Carlsen Also Beats Nakamura in Shamkir | Update: VIDEO

Magnus Carlsen also won his second game in Shamkir, Azerbaijan. On Monday the Norwegian defeated Hikaru Nakamura and increased his lead in the Shamkir Chess 2014 tournament's A group to a full point. Sergey Karjakin quickly equalized against Fabiano Caruana in a Berlin Ending while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Teimour Radjabov split the point in a Semi-Slav, Meran. In group B Pavel Eljanov, Alexander Motylev and Etienne Bacrot won their black games against Radek Wojtaszek, Rauf Mamedov and Vasif Durarbayli respectively.

It was the World Champion who again dominated the headlines on Monday as once more he was the only player to win in the A group of the Shamkir Chess 2014 tournament. Magnus Carlsen got a minimal edge out of the opening (a Chebanenko Slav) against Hikaru Nakamura and maintained that small advantage until move 33, when the American GM committed a big mistake. He lost a pawn, and then another one.

Update: video report of round 2

Magnus 'posing' some problems to his opponents at Vugar Gashimov Memorial! #ShamkirChess2014 Superb!

— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) April 21, 2014

“I think I was a little bit better from the opening and then he started to go wrong a bit before the time control for him. After that I was basically two pawns up but he kept on fighting after the time control,” said Carlsen, who was then interrupted by his opponent at the press conference.

“I think Black should be completely fine but somehow I got it all wrong,” said Nakamura about the position after move 30. “White is probably a bit better but I find it hard to believe that this should be anything, any big advantage,” he added, and Carlsen agreed.

Black lost two pawns, and although there was little hope, Nakamura fought on. “I tried to find some lines but Magnus found the best moves and then there's not much you can do.”

In the final phase of the game Carlsen had a remarkable pose behind the board, having his left leg hanging over his armrest. Instantly it became a topic of discussion in the Twittersphere.

The new World #Chess Champion, hard at work @MagnusCarlsen @PlayMagnus pic.twitter.com/P9gCmRzJK2

— David Llada ♔ (@lladini) April 21, 2014

This is called "2889.2 position" ;) MT @AliFurkhan @MagnusCarlsen, the best positional player in more ways than one! pic.twitter.com/CgP93vR4FZ

— Natalia Pogonina (@Pogonina) April 21, 2014

Carlsen about appearing very relaxed and comfortable: “It wasn't that comfortable, I had to work hard today. I've been lucky enough to start with two white games. I guess now I'll have a couple of black games in a row and it's probably gonna be tougher. It's a very good start. I'm happy about that, I'm happy about my play, but my mindset going into the next games is not different from before the tournament, I have to keep playing well.”

After this game Carlsen reached another all-time high in the live ratings: 2889.2. Chess fans and journalists already started discussing what it takes for him to reach the next milestone, 2900. The answer is 8.5/10, which will put him on 2900,7. But the tournament is far from over yet!

Carlsen's lead in the tournament increased to a point as both the other two games ended in draws. Fabiano Caruana vs. Sergey Karjakin was a short affair as White got nothing in a Berlin Ending. By now that's a separate opening, as Karjakin suggested: “It wasn't really Spanish, it was a Berlin. There's a big difference!”

The draw between the two Azeri grandmasters was more interesting. After playing the French on Sunday, Teimour Radjabov again surprised with his opening choice: the Semi-Slav. It's clear that Radjabov has worked hard for this tournament. 

Caught off guard, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov decided to go for healthy moves. “After yesterday's loss I didn't want to fall in some home preparation, so I tried to do my best and play  a very solid opening.”

His 15th move turned out to be the novelty, but it wasn't very dangerous, as Radjabov showed in the game. His ...c6-c5 push was an excellent pawn sacrifice that solved Black's problems almost instantly.

The B group saw two draws and three wins, all scored by Black. Alexander Motylev played an excellent game against Rauf Mamedov, whose 6.a4 against the Najdorf wasn't very successful.

Pavel Eljanov defeated Radek Wojtaszek in a rook ending where his rook was very passive, but his king very active. 

Vasif Durarbayli again made a good impression in his game with Etienne Bacrot. He played well in the opening and then tried the interesting push e5-e6 on move 20. With other moves he might have kept his advantage, but the move is hard to resist!

Bacrot started to play well from that point, and chances were about equal until both players were low on time. “We try to avoid time trouble but when the game is so complicated, what to do?” said Bacrot, who found a nice refutation of White's second e5-e6 move!

Shamkir Chess 2014 | A | Pairings & results

Shamkir Chess 2014 | A | Round 2 Standings

#	Name	Rtg	Perf	1	2	3	4	5	6	Pts	SB
1	Carlsen,Magnus	2881	3566					1	1	2.0/2
2	Karjakin,Sergey	2772	2748			½	½			1.0/2	1.00
3	Caruana,Fabiano	2783	2772		½			½		1.0/2	0.75
4	Radjabov,Teimour	2713	2766		½				½	1.0/2	0.75
5	Nakamura,Hikaru	2772	2642	0		½				0.5/2	0.50
6	Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar	2760	2607	0			½			0.5/2	0.50

Shamkir Chess 2014 | B | Pairings & results

Shamkir Chess 2014 | B | Pairings & results

#	Name	Rtg	Perf	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	Pts	SB
1	Bacrot,Etienne	2722	2849				½						1	1.5/2	1.00
2	Motylev,Alexander	2685	2778					½			1			1.5/2	1.00
3	Eljanov,Pavel	2732	2878								½	1		1.5/2	0.75
4	Wang,Hao	2734	2672	½						½				1.0/2	1.25
5	Abasov,Nijat	2516	2670		½				½					1.0/2	1.25
6	Safarli,Eltaj	2656	2569					½		½				1.0/2	1.00
7	Guseinov,Gadir	2621	2695				½		½					1.0/2	1.00
8	Mamedov,Rauf	2660	2518		0	½								0.5/2	0.75
9	Wojtaszek,Radoslaw	2716	2468			0							½	0.5/2	0.25
10	Durarbayli,Vasif	2584	2529	0								½		0.5/2	0.25

The rounds start at 12:00 Amsterdam, 6am New York and 3am Los Angeles time. The official website is www.shamkirchess.az. Chess.com offers daily live commentary at www.chess.com/tv. Games via TWIC.