London 2012 FIDE Grand Prix Thread - Chess and Board Game Strategy

Until this morning, I was unaware that today is the first round of the London 2012 FIDE Grand Prix, which takes place from September 21st until October 4th. The winner and runner up qualify for the March 2014 Candidates Tournament. Here's a chess.com link with some event details.

http://www.chess.com/news/london-201...rand-prix-7356

The field is very strong, I'm really looking forward to watching. I'm not sure exactly which sites are relaying the games, but so far chessbomb.com is doing pretty well.

Participant List
Hikaru Nakamura
Vassily Ivanchuk
Alexander Grischuk
Veselin Topalov
Wang Hao
Boris Gelfand
Peter Leko
Anish Giri
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Leinier Dominguez Perez
Michael Adams
Rustam Kasimdzhanov

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09-21-2012 , 02:21 PM

YouKnowWho

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http://london2012.fide.com/en/main-p...137-live-video

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09-22-2012 , 06:24 AM

EGarrett

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What is the next event that Carlsen will be participating in? My main concern is 2852.

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09-22-2012 , 10:50 AM

networth

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Giri wearing advertizing on his shirt collar. first time I've seen that. Nascar here we come

Last edited by networth; 09-22-2012 at 10:52 AM. Reason: dark knight rises for Naka

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09-22-2012 , 10:54 AM

ohsnapzbrah

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Quote:

Originally Posted by EGarrett

What is the next event that Carlsen will be participating in? My main concern is 2852.

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8478

He'll be playing in the Chess Masters Final in Sao Paulo and Bilbao. Carlsen, Aronian, Anand, and Karjakin. It's going to be a beast field. With a mere 2700 being the typical punching bag for the rest.

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09-22-2012 , 04:09 PM

mightytiny

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Naka should thank the Gods for that gift in the second round...what happened

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09-22-2012 , 08:31 PM

EGarrett

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Quote:

Originally Posted by ohsnapzbrah

Thank you very much. It's definitely possible with that field.

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09-22-2012 , 11:32 PM

Army Eye

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Quote:

Originally Posted by mightytiny

Naka should thank the Gods for that gift in the second round...what happened

severe time trouble for Kasim, he had like 1 minute to make moves 54-60. It's so often that last move that does it.

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09-25-2012 , 04:35 AM

wlrs

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Kg8-h7, well played Wang Hao (pictures nicked from Chessbase)

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09-25-2012 , 08:44 AM

#10

TexAg06

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wlrs, the video is hilarious when Wang Hao makes gun shooting motions to his head haha.

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09-25-2012 , 09:31 AM

#11

wlrs

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Worth watching, thanks for the tip

Today's games seem like there's going to be action

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09-25-2012 , 09:39 AM

#12

TexAg06

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Agreed. Two Grunfelds being played, don't see that everyday. I'm looking forward to those in particular, playing against the Grunfeld always gives me fits.

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09-25-2012 , 10:53 AM

#13

YouKnowWho

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I am interested to see what Chucky has up his sleeve with 11. h4. My chessbase shows it as a novelty in classical chess, but I know I have played some fun blitz games with 11. h4 back at UTD, without any success.

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09-25-2012 , 12:42 PM

#14

YouKnowWho

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Topalov is crazy.

VERIFIED.

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09-25-2012 , 02:29 PM

#15

TexAg06

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Wow. Very creative idea. Surprised he got as much compensation as he did.

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09-25-2012 , 04:08 PM

#16

ganstaman

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You should never be surprised by Topalov. Sure, lately he's been just drawing most games and losing the others, seemingly unable to prove that 2005 (through 2008?) was more than just a fluke, but he's still got talent, possibly.

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09-29-2012 , 03:03 PM

#17

Army Eye

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Nakamura having a rough go. Third loss in a row, today to Ivanchuk

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09-29-2012 , 10:38 PM

#18

mightytiny

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Army Eye

Nakamura having a rough go. Third loss in a row, today to Ivanchuk

His twitter account is very quiet after giving round by round updates early in the tournament.

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09-30-2012 , 01:13 PM

#19

Noir_Desir

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haven't seen his last two games, but his effort against Wang Hao looked awfully like the "old" Nakamura, playing some lacklustre opening and then not really caring about putting up a tough defense.

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10-02-2012 , 10:37 PM

#20

ganstaman

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Well, Nakamura was the only one to win this most recent round (unless I saw that wrong).

Nakamura-Giri
After 46...Be5 we get

Spoiler:

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10-04-2012 , 01:29 PM

#21

TexAg06

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I didn't see that game ganstaman, thanks for posting. Nice move indeed.

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10-09-2012 , 12:16 AM

#22

NajdorfDefense

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Naka's still young and still gonna have some hi-variance tourneys. A couple of those games he blundered badly rather than lost in the 'normal-GM' way.

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10-09-2012 , 01:34 PM

#23

Do it Right

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I don't think that's about age. It seems to be a personality trait. Others with it include Ivanchuk and Morozevich. Ivanchuk as well as Moro can be the best players in the world on a given day when they're 'on' then next week go on multi game losing streaks playing very strange chess all the while.