Kramnik Beats Carlsen At Corus
Magnus Carlsen joked humorously on Facebook that he would "crush Kramnik like a bug", but it was the former world champion who won their epic round nine clash at Corus.
Both players went for the win, but as the first time control approached Kramnik (pictured) sacrificed a pawn and then the exchange in Carlsen's rare time trouble and the game was over.
Kramnik therefore joins Alexei Shirov as joint leader on 6.5/9.
Elsewhere, Hikaru Nakamura lost for the second round in a row to defending champion Sergey Karjakin who passes him on the leaderboard. Karjakin is undefeated and still has a chance to retain his title.
Jan Smeets finally had something to smile about, winning against Fabiano Caruana, but he still props up the leaderboard since Loek Van Wely also won today against Peter Leko.
In the 'B' Group wonderkid Anish Giri finally lost a game today against Anna Muzychuk, but he still heads the field on 6.5/9. Ni Hua and Erwin L'Ami won their games to close the gap to half a point.
In the 'C' Group, top seed Li Chao defeated Ray Robson to wrest the lead away from the young American. Only one game in the group was drawn on a thrilling day.
The results in round 9:
| Group A | ||
| Carlsen, Magnus | 0-1 | Kramnik, Vladimir |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | 0-1 | Karjakin, Sergey |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | ½-½ | Shirov, Alexei |
| Short, Nigel D | ½-½ | Dominguez Perez, Leinier |
| Tiviakov, Sergei | ½-½ | Anand, Viswanathan |
| Van Wely, Loek | 1-0 | Leko, Peter |
| Smeets, Jan | 1-0 | Caruana, Fabiano |
| Group B | ||
| So, Wesley | ½-½ | Sutovsky, Emil |
| Naiditsch, Arkadij | 1-0 | Nyback, Tomi |
| Harikrishna, P | ½-½ | Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter |
| Negi, Parimarjan | 1-0 | Reinderman, Dimitri |
| Howell, David W L | 0-1 | L'Ami, Erwin |
| Muzychuk, Anna | 1-0 | Giri, Anish |
| Akobian, Varuzhan | 0-1 | Ni Hua |
| Group C | ||
| Li Chao | 1-0 | Robson, Ray |
| Vocaturo, Daniele | 1-0 | Muzychuk, Mariya |
| Peng Zhaoqin | ½-½ | Soumya, Swaminathan |
| Van Kampen, Robin | 1-0 | Gupta, Abhijeet |
| Lie, Kjetil A | 0-1 | Grandelius, Nils |
| Bok, Benjamin | 1-0 | Kuipers, Stefan |
| Plukkel, Sjoerd | 0-1 | Swinkels, Robin |
The standings after round 9:
| Group A | ||||
| 1 | Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 2788 | 6½ |
| 2 | Shirov, Alexei | ESP | 2723 | 6½ |
| 3 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2810 | 5½ |
| 4 | Karjakin, Sergey | UKR | 2720 | 5½ |
| 5 | Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2708 | 5 |
| 6 | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | CUB | 2712 | 5 |
| 7 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2749 | 5 |
| 8 | Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2790 | 4½ |
| 9 | Leko, Peter | HUN | 2739 | 4½ |
| 10 | Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2675 | 3½ |
| 11 | Short, Nigel D | ENG | 2696 | 3 |
| 12 | Tiviakov, Sergei | NED | 2662 | 3 |
| 13 | Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2641 | 3 |
| 14 | Smeets, Jan | NED | 2657 | 2½ |
| Group B | ||||
| 1 | Giri, Anish | NED | 2588 | 6½ |
| 2 | L'Ami, Erwin | NED | 2615 | 6 |
| 3 | Ni Hua | CHN | 2657 | 6 |
| 4 | So, Wesley | PHI | 2656 | 5½ |
| 5 | Naiditsch, Arkadij | GER | 2687 | 5½ |
| 6 | Harikrishna, P | IND | 2672 | 5 |
| 7 | Negi, Parimarjan | IND | 2621 | 5 |
| 8 | Howell, David W L | ENG | 2606 | 4½ |
| 9 | Sutovsky, Emil | ISR | 2657 | 4 |
| 10 | Muzychuk, Anna | SLO | 2523 | 4 |
| 11 | Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | ROU | 2681 | 3½ |
| 12 | Nyback, Tomi | FIN | 2643 | 3 |
| 13 | Reinderman, Dimitri | NED | 2573 | 2½ |
| 14 | Akobian, Varuzhan | USA | 2628 | 2 |
| Group C | ||||
| 1 | Li Chao | CHN | 2604 | 6½ |
| 2 | Vocaturo, Daniele | ITA | 2495 | 6 |
| 3 | Robson, Ray | USA | 2570 | 6 |
| 4 | Swinkels, Robin | NED | 2495 | 6 |
| 5 | Gupta, Abhijeet | IND | 2577 | 5½ |
| 6 | Grandelius, Nils | SWE | 2515 | 5½ |
| 7 | Peng Zhaoqin | NED | 2402 | 5 |
| 8 | Van Kampen, Robin | NED | 2456 | 5 |
| 9 | Lie, Kjetil A | NOR | 2547 | 4 |
| 10 | Bok, Benjamin | NED | 2322 | 3½ |
| 11 | Kuipers, Stefan | NED | 2340 | 3½ |
| 12 | Muzychuk, Mariya | UKR | 2447 | 3 |
| 13 | Soumya, Swaminathan | IND | 2323 | 2 |
| 14 | Plukkel, Sjoerd | NED | 2279 | 1½ |
Selected games are below. All games are available at the official site.
