Norway Chess 2013 Round 2
Sergey Karjakin is the sole leader after two rounds of the Norway Chess 2013 tournament in Stavanger.
Karjakin maintained his perfect start by winning his second round game against the lowest seeded competitor Jon Ludvig Hammer. Hammer once again held his own in the opening, but was eventually outplayed.
However, the game everyone wanted to see was the clash between world champion Vishy Anand and his challenger world #1 Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen had the white pieces and pressed the champion hard for the whole game, but never managed to find a way through Anand's defences. Once Anand had exchanged off his weak d-pawn the draw came soon after.
Wang Hao bounced back from a loss in the first round to beat Peter Svidler with the white pieces in a Gruenfeld defence. By contrast, Hikaru Nakamura followed his first round win with a loss to Lev Aronian on the second day. Nakamura struggled hard to try to save the game, but had to admit defeat after 70 moves.
The standings after 2 rounds
| Karjakin, Sergey | RUS | 2767 | 2 |
| Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2813 | 1½ |
| Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2783 | 1 |
| Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2868 | 1 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2775 | 1 |
| Wang, Hao | CHN | 2743 | 1 |
| Topalov, Veselin | BUL | 2793 | 1 |
| Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2769 | 1 |
| Radjabov, Teimour | AZE | 2745 | ½ |
| Hammer, Jon Ludvig | NOR | 2608 | 0 |
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Tournament leader Sergey Karjakin
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Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand discussing their game
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Lev Aronian's win moved him into second place
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Teimour Radjabov was relieved to draw his game with Veselin Topalov
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The pairings in round three
| ANAND Viswanathan | v | TOPALOV Veselin |
| NAKAMURA Hikaru | v | CARLSEN Magnus |
| SVIDLER Peter | v | ARONIAN Levon |
| RADJABOV Teimour | v | HAMMER Jon Ludvig |
| KARJAKIN Sergey | v | WANG Hao |
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The tournament is a single-round-robin and the official website has live commentary from Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam and Simen Agdestein, as well as live game broadcasts and live video.
The time control is 100 mins for 40 moves, then 50 mins for 20 moves, and then 15 mins to a finish with a 30 second increment from the start. The "Sofia" anti-draw rules apply.
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Tournament Schedule (Times = UTC + 2)
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The main sponsors are the Norwegian companies HTH and Jadarhus.
Screenshots from the official website. Games via TWIC.
