Karjakin Soars, Ivanchuk Sinks In Medias
In the penultimate round of the Bazna Kings tournament in Medias, Romania, Sergey Karjakin thrashed a badly out-of-sorts Vassily Ivanchuk in just 22 moves.
Ivanchuk is well known as a streaky and emotional player and it seems that he is currently suffering a crisis of confidence, playing his moves quickly and without care.
With Magnus Carlsen only drawing with Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, that means that the lead is once again shared by Carlsen and Karjakin on 6 points.
By happy coincidence, Carlsen and Karjakin will meet in a final round showdown tomorrow, with Carlsen having the white pieces. Ivanchuk will have white against Nakamura, and Radjabov white against Nisipeanu.
Nakamura had to settle for a draw against Teimour Radjabov in a blocked endgame where his extra pawn was of no consequence.
The standings after nine rounds:
| Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2815 | * | * | ½ | . | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 6 |
| Karjakin, Sergey | RUS | 2776 | ½ | . | * | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2774 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | . | 4½ |
| Radjabov, Teimour | AZE | 2744 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | * | ½ | . | 0 | ½ | 4 |
| Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | ROU | 2659 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | . | * | * | 1 | ½ | 3½ |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2776 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | . | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | * | 3 |
Sergey Karjakin and his wife Kateryna Dolzhikova at Amber in March (Pic: Association Max Euwe)
Don't forget that tomorrow's final round starts 2 hours earlier, at 13:30 local time (10:30 UTC).
The time control is 2 hours for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves, then 15 minutes to finish with a 30 second increment after move 60.
The official site with live broadcasts of the games is here.
