Carlsen Takes The Lead In Nanjing

Magnus Carlsen defeated Peter Leko in fine style to take an early lead after the first round of the Pearl Spring tournament in Nanjing, China.

Whatever other benefits Carlsen achieves from working with Kasparov, access to the great man's legendary laptop with his opening ideas will be invaluable.  Given this, it was perhaps no surprise that Carlsen chose an opening that he has rarely played before, but which was analysed extensively by Kasparov - the Scotch.

Carlsen played the relatively rare pawn sacrifice with 10.f4 and Leko came under concerted pressure for the rest of the game, eventually sacrificing a piece with 29...Nxh4 in a desperate bid for counterplay.

However, Carlsen was not to be tricked, and brought home the full point in a convincing start to his tournament.

In the other games, Wang Yue chose a quiet line against Radjabov's pet King's Indian's defence and got nowhere.  Topalov tried to slowly crush Jakovenko with the Catalan, but the Russian proved a capable defender and the points were shared.

Games start at 3pm local time (7 a.m. GMT, 3 a.m. EST in the US) and live coverage is available at the official site here. (a different link to the one given in yesterday's news item).