Chess - The Scotsman 31/07/12

By John Henderson
Published on 31/07/2012 03:53

HIKARU Nakamura, the United States champion, will be the top seed for the E240,000 (£187,800) first stage of the Fide Grand Prix in London, which runs from 20 September to 3 October.

The grand prix will be held in Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, the spiritual home of chess. Originally though it was slated for Chelyabinsk in the Russian Ural mountains, but some unexpected spat between the Russian Chess Federation and Fide led to it bizarrely failing to receive the required RCF backing. Nevertheless Russia’s loss is London’s gain for the first of six series that will kick off the next World Chess Championship Cycle. Future venues planned include Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin, Paris and Tromsø.

The world No 1, Magnus Carlsen, was in catch-up mode at Biel on Sunday by playing Alexander Morozevitch’s replacement, Viktor Bologan. When Morozevitch pulled out of the tournament after two rounds, Carlsen, by rights, could have claimed three points for the win by default for their third-round game, but instead he magnanimously agreed to play Bologan on the rest day – not that it helped the Moldovan substitute, as he crashed to his fourth successive defeat.

The Carlsen win sets up an enthralling second half to Biel, with only one win (3 points) separating the top three, Wang Hao, Anish Giri and Carlsen.

Standings: 1. Wang Hao, 13/18; 2. A Giri, 11; 3. M Carlsen, 10;

4. H Nakamura, 9; 5. E Bacrot, 5; 6. V Bologan, 0/12.

V Bologan - M Carlsen

45th Biel GM Tournament, (3)

Sicilian Rossolimo

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 d6 4 0–0 Bd7 5 Re1 Nf6 6 h3 e6 7 c3 d5 8 d3 a6 9 Ba4 b5 10 Bc2 dxe4 11 dxe4 e5 12 a4 Be7 13 axb5 axb5 14 Rxa8 Qxa8 15 Bg5 Be6 16 Na3 b4 17 Nb1 0–0 18 Ba4 h6 19 Bh4 Rd8 20 Nbd2 g5 21 Bg3 Nd7 22 Bb3 Nf8 23 Qc2 f6 24 Nc4 Qa6 25 Qe2 Rb8 26 Ne3 Qxe2 27 Bxe6+ Nxe6 28 Rxe2 Ra8 29 h4 Ra2 30 Kf1 Kf7 31 Bh2 Na5 32 hxg5 hxg5 33 Rd2 b3! 34 Bxe5 g4 35 Nxg4 Nc4 36 Re2 Nxb2 37 Nd2 c4 38 Bg3 Nd3 39 f4 Nexf4 40 Bxf4 Ra1+ 0–1