Round 12: Carlsen beats Kramnik

Two more rounds to go, and in all rounds it's very exciting. Can Aronian hold on to his lead? Will Movsesian promote to next year's A group? Are Caruana's young shoulders able to handle the pressure? Two video's added

Update 15:02

Against Adams, Polgar is playing the Petroff just like Gelfand did earlier in the tournament, and she deviated with 13?¢‚Ǩ¬¶Re8. Her pawn sac 15?¢‚Ǩ¬¶Nc4 is probably still preparation. Radjabov and Leko are playing an old line of the Queen's Indian, played for example in a game Karpov-Korchnoi (Tilburg 1991). In this case it's White who has sacrificed a pawn.

About Kramnik-Carlsen, co-editor forest said: "If Magnus manages to draw today, he'll win the tournament next year." And indeed, a draw with Black against Kramnik right here right now, would mean the young Norwegian is yet another step further in his development. Ivanchuk played a Queen's Gambit Accepted against Aronian; an opening not very fashionable at the moment. But lovers of IQP positions will have a good day today.

Against Van Wely, Anand has played a novelty (13?¢‚Ǩ¬¶Rb8) in a well-known position of the Queen's Indian. It now has a very specific character because White Black gained the bishop pair and a protected passed pawn on d4; White can play for Nf3-e1-d3 and e4-e5. What will be more important?

The board Eljanov-Topalov is already on fire; it seems Black has sacrificed a piece for two pawns. The compensation looks unclear but hey, it's not the first time Topalov has sac'ed a piece (not even in this tournament). Mamedyarov played another Closed Sicilian and Gelfand's position looks pretty OK right now.

The top game in B is Short-Bacrot, and Nigel again went for his old love: Qe2 instead of Re1 in the Ruy Lopez.

Update 16:28h

Radjabov-Leko was quickly drawn. Leko's Black repertoire, especially against 1.d4, is just super, super solid. Mamedyarov ambition seems close to zero and he and Gelfand already shook hands as well. Polgar has solved all her problems against Adams and Carlsen decided that he's not going to sit and wait today - which is kind of common behaviour in such hedgehogs. No, he decided to play actively with ...f5 and ...g5-g4, and it doesn't look bad at all.

Aronian quickly played the thematical push d4-d5 (and gone was the IQP) and has put strong pressure onto Black's b-pawn. Actually, he seems to be winning that pawn - did Ivanchuk miss 21.Be4! perhaps? Loek chose a different route for his knight and again, Anand seems to be going for a win quietly but surely. Topalov is now in defending modus; there was never a real attack. Mamedyarov-Gelfand will probably be a draw soon.

In B, Movsesian has won a healthy pawn against l'Ami and Short-Bacrot, with the same material as in Mamedyarov-Gelfand, looks pretty drawish as well. In C, Nijboer is playing like Mikhail Tal today, sacrificing lots of material against Caruana. White's attack is very strong.

Update 19:24h

Adams-Polgar reached a very interesting pawn ending in which Black turned out to be winning. Here a short comment by Judit Polgar:

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Carlsen broke all expectations by beating Kramnik with Black. The last time that happened to the former world champion in a classical game, was the eighth match game in Elista, in 2006 against Topalov. During the press conference we just filmed, a realistic Carlsen emphasized that Kramnik is suffering from a cold, and therefore played below his normal level.

Update 19:43h

Anand seemed to have slight advantage in the ending with queen and bishop against Van Wely's queen and knight, but then the Dutchman reached the safe haven quite easily. Aronian did win that pawn against Ivanchuk but the Ukrainian could liquidate to a drawn rook ending. White tried for quite a long time, but to no avail. Eljanov kept cool today and just beat Topalov. Here are his comments after the game:

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Update 21:17h

Spoelman is performing surprisingly well in the last few days. Today he beat Koneru and so his tournament is just fine. Short joked in the press room: "Everone was surprised that I drew against this guy, but you shouldn't underestimate these players." Movsesian converted his plus plus pawn easily and thus increased his lead, since Bacrot and Short drew each other today. Caruana survived Nijboer's attack and after the game, the Dutchman still wasn't sure if all his sacrifices were correct or not. In any case, Fabiano will play his last round with a point clear to Negi... his opponent of tomorrow.

Ljubojevic has won the Honorary Four. He beat Portisch very easily today - the way the Hungarian was playing, it seemed like he was even more ill than Kramnik. Timman won a fine game against Korchnoi and so he can be reasonanly satisfied as well

All games from today:

Round 12 - Saturday the 26th L. van Wely - V. Anand ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? V. Kramnik - M. Carlsen 0-1 T. Radjabov - P. Leko ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? S. Mamedyarov - B. Gelfand ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? P. Eljanov - V. Topalov 1-0 M. Adams - J. Polgar 0-1 L. Aronian - V. Ivanchuk ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?	Round 12 - Saturday the 26th N. Short - E. Bacrot ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? P. Harikrishna - M. Krasenkow ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? Y. Hou - I. Cheparinov ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? D. Stellwagen - G. Sargissian ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? W. Spoelman - H. Koneru 1-0 S. Movsesian - E. L'Ami 1-0 J. Smeets - I. Nepomniachtchi 1-0	Round 12 - Saturday the 26th I. Krush - J. van der Wiel 1-0 S. Li - A. Braun ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? A. Ushenina - P. Carlsson 0-1 F. Nijboer - F. Caruana 0-1 P. Negi - E. Grivas 1-0 Z. Peng - D. Reinderman ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? M. van der Werf - D. Ruijgrok ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?
Round 13 - Sunday the 27th L. Aronian - L. van Wely V. Ivanchuk - M. Adams J. Polgar - P. Eljanov V. Topalov - S. Mamedyarov B. Gelfand - T. Radjabov P. Leko - V. Kramnik M. Carlsen - V. Anand	Round 13 - Sunday the 27th J. Smeets - N. Short I. Nepomniachtchi - S. Movsesian E. L'Ami - W. Spoelman H. Koneru - D. Stellwagen G. Sargissian - Y. Hou I. Cheparinov - P. Harikrishna M. Krasenkow - E. Bacrot	Round 13 - Sunday the 27th M. van der Werf - I. Krush D. Ruijgrok - Z. Peng D. Reinderman - P. Negi E. Grivas - F. Nijboer F. Caruana - A. Ushenina P. Carlsson - S. Li A. Braun - J. van der Wiel

Schedule/results Honorary Four:

Round 1 - Saturday the 19th L. Ljubojevic - J. Timman 0-1 V. Kortchnoi - L. Portisch 1-0	Round 2 - Sunday the 20th V. Kortchnoi - J. Timman ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? L. Portisch - L. Ljubojevic ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?	Round 3 - Tuesday the 22nd J. Timman - L. Portisch ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? L. Ljubojevic - V. Kortchnoi ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ?
Round 4 - Wednesday the 23rd J. Timman - L. Ljubojevic 0-1 L. Portisch - V. Kortchnoi 0-1	Round 5 - Friday the 25th L. Portisch - J. Timman 1-0 V. Kortchnoi - L. Ljubojevic 0-1	Round 6 - Saturday the 26th J. Timman - V. Kortchnoi 1-0 L. Ljubojevic - L. Portisch 1-0

New photos by forest:




Complete schedule + results »


External links:

• Tournament website
• Macauley's videos
• Live web commentary (Chessdom)
• Web commentary Chesspro (Russian)
• Photos by the official tournament photographer Fred Lucas
• Photos by Frits Agterdenbos (ChessVista)
• PGN A group, B group & C group