carlsen and kramnik dominate this turney they shud hav a more even line up

It'a a point for a draw, three for a win, schubomb. duh... like football, or probably soccer to you

@ Nelu_Jr - what are you on? He got the half point.

So, after reading everyone's lines, I can say I have spotted a fault!

 @manymercsmike

"I have to give some large amount of credit to David Howell for securing a half point here. "

He got a full point! IMBA!

go howell

you have our support

I followed the games live yesterday and I logged off after Kramnik won (made it look impressively easi I might ad) and Carlsen won the exchange. Imagine my surprise logging in today only to find the Carlsen game a draw.

p.s. I also must go back on what i have said about Kramnik. He is now playing exciting games with black and not just looking for draws. Also, a very nice guy!

in the commentry room, we thought it was all over as there was a mate pattern, but he missed it. As i said, he was clearly very angry over it! Howells Knight was causing him all sorts of problems and not letting him take advantage of his 2 rooks. However, David did miss a knight fork at one stage in the endgame (under serious time trouble again). i think it worked out that he had to move a piece every 20 seconds during the game.

As for Howell's c3 Siclian, against Black's ...Nf6 & ...e6 setup I prefer 6. Na3 as in a recent game of mine on queenalice.  Then after 6...a6  7. Nc4 Nbd7  8. Ne3 Qc6  9. a4 there are only two games on chess.com (or chesslive.de for that matter), in both of which Black wisely played 9...b6.  My opponent instead played 9...0-0?! allowing me to attain a queenside bind with 10. a5.  I've not been happy as White with the lines with dxc5/...Qxd1 and am surprised Carlsen could only draw, he definitely seemed to have an edge in the middlegame.

DjHeikle, Adams was not in time trouble at all, at move 30 he still had 25mins or so i believe.

I went to the gamess yesterday and what a joy it was! Carlsen was obviously gutted and really angry with himself for missing the mating combination, but still had time to give me his autograph...then i was waiting for the lift and stepped in, who else but him, his dad and sister all stepped in too! i managed to get all the players autographs- apart from Short- who i must say, although appears to be nice and okay on the interviews, is actually quite rude in person!

RobKing, Good catch on Carlsen's play.  Estragon, I don't think it was complacency, but maybe he feared [after Robking's line] 56. Kd5 Rxf5+ 57. Ke6?! threatening the f5 rook and also Rh8#.  The refutation is just 57. .... Re5+, but maybe Magnus thought he was giving the white king too much action...

Nice catch on the win for Carlsen, robking!  He might also have gone after the b5 pawn earlier - 42 ... Ra5, and if 43 Rd5 Rc3 intending Rb3, or 43 Nd4 Rc3 and the e3 pawn needs help.

I think Carlsen fell to a typical OTB failing:  once achieving a won game and the opponent, in time trouble, plays on to make the control, one often gets complacent, assuming he will soon resign, failing to choose the most direct routes to victory and ending up with only a draw.  It happens more often at lower levels, but it seems no one is immune.

It's a blow to Carlsen, but he is still in the driver's seat since Kramnik has the loss and they don't play again.  Off day tomorrow, then Saturday Carlsen has White against Nakamura, who hasn't shown himself to be particularly sharp in this event.  Carlsen has some extra incentive to avenge his loss in their recent blitz match, but Kasparov is unlikely to be much help preparing for this game. 

i dont understand the game of sr luke mcshane, was very bad...

Nice to see some of the world's best players are using cheap clocks and pens and paper. No Monrois there...

Howell has one nasty face in that picture.

If im not mistaken, Carlsen had 10-15 mins left when the draw was agreed.
Howell was in time trouble

Yes, after 52.Nf5?? it was easy to win. In fact already 51. Kg2? was a big mistake. Maybe they hadn't enought time...

I was there! And I got Kramnik's autograph.

I must say the Howell-Carlsen game was the best of the round.

While Kramnik won relatively easy, both Carlsen and Howell fought hard, first one - for the win, the second - for a draw.

Go Vlad!