Leinier Dominguez outplayed Veselin Topalov in the longest game of the day to overtake Gata Kamsky and claim a clear first place in the Thessaloniki Grand Prix. The Cuban finished the tournament with 8/11 points.

In the other key encounter Fabiano Caruana made a good favour for Dominguez by defeating the overnight leader Kamsky to finally catch him on the shared second place.

Hikaru Nakamura won against Peter Svidler to finish the tournament in good mood, while Vassily Ivanchuk scored his first victory in the game against Etienne Bacrot.

Results, standings and photo gallery are updated.

The penultimate round of the Thessaloniki Grand Prix has set the stage for exciting final round on Monday 12:00 local time.

Gata Kamsky celebrated his birthday with a quick and convincing victory against Alexander Morozevich, who suffered fourth consecutive loss. 

Leinier Dominguez survived Alexander Grischuk's assault to stay in the contention for the first place. Fabiano Caruana bounced back after yesterday's loss by defeating Veselin Topalov in a wild game.

Ruslan Ponomariov scored a nice victory against Etienne Bacrot. 

The closing ceremony will be broadcasted live in the video section from Monday 19:00 local time.

Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Leinier Dominguez defeated Fabiano Caruana with black pieces to join Gata Kamsky in the shared first place with 6,5 points each. American champion was held to a draw by Etienne Bacrot.

Veselin Topalov scored against Alexander Morozevich who extended the losing row to three rounds. The other four games were drawn.

Caruana is third with 5,5 points, while Grischuk is fourth with 5 points.

Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Official website

Gata Kamsky defeated his compatriot Hikaru Nakamura to score third consecutive victory and move into sole lead after round 8 of the Thessaloniki Grand Prix.

Five games started with Ruy Lopez and only Nakamura defended with French.

Leinier Dominguez remains in contention for the first place after beating Alexander Morozevich in a fine positional style. He is now sharing the second place with Fabiano Caruana who held an inferior game against Alexander Grischuk.

Etienne Bacrot got his first tournament win in the match with Veselin Topalov. Peter Svidler and Rustam Kasimdzhanov were also successful to complete the fantastic round with five decisive games.

Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Official website

Fabiano Caruana and Gata Kamsky continued the winning streak to remain joint leaders after the 7th round of Thessaloniki Grand Prix.

Kamsky outplayed Rustam Kasimdzhanov with black pieces, while Caruana took advantage of Alexander Morozevich's blunder to keep up the pace. In one of the longer games of the day Hikaru Nakamura defeated Veselin Topalov.

Tournament sponsor Ivan Savvidis visited the playing hall and watched the games before heading to the football match of his club PAOK.

Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Official website

Fabiano Caruana and Gata Kamsky won their games in the 6th round of Thessaloniki Grand Prix to join Leinier Dominguez in shared lead.

Dominguez outplayed Hikaru Nakamura but couldn't convert the winning position into the full point.

Vassily Ivanchuk collapsed again and lost to Ruslan Ponomariov after only 19 moves and barely 75 minutes of play.

Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Official website

Leinier Dominguez continued the winning row in Thessaloniki Grand Prix as he defeated the former World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov with black pieces in the 5th round. After the third consecutive victory Dominguez is leading the race with 3,5 points.

For some time it looked like Caruana and Morozevich will join in the shared lead, but they couldn't convert their games into full points.

Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Official website

Veselin Topalov and Leinier Dominguez won their games in the 4th round of the Thessaloniki Grand Prix to catch the other five players in the shared lead.

The remaining games were drawn, but not without fight. Morozevich and Nakamura played the spectacular game in Naidorf Sicilian. Caruana pressed for a long time but Kasimdzhanov was able to hold on to a draw.

Kamsky and Ponomariov had a fairly even position until the American made a mistake. However, the winning sequence was visible only to the computer eyes and the game ended in a draw.

Official website

Photo Gallery

Cross-tables

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Round 3

Cuban Grandmaster Leinier Dominguez improved his ranking after defeating Vassily Ivanchuk in the third round of the Thessaloniki Grand Prix.

Ivanchuk lost on time failing to execute the last 40th move. Dominguez was ready to repeat the moves but there was no time to claim a draw. Read more below.

The remaining games were drawn and five players continue to share the lead.

More details at the Official website

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Round 2

The second round of the FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Thessaloniki produced more decisive results and now we have as many as five players sharing the lead with 1,5 points each.

Alexander Morozevich, Fabiano Caruana and Alexander Grischuk took advantage of the white pieces and signed important victories. The other three games were drawn.

Hikaru Nakamura, arriving directly from Norway Chess tournament, has a difficult start with two losses in two consecutive games with black pieces.

More details at the Official website

Photo Gallery

Live video

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Round 1

The first round of the fourth stage of FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Thessaloniki got under way on 22nd May, with the Greek-Russian businessman Ivan Savvidis, main sponsor of the event, making the first symbolic move in the game Kamsky - Dominguez.

After playing 1.e2-e4, Savvidis told Kamsky "now you have no right to lose this game". The American champion lived up to the expectations and went on to defeat Leinier Dominguez.

To complete the fortunate day for Mr Savvidis, his club PAOK Saloniki beat Asteras Tripolis 2-1 in the Greek Football Super-Liga play-off.

Peter Svidler and Rustam Kasimdzhanov also started with victories, while the other three games were drawn. Results, pairings, standings and photo gallery are updated.

Full report at the Official website

Live video

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Opening Ceremony

 

The opening ceremony of the 4th stage of FIDE Grand Prix Series 2012-2013 took place in the Amphitryon hall of Makedonia Palace Hotel in Thessaloniki (Greece) on the 21st of May.

The players and guests were greeted by the Tournament Director Theodoros Tsorbatsoglou, President of the Greek Chess Federation Georgios Makropoulos, General Secretary of Sports Kiriaki Gianakidou, Minister of Macedonia & Thrace Theodoros G. Karaoglou, Governor of the Region of Central Macedonia Apostolos Tzitzikostas, and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

Chief Arbiter Takis Nikolopoulos then proceeded with drawing of lots. He called up the players to come to the table and pick of the rooks in the shape of White Tower, the famous landmark of Thessaloniki. Pictures

Veselin Topalov approached first and picked number 1. Next was Alexander Grischuk who chose number 12 and immediately the first match-up was known. Full pairings are available here. http://thessaloniki2013.fide.com/en/component/turnuva/?task=fileview&kid=1

Also attending the opening ceremony were MP of the Greek Parliament and former Minister of Health Andreas Loverdos, FIDE Vice-President Ali Nihat Yazici, Head of the Appeals Committee Zurab Azmaiparashvili, AGON Chief Andrew Paulson, FIDE CEO Geoffrey Borg, consuls of USA and Bulgaria, and other distinguished guests.

The technical meeting for players, arbiters and organizers took place at 20:30. The players were briefed about the playing room and facilities and about the most important regulations - time control with increment only after move 60, no draw offers, zero tolerance rule, dress code.

Participants include three former World Champions Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan). GM Teimur Radjabov has withdrawn from the Thessaloniki Grand Prix for personal reasons and has been replaced by GM Etienne Bacrot from France.

There will be a systematic renewal of images, reports, as well as live commenting (English, Greek) and press-conferences with the players. Official commentators are GM Ioannis Papaioannou and GM Stelios Halkias.

Time control: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then each player will be allotted 15 minutes after the second time control and an increment of 30 seconds per move will be allowed from move 61 onwards.

The Grand Prix Series consists of six tournaments to be held over two years (2012-2013). 18 top players participate in 4 of these 6 tournaments. The winner and second placed player overall of the Grand Prix Series will qualify for the Candidates Tournament to be held in March 2014.

Regulations for the 2012 - 2013 FIDE World Chess Grand-Prix Series
http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/FIDE_GP_Regulations_2012_2013.pdf

Official website