Second Day Of Aker Chess Challenge
Hikaru Nakamura (pictured) boosted his chances of reaching the final match of the Aker Chess Challenge by beating Magnus Carlsen in their game with the black pieces. He also drew with Peter Svidler to leave him tied with Carlsen in the table, behind Svidler, who is still undefeated.
Nakamura and Carlsen will play again in a crucial clash on the last day of the qualification rounds, with Nakamura having white this time. Carlsen's other remaining game will be against leader Svidler, whereas Nakamura takes on the weaker Lie, who has lost every game so far. Nakamura's thoughts on the tournament and light analysis of his games so far can be found at his blog here.
Ties in the qualification round are broken by:
1. Number of wins
2. Result in individual games v tiebreak opponent.
3. If still equal, a blitz playoff (2 games at 4 mins + 2 sec/move)
4. If still level, a sudden death game (5 min v 4 min)
A three way tie would be broken by a single round blitz tournament.
The standings after 4 rounds out of 6:
| 1 |
Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2723 |
* | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | . | 1 | . | 3 |
| 2 |
Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2699 |
0 | ½ | * | * | 1 | . | 1 | . | 2½ |
| 3 |
Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2776 |
½ | . | 0 | . | * | * | 1 | 1 | 2½ |
| 4 |
Lie, Kjetil A | NOR | 2539 |
0 | . | 0 | . | 0 | 0 | * | * | 0 |
Round 5 and 6 take place on Sunday 4 January. Round 5 (Carlsen-Svidler and Lie-Nakamura) at 14:20 local time and round 6 (Svidler-Lie and Nakamura-Carlsen) at 15:40 local time. The official site will hopefully show live games at this link.
The top 2 finishers will play the final match on Monday, with the 3rd-4th placed players also competing for the minor places.
Svidler and Nakamura clash (picture from official site)
