Nanjing R01: First blood – Carlsen beats Bacrot

by ChessBase
10/20/2010 – After a spectacular opening ceremony the first round of the Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess tournament got under way, with World Number one Magnus Carlsen bouncing back from a string of disappointing results with a clean win over French GM Etienne Bacrot. Anand-Wang Yue and Topalov-Gashimov were both drawn. Commentary to follow, here's our big pictorial report.

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Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament

The 2010 Nanjing International tournament takes place from October 19th to October 30th in Nanjing, China. It is a ten-round double round-robin event, in which each player faces every other player twice, once with the white pieces, and once with black.

Time control: 40 moves in two hours then 20 moves in one hour followed by the rest of the game in 15 minutes with a 30 second increment as of move 61.

Game start: Rounds 1-9 at 2:30 PM local time (11:30 PM Pacific daylight / 2:30 AM New York / 8:30 AM Paris), and round 10 at 10 AM local time (7 PM Pacific daylight / 10 PM New York / 4 AM Paris)

Rest day: October 25th (after round 5).

Round one report

Round 1: Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Vishy Anand 
½-½
 Wang Yue
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Etienne Bacrot
Veselin Topalov 
½-½
 Vugar Gashimov


Is Carlsen back to his winning ways?

Iranian GM Elshan Moradiabadi, watching the games on Playchess, wrote us: "It seems that the World Number One is back to his usual mood. Choosing an odd line in the Scotch, Magnus showed his willingness to go for something new and not simply slip into his opponent's preparation. This seems strange to me, but it worked out even earlier than I expected. Having chosen 7...0-0?! Bacrot showed that he was not prepared for this line. Later on Magnus played relaxed and well, not going into unnecessary complications after 8...h6 with 9.h4, which Rublevsky chose against Anand. He showed what he is looking for. On move 15 it was obvious that Magnus had accumulated lots of advantage both at the board and on the clock. He got a decisive advantage and finished the game in style."

Carlsen,M (2826) - Bacrot,E (2716) [C45]
3rd Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (1), 20.10.2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nb3 Bb6 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.Qe2 0-0 8.Bg5 h6

9.Bh4 [9.h4 d6 10.f3 hxg5 11.hxg5 Ng4 12.fxg4 Qxg5 13.Qf3 Bxg4 14.Qg3 Ne5 15.Be2 f5 16.exf5 Qxf5 17.0-0-0 Bxe2 18.Nxe2 Qf2 19.Qh2 Qxe2 20.Qh8+ Kf7 21.Rdf1+ Bf2 22.Qh7 Ke6 23.Kb1 Qg4 0-1 Rublevsky,S (2649)-Anand,V (2781)/Bastia 2004/EXT 2005]


Bacrot was caught off-guard by Carlsen's opening choice.

9...a5 10.a4 Nd4 11.Qd3 Nxb3 12.cxb3 Re8 13.0-0-0 d6 14.Qc2 Bd7 15.Bc4 Be6 16.Rhe1 Qe7 17.e5 dxe5 18.Rxe5 Qf8 19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.Re2 Qg7 21.Bxe6 Rxe6 22.Rxe6 fxe6 23.Rd3 Kh8 24.Rg3 Qh7 25.Qd2 Bc5 26.Ne4 Be7 27.Rh3 Kg7 28.Qd7 Kf7

29.Ng5+ fxg5 30.Rf3+ Kg8 31.Qxe6+ Kh8 32.Rf7 Bd6 33.Rxh7+ Kxh7 34.Qf7+ Kh8 35.g3 Ra6 36.Kb1 Bb4 37.f4 gxf4 38.gxf4 1-0 [Click to replay]


Pictures from Nanjing


A massive chess tournament for school children before the start of the event [click to enlarge]


Youthful chess fans – of which there are millions and millions in China...


.... playing in a giant tournament in Nanjing


Posing behind a garden chess set


World Champion Viswanathan Anand plays a simul against local chess fans


Ye Jiangchuan, 49, seven times national champion of China (from 1981 to 1996),
first Chinese player to gain a FIDE rating of over 2600


Former Women's World Champion Xu Yuhua playing a simul


WGM Shen Yang is one of the simultaneous masters


Guest and organiser WGM Shen Yang, 21, rated 2443


Tournament organiser Tian Hongwei (a.k.a Abigail),
Vice General Secretary of the Chinese Chess Federation


Geoffrey Borg, Chief Executive Officer of FIDE


Five participants of the Pearl Spring Chess tournament: Wang Yue, Veselin Topalov,
Etienne Bacrot, Viswanathan Anand, Vugar Gashimov.

The opening spectacle

Impressions from the dance, musical and acrobatic displays at the opening ceremony.


Top seed Magnus Carlsen in Nanjing


Reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand


Top Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov


Top Chinese GM Wang Yue


GM Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan

Pictures by Ren Huan and Yu Feng

Schedule and results

Round 1: Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Vishy Anand 
½-½
 Wang Yue
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Etienne Bacrot
Veselin Topalov 
½-½
 Vugar Gashimov
Round 2: Thursday, October 21, 2010
Wang Yue 
   Vugar Gashimov
Etienne Bacrot 
   Veselin Topalov
Vishy Anand 
   Magnus Carlsen
Games – Report
Round 3: Friday, October 22, 2009
Magnus Carlsen 
   Wang Yue
Veselin Topalov 
   Vishy Anand
Vugar Gashimov 
   Etienne Bacrot
Games – Report
Round 4: Saturday, October 23, 2010
Veselin Topalov 
   Wang Yue
Vugar Gashimov 
   Magnus Carlsen
Etienne Bacrot 
   Vishy Anand
Games – Report
Round 5: Sunday, October 24, 2010
Wang Yue 
   Etienne Bacrot
Vishy Anand 
   Vugar Gashimov
Magnus Carlsen 
   Veselin Topalov
Games – Report
Round 6: Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Wang Yue 
   Vishy Anand
Etienne Bacrot 
   Magnus Carlsen
Vugar Gashimov 
   Veselin Topalov
Games – Report
Round 7: Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Vugar Gashimov 
   Wang Yue
Veselin Topalov 
   Etienne Bacrot
Magnus Carlsen 
   Vishy Anand
Games – Report
Round 8: Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wang Yue
   Magnus Carlsen
Vishy Anand 
   Veselin Topalov
Etienne Bacrot  
   Vugar Gashimov
Games – Report
Round 9: Friday, October 29, 2010
Etienne Bacrot 
   Wang Yue
Vugar Gashimov 
   Vishy Anand
Veselin Topalov 
   Magnus Carlsen
Games – Report
Round 10: Saturday, October 30, 2010
Wang Yue 
   Veselin Topalov
Magnus Carlsen 
   Vugar Gashimov
Vishy Anand 
   Etienne Bacrot
Games – Report

Watching the games from Nanjing

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