Nanjing: Carlsen wins Pearl Spring with 3002 performance

Second Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament

This event, organized by the Municipal People’s Government of Nanjing, took place from 27th September to 9th October 2009 in Nanjing, China. Time controls were 90 minutes for 40 moves and 60 minutes for the rest of the game, with no increment. The tournament was a six-player double round robin and has a total prize fund of 250,000 Euros, with the winner taking 80,000 Euros.

Round ten

The final round of the Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament began five hours earlier than the previous nine rounds – at 10 a.m. local time, instead of 3 p.m. Why? Because the organisers wanted enough time to play tiebreak games in case of a tie for first. But Magnus Carlsen had already clinched the tournament after round nine! Some of the players therefore requested that the games start at 3 p.m. as in the previous rounds. But the organisers apparently could not change the schedule that had been announced weeks earlier.

Round ten in Nanjing, with Leko-Wang Yue, Carlsen-Jakovenko and Topalov-Radjabov

Carlsen,M (2772) - Jakovenko,D (2742) [D31]
2nd Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (10), 09.10.2009
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 c6 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bxd6 Qxd6 8.e3 Ne7 9.Bd3 b6. Haven't we seen this position before? Recently? Yes, it was Magnus' trainer, Garry Kasparov, playing it in Valencia, against his old nemesis Anatoly Karpov, and winning twice. Brave of Jakovenko to play it against Kasparov's "student". 10.Nf3 Ba6 11.0-0 Bxd3 12.Qxd3 Nd7. This appears to be a new move.

13.e4! Carlsen has a dynamic reply. 13...0-0 14.e5 Qe6 15.Rae1 Rfe8 16.Nh4 Ng6 17.Nxg6 Qxg6 18.Qd2 Nf8 19.f4 Qf5 20.Nd1 f6 21.Ne3 Qd7 22.Qd3 fxe5 23.dxe5 Ne6 24.f5 Nc5 25.Qd4 Ne4

26.Nxd5 Qxd5. Probably the best move under the circumstances. Fritz shows us some super-sharp alternatives that start with 26...Nc5 27.f6 Red8 28.e6 Nxe6 29.f7+ Kf8 (29...Kh8 30.Rxe6 Qxe6 31.Nc7) 30.Qe4 Qxd5 31.Qxh7 and in both cases Black is losing. 27.Qxe4 Rad8 28.e6 Qxe4 29.Rxe4 Rd6 30.g4 Kf8 31.g5 Ke7 32.Kg2 Rd5 33.Kg3 Kd6 34.h4 c5 35.f6 gxf6 36.gxf6 Rd3+ 37.Kh2 Rd2+ 38.Kh1 1-0.

Magnus Carlsen in his closing ceremony speech

For his first place Magnus received 80,000 Euros (US $117,800)

Peter Leko vs Wang Yue in the final round

Leko,P (2762) - Wang Yue (2736) [C42]
2nd Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (10), 09.10.2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 Nc6 8.Qd2 Be6 9.0-0-0 Qd7 10.Kb1 Bf6 11.h4 h6 12.Nd4 Nxd4 13.cxd4 c6 14.f3 d5 15.Bf4 Be7 16.Re1 Bd6 17.Bd3 0-0-0 18.Re2 Bxf4 19.Qxf4 Qd6 20.Qxd6 Rxd6 21.Kc1 Kd8 22.Kd2 Bd7 23.b3 Re8 24.g4 Rde6 25.Rxe6 Bxe6 26.Rg1 Kc7 27.f4 Kd6 28.h5 Rh8 29.Ke3 b6 30.b4 Bd7 31.Kf3 Ra8 32.Rb1 a5 33.bxa5 b5 34.a4 bxa4 35.a6 Bc8 36.Ra1 Bxa6 37.Rxa4 Bb7 38.Rxa8 Bxa8 39.g5 Bb7 40.c3 Bc8 41.Kg3 f6 42.gxh6 gxh6 43.Kf3 Bd7 44.Kg3 Bc8 45.Kf3 Bd7 46.Kg3 Bc8 draw.

Veselin Topalov in his final round game against...

Topalov,V (2813) - Radjabov,T (2757) [E98]
2nd Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (10), 09.10.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Be3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bf2 g5 13.Rc1 Ng6 14.c5 Nxc5 15.b4 Na6 16.Nd3 Rf7 17.Nb5 b6 18.Be1 Bf6 19.Nf2 h5 20.h3 Bb7 21.Rc2 Qd7 22.Qd3 Bd8 23.Bd2 Nb8 24.Rfc1 Ba6 25.Rc3 Rg7 26.Ra3 Ne7 27.Be1 Nc8 28.Rac3 Rh7 29.Nd1 Rg7 30.Bf2 Kh7 31.Nb2 Kh6 32.Kf1 Kh7 33.Ke1 Kh6 34.R3c2 Rf7 35.Nd1 Rg7 36.Bf1 Kh7 37.Rc3 Kg8 38.R1c2 Kh7 39.Kd2 Kg8 40.Kc1 Kh7 41.Kb2 Kg8 42.Rc1 Kh7 43.R3c2 Kg8 44.Ndc3 Qe8 45.Nb1 Bxb5 46.Qxb5 Qf8 47.Na3 a6 48.Qa4 Ra7 49.Qb3 Ra8 50.Nb1 Qe8 51.Nc3 Ra7 52.Be2 Kf8 53.Rd1 Qd7 54.Ka1 Qe8 55.Rdc1 Qd7 56.Rb2 Qe8 57.Qd1 Rb7 58.Qf1 b5 59.a4 bxa4 60.Bxa6 Nxa6 61.Qxa6 Rb8 62.Nxa4 g4 63.hxg4 hxg4 64.Kb1 Qd7 65.Nc3 Ne7 66.b5 Qc8 67.Qa3 Ra8 68.Qb4 Qd7 69.b6 cxb6 70.Nb5 Rg6 71.Be1 Kg8 72.Qb3 Kf8 73.Qd3 Kg8 74.Bb4 Rc8 75.Rbc2 Rxc2 76.Rxc2 Nc8 77.Kb2 gxf3 78.gxf3 Na7 79.Nxa7 Qxa7 80.Qb5 Kf7 81.Rh2 Be7 82.Rc2 Rg8 83.Kb3 Ra8 84.Qc6 b5 85.Qxb5 Rb8 86.Qc6 Qg1 87.Qc3 Qb1+ 88.Rb2 Qd1+ 89.Ka2 Rh8 90.Ba3 Rh1 91.Qc8 Qa1+ 92.Kb3 Qd1+ 93.Ka2 Qa1+ 94.Kb3 Qd1+ 95.Ka2 draw.

Peter Leko looks on as Radjabov and Topalov analyse their marathon game

Final standings

If we look at the drawing average we see that a relatively high 70% of the games in this event were drawn, with White winning 20% and Black 10%. But as Igor Freiberger of Porto Alegre, Brazil, points out: "Carlsen outstanding performance is the highlight of this tournament. The other five GMs played 20 games between themselves. Just three of these were decided – a boring 15%." Each GM dropped one game to Magnus Carlsen, Dmitry Jakovenko both.

Carlsen's performance is bound to be the topic of discussion amongst chess fans in the coming weeks. In Nanjing he performed at a 3002 level, which means that his result of 8.0/10 ("plus six") in a Category 21 tournament with an average rating of 2763 was one that we would expect from a player rated 3002 on the Elo scale. Magnus gained around 29 real points on the FIDE ratings list, which brings him up to 2801 and making him the fifth player in history (after Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand and Topalov) to break the 2800 barrier. The currently highest ranked player, Veselin Topalov, scored 5.5/10 ("plus one") and performed at a 2789 level. He lost 3.5 rating points in Nanjing and will appear at 2810 on the next FIDE list.

Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN All ChessBase reports on Nanjing 2009 The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!