Corus Nears Thrilling Finale
Magnus Carlsen may have lost his individual game with Vladimir Kramnik, but he won with the white pieces today to share the lead with big Vlad.
Carlsen (pictured) overcame Dominguez in a lively Gruenfeld defence with a determined display.
Meanwhile, Kramnik touched gloves with early front-runner Shirov in another memorable game where both players pressed hard but failed to break each other's resistance.
Ivanchuk and Karjakin played a well-fought draw, but the only other decisive game in Group 'A' came courtesy of a Van Wely win against Tiviakov.
Group 'B' had only one decisive result, but it was a crucial one in the race for the lead. Anish Giri threw everything into an attack against Wesley So, but just as the fires were fading and So looked sure to win, he blundered in time trouble to hand the victory to Giri. Giri now leads the B Group by a full point again with just two rounds to go.
In contrast Group 'C' continues to be an absolute bloodbath, with no draws whatsoever for the second round in a row. However, all the front-runners won their games, so the standings remain the same with Li Chao almost home with just two rounds to go.
The results in round 11:
| Group A | ||
| Carlsen, Magnus | 1-0 | Dominguez Perez, Leinier |
| Shirov, Alexei | ½-½ | Kramnik, Vladimir |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | ½-½ | Leko, Peter |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | ½-½ | Karjakin, Sergey |
| Van Wely, Loek | 1-0 | Tiviakov, Sergei |
| Short, Nigel D | ½-½ | Caruana, Fabiano |
| Smeets, Jan | ½-½ | Anand, Viswanathan |
| Group B | ||
| Naiditsch, Arkadij | ½-½ | Howell, David W L |
| So, Wesley | 0-1 | Giri, Anish |
| Negi, Parimarjan | ½-½ | Sutovsky, Emil |
| Harikrishna, P | ½-½ | Ni Hua |
| Muzychuk, Anna | ½-½ | L'Ami, Erwin |
| Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | ½-½ | Reinderman, Dimitri |
| Akobian, Varuzhan | ½-½ | Nyback, Tomi |
| Group C | ||
| Li Chao | 1-0 | Muzychuk, Mariya |
| Vocaturo, Daniele | 1-0 | Peng Zhaoqin |
| Van Kampen, Robin | 1-0 | Swinkels, Robin |
| Grandelius, Nils | 0-1 | Gupta, Abhijeet |
| Bok, Benjamin | 1-0 | Soumya, Swaminathan |
| Lie, Kjetil A | 0-1 | Robson, Ray |
| Plukkel, Sjoerd | 0-1 | Kuipers, Stefan |
The standings after round 11:
| Group A | ||||
| 1 | Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 2788 | 7½ |
| 2 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2810 | 7½ |
| 3 | Shirov, Alexei | ESP | 2723 | 7 |
| 4 | Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2790 | 6 |
| 5 | Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2708 | 6 |
| 6 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2749 | 6 |
| 7 | Karjakin, Sergey | UKR | 2720 | 6 |
| 8 | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | CUB | 2712 | 5½ |
| 9 | Leko, Peter | HUN | 2739 | 5½ |
| 10 | Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2675 | 4½ |
| 11 | Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2641 | 4½ |
| 12 | Short, Nigel D | ENG | 2696 | 4 |
| 13 | Tiviakov, Sergei | NED | 2662 | 4 |
| 14 | Smeets, Jan | NED | 2657 | 3 |
| Group B | ||||
| 1 | Giri, Anish | NED | 2588 | 8 |
| 2 | L'Ami, Erwin | NED | 2615 | 7 |
| 3 | Ni Hua | CHN | 2657 | 7 |
| 4 | Naiditsch, Arkadij | GER | 2687 | 6½ |
| 5 | So, Wesley | PHI | 2656 | 6½ |
| 6 | Negi, Parimarjan | IND | 2621 | 6 |
| 7 | Harikrishna, P | IND | 2672 | 5½ |
| 8 | Howell, David W L | ENG | 2606 | 5½ |
| 9 | Muzychuk, Anna | SLO | 2523 | 5 |
| 10 | Sutovsky, Emil | ISR | 2657 | 5 |
| 11 | Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | ROU | 2681 | 4½ |
| 12 | Reinderman, Dimitri | NED | 2573 | 4 |
| 13 | Nyback, Tomi | FIN | 2643 | 3½ |
| 14 | Akobian, Varuzhan | USA | 2628 | 3 |
| Group C | ||||
| 1 | Li Chao | CHN | 2604 | 8½ |
| 2 | Vocaturo, Daniele | ITA | 2495 | 7 |
| 3 | Van Kampen, Robin | NED | 2456 | 7 |
| 4 | Robson, Ray | USA | 2570 | 7 |
| 5 | Gupta, Abhijeet | IND | 2577 | 6½ |
| 6 | Swinkels, Robin | NED | 2495 | 6 |
| 7 | Grandelius, Nils | SWE | 2515 | 5½ |
| 8 | Bok, Benjamin | NED | 2322 | 5½ |
| 9 | Kuipers, Stefan | NED | 2340 | 5½ |
| 10 | Lie, Kjetil A | NOR | 2547 | 5 |
| 11 | Peng Zhaoqin | NED | 2402 | 5 |
| 12 | Muzychuk, Mariya | UKR | 2447 | 4 |
| 13 | Soumya, Swaminathan | IND | 2323 | 3 |
| 14 | Plukkel, Sjoerd | NED | 2279 | 1½ |
