Norway Chess 2013 Round 8
The penultimate round of the 2013 Norway Chess tournament produced four decisive games and some real surprises in Stavanger!
The biggest shock was Magnus Carlsen losing with white against Chinese GM Wang Hao in the last game of the day to finish. Carlsen lost a pawn and Wang Hao brought home the full point in a rook endgame.
The only good news for the world #1 is that the tournament leader also lost his game. Sergey Karjakin was defeated by Peter Svidler in a tremendous battle, but still holds on to top spot.
Vishy Anand made ground on the leader, joining Magnus Carlsen on 5 points after beating Jon Ludvig Hammer. The Norwegian #2 played a bold game, but the world champion was too strong.
Hikaru Nakmaura also improved his tournament standing by beating Teimour Radjabov.
The standings after 8 rounds
| # | Name | Fed | Elo | Pts |
| 1 | Karjakin, Sergey | RUS | 2767 | 5½ |
| 2 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2868 | 5 |
| 3 | Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2783 | 5 |
| 4 | Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2769 | 4½ |
| 5 | Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2775 | 4½ |
| 6 | Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2813 | 4½ |
| 7 | Wang, Hao | CHN | 2743 | 3½ |
| 8 | Topalov, Veselin | BUL | 2793 | 3½ |
| 9 | Radjabov, Teimour | AZE | 2745 | 2½ |
| 10 | Hammer, Jon Ludvig | NOR | 2608 | 1½ |
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Magnus Carlsen lost his first game of the tournament to Wang Hao
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Sergey Karjakin lost to Peter Svidler, but remains the leader
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Hikaru Nakamura won a wild game with Teimour Radjabov
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Veselin Topalov and Lev Aronian drew in the first game to finish
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The final round pairings (games start 3 hours earlier)
| ARONIAN Levon | v | CARLSEN Magnus |
| WANG Hao | v | ANAND Viswanathan |
| HAMMER Jon Ludvig | v | NAKAMURA Hikaru |
| RADJABOV Teimour | v | SVIDLER Peter |
| KARJAKIN Sergey | v | TOPALOV Veselin |
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The tournament is a single-round-robin and the official website has live commentary from Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam and Simen Agdestein, as well as live game broadcasts and live video.
The time control is 100 mins for 40 moves, then 50 mins for 20 moves, and then 15 mins to a finish with a 30 second increment from the start. The "Sofia" anti-draw rules apply.
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Tournament Schedule (Times = UTC + 2)
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The main sponsors are the Norwegian companies HTH and Jadarhus.
Photos by Norway Chess from the official website. Games via TWIC.
