Carlsen On A Roll At Amber

Submitted by SonofPearl on Tue, 03/16/2010 at 1:28pm.

After losing badly on the first day of the Amber blindfold and rapid tournament in Nice, world #1 Magnus Carlsen (pictured) has stormed back to share the overall lead by recording three consecutive 2-0 wins.

Today's customer was underdog Jan Smeets, who now sits firmly in last place after his loss to the Norwegian.

Vassily Ivanchuk retains a share of lead by beating Lev Aronian in their rapid game, while Boris Gelfand had an inspired round, crushing Vladimir Kramnik 2-0 to leapfrog past him up to third in the standings.

It was a thrilling day all around, with just 2 draws from the 12 games played.

The full results in round 4:

Blind	Carlsen-Smeets	1-0
	Ivanchuk-Aronian	½-½
	Svidler-Karjakin	0-1
Blind	Gelfand-Kramnik	1-0
	Ponomariov-Gashimov	½-½
	Grischuk-Dominguez	1-0
Rapid	Smeets-Carlsen	0-1
	Aronian-Ivanchuk	0-1
	Karjakin-Svidler	0-1
Rapid	Kramnik-Gelfand	0-1
	Gashimov-Ponomariov	1-0
	Dominguez-Grischuk	0-1

The overall standings after four rounds:

Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	6
Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	6
Gelfand, Boris	ISR	5
Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	5
Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	4½
Kramnik, Vladimir	RUS	4
Svidler, Peter	RUS	3½
Gashimov, Vugar	AZE	3½
Karjakin, Sergey	UKR	3½
Aronian, Levon	ARM	3½
Dominguez Perez, Leinier	CUB	2
Smeets, Jan	NED	1½

A selection of today's games are below. All games are available at the official website. Tomorrow is a rest day, so round 5 is on Thursday.

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Comments:

by nerv - 22 months ago
Czech Republic

Member Since: Sep 2008
Member Points: 129

But in fact, the best is Anand, he is the world champion.

by OVAIDO - 22 months ago
ainzaghouan Tunisia

Member Since: Jun 2008
Member Points: 143

super carlsen very exiting finale with his bishop

by Pavrey - 22 months ago
Mumbai India

Member Since: Jun 2007
Member Points: 872

The tournament misses Anand - obviously he would like to concentrate on the world championship

by sokhilap - 22 months ago
Indonesia

Member Since: Aug 2009
Member Points: 1

Calsen

by philidor_position - 22 months ago
international International

Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 2986

aadaam: Are you allowed to write down the moves and and make use of your move list when playing blindfold?

No. All they see is the notation of he last move played by the opponent.

by gushenau3 - 22 months ago
criciuma Brazil

Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 12

black +

jejejeje

by gushenau3 - 22 months ago
criciuma Brazil

Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 12

Hello.

I saw a "lost lance"'on Gelfand X Kranmik( round 4)03/16/2010

24. Ba4 Re7 25. Rc2 Ng3 26. Rd1 Re4 27. Nd3(???)

-why not RxB(d4)!!!!

if R XR ....fXN win a piece

if c5 X R ....f X N win a piece

than?

thanks

by SaintPedronik - 22 months ago
United States

Member Since: Sep 2009
Member Points: 120

This is amazing... They go through all of the complications blindfolded?? DANG

by eXecute - 22 months ago
Washington DC, Hangar 18, Area 51, and Turkey

Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 603

Ivanchuk and Gashimov are the favorites!

by Kolovrat - 22 months ago
New York City, Ostrov Russia

Member Since: Dec 2009
Member Points: 289

I believe than CAN use their written down moves list, but even then it is still very difficult.

To ncannavino11: They are on computers because they are playing blindfold chess. The computer only shows them the board, they have to imagine the pieces on their own.

by aadaam - 22 months ago
United Kingdom

Member Since: Oct 2008
Member Points: 546

Are you allowed to write down the moves and and make use of your move list when playing blindfold?

by drumdaddy - 22 months ago
International

Member Since: Apr 2009
Member Points: 831

Grischuk vs. Dominguez Perez was an intricate game. How they could sustain it blindfolded for 63 moves is a mystery to me.

by Keres - 22 months ago
Narva Estonia

Member Since: Dec 2007
Member Points: 19

Go Chuky!

by uhavebeenserved - 22 months ago
las vegas United States

Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 244

Lasker...LMAO....Morphy would have destroyed him, thats why he would not plsy mhim, and obviously Capa,Alekine, Botvinnik,Petrosian,Fscher,KArpov, and KAsparov would have beat him into a dirt farmer. As far as Carlsen, he will be great or the greatest of all.....,...

by uhavebeenserved - 22 months ago
las vegas United States

Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 244

[COMMENT DELETED]

by knightdropFTW - 22 months ago
United States

Member Since: Sep 2009
Member Points: 1151

ncannavino11, that is how they play blindfold chess. It is internet chess like on this site but with a blank board. Same principle as online chess except with invisible pieces.