Amber 2009: Aronian and Carlsen catch Anand

The 18th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament, organized by the Association Max Euwe in Monaco, is taking place from March 14 (first round) to March 26 (last round) at the Palais de la Mediterranée, splendidly located on the famous Promenade des Anglais in Nice. The total prize fund is € 216,000. The rate of play is 25 minutes per game per player. With every move made in the blindfold games 20 seconds is added to the clock, with every move made in the rapid games 10 seconds is added. Every day four sessions are played: two blindfold and two rapid games. The first session starts at 14.30h. The fourth session finishes around 20.00h. (Note: the final round on March 26 starts at 12.30h. March 18 and 23 are rest days).

Round nine: Three leaders in Amber

Following the free day of yesterday, that some of the players used to rest at the hotel and others to join an excursion to Ile Saint Honorat (a small island off the bay of Cannes), the players arrived on the third floor of the Palais de la Mediterranée with recharged batteries.

The ‘prologue’ to the next World Championship match between Vishy Anand and Veselin Topalov ended in a 1-1 tie, allowing both Levon Aronian (who beat Alexander Morozevich 1½-½) and Magnus Carlsen (who defeated Sergey Karjakin 1½-½), to draw level with the World Champion in the combined standings.

Carlsen stays firmly in control in the blindfold competition, one point ahead of Anand. In the rapid competition Aronian leads, half a point ahead of Anand and Kamsky. Full bulletin report.

Standings after nine rounds

1.  Carlsen    7    
2.  Anand      6    
3.  Aronian    5½
    Leko       5½
5.  Kramnik    5    
6.  Morozevich 4½
7.  Ivanchuk   4    
    Radjabov   4    
    Topalov    4    
10. Kamsky     3    
    Wang Yue   3    
12. Karjakin   2½

1.  Aronian    6    
2.  Anand      5½
    Kamsky     5½
4.  Kramnik    5    
5.  Carlsen    4½
    Karjakin   4½
    Topalov    4½
8.  Ivanchuk   4    
    Leko       4    
10. Morozevich 3½
    Radjabov   3½
    Wang Yue   3½

1.  Anand      11½
    Aronian    11½
    Carlsen    11½
4.  Kramnik    10    
5.  Leko       9½
6.  Kamsky     8½
    Topalov    8½
8.  Ivanchuk   8    
    Morozevich 8    
10. Radjabov   7½
11. Karjakin   7    
12. Wang Yue   6½ 

Pictorial impressions from Nice by John Nunn

In Cannes the players greet a new visitor to the tournament, Loek van Wely

On the island of Saint Honorat, Levon Aronian with the mainland in the background

The water around the island looks so blue and clear that Chucky must investigate closer

The fortified monastery of Abbey Lérins. This is where Saint Honoratus, after whom the island is named, founded a monastery in the early fifth century.

Ivanchuk's wife Oxana at the top of the tower, where you have a great view of...

...the church and monastery of the Abbey Lérins, which is used as a Christian retreat

The boat waiting to take the players back to Cannes

Video reports by Europe Echecs

These video reports are by GM Robert Fontaine and the Europe Echecs team. They give us a unique view of the tournament, with daily wrap-ups and atmosphere reports.

An interview with World Champion Viswanathan Anand

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN: Blindfold + Rapid The games of this event 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 the PGN games.