Candidates matches - Round 4

Wow!  6 decisive games in round 4 have really stirred the pot.  First mention must go to the American Gata Kamsky who chalked up his third win in a row against a thoroughly demoralised Etienne Bacrot and has therefore won his match.

 

Lev Aronian showed his class by bouncing back immediately from his defeat against the prodigy Magnus Carlsen in the previous round to take the lead again in their fascinating match.  Bravo Aronian, but will Carlsen come out fighting once more in their next game?

 

 

Another smiling face today was that of the Hungarian, Peter Leko who is through to the next round after employing the Nimzo-Indian to great effect yet again against Gurevich.  Leko also therefore qualifies for the second round of matches.

 

Another winner today was Bareev who has had much the better of his clash with the only woman in the field, Judit Polgar.  Bareev now leads 3-1 and Polgar needs to win both remaining games to take the match to tie-breaks.  A tough ask against an in-form opponent.

 

Yet another winner on a day of high drama was Alexander Grischuk who takes a 3-1 lead in his match with Malakhov.  It is hard to imagine that Grischuk will slip up now.

Also victorious was England's Mickey Adams, finally breaking the deadlock with the popular Alexei Shirov.  A sacrifice of the exchange by Shirov seemed to backfire and Adams made no mistake in the ending.

Wrapping things up, Rublevsky and Ponomariov fought out a draw in a Sicilian defence, so Rubleksky retains his slender lead and Kasimjanov and Gelfand remained deadlocked after their fourth draw despite an another entertaining game.

What a great round! Fighting chess from all!