soulpower74

Jan 20, 2011

0

#1

A tough tourney so far for Magnus Carlsen .Anand and Nakamura head into today's play tied for 1st.

Standings of grandmaster group A

Standings after round 4

1.	V. Anand H. Nakamura	3
3.	L. Aronian A. Giri M. Vachier-Lagrave	2½
6.	V. Kramnik E. l'Ami I. Nepomniachtchi R. Ponomariov J. Smeets	2
11.	M. Carlsen A. Grischuk	1½
13.	W. Hao	1
14.	A. Shirov	½

CSR

Jan 20, 2011

0

#2

Anand is on a roll here. He took down Smeets to get the sole lead after Nakamura drew his game. The game was really complicated. I couldn't comprehend most of the game, and then he sacrificed his Rook for Smeets bishop in move 43, just so he could get an open file for his other rook. 21 moves later, he got the rook back and the game. Amazing stuff. Truly world champion calibre.

Meanwhile Carlsen is still sweating it out with l'Ami in what may end up a drawn game. Exciting stuff -- Ami is trying to draw by stalemate!!!

Update: Carlsen won. The Nalimov tablebase called it a draw for most of the endgame.

CSR

Jan 25, 2011

0

#3

Round 9 has started off with fireworks. Both Naka - Anand and Lagrave - Carlsen have uncastled kings and in very intense battles.

Watch this with GM Shipovs live commentary at the website. He has such colorful language.

http://www.chessintranslation.com/live-game/ Just awesome!

soulpower74

Jan 26, 2011

0

#4

Round 10 update find Anand and Nakamura tied for 1st. Anand defeated Shirov and Nakamura knocked off LaGrave. Both Kramnik and Aronian had draws vs their opponents. Magnus Carlsen was knocked off by Ian Nepomniachtchi today.

Ernie

CSR

Jan 26, 2011

0

#5

Great games today with lots of decisive results. Shipovs live commentary as usual was a treat to watch along with.

Now Anand is at the top of the unofficial world ranking with 2817 followed by Aronian and then Carlsen. And this was after Round 9. After the present Round 10, I can only imagine Anand going up further, and Carlsen dropping more places.

http://chess.liverating.org/#rated_details

ghostofmaroczy

Jan 26, 2011

0

#6

The top of that rating list after round 9 was close to being a three way tie. Does it seem likely to you that Aronian will be the challenger to Anand after May's matches?

Notice how many points Grischuk has lost. I used to think Grischuk could be a WC contender but he has too many runs of bad form.

How does Kramnik make drawing with black look so easy?

soulpower74

Jan 27, 2011

0

#7

I think Aronian will certainly be one of the favorites along with Topalov.It will be interesting to see how Aronian will do under Match conditions. Carlsen down to #3 in the FIDE Live ratings. Nakamura up to 8th in the World under the same ratings system. Still think Anand in a Match will beat anyone in the world.

Can't answer your Kramnik question but he is a dangerous opponent for anyone when he is on.It seems to me his will to win is not as great as it once was. I know in the past he did have some health issues but off the top of my head I don't remember what those issues were.

Rest day today and then the weekend will bring the conclusion of this tourney. Being from NY rooting for Nakamura but it will be tough.

soulpower74

Jan 28, 2011

0

#8

Nakamura wins in Round 11 vs Nepomniachtchi. With Anand being held to a draw Nakamura has now taken over sole possession of 1st place.

ghostofmaroczy

Jan 29, 2011

0

#9

Yes, Nakamura controls his own destiny now, soulpower. Did you see how Kramnik drew easily against him with black, though?

How about the fortunate pairings in groups B and C where the leaders will meet head to head in both groups?

There is an interesting final day coming.

PhilipN

Jan 30, 2011

0

#10

Reading the final-round report from the official website: Nakamura reports that after his draw against Wang, he went back to his hotel room to watch the relay of Nepomniatchchi-Anand. He didn't expect to see it headed for a draw, and he reports that when it did, he was "sort of jumping up and down around the room."

soulpower74

Jan 31, 2011

0

#11

he was "sort of jumping up and down around the room."

I for one would have hit the ceiling if I were Nakamura. What a wonderful result vs an elite field.He finished ahrad of 3 2800's and a former World Champion.Probably the best American tournament since the 1970 Interzonal won by 3.5 points by Bobby Fischer.