Black Is OK At Corus!
What is it that they say about playing white being an advantage? In the third round of the 'A' Group at Corus, the black pieces won four times, with no wins for white at all!
One of those black wins came from Alexei Shirov who beat Sergei Tiviakov and therefore stays in the lead with a perfect 3/3 start to the tournament.
Nigel Short's tough time in the 'A' Group continued as he lost badly to Hikaru Nakamura (pictured), who moves into a share of second place.
Joining Nakamura on 2.5/3 is Magnus Carlsen who overcame Van Wely, apparently with a little help from a Kasparov opening novelty.
The other winner in round three was Vassily Ivanchuk who took advantage of Jan Smeets' time trouble to record his first win.
It was a good day for China in the 'B' and 'C' Groups, with Ni Hua and Li Chao respectively winning, both moving into a share of the lead in their group as a result.
The full results in round three:
| Group A | ||
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier | ½-½ | Anand, Viswanathan |
| Tiviakov, Sergei | 0-1 | Shirov, Alexei |
| Caruana, Fabiano | ½-½ | Kramnik, Vladimir |
| Leko, Peter | ½-½ | Karjakin, Sergey |
| Van Wely, Loek | 0-1 | Carlsen, Magnus |
| Smeets, Jan | 0-1 | Ivanchuk, Vassily |
| Short, Nigel D | 0-1 | Nakamura, Hikaru |
| Group B | ||
| Giri, Anish | ½-½ | Reinderman, Dimitri |
| Naiditsch, Arkadij | ½-½ | Negi, Parimarjan |
| Howell, David W L | ½-½ | Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter |
| So, Wesley | ½-½ | Akobian, Varuzhan |
| Sutovsky, Emil | ½-½ | L'Ami, Erwin |
| Muzychuk, Anna | 0-1 | Harikrishna, P |
| Nyback, Tomi | 0-1 | Ni Hua |
| Group C | ||
| Vocaturo, Daniele | 1-0 | Van Kampen, Robin |
| Peng Zhaoqin | ½-½ | Grandelius, Nils |
| Kuipers, Stefan | 0-1 | Gupta, Abhijeet |
| Swinkels, Robin | 1-0 | Soumya, Swaminathan |
| Muzychuk, Mariya | ½-½ | Robson, Ray |
| Bok, Benjamin | 0-1 | Lie, Kjetil A |
| Plukkel, Sjoerd | 0-1 | Li Chao |
The standings after round three:
| Group A | ||||
| 1 | Shirov, Alexei | ESP | 2723 | 3 |
| 2 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2810 | 2½ |
| 3 | Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2708 | 2½ |
| 4 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2749 | 2 |
| 5 | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | CUB | 2712 | 1½ |
| 6 | Karjakin, Sergey | UKR | 2720 | 1½ |
| 7 | Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2790 | 1½ |
| 8 | Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 2788 | 1½ |
| 9 | Tiviakov, Sergei | NED | 2662 | 1 |
| 10 | Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2675 | 1 |
| 11 | Leko, Peter | HUN | 2739 | 1 |
| 12 | Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2641 | 1 |
| 13 | Smeets, Jan | NED | 2657 | ½ |
| 14 | Short, Nigel D | ENG | 2696 | ½ |
| Group B | ||||
| 1 | Giri, Anish | NED | 2588 | 2½ |
| 2 | Ni Hua | CHN | 2657 | 2½ |
| 3 | Naiditsch, Arkadij | GER | 2687 | 2 |
| 4 | L'Ami, Erwin | NED | 2615 | 1½ |
| 5 | Howell, David W L | ENG | 2606 | 1½ |
| 6 | Negi, Parimarjan | IND | 2621 | 1½ |
| 7 | So, Wesley | PHI | 2656 | 1½ |
| 8 | Harikrishna, P | IND | 2672 | 1½ |
| 9 | Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | ROU | 2681 | 1½ |
| 10 | Sutovsky, Emil | ISR | 2657 | 1½ |
| 11 | Akobian, Varuzhan | USA | 2628 | 1 |
| 12 | Muzychuk, Anna | SLO | 2523 | 1 |
| 13 | Nyback, Tomi | FIN | 2643 | 1 |
| 14 | Reinderman, Dimitri | NED | 2573 | ½ |
| Group C | ||||
| 1 | Vocaturo, Daniele | ITA | 2495 | 2½ |
| 2 | Robson, Ray | USA | 2570 | 2½ |
| 3 | Li Chao | CHN | 2604 | 2½ |
| 4 | Gupta, Abhijeet | IND | 2577 | 2 |
| 5 | Peng Zhaoqin | NED | 2402 | 2 |
| 6 | Kuipers, Stefan | NED | 2340 | 1½ |
| 7 | Grandelius, Nils | SWE | 2515 | 1½ |
| 8 | Swinkels, Robin | NED | 2495 | 1½ |
| 9 | Lie, Kjetil A | NOR | 2547 | 1½ |
| 10 | Muzychuk, Mariya | UKR | 2447 | 1 |
| 11 | Van Kampen, Robin | NED | 2456 | 1 |
| 12 | Bok, Benjamin | NED | 2322 | ½ |
| 13 | Plukkel, Sjoerd | NED | 2279 | ½ |
| 14 | Soumya, Swaminathan | IND | 2323 | ½ |
A selection of games are given below. All games are available at the official site.
