Carlsen Beats Nakamura In Tata Steel

Magnus Carlsen produced his best form against Hikaru Nakamura to beat the American in round eight of the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk Aan Zee.

In an exciting game, Carlsen sacrificed a pawn and then a piece as both players attacked on opposite sides of the board in a Sicilian Najdorf.  It was the Norwegian's attack that hit home first, and Nakamura resigned when mate was inevitable.

That result enabled Anand to catch Nakamura again to share the lead following his draw with Lev Aronian.

Anish Giri bounced back from recent losses to win against Wang Hao, and Alexei Shirov finally earned his first win, beating Alexander Grischuk to move off the bottom of the standings.

Frenchman Vachier-Lagrave scored his second win of the event, beating Jan Smeets with the black pieces.  Vachier-Lagrave remains undefeated, as does Vladimir Kramnik who drew with ease against Ponomariov today in just 19 moves.

Erwin L'Ami had to work harder for his draw, but eventually secured the half point against Nepomniachtchi after 61 moves.

A fierce battle ended in a fine win for Carlsen against Nakamura

Anand and Aronian share the points in round eight.

Giri gets back to winning ways against Wang Hao

Wesley So continued his amazing run in the B Group to win his fourth game in a row and take the lead with a score of 6/8.  McShane drew with Sargissian today and Efimenko lost to Tkachiev.

Spoelman fails to stop the Pinoy charge from Wesley So

Efimenko suffers his first loss of the event against Tkachiev (all pics from the official Facebook page)

In the C Group Daniele Vocaturo regained the lead thanks to a win with the black pieces against Van der Werf.

For all the games and more information visit the official website www.tatasteelchess.com

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Tomorrow (Monday) is a rest day, so round nine is on Tuesday.

The full results and standings after round eight: