The London Grand Prix at Simpson’s in the Strand finished in a triple tie between the three grandmasters Topalov, Gelfand and Mamedyarov, who ended in that order after a tie break. Britain’s Mickey Adams performed creditably after being granted just one day’s notice that he was playing, while the top-ranked US Grandmaster, Hikaru Nakamura, experienced probably the worst result of his life, losing five games. Meanwhile, the British chess fraternity must express its gratitude to Andrew Paulson of Agon for bringing to London one of the strongest tournaments ever held here, suitably staged in the traditional home of English chess.
Sadly the event planned for 14 October at the Royal Geographical Society, also featuring Dominic Lawson and Malcolm Pein, has been cancelled.
Gelfand-Kasimdzhanov; Fidé Grand Prix, London 2012; Semi-Slav Defence
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Nf3 e6 5 Bg5 h6 6 Bxf6 Qxf6 7 e3 In the game Keene-Sugden, Dulwich 1962 there occurred 7 Qb3 g5 8 e4 dxe4 9 Nxe4 Qg6 10 Bd3 with a clear advantage to White. 7 … g6 8 Be2 Bg7 9 e4 A loss of tempo but the plan is to exploit the position of Black’s queen. 9 … dxe4 10 Nxe4 Qf4 11 Qc2 0-0 12 0-0 c5 An interesting pawn sacrifice. 13 dxc5 Bd7 14 b4 (see diagram 1) Enterprising but risky. 14 … Bxa1 Too greedy. Correct is 14 … Bc6 meeting the natural 15 Nd6 with 15 … Bxf3 16 Bxf3 Be5 when Black is well on top. 15 Rxa1 Bc6 16 Nd6 White now has fabulous compensation for the exchange since the … Be5 resource no longer operates. 16 … Nd7 17 Qc1 Qf6 Black should prefer to trade queens here and play the endgame. 18 Rb1 g5 19 Qe3 Rad8 20 Nd4 a6 21 Re1 Ne5 22 h3 Ba4 23 Qa3 Nc6 24 Nf3 Bc2 25 b5 White’s queenside pawns are now a serious problem for Black. 25 … axb5 26 cxb5 Ra8 27 Qc1 Nb4 28 Qd2 Qf4 29 Qxf4 gxf4 30 Nxb7 Rxa2 31 c6 Rfa8 32 Nd6 Bd3 33 Bxd3 Nxd3 34 Rf1 White snuffs out any chance of counterplay and will now achieve a winning material advantage when Black has to jettison material to deal with the advancing white pawns. 34 … Rc2 35 Nd4 Rc5 36 b6 Nb4 37 c7 Rf8 38 Rb1 Na6 39 N4b5 Rc6 40 b7 Nxc7 41 Nxc7 Rxd6 42 b8Q Rxb8 43 Rxb8+ Kh7 44 Rb4 Rd1+ 45 Kh2 e5 46 Ne8 f5 47 Rb7+ Kg6 48 Rg7+ Black resigns
Giri-Topalov; Fidé Grand Prix, London 2012 (see diagram 2)
Topalov achieved his success thanks to this last round endgame win. 48 … Ra3 49 Bg1 f2 50 Bxf2 Nxf2 51 Rd8+ Ke4 52 Kc6 Rc3+ White resigns
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