Carlsen Seals Nanjing Victory
The Kid is back! After a brief spell of disappointing performances in the Olympiad and Bilbao, Magnus Carlsen has won the Nanjing Pearl Springs Masters 2010 with a round to spare.
Carlsen brushed aside Topalov in round nine, first gaining the upper hand with black pieces and then pouncing on a tactical error from the Bulgarian to secure the win.
With the other games ending all-square, Carlsen leads by an unassailable 1.5 points going into the last day.
The standings with one round remaining:
| Carlsen, Magnus | 2826 | 6½ |
| Bacrot, Etienne | 2716 | 5 |
| Anand, Viswanathan | 2800 | 5 |
| Gashimov, Vugar | 2719 | 4 |
| Topalov, Veselin | 2803 | 3½ |
| Wang Yue | 2732 | 3 |
The final round starts 4.5 hours earlier (at 10:00 local time) to allow time for the closing ceremony, and the games will be Carlsen v Gashimov, Anand v Bacrot, and Wang Yue v Topalov.
Picture from the official website
