Carlsen Defeats Topalov In Nanjing

Magnus Carlsen (pictured) took a firm grip on the 2nd Pearl Spring tournament in Nanjing with a win in the second round against Veselin Topalov to extend his early lead.

In another totally convincing victory, Carlsen accepted a pawn sacrifice from Topalov and then played accurately to deny the world's #1 any compensation.

It was a crushing win for Carlsen, who has taken full advantage of the tournament schedule to win with the white pieces in his first 2 games.

Meanwhile, both the other games of the round ended in draws once again.  Jakovenko tried a rare line against the Petroff Defence, which he had successfully essayed against Petroff-maestro Boris Gelfand in a rapid game earlier this year.  However, Wang Yue was up to the defensive task and a drawn rook ending was the result.

Radjabov stayed loyal to his favourite Sicilian Dragon and Peter Leko never looked like achieving anything other than a draw with a tame response that lacked ambition.  Radjabov will no doubt derive some measure of satisfaction that he has comfortably held two draws with black in the first two rounds.

The official site, with a live broadcast of the games, can be found here.  Games start at 3pm local time in Nanjing (7 a.m. GMT, 3 a.m. EST in the US).

The standings after round 2: