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Candidates Tournament Round 12

Candidates Tournament Round 12

SonofPearl
| 260 | Chess Event Coverage

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The drama reached fever-pitch in round 12 of the London Candidates Tournament today, as the event neared its final stages. It was a fantastic round where the result of the two crucial games was unclear until the very end.

After yesterday's 11th round Vladimir Kramnik claimed he would be happy to draw his vital game with Lev Aronian today with the black pieces. Yet when he played the bold anti-positional 10...f5 it was clear that he was targeting more than half a point!

Aronian found himself under great pressure and Kramnik grabbed a winning advantage with the beautiful 25...Be4. It seemed to be all over, but somehow Kramnik allowed Aronian back into the game and at the first time control computer analysis had it dead level.  However, the position wasn't so easy for tired carbon based life-forms near the end of a tournament after hours of hard-fought play. Aronian was unable to distract Kramnik's bishop with his extra pawns and Kramnik won the game!

Vladimir Kramnik won an amazing game against Aronian

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Lev Aronian was outplayed by Kramnik and missed his drawing chance

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The other crucial game was Magnus Carlsen's encounter with the unpredictable Vassily Ivanchuk. This time Chucky played a mainline defense, the Sicilian Taimanov, and when Carlsen spent fully 20 minutes thinking about his 13th move Bd4, it was clear something had already gone badly wrong for the tournament leader.

Carlsen has a great record against Ivanchuk and had already managed to save some difficult positions in the tournament, but this time it was too much to ask. Ivanchuk brought home the full point after 7 gruelling hours for a shock win which gives the tournament lead to Kramnik. "I think I played absolutely disgracefully from move one" said an obviously gutted Carlsen at the press conference.

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Magnus Carlsen...where did it all go wrong?

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The game between Boris Gelfand and Peter Svidler was the first to finish, and after a balanced struggle a draw was agreed once the first time control was reached.

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Boris Gelfand and Peter Svidler drew their game

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The game between Teimour Radjabov and Alexander Grischuk was another long struggle. Radjabov held an endgame advantage but was unable to convert a rook plus f and h pawn against rook ending, and the game ended in a draw.

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Teimour Radjabov and Alexander Grischuk

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Tomorrow is a rest day, so the penultimate round is on Sunday, and the final round Monday. The UK also moves onto BST (British Summer Time), so games will start at 13:00 GMT (14:00 BST).

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The standings after 12 rounds

Name Fed Elo Pts
Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2810 8
Magnus Carlsen NOR 2872
Levon Aronian ARM 2809
Peter Svidler RUS 2747 6
Boris Gelfand ISR 2740
Alexander Grischuk RUS 2764
Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2757 5
Teimour Radjabov AZE 2793 4

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The 2013 Candidates Tournament runs from 14 March - 2 April in London, with the winner earning the right to challenge current world champion Vishy Anand for the title.

The tournament is an 8-player double round-robin event and the venue is The IET at 2 Savoy Place on the banks of the river Thames. The total prize fund is €510,000 (approx 665,000 USD). 

All rounds start at 14:00 GMT, and the time control is 2 hours for 40 moves, then an extra hour added for the next 20 moves, then 15 minutes more with a 30 second increment to finish.

The official FIDE website coverage is at london2013.fide.com.

Round-by-Round Pairings

Round 1  15/03/13   
Levon Aronian ½ - ½ Magnus Carlsen
Boris Gelfand ½ - ½ Teimour Radjabov 
Vassily Ivanchuk  ½ - ½ Alexander Grischuk 
Peter Svidler  ½ - ½ Vladimir Kramnik
Round 2  16/03/13   
Magnus Carlsen ½ - ½ Vladimir Kramnik
Alexander Grischuk  ½ - ½ Peter Svidler 
Teimour Radjabov  1 - 0 Vassily Ivanchuk 
Levon Aronian 1 - 0 Boris Gelfand
Round 3  17/03/13   
Boris Gelfand 0 - 1 Magnus Carlsen
Vassily Ivanchuk  0 - 1 Levon Aronian
Peter Svidler  1 - 0 Teimour Radjabov 
Vladimir Kramnik ½ - ½ Alexander Grischuk 
Round 4  19/03/13   
Magnus Carlsen 1 - 0 Alexander Grischuk 
Teimour Radjabov  ½ - ½ Vladimir Kramnik
Levon Aronian ½ - ½ Peter Svidler 
Boris Gelfand ½ - ½ Vassily Ivanchuk 
Round 5  20/03/13   
Vassily Ivanchuk  ½ - ½ Magnus Carlsen
Peter Svidler  ½ - ½ Boris Gelfand
Vladimir Kramnik ½ - ½ Levon Aronian
Alexander Grischuk  ½ - ½ Teimour Radjabov 
Round 6  21/03/13   
Peter Svidler  0 - 1 Magnus Carlsen
Vladimir Kramnik ½ - ½ Vassily Ivanchuk 
Alexander Grischuk  ½ - ½ Boris Gelfand
Teimour Radjabov  0 - 1 Levon Aronian
Round 7  23/03/13   
Magnus Carlsen ½ - ½ Teimour Radjabov 
Levon Aronian ½ - ½ Alexander Grischuk 
Boris Gelfand ½ - ½ Vladimir Kramnik
Vassily Ivanchuk  ½ - ½ Peter Svidler 
Round 8  24/03/13  
Magnus Carlsen ½ - ½ Levon Aronian
Teimour Radjabov  0 - 1 Boris Gelfand
Alexander Grischuk  1 - 0 Vassily Ivanchuk 
Vladimir Kramnik 1 - 0 Peter Svidler 
Round 9  25/03/13  
Vladimir Kramnik ½ - ½ Magnus Carlsen
Peter Svidler  ½ - ½ Alexander Grischuk 
Vassily Ivanchuk  1 - 0 Teimour Radjabov 
Boris Gelfand 1 - 0 Levon Aronian
Round 10  27/03/13  
Magnus Carlsen 1 - 0 Boris Gelfand
Levon Aronian 1 - 0 Vassily Ivanchuk 
Teimour Radjabov  ½ - ½ Peter Svidler 
Alexander Grischuk  0 - 1 Vladimir Kramnik
Round 11  28/03/13  
Alexander Grischuk  ½ - ½ Magnus Carlsen
Vladimir Kramnik 1 - 0 Teimour Radjabov 
Peter Svidler  1 - 0 Levon Aronian
Vassily Ivanchuk  ½ - ½ Boris Gelfand
Round 12  29/03/13  
Magnus Carlsen 0 - 1 Vassily Ivanchuk 
Boris Gelfand ½ - ½ Peter Svidler 
Levon Aronian 0 - 1 Vladimir Kramnik
Teimour Radjabov  ½ - ½ Alexander Grischuk 
Round 13  31/03/13  
Teimour Radjabov  Magnus Carlsen
Alexander Grischuk  Levon Aronian
Vladimir Kramnik Boris Gelfand
Peter Svidler  Vassily Ivanchuk 
Round 14  01/04/13
Magnus Carlsen Peter Svidler 
Vassily Ivanchuk  Vladimir Kramnik
Boris Gelfand Alexander Grischuk 
Levon Aronian Teimour Radjabov 

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Look out for details of Chess.com TV coverage of the event at this page.

Pictures by Ray Morris-Hill.

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