Shirov Takes Sole Lead At Corus
Alexei Shirov (pictured) demonstrated his endgame prowess for the second day in a row to beat Fabiano Caruana and take the sole lead at Corus on 2/2.
The other winner from round one Loek Van Wely fared less well, losing to Hikaru Nakamura. In retrospect, perhaps Van Wely's choice of the Najdorf was unwise against a player of such tactical acumen.
The only other winner on day two was that man Magnus Carlsen, who triumphed against Jan Smeets. It could have been a very different story, with Smeets holding an early advantage, but some inaccuracies were enough to allow the world's #1 to turn the tables and earn his first victory of the event.
Nigel Short recovered from his first round blues to hold Vishy Anand to a draw in a tough game, and the other games in the 'A' Group were also drawn.
In the 'B' Group the youngest player took the sole lead after two rounds. Anish Giri defeated Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu with the black pieces to take a deserved lead.
In Group 'C' (or the Kindergarten Group as Nigel Short has christened it!), 15 year-old Ray Robson took a clear lead on 2/2 with his second victory.
The full results in round two:
| Group A | ||
| Shirov, Alexei | 1-0 | Caruana, Fabiano |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | 1-0 | Van Wely, Loek |
| Carlsen, Magnus | 1-0 | Smeets, Jan |
| Karjakin, Sergey | ½-½ | Dominguez Perez, Leinier |
| Anand, Viswanathan | ½-½ | Short, Nigel D |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | ½-½ | Tiviakov, Sergei |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | ½-½ | Leko, Peter |
| Group B | ||
| Ni Hua | 1-0 | Sutovsky, Emil |
| L'Ami, Erwin | ½-½ | So, Wesley |
| Negi, Parimarjan | ½-½ | Muzychuk, Anna |
| Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | 0-1 | Giri, Anish |
| Akobian, Varuzhan | 0-1 | Naiditsch, Arkadij |
| Harikrishna, P | ½-½ | Howell, David W L |
| Reinderman, Dimitri | 0-1 | Nyback, Tomi |
| Group C | ||
| Robson, Ray | 1-0 | Swinkels, Robin |
| Li Chao | ½-½ | Vocaturo, Daniele |
| Van Kampen, Robin | ½-½ | Bok, Benjamin |
| Grandelius, Nils | 0-1 | Kuipers, Stefan |
| Gupta, Abhijeet | ½-½ | Muzychuk, Mariya |
| Lie, Kjetil A | 0-1 | Peng Zhaoqin |
| Soumya, Swaminathan | ½-½ | Plukkel, Sjoerd |
The standings after two rounds:
| Group A | ||||
| 1 | Shirov, Alexei | ESP | 2723 | 2 |
| 2 | Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2708 | 1½ |
| 3 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2810 | 1½ |
| 4 | Tiviakov, Sergei | NED | 2662 | 1 |
| 5 | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | CUB | 2712 | 1 |
| 6 | Karjakin, Sergey | UKR | 2720 | 1 |
| 7 | Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2790 | 1 |
| 8 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2749 | 1 |
| 9 | Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 2788 | 1 |
| 10 | Van Wely, Loek | NED | 2641 | 1 |
| 11 | Smeets, Jan | NED | 2657 | ½ |
| 12 | Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2675 | ½ |
| 13 | Leko, Peter | HUN | 2739 | ½ |
| 14 | Short, Nigel D | ENG | 2696 | ½ |
| Group B | ||||
| 1 | Giri, Anish | NED | 2588 | 2 |
| 2 | Ni Hua | CHN | 2657 | 1½ |
| 3 | Naiditsch, Arkadij | GER | 2687 | 1½ |
| 4 | L'Ami, Erwin | NED | 2615 | 1 |
| 5 | So, Wesley | PHI | 2656 | 1 |
| 6 | Negi, Parimarjan | IND | 2621 | 1 |
| 7 | Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter | ROU | 2681 | 1 |
| 8 | Howell, David W L | ENG | 2606 | 1 |
| 9 | Muzychuk, Anna | SLO | 2523 | 1 |
| 10 | Nyback, Tomi | FIN | 2643 | 1 |
| 11 | Sutovsky, Emil | ISR | 2657 | 1 |
| 12 | Akobian, Varuzhan | USA | 2628 | ½ |
| 13 | Harikrishna, P | IND | 2672 | ½ |
| 14 | Reinderman, Dimitri | NED | 2573 | 0 |
| Group C | ||||
| 1 | Robson, Ray | USA | 2570 | 2 |
| 2 | Li Chao2 | CHN | 2604 | 1½ |
| 3 | Vocaturo, Daniele | ITA | 2495 | 1½ |
| 4 | Kuipers, Stefan | NED | 2340 | 1½ |
| 5 | Peng Zhaoqin | NED | 2402 | 1½ |
| 6 | Van Kampen, Robin | NED | 2456 | 1 |
| 7 | Grandelius, Nils | SWE | 2515 | 1 |
| 8 | Gupta, Abhijeet | IND | 2577 | 1 |
| 9 | Lie, Kjetil A | NOR | 2547 | ½ |
| 10 | Swinkels, Robin | NED | 2495 | ½ |
| 11 | Bok, Benjamin | NED | 2322 | ½ |
| 12 | Muzychuk, Mariya | UKR | 2447 | ½ |
| 13 | Plukkel, Sjoerd | NED | 2279 | ½ |
| 14 | Soumya, Swaminathan | IND | 2323 | ½ |
Selected games from the round are given below. All games are available at the official site.
