Paris Grand Prix

[Kerry Liles]

Re: Paris Grand Prix

I cant believe someone has not advised Tiviakov. Cant he see what he is doing. Part of the job of a good commentator is to bring forth the interesting points of the competitors. Criticism, negativity, and one-upmanship should lose you a commentators position quite quickly. (doesnt he care or does he fell he is above reproach?)

You can put lipstick on a pig...

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Paris Grand Prix

Paris Grand Prix

Round Five

Friday, September 27, 2013

Sergei Tiviakov commenting
Alina L’Ami press conference

Gelfand-Wang Hao was the first to finish and was a draw by perpetual in 32 moves. This draw allowed Gelfand to stand alone in first as Ivanchuk lost to Grischuk.

In the free day yesterday many of the players went on an excursion to the Palace of Versailles. It was a guided tour, which meant that the players could skip the long lineups to get in to the Chateau. Boris saw the gardens and the palace and said he learned a lot about the nobility of France. Wang Hao went to the gardens himself and got lost in the park for two and a half hours.

The official site has photographs of the tour. The Hall of Mirrors will take your breath away.

http://paris2013.fide.com/en/round-r...first-free-day
++++++++++

Sergei Tiviakov has ruffled feathers among the contestants by being very judgemental – three people in particular, Nakamura, Fressinet and Grischuk. So, the press conference after the game Nakamura-Fressinet was rather interesting to watch, because you didn’t know what would happen next.

Evidently somebody had told Sergei that other people’s opinions have value too, even if he doesn’t share them and in his commentaries today he was conciliatory up to now.
Laurent had little trouble equalizing and forcing a draw.
At the table, the players start giving variations with Sergei being restrained. Then

Tiviakov – White is better because he cannot open the position on the King’s side

Fressinet – (expecting some variations) How can you open (the position on) the Queen’s side?

Tiviakov – Slowly but surely.

Nakamura (laughs) But how?

And Hikaru had a big smile on his face many times during the rest of the conference. A small incident but it has caused quite a lot of comment on ChessVibes:

- I have just watched the press conference and I don't think Mr. Nakamura acted like a schoolboy. He was respectful to his opponent, Fressinet, and to the female interviewer. He just thought that Tiviakov was an idiot.
OK, now I am going on a limb: I don't think it is a good idea that strong 2600s comment on games by strong 2700s. 2400 or even 2500 players acting as commentators are fine - they *know* they are weaker, but 2660 players probably believe they are virtually the equals of strong 2700s, which is, generally, not true.
Bottom line I don't think inviting Tiviakov to commentate was a good idea - his rating is too high, but not high enough. I am afraid Svidler is too expensive. He is the best.

- I think Naka and Laurent were kind of 'getting back' at Tiviakov. I don’t think they'd do what they did to any other commentator. It certainly looked rude though, both of them laughing at Tiviakov's suggestions.

- I just watched that press conference on youtube. It's hilarious! LOL 
Why do they have so little respect for Tiviakov? Also Tiviakov seems not too interested in the whole thing. He's looking away a lot.

- Tiviakov clearly has poor social skills. He has treated players rudely throughout. Just watch the videos. 
Imagine the players got fed up, agreed to retaliate. 
Not pretty, but treat people badly, they eventually respond.
++++++++++++++

Ivanchuk-Grischuk was next up. It was a Grunfeld with Vassily playing an unusual 7th move
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Rc1 Be6 7. c5

He said his main mistake was 7. с5. This is really not the best possible choice, but of course it is not losing immediately. Ukrainian recalled his loss against Vladimir Kramnik in Round 4 of the Tromso World Cup mentioning that "after such a game" he shouldn't be playing the position like that.
30. Rc5? It's interesting that after this move there's no defence from black bishop invading the first rank. 30... Bc4! 31. Nc3 Bf1 0-1 After the game, Ivanchuk regretted he resigned that early, but objectively White's position is hopeless. Yet he kept gazing wistfully at the board at the end of the press conference.

Now Grischuk is a point behind Gelfand and 0.5 point behind his other three rivals (Nakamura, Caruana and Ivanchuk).
++++++++++

Tomashevsky-Dominguez was a draw in 55 moves with pawns and opposite-coloured squares bishops on the board at the end.
+++++++++

Caruana-Ponomariov
Caruana posed no problems to Ponomariov's Berlin defense, and it was even the black player that held a slight edge due to his pair of bishops and then an extra (but crippled) pawn. It's hard to say that White was in any real danger at any point but it was certainly Black that had the easier game (CB)
+++++++

Giri-Bacrot
(Official Site) Starting from a symmetrical English, the queens were soon exchanged and the players entered an endgame where White had slightly better chances. With a series of accurate moves and in nice positional style, Anish managed to gain a serious plus and Bacrot expressed his concern in the press conference as he felt he was under "serious pressure". On move 24 however, the tables turned.

The most obvious move was 24. c5 and after 24... d5 25. b4 when the players agreed White should enjoy a pleasant advantage. Of course Giri saw this line during the game but at this point he already "wanted more from the position". Unfortunately for the Dutchman, the opposite is what he got. After 24. Nb2 d5! 25. fxg5 hxg5 26. Rf1 Bacrot temporarily sacrificed a piece with 26... bxc4! only to win it back with interest: 27. Bxf6 Bxf6 28. Rxf6 Nb4 29. Rd2 c3! and Black soon won.
+++++++

Round Six

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Ponomariov(2.5)-Dominguez(2.5)
Bacrot(2.5)-Tomashevsky(2.5)
Wang Hao(2)-Giri(1)
Fressinet(2)-Gelfand(3.5)
Caruana(3)-Ivanchuk(3)
Grischuk(2.5)-Nakamura(3)

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: Paris Grand Prix

Seems to me that Ivanchuk resigned too early in his game. People say Caruana can create a passed pawn on the kingside and then break in with his king on the other side.

Position after 33.Ke3 (black resigns)



However, black can still try a few things. For example, the counterintuitive 33...f5 would require a lot of work from white.

33...f5 34.Bf3 h6 35.Kd4 Kf6



And now, if white tries 36.g4, he still has to put his bishop on the b1-h7 diagonal to increase the pressure and force black to take on g4.

So let's try: 36.g4 Bc6 37.Bd1 Bb7 38.Bc2 fxg4 (forced) 39.hxg4 Ba8 and now, the terrible passed pawn will appear, enabling white to break in. 40.g5 hxg5 41.fxg5 Kxg5 42.Ke5



And it's all over? No! Black can play 42...d4! and after 43.cxd4 Bd5, Houdini at around 20-22 plys says it's a draw.

I may have missed something, obviously, but the straightforward approach definitely doesn't work for white.

[Felix Dumont]

Re : Re: Paris Grand Prix

Instead of 36.g4, 36.Bh5 seems to be winning.
36... Bc6
37. g3 Bd7
38. c6 Bxc6
39. Kc5 Bd7
40. Kd6

Surprisingly enough, my computer didn't see it, although it's a pretty obvious plan.

I agree that Ivanchuk could have played a few more moves (and f5 is probably not a great defense), but it's rather hard to play.

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: Re : Re: Paris Grand Prix

Good find! Maybe black can improve on the defense, but that seems to win anyway.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Re : Re: Paris Grand Prix

Paris Grand Prix

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Ponomariov-Dominguez – This was a draw from a Petroff in 31 moves. Dominguez has quite a Spanish-speaking following in the Chat Room on chessbomb. It is hard to tell if they are Cubans or just Latin American fans.

Wang Hao-Giri - The Chinese player decided to repeat a line that was seen in the game Karpov-Caruana from 2008. Giri was very familiar with the variation, and it is little wonder that he was - it is known that Giri and Caruana have used Chuchelov as a second in previous years. Wang Hao did not provide any clear improvement on the aforementioned game and Giri obtained equality without issues. White had no real chances in the resulting rook endgame.(Official Site-OS)

Fressinet-Gelfand - Gelfand played the move 2...d6 in the Sicilian, already an indication that he was not going to play the Sveshnikov against 3.d4. It would have been interesting to see what sharp Sicilian Gelfand chose, but instead Fressinet was the one that quickly deviated by playing an unusual Bb5+ Sicilian. The move 4.c4 holds some poison but only if Black is unfamiliar with the territory, which was not the case with Gelfand. Boris played a simplifying combination and after all the pieces were traded off the board the draw became obvious. (OS)

Grischuk-Nakamura - Grischuk's king was on c4 by move 17, but that is not as exciting as it sounds as the truth of the position was that Black had already taken a slight initiative in an endgame that had a symmetrical pawn structure. Nakamura neutralized Grischuk's Catalan without problems and another drawn rook endgame was reached.(OS)

Bacrot-Tomashevsy - Tomashevsky keeps proving that his openings come with great preparation. Bacrot tied a more sedate approach against Tomashevsky's so far impenetrable Spanish defense, but it yielded nothing. With some precise moves Tomashevsky forced a dead drawn rook endgame. The Russian sits at 50% and it seems that he cannot be beaten even if he is holding the black pieces. (OS)
++++++++++++++

Caruana-Ivanchuk

In Round Four, Vassily was Black against Laurent Fressinet. White had a very good game. He specifically missed a beautiful chance at move 30.Qe2! instead of trading the queens, this would have put the g4 knight in serious trouble and was strangely winning. The resulting endgame was still favorable for White, though, but a few unfortunate decisions allowed Ivanchuk to get rid of his main problems: a weak light-squared bishop and White's e-pawn, in a mater of a couple of moves. With these advantages gone White's rooks on the h-file started to look silly while black's free rook started roaming the queenside, picking uncontested pawn after uncontested pawn, after which Fressinet simply had to resign.

In Round Five Vassily played 7.c5 against Grischuk and regretted it ever after. During the press conference he couldn’t see why he missed seeing some moves. Then he said at the end, “I don’t know why I resigned here. It should be losing for me but O.K.” Grischuk says, “It is better not to give up, but to fight to the end”.
He said to Alina, “I didn’t see anything.”

In Round Six at the press conference Ivanchuk expressed his saying he was calculating 16...f6 but than his "hands moved 16...Bd7"! He could not cope with the shock and quickly lost the game afterwards. The only question remaining was whether the final position was really winning for Caruana but the players established, more or less, that it was.

Vassily seemed to be excessively emotional and his resignation certainly looked premature. His opponent was visibly surprised, but Ivanchuk explained that he simply "could not stand his awful position"! Ivanchuk remained affected by his worsening tournament fate during the conference, when he started to analyze his loss on the day before... Alina thought that even during the game today he was still thinking of yesterday’s loss.

Alina – Were you surprised by Vassily’s resignation today?
Fabiano – I expected that he would lose but that I would have to show some technique and prove it.
+++++++++++

There was lots of reaction by spectators. I give some of the comments on ChessVibes:

- Unfortunately it seems to be completely lost. One sample line is 33...Bc6 34.Bh5+ Ke7 35.Kd4 Kf8 36.Bd1 Ke7 37.g4 h6 38.h4 Kf8 39.g5 hxg5 40.hxg5 Kg7 41.Bg4 and White will push g6 any moment now.

But Susan Polgar is right with her practical view, why resign, let the opponent show the win. It will also fend off silly questions from the crowd "why did you resign a drawn position? ". I think Ivanchuk had a pretty clear idea how he was going to lose.

- At the press conference he did seem to be having a bout of resignation, not just for this game. At one point he even said he doesn't know why he did not play e4 yesterday and why he resigned quickly today.

- Ivanchuk had an hour and a half left on his clock when he resigned. His decision perhaps premature but not incorrect, since Caruana would have easily finished off the game. The winning procedure is straightforward: white wins by advancing g5, not f5, as the players pointed out during the press conference. The chessbomb engine doesn't reach a sufficient depth to recognize this plan is winning. A possible variation is 33Ke3 Bc6 34Kd4 Ke7 35Bf3 h6 36g4 Kf7 37h4 Kg7 38g5 hxg5 39hxg5 Kf7 40Bh5 Kg7 41Bg4 Bd7 42gxf6 Kxf6 43f5 exf5 44Bf3 and despite being temporarily down a pawn, it becomes clear white will mop up black's queenside and win. There are of course many similar variations but they all reach the same conclusion: Ivanchuk was right

- I don't think Chucky really cares given that he has no prospects in the Grand Prix anymore, but there is someone who cares about his loss: Mamedyarov. Caruana, if he wins this event, will surpass Mamedyarov if I am not wrong. 
Sometimes I ask myself: Why is this game not played until the very end? Apart from boxing, there is no sport in which you can throw in the towel and leave the scene.

- Caruana & Grischuk could do themselves a power of good if they manage to defeat Gelfand. Guess who Gelfand plays in the next two rounds - you got it, Grischuk then Caruana!
+++++++++

And some interesting comments on votes for commentators for the World Chess Championship:

- The WC match should be commentated by Svidler, Kramnik and Short, together.

- All three together might be too much - talkative and enthusiastic as they are, they might end up talking exactly at the same time, or constantly interrupting each other. The last WCh match (Anand-Gelfand) actually had these three on different days, plus Timman, Lautier and Leko (even people who do not like him as a player did like him as a commentator)

- I'd add Grischuk to the list. Giri is very good, too.

- Seirawan & Svidler would be my dream team

- I vote for Simon Williams and Danny King. 
Svidler and Short spend too much time on eccentric English things ..like cricket

- Agdestein and Tiviakov!

- My worst knightmare ..is Tiviakov and Jenni Shahade
+++++++++++

Pairings for Round Seven

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Ivanchuk(3)-Ponomariov(3)
Nakamura(3.5)-Caruana(3)
Gelfand(4)-Grischuk(3)
Giri(1.5)-Fressinet(2.5)
Tomashevsky(3)-Wang Hao(2.5)
Dominguez(3)-Bacrot(3)

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Re : Re: Paris Grand Prix

Paris Grand Prix

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Round Seven

Nakamura-Caruana

Fabiano blundered on his 14th move.

The Commentator’s Judgement

Tiviakov – A simple blunder by the world top player in the opening, immediately. He was definitely out of his opening preparation and used a huge amount of time in this position.

We cannot believe that a world-class player who is ready to play in the Candidates has made such a simple blunder. And if he loses in such a way then you can ask the question if he deserves the right..but still if you belong to the world class players, you must keep your mark high. You should not afford such things.

Press Conference

Nakamura – Fabiano just forgot the theory. hxg6 is a mistake and after 15. Bxd4, there is nothing to play for.

Tiviakov asked no questions at the P.C.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nb6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O Qd6 10. h4 Rd8 11. Nb5 Qd7 12. h5 a6 13. Nc3 Nxd4 14. hxg6 hxg6 15. Bxd4 Qxd4 16. Qe1 Qxd1+ 17. Nxd1 Na4 18. b3 Nc5 19. e5 Bf5 20. f4 a5 21. Nf3 a4 22. b4 Nb3+ 23. axb3 a3 24. Qc3 e6 25. Ne3 a2 26. Qa1 Bf8 27. Nxf5 gxf5 28. b5 c6 29. bxc6 Rdc8 30. Bc4 Rxc6 31. Nd4 Rcc8 32. Kc2 Bb4 33. g4 fxg4 34. f5 1-0

[Laurentiu Grigorescu]

Re: Re : Re: Paris Grand Prix

Paris Grand Prix

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Round Seven

Nakamura-Caruana

Fabiano blundered on his 14th move.

The Commentator’s Judgement

Tiviakov – A simple blunder by the world top player in the opening, immediately. He was definitely out of his opening preparation and used a huge amount of time in this position.

We cannot believe that a world-class player who is ready to play in the Candidates has made such a simple blunder. And if he loses in such a way then you can ask the question if he deserves the right..but still if you belong to the world class players, you must keep your mark high. You should not afford such things.

I can not agree less. This is so dissapointing - no wonder this "Grad Prix" lacks interest from the chess community. After 7 rounds, nothing really happened.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Re : Re: Paris Grand Prix

I agree with your comments, Laurentiu. I thought that the tournament was finally going to be a good fight between Gelfand and Caruana for first place.

I hope that Ivanchuk pulls out of his slump.

The comments of Tiviakov continue to amaze me. After roasting Caruana for making that mistake, he said to van Kampen, “If Nakamura doesn’t win this game with an extra queen…” [statement not finished]

The conclusion is that he is not worthy either then!

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Re : Re: Paris Grand Prix

Paris Grand Prix

Round Seven (continued)

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Gelfand-Grischuk
(CB) - Gelfand's opening didn't yield much. It seems he wasn't entirely sure how to deal with Grischuk's early e6/b6 set up which allowed him to play f5 before developing his knight to f6. In an equal position Grischuk refused a threefold repetition and went for the win with a pawn sacrifice. Gelfand immediately returned the pawn so as to not be saddled with tripled pawns and he was admittedly slightly worse. The Russian kept piling pressure on the kingside while White seemed to be without a clear plan, but still with a space advantage and his position was far from collapsing. Grischuk might have over-committed to the kingside, but his definite mistake came with 31...Nh4?? it's unclear what he exactly missed, probably that after 32...Nxf3 33.dxc7 Rxc7 White has the amazing 34.Rxg7! winning. In time pressure the advantage was blundered and given back, but ultimately Gelfand won.
Gelfand said 'it was surely not my best game, but the result is still important'.

Tomashevsky-Wang Hao
(CB) - The Russian obtained a slight advantage from this Catalan, but Wang Hao was very resourceful. Despite his worse structure he was able to obtain sufficient counterplay to force many pieces off the board and was able to eventually hold the endgame without too many issues.

Ivanchuk-Ponomariov
(CB) - In another Catalan in the Ukrainian duel it was impossible to say that White obtained anything from the opening. The variation is well known; White wins a pawn but the opposite colored bishops and the easy play for Black gives him compensation. However on top of this Ponomariov was able to quickly regain his pawn and secure full equality.

Ivanchuk has been accused of resigning too quickly and so as a little joke, the endgame went to R + K each.

At the Press Conference, Alina didn’t sugar-coat her introduction, when she said to Vassily, “ and after two rather painful losses, today’s draw was a good result..?” Ivanchuk analyzed for fifteen minutes and even when everybody said goodbye and got up to go, he was still analyzing.

Dominguez-Bacrot
(CB) - This Berlin defense went in completely the wrong way for the Cuban. His structure was shattered in the queenside early on while Black's pieces became active. With his kingside pawn expanse blocked on the light squares and being saddled with a dark squared bishop, it was only Black that had any hopes of being better. However Bacrot seemed to think that White's position was solid enough and forced a repetition in a position where maybe he could have at least played on for a few more moves.

Giri-Fressinet was a controversial game, in which both players claimed they had an advantage! And probably are still debating... Already early on in this game, which had started with the Queens Indian, Fressinet had little to complain about. When the moment had come for Giri to 'look for draw', he decided against it and aimed at complicating the game to the maximum. That strategy succeeded very well and on move 32 he had a nice tactical shot at his disposal. It was Robin van Kampen, Anish's second, who proposed 32. Nh4! Bxh4 32. Qg4! in the press conference, when White suddenly has a very strong initiative. Instead, Anish chose the logical 32. Qb1, won the b-pawn and later on the a-pawn as well, but it didn't prove enough to win the game. Fressinet summed it up: 'A very sharp and fighting game, and a draw was a fair result'. (OS)

The post mortem at the Press Conference lasted 30 minutes and had tons of variations, a lot of chaffing and kibitizing. It was really good to see the two young men having so much fun with the game.
++++++++

In the Nakamura-Caruana game given just before this in this thread, Fabiano could have resigned much earlier but played on. Some criticized this, while others defended. What is the etiquette on this? A selection of views from chess.com:

- I'm currently watching the Fide Grand Prix in Paris and Caruana is playing on after a terrible blunder. He had to give up queen for rook. Afterwards, he willingly sacrificed his knight for little to no compensation. Why is he playing on in a position where he is almost a queen down? I think I could win that position against him without too much trouble. But he plays on against Nakamura?! It seems like a waste of time. I've never seen a GM do that!

- He was trying to get some counterplay that maybe could lead to a promotion from the "a" pawn or at least put Nakamura's Queen guarding the promotion square. Even maybe some perpetual checks but at GM level is very hard not to lose in that position.
I don't think he was doing that for bad reasons like wasting time... He had legitimate hopes although hard to achieve them. But on the other hand how likely is it to blunder like that at GM level? Maybe Hikaru could make a mistake too...

- Those games count. Even from a purely psychological point of view, you don't resign early so as not to keep in the back of your mind the memory of an ultra-painful and quick loss ("this guy owns me").

- Yea, but I don't see the point in playing on. Nakamura knows his stuff. When I saw Nb3 I was like WAT?? Nakamura was very shocked too. I thought Caruana was trolling.

- Because the game isn't over until checkmate. And because he's not a weak-willed sissy.

- Well, he has the right to play on and you have the right to complain.

- Yes, the commentator, Sergei Tiviakov, said that it was very unprofessional for Caruana not to resign with such a horrible position.

Myself, I think that if some players can take a probably drawn ending past one hundred moves, then Caruana can take his game fifteen moves to see how his opponent is going to win it.
+++++++++++++

Round Eight Pairings
Monday, September 30, 2013

Ivanchuk(3.5)-Nakamura(4.5)
Ponomariov(3.5)-Bacrot(3.5)
Wang Hao(3)-Dominguez(3.5)
Fressinet(3)-Tomashevsky(3.5)
Grischuk(3)-Giri(2)
Caruana(4)-Gelfand(5)

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: Re : Re: Paris Grand Prix

Well, I don't think that Hikaru Nakamura took offense. He's always fighting for the best possible result, no matter what.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1272573

[Andrei Botez]

Re: Re : Re: Paris Grand Prix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVfNf27USac

[Vlad Dobrich]

Re: Re : Re: Paris Grand Prix

Meanwhile, back at the ranch........

Ivanchuk - Nakamura was in a tough maneuvering endgame when, in an even but tense position the score was posted as 0 - 1. This was followed by a breakdown in the Live Ratings site, presumably thousands wanted to see if the win would propel Nakamura into the world #3 spot and a 2800 rating.
Anyone know if the win was a time forfeit?

[Mathieu Cloutier]

Re: Re : Re: Paris Grand Prix

In the Nakamura-Caruana game given just before this in this thread, Fabiano could have resigned much earlier but played on. Some criticized this, while others defended. What is the etiquette on this? A selection of views from chess.com:

My only rule is: if there is some juice left in the position, you can try to squeeze it. Now, you'll tell me that being a rook down against a GM means there's no juice left. Well... look at that:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032202

This Botvinnik guy* was a rook up by move 18. Houdini gives a +4 or +5. Yet, Bronstein managed to draw the game.

Mathieu

*Ever heard of him? Some say he was pretty good back in the days when you could adjourn a game and blitz was played only on the train.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Re : Re: Paris Grand Prix

Paris Grand Prix

Round Eight

Monday, September 30, 2013

Ivanchuk-Nakamura was a Ruy Lopez. In the early middlegame, Hikaru made some indifferent moves and lost his way and slowly, Vassily built up an advantage. This dissipated with his 45.Qb7. He kept looking for a forced winning line in an equal position and lost on time on move 55.
The Press Conference came and Hikaru sat down next to Sergei Tiviakov. Alina went out to fetch Vassily. In the meantime Sergei kept saying what a tragic ending this was to the game, where Vassily could have had a draw.
Hikaru started to explain his opening and then Alina and Vassily burst in. Vassily took the mouse, sat down at the table and said that he was trying to find a forced win in this position. Hikaru said the position was fine for Black. Variations went back and forth with Hikaru never admitting he had a really bad game. Then the players left.
Hikaru didn’t seem upset by the lack of objectivity, because, after all, he had just won.
When they had gone, Sergei summed it up this way:

“We have just finished following the tragic press conference for Vassily. Of course it is a great pity that he lost today in a stupid way at the final position when it was an easy draw for him. In the middlegame he had a huge advantage, a very big advantage and then he suddenly lost on time. It is a very big pity.”

- No doubt Naka was lucky for the additional half-point. But he deserved the draw after defending a difficult position very well.
+++++++++

Almost seven hours had passed from the start and Fressinet-Tomashevsky was still going on. Finally, it was an agreed draw with the final position on move 96 - White K+N vs Black’s lone K.

- The last press conference Tomashevsky-Fressinet was again hilarious! What a mess! 
No-one is listening to each other, everybody just yells variations, Tiviakov says things, no one listens. Alina is just sitting there ducking, hoping they won't eat each other. Please FIDE, consider a more pro approach in Chennai, thank you.(CV)
++++++++++

Earlier in the day, Grischuk ground down Giri for the win. In this somewhat strange English opening Grischuk decided to quickly trade queens to cripple his opponent's pawn structure. Giri seemed to have an ok position until he traded his bishop for a knight on f3, which made his own knight on g6 much worse because of the lack of access to e5. From then on White had a pleasant advantage that kept growing until he reached a double rook endgame that was clearly favorable to him. Grischuk converted with flawless technique in an endgame that Giri had simply no activity. (CB)
+++++++++

Caruana-Gelfand is a win for Fabiano in 45 moves.

At the Press Conference, Caruana said that his opening was uncommon, Sicilian with Nimzowitsch-Rossolimo Attack. He got some initiative out of that opening. This kept growing until White's powerful knight on d5 give him a clear advantage. Gelfand fought back by sacrificing material and exposing White's king, but it was to no avail; White's position held as his major pieces protected his king from afar while his pawns kept pushing and his material advantage kept increasing.
++++++++++

Ponomariov-Bacrot
The Catalan move order was created with the intention of avoiding, among other things, the Queen's Indian defense; however because of the committal of playing g3 so early many players take this opportunity to transpose the game into Benoni waters since White will have no choice but to play the fianchetto variation, probably not the most dangerous variation at the moment. Bacrot quickly sacrificed a pawn in the spirit of the Benko and he obtained excellent counterplay for it. White's pieces were far from being coordinated and his weak b-pawn was an easy target. After winning this pawn he held a clear advantage; he traded his passed c-pawn and a rook for two minor pieces, which left him in a technically won endgame that he converted nicely.(CB)

- a dream position for a Benoni!
- yea, we all would have this kind of position, playing Benoni :)
- and Pono doesn't play well; Bacrot can win this
+++++++++

Wang Hao-Dominiguez

Wang Hao found himself in trouble on the white side of a Catalan today as his d-pawn came under heavy pressure. His Cuban opponent was able to win it with a timely c5 break and Black held an indisputable advantage. The Chinese created counterplay down the b-file with a creative rook lift, but it was not enough to equalize. What it was enough for was to confuse his opponent in time pressure, and Dominguez agreed to a threefold repetition in a position where he was clearly better.(CB)
++++++

Comments on the Web:

- I was actually more impressed with this win than the one against Caruana, and even more impressed with Naka's draws against Carlsen in St. Louis. OK, he "shouldn't" have won today, but he defended a very difficult position for a long time against an Ivanchuk playing really well and reached a drawn position where many would have lost. Against Caruana, he just benefitted from an opening mistake, but here he worked very hard and did well in difficult circumstances. And against Carlsen he didn't look worse. He really has matured lately and become much more solid. Now only one win from second place on the rating list and white in his next games.

- I just want Naka to get to world number two and possible crack 2800 for the first time in his career. That would be monumental for us Nakamura fans. Cheering one player to spite another is fine in my book.

- Nakamura defended really well, but it's a shame Chucky is back to losing on time. Did he forget there is no increment until move 60? Again? Anyways, I think 2/3 in the remaining rounds will put Naka in second on the live rating lists, and possibly 2800. Good for him if he can keep it up!

I am confused by the draw in the Hao-Perez game. It looks like Black should just hide his queen on e8, and then he is just up a pawn, and a passed pawn at that. It might not be winning, but Black is significantly better.

The tournament situation is getting really interesting. Caruana and Grischuk (to a lesser extent) are both back in the running for sole first since they were victorious today, and Naka isn't going to back down. He is probably hungry, having not won something big since Tata 2011.

- Tiviakov could not understand how it is possible to overstep time with a 30 sec increment in place...

- Tomashevsky plays very good and correct chess. He, like Nakamura, has no losses so far

- Still.. with Tiviakov and L'Ami as hosts, this is just freaking awfull. What on earth did the organizers "think" putting this team together. Okay, we were critical of Nigel and Susan and Laurence and Dirk-Jan.... but this live-video-coverage is just appalling. L' Ami tries, but doesn't have the courage to speak up louder and Tiviakov sits there like a troll from a Tolkien movie. Can somebody please explain to me why a lifeless person like Tiviakov is hired to do this to us????

-Just watched the post game, both Tiviakov and Ivanchuk should be embarrassed. Nakamura was the gentleman and clearly understood the game better than either his opponent or the clearly weaker commentator.

Nakamura knew it was drawn wheras they kept responding with the wrong appraisal, then Nakamura politely gave the correct move over and over ad nauseum. I think we see a genuine increase in Nakamura's understanding of chess on the whole.

Bravo Nakamura thanks for being courteous and humble unlike Tiviakov who pronounced that Nakamura was lost when that was never the case, only slightly worse.

The Standings after Round Eight
1. Nakamura 5.5/8
2. Caruana 5.0/8
3. Gelfand 5.0/8
4. Bacrot 4.5/8
5. Tomashevsky 4.0/8
6. Grischuk 4.0/8
7. Dominguez 4.0/8
8. Wang Hao 3.5/8
9. Fressinet 3.5/8
10. Ponomariov 3.5/8
11. Ivanchuk 3.5/8
12. Giri 2.0/8

Live Chess Ratings as of 30 September, 2013 at 19:59 GMT

1. Carlsen 2870 +8.0 6 Games
2. Kramnik 2796.4 +2.4 16 Games
3. Aronian 2795.4 -17.6 12 Games
4. Nakamura 2794.0 +22.0 22 Games
5. Caruana 2785.2 +6.2 18 Games
6. Grischuk 2781.5 -3.5 14 Games
7. Anand 2775.0 0.0 0 Games
8. Gelfand 2772.8 +8.8 16 Games
9. Topalov 2771.2 +2.2 6 Games
10.Karjakin 2762.0 -10.0 8 Games

Tomorrow is a free day.

[Nakamura plays Ponomariov in Rd 9, Gelfand in Rd 10 and Giri in Rd 11]