeny Alekseev was Petrosian, no doubt. A positional exchange sacrifice got Black in total control and the game seemed to win by itself afterwards.



Wang Yue, well, if we have to continue comparing then I'll pick Kramnik because of the quiet middlegame and excellent technique, but actually that's pretty typical of... Wang Yue himself. The man is confirming his top 10 status more and more.



The Azeri derby Radjabov vs Mamedyarov lasted about half an hour today and Grischuk-Inarkiev not much longer. As I've written before (in the bulletins for Baku and Sochi, and in New in Chess Magazine) the grandmasters have no trouble at all finding ways to draw quickly, if needed. It's part of the game.

Though it started as a Petroff, Akopian-Gashimov was more exciting. 18.Rxe8+ was new and Gashimov had to find 24...Be4! to keep the balance. Perhaps next time players will try 25.Re1!?. Not sure what was going on in Cheparinov-Jakoveko, but that was a good fight too!

[TABLE=535]

Pairings round 5, December 18

Mamedyarov-Kasimdzhanov Leko-Radjabov Jakovenko-Bacrot Inarkiev-Cheparinov Gashimov-Grischuk Eljanov-Akopian Alekseev-Wang Yue


Links:

• Tournament website
• Live games
• TWIC's games in PGN