Today Giri mentioned he likes to listen music before playing a game. He had tried different styles this tournament: Hiphop, Classical, Reggae, but it did not give the desired result on the board. Already getting desperate, he made the decision to try Georgian music before's today round. And this time it did not go in vain! Black was comfortable throughout the game and the only question was if he could have tried to push a bit more in the position where a draw was agreed.
Wang Hao suggested 42...Kg6 and a nice sample line which the players analysed in the press conference is: 43.Ka2 Rf6! 44.Kb3 Kh5 45.g3 Kg4 46.Rd3 Rh6 47.Kb4 Rh3 48.Ka5 Rxg3 49.Rxg3+ Kxg3 50.Kxa5 Kxf4 51.Kxb5 Ke3 and Black promotes on f1 with check! Of course this line is not forced but it does show the dangers in the position.
Ruslan Ponomariov - Leinier DominguezSeeing how Anish Giri is always making easy draw on the Black side of the Petroff, Dominguez said he felt like trying it out for himself!
Ponomariov was surprized by the Cuban's opening choice; he had no special preparation and tried to think and play independently. White did not get any advantage and the game ended in a draw without any special on board incidents. In exchange, Ponomariov was very generously explaining his approach during the press conference.
"Maybe it did not work out well today, but in practical play one can always hope to outplay his opponent, despite complete equality after the opening." He also added that he never thought of the Petroff defence as a problem for the 1.e4 players. There are better openings to play for a draw, without the need of getting such passive and one-sided positions like in the Petroff.
Alexander Grischuk - Hikaru NakamuraWith 5.g3 against the Queens-Gambit Grischuk tried to stir the game into Catalan waters. That is indeed what happened and in the process the queens were also exchanged. In the end, Grischuk complimented his opponent with his precise play and both players agreed that in the endgame it was in fact only Black which could be better. The critical position arised after:
16...Nxc4, when White has to chose how to take back. Since 17.Nxc4 runs into 17...b6 followed by Ba6 with pressure, Grischuk chose
17.Kxc4; In the fight for the initiative, he started an original king march, but this proved far from one-sided.
During the press conference, the players were looking for a way to prove an advantage for Black. Hikaru suggested 17...Bd7 (the point being 18.Bxb7 Bc8! 19.Bg2 Ba6+!) and another option is 17...e5!? 18.Rhd1 Be6+ followed by e4. In both cases Black is somewhat better but perhaps not more than that. After the game continuation, Grischuk had little trouble stirring the game towards a peaceful end. Black even obtained a symbolic advantage in view of the better structure, but... all rook endings are drawn!
Etienne Bacrot - Evgeny TomashevskyEntering the Marshall Attack without speciffic preparation is equivalent to suicide. But, as suggested by Bacrot during the press conference, White cannot hope for much without a good deal of analytical work in the Anti-Marshall systems either. In the game, White’s position looked more pleasant, but Black proved he knew what he was doing and managed to work out his way until a drawn rook (yes, again!) ending.
Once again, Tomashevsky was very well prepared in the Spanish. In a position that Etienne had played himself with Black on two occassions, Tomashevsky introduced the interesting novelty:
12...d5. Taken by surprise, it was difficult for Bacrot to pose Tomashevsky any problems. In the press conference, both players expressed not only how difficult it is nowadays to get an advantage out of the opening with White, but even a fighting position!
Laurent Fressinet - Boris Gelfand
Trying to "
surprise Boris and get a game", Fressinet chose
4.c4 in the Sicilian with
3.Bb5+. The players showed some fascinating variation after the game:
If 13...Nd7 Fressinet had calculated 14.b3 Nc5 15.Qc2 Nxe4 16.Nd5! but the line continues with 16...Rfe8 17.Rxe4 e6! (not 17...Bxa1 18.Nxe7 or even 18.Rxe7!?) 18.Nb4! and now it is important to choose the right square with the queen. Fressinet showed the following amusing variation: 18...Qc5 19.Nd3 Qc6 and now both rooks are hanging but the
'fianchetto knight' 20.Nb2! saves the day.
But, as Gelfand correctly pointed out, 18...Qb6! is the right move, and Black seems to come out on top. In the game there followed
13..Rac8 14.b3 Nxe4 15.Nd5 Rfe8 16.Rxe4 e6 17.Rb1 exd5 18.cxd5 Qd7 and Black has comfortably equalized, although not more than that. The game ended with a perpetual check on move 34.
While the games were still in progress, a parallel event was taking place in the French Chess Federation's headquarters: a simultaneous exhibition, given by the strongest woman French player: Marie Sebag. There is no surprise she didn't lose a single game but still two draws slipped out of Marie's pockets.
As for the tournament, it is worth mentioning that it keeps gathering a rather big audience, despite being played far from the centre. And after a day marked by caution among the players with White, we can only wish that tomorrow the „White attacks” syndrom will be restored! And Black's...
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Black’s excellent statistics in the previous round did not mark the start of a new trend in the second half of the Grand Prix. Although generally speaking White failed to pose big problems, the overall result favours the first player, with a win and five draws.
