On Thursday the second leg of the World Chess Grand Prix series started in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The games take place in the Gallery of Fine Art, each day at 14.00 local time. In the first round, two players managed to score a full point: Alexander Morozevich and Sergey Karjakin.

Tashkent Grand Prix logo | Photos courtesy of FIDE

By IM Twan Burg

Morozevich had an inferior position out of the opening against Gata Kamsky. Kamsky was in control and carried out the right plan by advancing his pawns on the kingside, even though this was not without risk. In the heat of the battle, Kamsky failed to give the knockout punch and slowly lost control. When he finally made a blunder, Morozevich didn't miss his chance and took the full point.

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Gata Kamsky spoiled a promising position against Alexander Morozevich and eventually lost

In a sideline of the Breyer variation, Karjakin showed an original plan of unpinning his knight by simply stepping aside with the queen. After Lenier Dominguez decided to release the tension in the centre, Karjakin advanced his pawns on the queenside, supported by his well-placed pieces. Eventually, Dominguez could not stop the black a-pawn from queening.

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Peter Svidler scored a very comfortable draw with black against Fabiano Caruana. In a Grünfeld with f3, Svidler showed that he was prepared very well. Caruana pinned all his hopes on a passed d-pawn, but when this pawn actually turned out to be weak, he had to be careful not to lose. After an inaccuracy from Svidler, the pawn was regained and an equal endgame arose.

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A comfortable draw for Svidler with his beloved Grünfeld against Caruana

The game between Gelfand and Leko also ended in a draw. In an English opening, Gelfand introduced a novelty by taking back on d4 with his f-knight. Leko reacted well and could even have seized the initiative with 12..a6. Once he omitted this, Gelfand had a slight advantage, however, after the exchange of the queens, the resulting endgame was fairly balanced and draw was a logical result.

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Mamedyarov-Kasimdzhanov was an interesting battle. In a Queens Gambit Declined, Kasimdzhanov gained a firm grip over the e4-square. After Mamedyarov started to open the position on the kingside, the Uzbek favorite sacrificed a pawn to eliminate white's strong knight. Kasimdzhanov had more active pieces which enabled him to regain the pawn, after which the game was balanced.

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Ruslan Ponomariov was not careful enough with his edge against Wang Hao. In a quiet line of the Sicilian Dragon, Wang made a mistake by playing 17..b5?!, after which Ponomariov seized the bishop pair. Instead of sitting on his advantage, he chose an endgame, which Wang Hao managed to draw easily.

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Wang Hao wasn't punished for his serious inaccurary against Ruslan Ponomariov

World Chess Grand Prix Tashkent 2012 | Round 1 standings

Sergey Karjakin won a nice game with Black against the Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez

The playing hall in Tashkent