London Chess Grand Prix Round 1: Naka Loses to Gelfand; Others Draw

The London Chess Grand Prix has begun and the first day saw all exciting games even though there were draws except one. Here is the Round 1 Report by Grandmaster Robert Fontaine:

The first round of the World Chess Grand Prix in London started at 2 pm local time with the first move played by the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Most of the games started smoothly and the Chinese player Wang Hao was playing very quickly the first 20 moves, with still 1h56 on his clock. His opponent, British number one Michael Adams who replaced GM Peter Svidler at the last minute. Adams took his time to fully equalize after exchanging the Queens. Adams was pushing the whole game, got a pawn up in a rook endgame but it was not enough to win. Draw. 

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World Chess Grand Prix London Launched in Grand Style

Model Lily Cole takes on Veselin Topalov, the top Bulgarian Grandmaster in a 10 minute 'blitz' chess game.

FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov presided at last night’s opening ceremony for the World Chess Grand Prix London at Somerset House. The evening was hosted by Andrew Paulson of Agon, the new rights holder to the World Chess Championship Cycle, who thanked Vladimir Palikhata, the president of the Moscow Chess Federation, for supporting the reception. Headed his appreciation to FIDE for according him the commercial rights to the World Chess Championship Cycle.

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Women's Chess Grand Prix in Ankara: Humpy Begins With Win

India's talented chess player Koneru Humpy, second seed at the 6th Women's Chess Grand Prix, began with a win in Ankara, Turkey on Sunday. Humpy played a flawless game with Black to beat Turkey's Betul Yildiz. This edition is the final stage of the Fide Women's Grand Prix Series 2011-12. It is being held from September 16-28 in the Turkish Chess Federation building. The winner receives 6,500 euros out of a prize fund of 40,000 euros for the event. 

 

Humpy (right) showing her game against Betul at the press conference after the first round.

Somehow, women's chess always turns out to be more fighting than men's chess. Even the draws were fought till the last on each chess board! Only two games were drawn: Chinese players Ruan Lufei and Zhao Xue won their games Kubra Ozturk and Antoaneta Stefanova respectively. 

 

Top seed Anna Muzychuk

Their Chinese colleague, Ju Wenjun, drew with top seed Anna Muzychuk. Viktorija Cmilyte won over Monika Socko and Betul Yildiz. The longest game of the first round between Munguntuul Batkhuyag and Tatiana Kosintseva finished in a draw after 76 moves.

You can watch the games live at the official website from 5.30 pm India time. Rest day: September 20th (after round 4) and September 25th (after round 8).  (Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich)

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