Mamedyarov beats Giri in third round London Grand Prix

In the shortest and only decisive game of Sunday's third round in London, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeated Anish Giri. The Azerbaijani managed to surprise his Dutch opponent in the opening and won in just 21 moves. Hikaru Nakamura missed a chance to catch the leaders as he failed to convert a theoretically winning rook ending.
A miniature between Mamedyarov and Giri | Photos © Macauley Peterson
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Who surprised whom? That was the question at the start of the game between Mamedyarov and Giri, in the third round of the London Grand Prix. After the moves 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 the Azerbaijani GM avoided the main lines with 4.Qb3 but did not expect 4...e6. He then spent 20 minutes on 5.Bg5!? which turned out to be an excellent surprise weapon!
Videos by Macauley Peterson
Rustam Kasimdzhanov showed the result of spending years as one of the seconds of Vishy Anand. In a Semi-Slav he could throw in a wonderful novelty that killed all White hopes for an advantage.
Video
Gelfand, on his turn, profited from his work on the Sveshnikov Sicilian for his match against Anand in May this year. Using some nice tactics he equalized comfortably against Dominguez.
Video
Ivanchuk and Adams drew in a quiet Nimzo-Indian, Rubinstein Variation.

More interesting was Wang Hao vs Grischuk, where the Russian failed to profit from Wang's inaccuracies.
Video
Nakamura built up a nice advantage and then liquidated to a better rook ending. At some point it was winning, but the American let it slip away.
Video
Schedule & pairings
| Round 1 | 15:00 CET | 21.09.12 | Round 2 | 15:00 CET | 22.09.12 | |
| Kasimdzhanov | ½-½ | Leko | Leko | 1-0 | Ivanchuk | |
| Nakamura | 0-1 | Gelfand | Adams | ½-½ | Mamedyarov | |
| Topalov | ½-½ | Grischuk | Giri | ½-½ | Wang Hao | |
| Dominguez | ½-½ | Giri | Grischuk | ½-½ | Dominguez | |
| Wang Hao | ½-½ | Adams | Gelfand | ½-½ | Topalov | |
| Mamedyarov | ½-½ | Ivanchuk | Kasimdzhanov | 0-1 | Nakamura | |
| Round 3 | 15:00 CET | 23.09.12 | Round 4 | 15:00 CET | 24.09.12 | |
| Nakamura | ½-½ | Leko | Leko | - | Adams | |
| Topalov | ½-½ | Kasimdzhanov | Giri | - | Ivanchuk | |
| Dominguez | ½-½ | Gelfand | Grischuk | - | Mamedyarov | |
| Wang Hao | ½-½ | Grischuk | Gelfand | - | Wang Hao | |
| Mamedyarov | 1-0 | Giri | Kasimdzhanov | - | Dominguez | |
| Ivanchuk | ½-½ | Adams | Nakamura | - | Topalov | |
| Round 5 | 15:00 CET | 25.09.12 | Round 6 | 15:00 CET | 27.09.12 | |
| Topalov | - | Leko | Leko | - | Giri | |
| Dominguez | - | Nakamura | Grischuk | - | Adams | |
| Wang Hao | - | Kasimdzhanov | Gelfand | - | Ivanchuk | |
| Mamedyarov | - | Gelfand | Kasimdzhanov | - | Mamedyarov | |
| Ivanchuk | - | Grischuk | Nakamura | - | Wang Hao | |
| Adams | - | Giri | Topalov | - | Dominguez | |
| Round 7 | 15:00 CET | 28.09.12 | Round 8 | 15:00 CET | 29.09.12 | |
| Dominguez | - | Leko | Leko | - | Grischuk | |
| Wang Hao | - | Topalov | Gelfand | - | Giri | |
| Mamedyarov | - | Nakamura | Kasimdzhanov | - | Adams | |
| Ivanchuk | - | Kasimdzhanov | Nakamura | - | Ivanchuk | |
| Adams | - | Gelfand | Topalov | - | Mamedyarov | |
| Giri | - | Grischuk | Dominguez | - | Wang Hao | |
| Round 9 | 15:00 CET | 01.10.12 | Round 10 | 15:00 CET | 02.10.12 | |
| Wang Hao | - | Leko | Leko | - | Gelfand | |
| Mamedyarov | - | Dominguez | Kasimdzhanov | - | Grischuk | |
| Ivanchuk | - | Topalov | Nakamura | - | Giri | |
| Adams | - | Nakamura | Topalov | - | Adams | |
| Giri | - | Kasimdzhanov | Dominguez | - | Ivanchuk | |
| Grischuk | - | Gelfand | Wang Hao | - | Mamedyarov | |
| Round 11 | 12:00 CET | 03.10.12 | ||||
| Mamedyarov | - | Leko | ||||
| Ivanchuk | - | Wang Hao | ||||
| Adams | - | Dominguez | ||||
| Giri | - | Topalov | ||||
| Grischuk | - | Nakamura | ||||
| Gelfand | - | Kasimdzhanov |
London GP 2012 | Round 3 standings
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Comments
Hugh Jass
7 months 3 weeks ago
Permalink
If the twit did less 1/0 and mouthing he might learn endings like any european GM worth his salt.....of course expect a it wasnt my fault tweet later from the so called american...
Bartleby
7 months 3 weeks ago
Permalink
The twit can be proud how he outmaneuvered Leko in the phase leading into the won endgame. I don't see what exactly went wrong for Leko. I am always impressed when somebody starts from a not far from equal position, just makes a few unspectacular, logical moves, a few exchanges and ends up with real winning chances.
Anonymous
7 months 3 weeks ago
Permalink
Your comment is completely out of place. Yes, Naka failed to convert a theoretically won ending, but you don't see that happening very often by him. Then he is obviously not a twit but a very decent, extremely successful young man and also often surprisingly self-critical in his tweets.
Bert de Bruut
7 months 3 weeks ago
Permalink
Take a look in Dvortesky's endgame manual, and see how all world champion's and the likes of Carlsen and who not, are presented there throwing away wins or draws in theoretical, tablebase, positions. Nothing as hard to contain (or calculate) as the endless possibilities on an empty board!
Casey
7 months 3 weeks ago
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Well, if you have to know, the tweet today is...
The good, the bad and the really, really ugly finish. Draws are not quite as much fun.
He's getting pretty good at the 140-character post-game commentary.
Thomas
7 months 3 weeks ago
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Half-seriously, I wonder if someone else is currently taking care of Nakamura's Twitter account. The recent "sophisticated" tweets are quite different from earlier ones such as the 'self-critical' "I played like an idiot" (when he lost or even when he failed to win) or "All I can say is wow" (he won an important game). That stuff may have been closer to his genuine feelings after a game, though.
The turning point could have been Nakamura's misplaced tweets towards the end of the Olympiad - now it is at least quite ironic that he trashed Onischuk for messing up in a rook endgame.
KingTal
7 months 3 weeks ago
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But one has to give credit to Leko´s endgame technique, he made some only moves in time pressure to safe himself.
Also to be precise the endgame before Nakamuras Rb7 was a practically won one as the tablebases tell, not just theoretically.
Anonymous
7 months 3 weeks ago
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Naka played Kd5 on one move and Houdini didn't even see it!!! They said so on chessbomb. It wasn't even the top 4 choices on there.. That was a winning move and he could of won but is wierd. He only drue.
jambow
7 months 3 weeks ago
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Well I was truly impressed with Nakamura's methodical build up to a won a game. then more than unimpressed with his abillity to throw it away? I don't get it I could have won against Kasparov or Houdini, I was like KD5? Went back over it and several times and couldn't see how black could hold before that. Nakamura usually out plays even the top players in end games so this absolutely baffled me? He also wasted a lot of time when the answer was very simple for no reason. Sighhhhh
jambow
7 months 3 weeks ago
Permalink
Well I was truly impressed with Nakamura's methodical build up to a won a game. then more than unimpressed with his abillity to throw it away? I don't get it I could have won against Kasparov or Houdini, I was like KD5? Went back over it and several times and couldn't see how black could hold before that. Nakamura usually out plays even the top players in end games so this absolutely baffled me? He also wasted a lot of time when the answer was very simple for no reason. Sighhhhh
Mike
7 months 3 weeks ago
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So many wanabe GMs!, The guy is 2780 for gods sake!.
AAR
7 months 3 weeks ago
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Did Giri play a blitz game - games in my club are much better.
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