Saturday, June 1, 2013

Thessaloniki Grand Prix Round 9

Leinier Dominguez was a convincing winner of his clash with Fabiano Caruana in round 9 of the Thessaloniki Grand Prix, earning a share of the lead once more with just two rounds remaining.
The Cuban and his Italian foe had been sharing second place, but despite having the black pieces Dominguez scored a crucial win to pull level with Gata Kamsky who drew with Etienne Bacrot.

The only other decisive game of the round was a victory for Veselin Topalov against Alexander Morozevich, which takes the Bulgarian back to a level score in the tournament.
The pairings for the final two rounds can be found below.
Leinier Dominguez beat Fabiano Caruana to earn a share of the lead
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Veselin Topalov scored a win against Alexander Morozevich
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Gata Kamsky must now share the lead after his draw with Etienne Bacrot
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Peter Svidler drew his game with Alexander Grischuk
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Hikaru Nakamura could only draw with Ruslan Ponomariov
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The board's behind you Vassily! Ivanchuk drew with Rustam Kasimdzhanov
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The standings after 9 rounds
NameFedEloPts
Kamsky, Gata USA 2741
Dominguez Perez, Leinier CUB 2723
Caruana, Fabiano ITA 2774
Grischuk, Alexander RUS 27795
Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR 2742
Topalov, Veselin BUL 2793
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam UZB 2699
Bacrot, Etienne FRA 27254
Svidler, Peter RUS 27694
Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2775
Morozevich, Alexander RUS 2760
Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR 27552
.
Round 10 pairings 
Grischuk AlexandervDominguez Perez Leinier
Topalov VeselinvCaruana Fabiano
Kamsky GatavMorozevich Alexander
Ponomariov RuslanvBacrot Etienne
Ivanchuk VassilyvNakamura Hikaru
Svidler PetervKasimdzhanov Rustam
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Round 11 Pairings
Kasimdzhanov RustamvGrischuk Alexander
Nakamura HikaruvSvidler Peter
Bacrot EtiennevIvanchuk Vassily
Morozevich AlexandervPonomariov Ruslan
Caruana FabianovKamsky Gata
Dominguez Perez LeiniervTopalov Veselin
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The schedule for the 2013 Thessaloniki Grand Prix
21st May 2013Arrival & Opening Ceremony
22nd May 2013Round 1 
23rd May 2013Round 2 
24th May 2013Round 3 
25th May 2013Round 4 
26th May 2013Free Day 
27th May 2013Round 5 
28th May 2013Round 6 
29th May 2013Round 7 
30th May 2013Round 8 
31st May 2013Free Day 
1st June 2013Round 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 inLondonTashkent 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 gamesanalysis and video.

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