In the second round of the World Chess Grand Prix in Tashkent, only Alexander Morozevich managed to win his game against top seed Fabiano Caruana. Since the other games ended in a peaceful way, it's the Russian GM who's taking an early sole lead in the capital of Uzbekistan.

Tashkent Grand Prix logo | Photos courtesy of FIDE

Alexander Morozevich seems to be back in excellent shape after his unexpected withdrawal due to health reasons from the Biel tournament earlier this year. Although luck was on his side in the first round encounter versus Gata Kamsky, his victory over Caruana was pretty straightforward. From an Anti-Berlin opening, play was steered quickly into unknown territory and evidently this type of play suited the Muscovite very well. Caruana failed to come up with an active plan and soon 'Moro' was in the driver's seat with pressure on the weak e-pawn. Black was forced to give up the pawn, but in the ensuing single rook ending he blundered terribly on move 40 by capturing the a-pawn. Instead, 40...Rf4! had to be played, keeping an eye on the pawn on g4 when Black should be able to hold on. After this mistake White's connected passed pawns were simply too strong.

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Alexander Morozevich defeated top seed Fabiano Caruana in the second round

Co-leader Sergey Karjakin drew his game with Gata Kamsky. In the Petrosian System (4.a3) of the Queen's Indian play remained pretty balanced throughout the entire game and so the point was split on move 30. 

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Together with Alexander Morozevich, Sergey Karjakin is the only player who managed to score a full point so far

The game between Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Ruslan Ponomariov was rather dry. In a typical variation of the Ruy Lopez with 6.d3, the pawn structure became symmetrical, with four pawns on the d-file. Judging by the speed his moves were made, the Ukrainian former FIDE World Champion seemed well-prepared and easily added another half point to his record.

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Grünfeld advocates will surely be interested in the game between Wang Hao and Leinier Dominguez, which ended in a draw as well. Against the provocative 5.Qa4+, the Cuban responded energetically with 8...c6, 9...b5 and 10...Qa5. However, in subsequent play Black's problems concerning the development of his queenside became apparent, and for quite some time White had the better prospects. Approaching the time-control White couldn't find the precise continuation and thus Black was able to generate counterplay in time, with his passed b-pawn.

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Leko-Mamedyarov saw a rather unusual opening and White aggressively advanced his g-pawn, attempting to punish Black for his rather passive and provocative setup. After the exchange of queens, Black remained in control due to the centrally placed knights. At some point Leko almost overplayed his hand and dropped a pawn. The Azeri tried to convert his slight material advantage, but with accurate play Leko managed to hold on, and so the result was never in dispute.

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Peter Svidler opted for the Sicilian Rossolimo against Boris Gelfand, which the latter faced a couple of times against Vishy Anand in the last World Championship Match (May 2012). Whereas the Indian consistently tried to prove an edge by trading of his bishop for the knight on c6, Svidler decided to keep his light-squared bishop on the board and caught his opponent by surprise with 10.b4!?. The Israeli missed a clear path to equality with 14...Qb6 and ended up in an unpleasant ending. His tenacious resistance was finally rewarded and after a hard-fought game Svidler had to accept a draw.

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Boris Gelfand confronted with Peter Svidler's interpretation of the Sicilian Rossolimo

World Chess Grand Prix Tashkent 2012 | Round 2 standings