The second half of the Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg

 
April 28th, 2013
The second half of the Alekhine Memorial began in St. Petersburg

The 6th round games of the Alekhine Memorial were played on April 28th in St. Petersburg. The official opening of the Russian half of the competition took place on April 26th in the Mikhailovsky Castle of the Russian Museum. Participants and guests of the tournament were welcomed by Vladimir Gusev, director of the Russian museum, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Russian Chess Federation Chairman Ilya Levitov, and the sponsors of the event Gennady Timchenko and Andrey Filatov.

April 27th was the only day off at the tournament. The participants of the Alekhine Memorial, representing seven countries, enjoyed an excursion in the Russian Museum. Junior chess events and many excursions were organized in the Mikhailovsky Castle. On the next day the St. George Hall of the Mikhailovsky Castle hosted games of the Round 6.

Like in Paris, the hall was tightly packed with chess enthusiasts. The games were quite entertaining but all ended in draws, so the tournament situation remained the same – the French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is in the lead. Today he had White against Boris Gelfand, but their game was quite equal all the way.

Michael Adams, who had Black against Levon Aronian, missed a real chance to catch up with the leader. The Armenian grandmaster fought very hard for a win, even sacrificed a piece, but the sacrifice turned unsound, and Aronian was on the verge of defeat. However, his English opponent returned the favor, missing a win in a mutual time trouble, and allowed Aronian to save the game. Both players are just half a point behind the leader and have decent chances to win the tournament.

With three more rounds to go, a good half of the participants have chances to succeed. The winner of the Alekhine Memorial 2013 will be determined on May 1st.

Round 6 results: Vachier-Lagrave – Gelfand, Aronian – Adams, Fressinet – Vitiugov, Kramnik – Anand, Ding Liren – Svidler – all draws.

The standings after six rounds: 1. Vachier-Lagrave – 4; 2-5. Adams, Aronian, Fressinet, and Gelfand – all 3.5; 6. Anand – 3; 7-9. Kramnik, Vitiugov, and Ding Liren – all 2.5; 10. Svidler – 1.5.

The 7th round games: Adams – Vachier-Lagrave, Anand – Fressinet, Gelfand – Ding Liren, Vitiugov – Aronian, Svidler – Kramnik.

Contact information for journalists:
press-officer of the Alekhine Memorial
Mark Glukhovsky
Official website of the event www.alekhine-memorial.com

MVL maintains Alekhine Memorial lead after 6 rounds

Standings after 6 rounds

1.	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2722	*	½	½	.	.	½	.	1	½	1	4
2-5.	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2739	½	*	½	1	½	.	½	.	.	½	3½
2-5.	Fressinet, Laurent	g	FRA	2706	½	½	*	½	.	.	½	½	1	.	3½
2-5.	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2727	.	0	½	*	½	1	½	.	.	1	3½
2-5.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2809	.	½	.	½	*	½	.	0	1	1	3½
6.	Anand, Vishy	g	IND	2783	½	.	.	0	½	*	½	1	½	.	3
7-9.	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	2712	.	½	½	½	.	½	*	.	0	½	2½
7-9.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2707	0	.	½	.	1	0	.	*	½	½	2½
7-9.	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2801	½	.	0	.	0	½	1	½	*	.	2½
10.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2747	0	½	.	0	0	.	½	½	.	*	1½

Vachier Lagrave leads Alekhine Memorial

Standings after round 5

1.	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2722	*	½	.	.	.	½	1	½	.	1	3½
2-5.	Fressinet, Laurent	g	FRA	2706	½	*	½	½	.	.	½	1	.	.	3
2-5.	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2739	.	½	*	1	½	.	.	.	½	½	3
2-5.	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2727	.	½	0	*	.	1	.	.	½	1	3
2-5.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2809	.	.	½	.	*	½	0	1	.	1	3
6.	Anand, Vishy	g	IND	2783	½	.	.	0	½	*	1	.	½	.	2½
7-9.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2707	0	½	.	.	1	0	*	½	.	.	2
7-9.	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2801	½	0	.	.	0	.	½	*	1	.	2
7-9.	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	2712	.	.	½	½	.	½	.	0	*	½	2
10.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2747	0	.	½	0	0	.	.	.	½	*	1

Official website: http://www.alekhine-memorial.com

Gelfand, MVL, Aronian, and Adams lead Alekhine Memorial

Standings after 4 rounds
 

1-4.	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2739	*	.	.	1	½	.	.	.	½	½	2½
1-4.	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2722	.	*	.	.	½	1	½	½	.	.	2½
1-4.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2809	.	.	*	.	.	0	1	½	.	1	2½
1-4.	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2727	0	.	.	*	½	.	.	1	.	1	2½
5-7.	Fressinet, Laurent	g	FRA	2706	½	½	.	½	*	½	.	.	.	.	2
5-7.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2707	.	0	1	.	½	*	½	.	.	.	2
5-7.	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2801	.	½	0	.	.	½	*	.	1	.	2
8-9.	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2783	.	½	½	0	.	.	.	*	½	.	1½
8-9.	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	2712	½	.	.	.	.	.	0	½	*	½	1½
10.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2747	½	.	0	0	.	.	.	.	½	*	1

Kramnik: I believe Anand definitely has his chances

Kasparov on the candidates, Kramnik on Anand-Carlsen 
Published on Friday, April 19, 2013 00:00
Written by Zaldy Dandan

FORMER world champ Gary Kasparov, who turned 50 on April13th, has weighed in on the recently held London candidates, and his comments, as usual, are very interesting:

“The tournament showed that rumors of the death of classical chess were somewhat exaggerated. It was a vivid spectacle, there was a high number of decisive games… Yes, it ended up being a wonderful tournament, but I’m not sure it was the best ever.”

His former student, Carlsen, won but according to Gary, the tournament showed Magnus’s “weaknesses in terms of the opening and his ability to play deciding games. For example, the final round was the game of [his] life, and he lost it. He got lucky that his rival [Kramnki] also succumbed.

Who did Carlsen beat in this tournament? The bottom half of the table. Against his strongest rivals he didn’t play convincingly. His style also isn’t fully developed. For instance, in the final game against Svidler he had to choose 30.Bh8! instead of 30.Bh4. That’s a different kind of chess, however, and Magnus doesn’t yet play that way. Anand is an experienced fighter and is capable of playing a strong match. Nevertheless, if Carlsen does some work and eliminates his flaws he’ll undoubtedly win, because at the moment he plays chess better than Anand. Incidentally, Kramnik also plays better than Anand.”

As for the only man who managed to beat him in a match, here’s what Gary has to say: “It’s hard to call me a big Kramnik fan, but he really did play brilliantly. That was one of the best tournaments of his career.”

Overall, Gary says, “the tournament showed who’s who.”

In an interview, former world champ Kramnik admitted that he was “a bit unlucky” in London but says Carlsen’s strengths are “overestimated”: “I believe that both Aronian and I can match his skills. Well, he has certain qualities: young age, lots of energy, a good nervous system, incredible motivation, killer instinct...but in the chess sense I don’t see why he should be a lot stronger, if at all, (than me or Levon).”

Asked about the upcoming world championship match, Kramnik says: “I believe [Anand] definitely has his chances. It is absolutely realistic. The only problem that I think Anand is facing is that he — this is just my opinion — is somewhat intimidated by Carlsen. He is playing unconfidently against him — he’s scared of him, I would say…. He should relax and not be afraid of Magnus. One can face Carlsen and actually beat him. If Anand manages to prepare himself this way, then I think the chances will be equal. If not, then his chances will be very low. 

Psychology matters a lot in world championship matches. This is probably the first plot of the match. I would say that if he manages to hold the pressure of Magnus for at least 6 games (i.e., tie at 3-3), then Anand will become a favorite in my eyes…. . In the opening Anand is clearly superior to Magnus. [Anand] is a very difficult match opponent, because he is extremely well-prepared. It is so hard to obtain a promising position against him even with white. During our match I had to take immense risks to somehow lure him out of his armor coat, but I didn’t succeed.”

Kramnik describes Carlsen as “an improved version of Karpov….. Cold-blooded, rather pragmatic, somewhat melancholic even. His chess is also swampy, laidback, choky/boa constrictor type…. His skills are remarkable.”

More here: http://www.mvariety.com

Final Standings

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com

The FINAL challenge

 
Final round pairings 

GM Carlsen Magnus 2872 - GM Svidler Peter 2747 
GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2757 - GM Kramnik Vladimir 2810 
GM Gelfand Boris 2740 - GM Grischuk Alexander 2764 
GM Aronian Levon 2809 - GM Radjabov Teimour 2793 

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com

Carlsen or Kramnik?

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com

Round 14 standings

 
Right before the first time control, it looked like Kramnik was going to seal the deal to be Anand's next challenger. Gelfand had a very difficult position and little time. On the other hand, Carlsen had virtually nothing against Radjabov.

A slight inaccuracy by Kramnik gave Gelfand new light and he held. The only game left was Radjabov vs Carlsen. Even though it was a technically drawn position, Carlsen kept on pushing and Radjabov eventually blundered and lost. 

It will come down to one final game for Carlsen and Kramnik. They are tied and it things remain the same, Carlsen will win on tiebreaks as he has one more win than Kramnik. But neither can sit back and play safe. 

Round 14 results 

GM Radjabov Teimour 2793 0 - 1 GM Carlsen Magnus 2872
GM Grischuk Alexander 2764 ½ - ½ GM Aronian Levon 2809
GM Kramnik Vladimir 2810 ½ - ½ GM Gelfand Boris 2740
GM Svidler Peter 2747 1 - 0 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2757

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com

Critical round 13

 
Round 13

GM Radjabov Teimour 2793 - GM Carlsen Magnus 2872 
GM  Grischuk Alexander 2764 - GM Aronian Levon 2809 
GM Kramnik Vladimir 2810 - GM Gelfand Boris 2740 
GM Svidler Peter 2747 - GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2757 

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com

Kramnik leading with two rounds to go

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com

Shocking round 12

This is one of the most unusual (or shocking) round I have ever witnessed in a long time. Aronian, in a dead drawn position, managed to find the only losing plan. Magnus, who was worse throughout most of the game, had drawing chances. But he did not find the right continuation and Ivanchuk managed not to blunder in time pressure to win. All of a sudden, Kramnik is now in 1st place with just two rounds to go. This is pretty incredible. What most people thought was a two horse race in the first half, turns out to be Carlsen chasing Kramnik.

Round 12 results 

GM Aronian Levon 2809 0 - 1 GM Kramnik Vladimir 2810
GM Carlsen Magnus 2872 0 - 1 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2757
GM Gelfand Boris 2740 ½ - ½ GM Svidler Peter 2747
GM Radjabov Teimour 2793 ½ - ½ GM Grischuk Alexander 2764 

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com

FIDE candidates round 10

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com

FIDE candidates standings

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com

Carlsen in lead at FIDE candidates

Magnus Carlsen is the sole leader after nine rounds at the FIDE World Chess Candidates’ Tournament. On Monday the Norwegian drew with Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) while co-leader Levon Aronian (Armenia) lost to Boris Gelfand (Israel).
Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk (both Russia) drew an amazingly complicated game and after 6.5 hours of play Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) scored his first win, against Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan).

With the second half of the FIDE World Chess Candidates’ Tournament well under way, the interest in the tournament is growing, both online and at the IET in London. Every day both the number of spectators in the playing hall and journalists in the press room is growing, and many local grandmasters can be seen at the venue. Gawain Jones, Daniel King and Luke McShane have been frequent visitors and on Monday GMs John Nunn, Matthew Sadler, Jon Speelman and Simon Williams came along. They all witnessed another great round in which the big game was world number 2 Vladimir Kramnik against world number 1 Magnus Carlsen.

Kramnik got a nice advantage in a Catalan: “Actually it was my preparation for Kazan; I was about to play it against Radjabov in 2011 but finally for some reason I decided to play something else. Since that time I was keeping it and nobody played it. This 11.Qc2 and 12.Rd1 is kind of a new set-up; it’s quite dangerous I believe.” Carlsen: “I didn't know the details too much of this line. I more or less had to figure it out over the board. It’s not so easy to play and the way I played, he got a stable advantage so I probably did something wrong. I was just trying to find a good plan which I probably didn’t succeed in doing,” said Carlsen.

After 13.Nc3 White was “just better” and after 20.Qe3 it was “getting really critical for Black” (Kramnik) but then, starting with 22…Re8, Carlsen found a key defensive idea (and perhaps even the only move): 25…Nd5!. Almost by force an ending with rooks and opposite-coloured bishops came on the board where Kramnik’s extra pawn wasn’t worth much. “It just seems to work by millimetre,” the Russian said two times at the press conference.

“Of course Magnus is a very strong player, a very strong defender. I don't say that I missed any win today but I was better in the opening, had a very nice position and then… it seemed very close. It’s a bit disappointing of course,” said Kramnik. Carlsen about defending this game: “I thought it was dangerous but the good thing for me is that most of the time I had to make only moves. Then in a way it’s easier.”

Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk played the most spectacular game of the tournament so far. The latter went for the ever-interesting King’s Indian Defence, and like in his game against Radjabov, Svidler played the Sämisch variation. Then, on move 12, Grischuk came up with an absolutely stunning novelty that involved a long-term piece sacrifice.

At first Svidler was “very worried”. “In a practical game (…) every move will be a torture.” English grandmaster Matthew Sadler, who lives in The Netherlands but spent his weekend with family, joined the commentary for a while and said: “I was counting the pieces and I must have counted them at least ten times!”

Svidler went for a long think, played an interesting sequence of moves and then felt he was winning. “Of course I missed 19…h3. After that I realized the game continues.” Eventually White got three minor pieces for his queen, and Svidler still felt that “White should be better somehow”, but “it became a bit too messy for my liking”. In time trouble he might have missed some ways to make Grischuk’s life harder. Just after the time control Black had created so much counter play that Svidler had seen enough and accepted his opponent’s draw offer.

The game between Boris Gelfand and Levon Aronian became quite very important for the tournament standings. In a Queen’s Gambit Declined that turned into some sort of Stonewall position, around move 25 Aronian missed a tactic and lost an important pawn. Computers don’t like his 26…Bf7, a move Gelfand didn’t expect: “Here I think Levon is in trouble.”

However, according to the Israeli Black wasn’t lost yet. “After 32…Rd3 I don’t know if my advantage is so big, but 32…h5 is a blunder.” Aronian, who had to skip the press conference because of a drug test (which Carlsen, Kramnik and Svidler also had to perform), said he had missed 28.e6 and then “completely forgot about this 33.f5 stuff”. However, just before the time control Gelfand missed a quick win, and a double rook ending came on the board. “Fortunately I have this plan of a king’s attack,” said Gelfand, who won the ending without too much trouble. It wasn’t an easy game for him, though. “I think for me it was more difficult because I played with my very close friend and he is leading the tournament. But we're professionals and we have to play our utmost in each game.”

After six and a half hours of play, Vassily Ivanchuk scored his first win of the tournament. He got a pleasant advantage out of the opening against Teimour Radjabov, who played what could be dubbed the “Accelerated Lasker Variation” of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. For a moment commentator Nigel Short thought that Radjabov had perhaps accidentally played Lasker’s Nf6-e4 one move too early, but in fact the Azerbaijani spent five minutes on it. Radjabov: “It was a long torture somehow. I got this unpleasant position, I mixed something in the opening and I got this slightly worse position where you always have to stand. I didn't have so many counter play ideas.”

Both players were not sure if the ending was really lost for Black. “Maybe I didn't have to change the knights as then the position became really easy to play for White. There’s maybe no direct win,” said Radjabov. Instead of his preparation, as suggested by Kramnik in an interview, Radjabov blamed his inactivity for his disappointing play thus far: “I should have played in one of the recent tournaments, but my family situation did not allow this. You can see that the players who played in Zurich didn't start very well, but now they are all in good form.”

After nine rounds, Carlsen is in clear first place with 6 points. Aronian is now second with 5.5, followed by Kramnik with 5 points. Gelfand moved to shared 4th place with Grischuk: both are on 4.5. Svidler is 6th with 4 points, Ivanchuk 7th with 3.5 and Radjabov last with 3. Tuesday, March 26th is the third rest day of the tournament. Play resumes on Wednesday, March 27th at 14:00 GMT with the tenth round: Carlsen-Gelfand, Aronian-Ivanchuk, Radjabov-Svidler and Grischuk-Kramnik.

The FIDE Candidates' Tournament is taking place March 14th-April 1st, 2013 at IET London, Savoy Place. It is sponsored by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and organized by AGON and the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Games and information can be found at http://london2013.fide.com.

Candidates tournament round 5 pairings

 
Round 5 pairings 

GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2757 - GM Carlsen Magnus 2872 
GM Svidler Peter 2747 - GM Gelfand Boris 2740 
GM Kramnik Vladimir 2810 - GM Aronian Levon 2809 
GM Grischuk Alexander 2764 - GM Radjabov Teimour 2793 

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com

FIDE candidates - Standings after 4 rounds

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com

Carlsen leads FIDE candidates

 
Magnus Carlsen catches Levon Aronian in first place at FIDE Candidates 
Official website: http://london2013.fide.com

In Tuesday’s fourth round of the FIDE World Chess Candidates’ Tournament in London Magnus Carlsen of Norway caught Levon Aronian of Armenia in first place. Carlsen beat Alexander Grischuk of Russia in a Ruy Lopez Berlin, while Aronian was held to a draw by Peter Svidler of Russia in a Queen’s Gambit Accepted. The two oldest participants, Boris Gelfand of Israel and Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, drew a very interesting game that started with the rare Chigorin Defence. Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia drew a Nimzo-Indian that was always more or less balanced. 

After enjoying their first rest day, on Tuesday the eight top grandmasters returned to the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) at Savoy Place for the fourth round of the FIDE World Chess Candidates’ Tournament. It was also the first day that, in the commentary room, host IM Lawrence Trent was joined by former World Championship contender GM Nigel Short. Throughout the tournament, online spectators can follow the games while watching and listening to live commentary simultaneously. In the playing hall, the audience enjoys a similar experience thanks to Samsung tablets which are waiting for them on their seats at arrival.

The first game to finish was a relatively short draw: tournament leader Levon Aronian split the point with Peter Svidler after 31 moves. In this game, Svidler showed once again that he has come to London very well prepared. The grandmaster from St. Petersburg successfully employed a rare line of the Queen's Gambit Accepted in which Black actually hangs on to his c-pawn with an early ...a6 and ...b5.

“During the game I was trying to remember what my intention was, but I failed," said Aronian. According to Svidler, his opponent didn't play the most dangerous plan: "This is actually not such a straightforward line but with some precision Black tends to equalise if White goes for the pawn grab. I suppose the critical lines are somewhere where White ignores the pawn for a while."

Svidler's 10...Rb8 instead of 10...Ra7 is a new idea (played only once before) that involves a long-term pawn sacrifice. It worked well, and Svidler equalised quite comfortably. "It's nice to have half a rest today. Somewhat nicer for me than it is for Levon I'm sure but for me it's fairly nice," said Svidler.

A bit more than 3.5 hours into the round, Magnus Carlsen won his second game of the tournament to catch Aronian in first place. In the popular Berlin variation of the Ruy Lopez, his opponent Alexander Grischuk started spending a lot of time early on. An important moment was 17…f5, a move disliked by Carlsen. “I missed a lot of things with this move. I completely overestimated my position. I still think Black is fine but [during the game] I thought Black was better,” said Grischuk. One of Black's problems was his bad bishop on f8 – the reason why his position looked better than it was.

To make matters worse, Grischuk’s disadvantage on the clock started to grow. After making his 21st move, Grischuk had only 4 minutes and 24 seconds left on the clock for his next 19 moves. It was just impossible to reach the time control without making mistakes, and Carlsen profited from these mistakes by not paying attention to his opponent’s time trouble too much. As he said after the game, he was “just trying to play well”. And he was never really worried: “Obviously there are threats but I felt that I always had enough resources to parry them. You can never be absolutely sure but I thought that I had enough play on the queenside to counter whatever threats he could muster.”

Only two players are older than forty in this tournament: Boris Gelfand and Vassily Ivanchuk. Both 44, these chess legends must have played over a hundred games against each other. Gelfand referred to this when he expressed the following nice words about his opponent: “Each game is very interesting and always a big lesson for me. Probably it’s one of the reasons for our chess longevity: when you play such a great player so many times, it gives you so much experience and knowledge – it helps a lot!”

As so often, Ivanchuk played a rare opening set-up. With Black he went for the Chigorin Defence (1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6) and it took Gelfand a few minutes to decide on which line to play. In a position that looked a bit better for White, on move 22 a very nice piece sacrifice was found (and played instantly!) by Ivanchuk. After some wild complications White ended up with an extra bishop on h2 that was completely out of play, and there Black could force a perpetual check.

The last game to finish, between Teimour Radjabov and Vladimir Kramnik, was a Nimzo-Indian game that always looked fairly equal. “I think I got a very nice position out of the opening and it’s also very easy to play. I had this very simple plan of trying to attack these hanging pawns but of course White is also very solid. It might be equal and maybe it’s a matter of style, but I would take Black in this position, it’s easier to play somehow,” said Kramnik. The Russian was happy with his manoeuvres, and thought he was pressing. “But Teimour seemed to defend very well.”

Radjabov agreed that he got “nothing out of the opening". “I probably mixed up some things in the opening, how I got this position without the two bishops. It’s kind of a dream position for Black.” But the Azerbaijani managed to avoid serious mistakes, and so Black’s advantage was never more than symbolical.

After four rounds Aronian and Carlsen are tied for first place with 3 points while Svidler is the only player with 2.5. Kramnik and Radjabov are on 50% with 2 points, Grischuk has 1.5 points and Gelfand and Ivanchuk are still in last place, with 1 point. Wednesday, March 20th at 14:00 GMT the fourth round will be played: Ivanchuk-Carlsen, Svidler-Gelfand, Kramnik-Aronian and Grischuk-Radjabov.

Source : susanpolgar.blogspot.com/

Aronian leads Candidates

Armenian star Levon Aronian got his second win in a row today and is now the sole leader in London. Peter Svidler and Magnus Carlsen trail a half point behind after winning their third round games.

Candidates London 2013 news / Pairings / Live games / Chess videos

Levon Aronian arrived to the third round as the co-leader, after defeating Boris Gelfand yesterday. He had to play with the black pieces against Vassily Ivanchuk. 

These two elite players faced each other in numerous occasions in the past, with Aronian having a small historical advantage. However, today’s game was probably one of the most important clashes for each of them.

The Ukrainian used the Trompowsky Attack trying to avoid huge masses of preparation in the Queen’s Gambit or the Slav. Aronian followed suit using some of his typical very original play. Ivanchuk pushed his pawns forward looking for an attack and the position became very complicated. 

The Armenian then started to show his strength in this kind of positions, playing precise and annoying moves. As usual, Vassily fell in huge time trouble – he had just 8 minutes left for 19 moves. This proved to be the decisive factor as the Ukrainian lost on time on the 35th move after making a mistake with Kd1.

World Cup winner Peter Svidler obtained his first win today against yesterday’s co-leader Teimour Radjabov. The King’s Indian setup used by the Azerbaijani did not surprise anybody. His play, however, was quite remarkable, as he constantly looked for ways to complicate the position.

Eventually, the material balance was slightly altered – Radjabov had a rook for Svidler’s bishop and knight. The contenders had the same amount of pawns, but the Russian’s passed a-pawn was the decisive difference. Teimour was forced to put pressure against this pawn, leaving the rest of the board somewhat unprotected. Svidler took his king to the queenside, activated the pieces and converted the positional advantage into a full point on move 55.

World’s number 1 Magnus Carlsen did not lag behind and beat World Championship’s challenger Boris Gelfand with the black pieces. This is Gelfand’s second loss in a row and he is now in the shared last place of the standings along Vassily Ivanchuk.

The Israeli’s position seemed to be perfectly fine in the middlegame, as he even had more active pieces. However, it is impossible to rule out the chances of the Norwegian prodigy. 
Magnus remained calm looking for an endgame where the only advantage he had in the position – the queenside pawns majority – would play a decisive role. His precise play in these positions emerged once again and Gelfand was forced to resignation on the 57th move.

The only draw of the day was seen in the game between the two players that have showed the most solid chess in the event, the Russians Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk. The ex-World Champion faced Grischuk’s Gruenfeld Indian defence with fianchetto variation.

Kramnik, true to his style, took a pawn giving up the pair of bishops with the hope of converting his advantage in the long run. 

Grischuk, on the other hand, responded with some active play and penetrated his compatriot’s position with the queen. This was enough to reach a triple repetition and sign a draw in 35 moves.

Tomorrow will be a rest day in London. The games will resume on Tuesday, March 19th: Carlsen – Grischuk, Radjabov – Kramnik, Aronian – Svidler and Gelfand – Ivanchuk.

Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich

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