One of the favorites for winning the overall Grand Prix suffered a loss with the white pieces today: Peter Leko. The Hungarian, second seeded in Elista, was beaten by Alexander Grischuk, who tricked his opponent with an unexpected combination. The other winner of the day was Teimour Radjabov who grabbed an exchange in timetrouble and converted it at move 74 against Etienne Bacrot.

The 3rd Grand Prix takes place December 13-29 in Elista, Kalmykia. The 14 participants are Radjabov, Leko, Jakovenko, Wang Yue, Mamedyarov, Eljanov, Grischuk, Alekseev, Bacrot, Gashimov, Cheparinov, Akopian, Kasimdzhanov and Inarkiev. Rounds start daily at 15:00 local time (13:00 CET; 07:00 EST); rest days December 19 & 24; live games here.

Round 2

Grischuk followed Van Wely's footsteps against the same opponent in Dortmund this summer, until the new but very natural 13.Rfd1. Leko's 22...Ra7 looked suspicious; two pawns were too much even for a Marshall player like the Hungarian, who tried in vain (though resourcefully with 27..Ng5!?) to find compensation on the white squares surrounding White's king. Well defended by Grischuk.

Bacrot started fine against Radjabov but his pawn sac on move 24 didn't really work out; it's probably still White who has the advantage after e.g. 24.Qb3. Black was slightly better when Radjabov erred with 28...Reb8!? perhaps missing 29.Ra1!, though soon afterwards Bacrot on his turn failed to spot 30.Rxa8 Rxa8 31.Qb7! after which he had to lose an exchange. Perhaps the resulting ending was still a draw, but it's very difficult to defend.

Wang Yue tried for a long time to get a full point after yesterday's loss, but Inarkiev just didn't make a mistake. Cheparinov was better throughout the game against Mamedyarov but the Azeri followed Inarkiev's example and held his own a pawn down in a rook ending. Alekseev-Gashimov. Kasimdzhanov-Eljanov and especially Akopian-Jakovenko looked pretty level from start to finish.

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Links:

• Tournament website
• Live games
• TWIC's games in PGN