How Top Players Treat the Same Chess960 Position

One of the features of the Chess Classic Mainz events is that all chess960 games played in the same round use the same start position. After collecting a number of games (see CCM PGN Game Scores), I discovered that the diagrammed position had been used in 2007, and its twin had been used in 2008. Let's look at how some of the world's leading players treated the opening through the 10th move.

Start Position 034
(Twin: Start Position 919)

SP034 BNNQRBKR:

6.FiNet Open; Chess Classic Mainz; 2007.8.16; Rd.5
Karjakin,S. - Mamedyarov,S.
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nb6 3.Bb3 Nc6 4.c3 g6 5.O-O Bg7 6.d3 O-O 7.Nd2 Kh8 8.Nc4 Nxc4 9.Bxc4 Na5 10.Bb5 a6

6.FiNet Open; Chess Classic Mainz; 2007.8.16; Rd.5
Shirov,A. - Gashimov,V.
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nb6 4.b3 Bc5 5.Nd5 Nxc4 6.bxc4 O-O 7.Nb3 b6 8. O-O f5 9.Nxc5 bxc5 10.f4 fxe4

6.FiNet Open; Chess Classic Mainz; 2007.8.16; Rd.5
Kamsky,G. - Naiditsch,A.
1.d4 d5 2.Nd3 Nc6 3.b3 g6 4.Nd2 Bg7 5.e3 e5 6.dxe5 Nxe5 7.h4 h5 8.Nxe5 Bxe5 9.Bxe5 Rxe5 10.b4 c6

6.FiNet Open; Chess Classic Mainz; 2007.8.16; Rd.5
Sargissian,G. - Volokitin,A.
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qd2 e6 5.c4 b6 6.Nc3 h5 7.b3 h4 8.h3 d6 9.Nd3 N8e7 10.Be2 Ng6

6.FiNet Open; Chess Classic Mainz; 2007.8.16; Rd.5
Almasi,Z. - Balogh,C.
1.e4 c5 2.b3 Nc6 3.Ne2 e5 4.Nbc3 g6 5.Nd5 Bg7 6.Nec3 N8e7 7.Bc4 d6 8. Qf3 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 Nd4 10.Bxd4 cxd4

6.FiNet Open; Chess Classic Mainz; 2007.8.16; Rd.5
Gyimesi,Z. - Grischuk,A.
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.e4 b6 4.Nc3 d6 5.b3 Nd7 6.N1e2 e6 7.g3 h5 8.h4 Ne7 9.Bg2 a6 10.O-O Nf6

6.FiNet Open; Chess Classic Mainz; 2007.8.16; Rd.5
Lysyi,I. - Akopian,V.
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 b6 3.a3 Ne7 4.Bc4 c6 5.Ba2 Ng6 6.Qf3 Qf6 7.Qxf6 gxf6 8. N1e2 h5 9.Ng3 Na6 10.Nf5 Nc7

6.FiNet Open; Chess Classic Mainz; 2007.8.16; Rd.5
Bacrot,E. - Jussupow,A.
1.d4 b6 2.e4 e6 3.Nd2 d5 4.e5 c5 5.c3 Bb7 6.f4 Ne7 7.Nf3 Ba6 8.Bxa6 Nxa6 9.Qa4 Qc8 10.b4 c4

6.FiNet Open; Chess Classic Mainz; 2007.8.16; Rd.5
Sasikiran,K. - Sumets,A.
1.d4 d5 2.Nd2 Nd6 3.b3 e6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O b6 7.c4 Nd7 8.Nd3 Ne4 9.cxd5 exd5 10.b4 Bd6

6.FiNet Open; Chess Classic Mainz; 2007.8.16; Rd.5
Bischoff,K. - Pentala,H.
1.d4 d5 2.Nd3 Nd7 3.b3 b6 4.c4 e6 5.Nd2 g6 6.e3 Bg7 7.Qc2 O-O 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Rc1 c6 10.Be2 Nd6

***

SP919 RKBRQNNB: (like SP034, but with pieces in reverse order)

7.FiNet Chess960 Open; Mainz; 2008.08.01; Rd.8
Najer, E. - Nakamura, H.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 g6 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Rxd8 Qxd8 6.Bd2 Ne6 7. O-O-O f6 8.Ne3 Bd7 9.Nd5 Qe8 10.Be3 b6

7.FiNet Chess960 Open; Mainz; 2008.08.01; Rd.8
Kasimdzhanov, R. - Movsesian, S.
1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Ne6 3.Be5 Nh6 4.h3 a5 5.Nf3 a4 6.g4 Ra6 7.Ne3 f6 8.Bg3 Qb5 9.Qd2 g5 10.h4 Rb6

7.FiNet Chess960 Open; Mainz; 2008.08.01; Rd.8
Bareev, E. - Arutinian, D.
1.g3 g6 2.d4 f5 3.Nf3 d6 4.b3 Nf6 5.Bb2 c6 6.N1d2 N8d7 7.e4 Nxe4 8.Nxe4 fxe4 9.Qxe4 Nf6 10.Qe2 Bg4

7.FiNet Chess960 Open; Mainz; 2008.08.01; Rd.8
Hracek, Z. - Eljanov, P.
1.e4 e5 2.Ne3 g6 3.Ne2 Ne7 4.f4 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nxd5 Rxd5 7.g3 Rd8 8.d3 Bg4 9.fxe5 Qxe5 10.Qb4 Bc8

7.FiNet Chess960 Open; Mainz; 2008.08.01; Rd.8
Sasikiran, K. - Markowski, T.
1.d4 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Nd2 Bf5 4.f3 Qc6 5.e4 Bg6 6.Ne2 Ne6 7.Nc3 Nxd4 8.Nb3 Nxb3 9.axb3 e6 10.g4 O-O

7.FiNet Chess960 Open; Mainz; 2008.08.01; Rd.8
Vaganjan, R. - Almasi, Z.
1.e4 e5 2.g3 g6 3.f4 d6 4.Nf3 Ne6 5.d3 Ne7 6.Qf2 a5 7.fxe5 dxe5 8.Ne3 a4 9.Bd2 a3 10.b3 f5

7.FiNet Chess960 Open; Mainz; 2008.08.01; Rd.8
Mchedlishvili, M. - Motylev, A.
1.e4 e5 2.Ne3 g6 3.g3 d6 4.Ne2 f5 5.d3 Nf6 6.a4 fxe4 7.dxe4 a5 8.Nc3 Qf7 9.b3 Ng4 10.f3 Nxe3

7.FiNet Chess960 Open; Mainz; 2008.08.01; Rd.8
Naiditsch, A. - Nepomniachtchi, I.
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 Ng6 4.g3 Bf5 5.Ne3 Be4 6.Ne5 Nxf4 7. gxf4 Bxh1 8.Qxh1 Ne4 9.Qe1 g5 10.f3 gxf4

7.FiNet Chess960 Open; Mainz; 2008.08.01; Rd.8
Stevic, H. - Kazhgaleyev, M.
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bf4 Ne6 4.Bg3 Nf6 5.h3 b6 6.Be5 Bb7 7.g4 h5 8.Ne3 hxg4 9.hxg4 Ne4 10.Bxh8 Qxh8