Anand and Aronian share lead in Candidates

A really exciting tournament´s first half is completed and two players are leading the standings. Levon Aronian from Armenia, who showed what he is made of recovering from a loss in the 1st round against Anand, the other co-leader who is really surprising everyone with a very solid and effective chess in Khanty Mansysk.

In the 6th round we saw a game of two old rivals who still aren´t on good terms. Topalov vs Kramnik was full of tension:

Meanwhile, Aronian tried a nice home preparation to score a quick victory against Andreikin. He had a very pleasant position and Dimitry was certainly on the ropes.

In the 7th round we had some dramatic games. Kramnik vs Mamedyarov was full of unbalanced craziness in the quennless middlegame/endgame but ches is not always fair:

Finally, a short game which shows that defenders sometimes also get rewarded with the victory.

Still another 7 rounds to be played with the clash of the leaders Aronian and Anand coming tomorrow. See you there.