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Carlsen Beats Nakamura In Tata Steel

Carlsen Beats Nakamura In Tata Steel

SonofPearl
| 78 | Chess Event Coverage

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

Carlsen_Naka_Rd8.jpg

 

 

Anand and Aronian share the points in round eight.

Anand-Aronian_Rd8.jpg

 

 

Giri gets back to winning ways against Wang Hao

Giri_Hao_Rd8.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Spoelman_So_Rd8.jpg

 

 

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

Tkachiev_Efimenko_rd8.jpg

 

 

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

Don't forget to check out the live coverage right here at Chess.com/TV!  Click the link for details of showtimes.

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

The full results and standings after round eight:

Group A

Anand, Viswanathan ½-½ Aronian, Levon
Carlsen, Magnus 1-0 Nakamura, Hikaru
Ponomariov, Ruslan ½-½ Kramnik, Vladimir
Giri, Anish 1-0 Wang, Hao
L'Ami, Erwin ½-½ Nepomniachtchi, Ian
Shirov, Alexei 1-0 Grischuk, Alexander
Smeets, Jan 0-1 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
Group B

McShane, Luke J ½-½ Sargissian, Gabriel
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw 1-0 Le, Quang Liem
Tkachiev, Vladislav 1-0 Efimenko, Zahar
Li, Chao
½-½ Ganguly, Surya Shekhar
Fressinet, Laurent ½-½ Navara, David
Nijboer, Friso ½-½ Hammer, Jon Ludvig
Spoelman, Wouter 0-1 So, Wesley
Group C

Lahno, Kateryna ½-½ Swiercz, Dariusz
Ivanisevic, Ivan 1-0 Nyzhnyk, Illya
Sachev, Tania 1-0 De Jong, Jan-Willem
Van Der Werf, Mark 0-1 Vocaturo, Daniele
Bok, Benjamin 1-0 Bluvshtein, Mark
Siebrecht, Sebastian 1-0 Van Kampen, Robin
Pruijssers, Roeland ½-½ Kazhgaleyev, Murtas

 

Group A


Anand, Viswanathan IND 2810
Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2751
Aronian, Levon ARM 2805 5
Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2814 5
Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2784 5
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime FRA 2715 5
Nepomniachtchi, Ian RUS 2733
Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR 2744 4
Giri, Anish NED 2686 4
L'Ami, Erwin NED 2628 3
Wang, Hao CHN 2731 3
Shirov, Alexei ESP 2722
Grischuk, Alexander RUS 2773 2
Smeets, Jan NED 2662 2
Group B


So, Wesley PHI 2673 6
McShane, Luke J ENG 2664
Sargissian, Gabriel ARM 2667 5
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw POL 2726 5
Efimenko, Zahar UKR 2701 5
Tkachiev, Vladislav FRA 2636
Navara, David CZE 2708 4
Li, Chao
CHN 2649 4
Le, Quang Liem VIE 2664
Fressinet, Laurent FRA 2707
Ganguly, Surya Shekhar IND 2651 3
Nijboer, Friso NED 2584
Hammer, Jon Ludvig NOR 2647
Spoelman, Wouter NED 2547 2
Group C


Vocaturo, Daniele ITA 2570
Lahno, Kateryna UKR 2518
Nyzhnyk, Illya UKR 2530
Ivanisevic, Ivan SRB 2630
Sachdev, Tania IND 2391
Kazhgaleyev, Murtas KAZ 2637
Bluvshtein, Mark CAN 2590 4
Swiercz, Dariusz POL 2540 4
Van Der Werf, Mark NED 2439
Bok, Benjamin NED 2453
Siebrecht, Sebastian GER 2439
Van Kampen, Robin NED 2443 3
Pruijssers, Roeland NED 2484 2
De Jong, Jan-Willem NED 2437
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