Candidates Tournament Round 3

Game Annotations by GM Sam Shankland

Any lingering doubts that the 2013 London Candidates Tournament would be a draw-fest were surely dispelled completely in a pulsating third round which had three decisive games.

The wheels may have already come off Vassily Ivanchuk's challenge as he lost another game on time, under pressure from Lev Aronian in a hugely complicated fight.

"Today I tried to play something creative. A bad strategy!" said Ivanchuk after the game.  Aronian was annoyed that he had let some of his advantage slip, but he was taking advantage of Ivanchuk's time trouble instead of taking time to find the best moves.

A different vantage point? Ivanchuk checks the view from the audience's perspective...

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...before taking his seat for the game.

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Lev Aronian coped well with another unusual opening choice from Ivanchuk

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Alexander Grischuk played the Gruenfeld defence against Vladimir Kramnik and an interesting game ended in a draw by repetition after 35 moves.

Strained smiles before the start of the game

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Kramnik takes a peek at the electronic boards showing all the games

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Teimour Radjabov stayed true to his style by giving his opponent both barrels with the King's Indian, but Peter Svidler gained the upper hand and brought home his first full point.  A set-back for Radjabov after his win yesterday, but a big boost for Svidler.

Nothing up the sleeves...

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...a last minute adjustment of the pieces...

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...and a fierce look, but the game slipped away from Radjabov

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Last to finish was the game between Boris Gelfand and Magnus Carlsen, where once again the young Norwegian showed his remarkable endgame talent. From a dynamically balanced position, he gradually outplayed his opponent to earn his first win of the tournament.

After two draws, Magnus needed to get his campaign going today...

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World Champion Vishy Anand tweeted, "What a brilliant start to the candidates. I am sure the participants can use a rest day now!"

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The standings after three rounds

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The 2013 Candidates Tournament runs from 14 March - 2 April in London, with the winner earning the right to challenge current world champion Vishy Anand for the title.

The tournament is an 8-player double round-robin event and the venue is The IET at 2 Savoy Place on the banks of the river Thames. The total prize fund is €510,000 (approx 665,000 USD). 

All rounds start at 14:00 GMT, and the time control is 2 hours for 40 moves, then an extra hour added for the next 20 moves, then 15 minutes more with a 30 second increment to finish.

The official FIDE website coverage is at london2013.fide.com.