It is what's on the board that counts

There were a numbering of interesting facets to the just completed London Grand Prix. The good showing by the 'older' generation was one surprise, as was the equally poor showing of Giri and Nakamura. Even with the 'Corsica' rules in place, there were still plenty of drawn games, although almost all of these were hard fought.
As for the winners, Boris Gelfand may have been the most surprising. Despite playing for the World Championship this year, he wasn't considered one of the tournament favourites at the start. Nonetheless he led for most of the tournament, before scoring a clutch win in the final round to share first place with Topalov and Mamedyarov.
The win by Gelfand demonstrated the maxim "it is what's on the board that counts". He sacrificed the exchange for positional compensation, and then slowly increased his advantage, until he regained the material. After that it was a quick finish as Kazimdzahnov walked into a mating net.


Gelfand Boris - Kasimdzhanov Rustam [D43]
London FIDE Grand Prix (11.3), 03.10.2012

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 g6 8. Be2 Bg7 9. e4 dxe4 10. Nxe4 Qf4 11. Qc2 O-O 12. O-O c5 13. dxc5 Bd7 14. b4 Bxa1 15. Rxa1 Bc6 16. Nd6 Nd7 17. Qc1 Qf6 18. Rb1 g5 19. Qe3 Rad8 20. Nd4 a6 21. Re1 Ne5 22. h3 Ba4 23. Qa3 Nc6 24. Nf3 Bc2 25. b5 axb5 26. cxb5 Ra8 27. Qc1 Nb4 28. Qd2 Qf4 29. Qxf4 gxf4 30. Nxb7 Rxa2 31. c6 Rfa8 32. Nd6 Bd3 33. Bxd3 Nxd3 34. Rf1 Rc2 35. Nd4 Rc5 36. b6 Nb4 37. c7 Rf8 38. Rb1 Na6 39. N4b5 Rc6 40. b7 Nxc7 41. Nxc7 Rxd6 42. b8Q Rxb8 43. Rxb8+ Kh7 44. Rb4 Rd1+ 45. Kh2 e5 46. Ne8 f5 47. Rb7+ Kg6 48. Rg7+ 1-0