Candidates Tournament Round 6

It was another day of high excitement and fighting chess at the 2013 Candidates Tournament in London, with Magnus Carlsen winning his third game of the event against Peter Svidler.

As soon as Carlsen achieved the freeing central pawn break with 17...d5 his pieces were more active and the pressure gradually increased on Svidler until he blundered with 33.Qh5, losing his bishop and the game.

Magnus Carlsen scored his third win

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Carlsen's result was his second win with the black pieces

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The next game to finish was the clash between Vladimir Kramnik and Vassily Ivanchuk.  Kramnik was still looking for his first win after Lev Aronian miraculously slipped through his fingers yesterday, and with Ivanchuk once again burning a lot of time on the clock early in the game it looked good for the Russian.

Kramnik took advantage of Ivanchuk's time trouble by launching a direct sacrificial attack on his king.  But a rook down, Kramnik couldn't find a knockout blow for his attack and decided to repeat moves, despite Ivanchuk having just 1 minute left and 10 moves still to play before the first time control! 

Kramnik explained in the post match press conference, "If Vassily had 5 seconds left, then I would continue, but with one minute...", and joked,"Players are not blundering pieces to me!"

Win-less Vladimir Kramnik - unlucky so far?

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Carlsen may have had hopes of being the sole leader of the tournament, but Lev Aronian's perseverance in a long game with Teimour Radjabov was rewarded with a blunder from his opponent when 53. Nxe5 lost on the spot.

Lev Aronian, "I was very frustrated, but I got lucky"

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Teimour Radjabov's blunder proved costly

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It was also Lev Aronian's second win with black

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The last game to finish looked like being another win for the black pieces, but Boris Gelfand somehow managed to squander a winning position against Alexander Grischuk in a game where both players struggled to manage their clock time.

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Time-trouble addict Alexander Grischuk 

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Boris Gelfand missed a good chance for a win

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Alexander Grischuk and Boris Gelfand have both yet to win a game

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The standings after six rounds

Tomorrow (Friday) is the second rest day and two questions suggest themselves as we approach the halfway point of the tournament. Firstly, is the winner already between Lev Aronian and Magnus Carlsen who are 1½ points clear of the rest of the field? And secondly, is the time control (with no increments until move 60) having a significant effect on the results of the games?

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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.