In the fourth round of the World Chess Grand Prix in Tashkent three of the six games were decisive: Svidler, Wang Hao and Caruana won their games. Since Morozevich drew his game versus Mamedyarov, the Russian retains the sole lead entering the first rest day (Monday November 26th).

Tashkent Grand Prix logo | Photos courtesy of FIDE

Peter Svidler recovered from his painful loss the prior round against Mamedyarov by defeating Ruslan Ponomariov. With White, he opted for the Scotch with 5.Nb3 and introduced an interesting novelty on move 12, attempting to improve upon the game Bruzon-Fressinet from this year's Olympiad. Apparently Ponomariov wasn't aware of all nuances and soon fell under very unpleasant pressure. Although Svidler didn't play very precisely throughout the middlegame, and the Ukrainian was close to equality at some point, White kept pressing on the kingside and eventually succeeded in creating new weaknesses. On move 44 Black resigned, which meant Svidler's first victory in this tournament was at hand.

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The encounter between Peter Leko and Leinier Dominguez certainly offers new study material for opening theoreticians. In the Classical Variation of the Nimzo-Indian with 5.e4, the board was set on fire from the very beginning, and the Hungarian was the first to deviate from earlier games. Unfortunately, the sting was soon taken out of the position, when between move 13 and 21 both sides captured no less than eight times! After this mass of exchanges there wasn't much to play in the remainder and so a repetition of moves was established.

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Peter Leko and Lenier Dominguez agreed to a draw after a hypersharp Nimzo-Indian

A less eventful draw was seen in the game between Rustam Kasimdzhanov and Sergey Karjakin. White opted for 7.dxc5 against the Queen's Gambit Accepted, steering the game into a queenless middlegame. On move 13 the former FIDE World Champion deviated from some earlier games, but Karjakin continued to develop his pieces naturally. When all the minor pieces and pawns on the queenside were traded off a draw was agreed.

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So far it is not Gata Kamsky's tournament. In the fourth round another loss was added to his account, this time caused by Wang Hao. Kamsky deviated in a sharp Catalan from the game Aronian-Mamedyarov, Ohrid 2009, but soon his opening experiment totally failed. Besides an extra pawn, Black also had his pieces coordinated more efficiently. Tempted by the weakened kingside, Wang Hao focused his attention on that part of board, even though it would have been better just to keep his pieces centralized. Kamsky fought back and soon saw his drawing chances dramatically increased, due to the limited number of pawns left on the board. The American was unable to exploit the misplaced knight in the corner, however, and once Black's connected passed pawns got on a roll his fate was sealed.

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Boris Gelfand with Black faced his second Sicilian Rossolimo this tournament. Fabiano Caruana decided to play 5.Re1, whereas Svidler opted for 5.c3 in the second round. Gelfand was apparently cavalier towards the potential dangers of his position and inattentively shuffled around with his remaining knight. With energetic play, Caruana gradually increased the pressure on Black's position and eventually won a pawn. As they say, ''the rest is a matter of technique'', but once more an elite player proved that one shouldn't cheer for victory too early. Gelfand's tough defense was almost rewarded had he placed his king on d6 rather than his knight, on move 56. After this decisive mistake Caruana didn't falter again and recorded his second victory in a row.

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Gelfand: ''Did I do anything wrong by placing my knight on a5?''

Arguably the most spectacular game of the round was played between the current leader Alexander Morozevich and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. In an Exchange Variation of the Slav the black queen wasted lot of time taking the pawn on b2 and after a short stop back home on e7, her adventure on the other side of the board continued. When the smoke cleared Black had four pawns for the knight, but White's c-pawn turned out to be an unpleasant force to reckon with. White could have obtained a winning advantage with 39.Ne7 Kh8 40.Qd6! when White's passer has free passage, while the king is fairly safe surrounded by its own forces. In the game, Moro's king didn't find shelter and so a repetition of moves was inevitable.

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A fascinating battle between Morozevich and Mamedyarov ended in a draw

World Chess Grand Prix Tashkent 2012 | Round 4 standings