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.
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