Amber 2009: Aronian takes the lead, Anand and Kramnik follow

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 five

Today the players in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament returned to work after they enjoyed their first free day yesterday. While in the old centre of Nice a parade of protesters was closely watched by riot police, the grandmasters sat down in the peace and quiet of the Palais de la Mediterranée to play Round 5. At the end of the day Levon Aronian joined Vladimir Kramnik in the lead thanks to a win from a highly dubious position over Magnus Carlsen. As Aronian commented: ‘I’ve said this many times before, there’s nothing sweeter than a win that is not deserved.’. Full bulletin report.

Round six

In Round 6 Levon Aronian moved into the sole lead again thanks to a 1½-½ victory over Sergey Karjakin. Vishy Anand enjoyed an even better day. The World Champion defeated Teimour Radjabov 2-0 and moved into shared second place, together with Vladimir Kramnik, half a point behind the leader.

Full bulletin report.

Standings after six rounds

1.  Carlsen    4½
    Kramnik    4½
3.  Leko       4    
4.  Anand      3½
    Aronian    3½
    Morozevich 3½
7.  Topalov    3    
8.  Radjabov   2½
9.  Kamsky     2    
    Wang Yue   2    
11. Ivanchuk   1½
    Karjakin   1½

1.  Aronian    4½
2.  Anand      4    
    Kamsky     4    
4.  Karjakin   3    
    Kramnik    3    
    Morozevich 3    
    Topalov    3    
8.  Ivanchuk   2½
    Radjabov   2½
    Wang Yue   2½
11. Carlsen    2    
    Leko       2    

1.  Aronian    8    
2.  Anand      7½
    Kramnik    7½
4.  Carlsen    6½
    Morozevich 6½
6.  Kamsky     6    
    Leko       6    
    Topalov    6    
9.  Radjabov   5    
10. Karjakin   4½
    Wang Yue   4½
12. Ivanchuk   4   

Pictorial impressions from Nice by John Nunn

A view of the extensive beach area of Nice, curving to the airport in the distance

Serious angling: ocean fishing seems popular, especially with this man on the beach

Mystery: how did this angler get where he is? There was no path down from the top of the rocks

Lots of expensive yachts parked at the port

The bees are already busy in the warm sunshine of Nice

The tournament venue: the Palais de la Mediterranée with corrected verticals

An overview of the tournament hall, just as the rapid games on three boards start

In the ceiling there are cameras recording everything in case of a dispute

Wang Yue looking relatively happy after his first win in the tournament (in round five)

Pensive: Vassily Ivanchuk after his round five rapid chess loss to Anand

Funny guy: "there’s nothing sweeter than a win that is not deserved," said Levon Aronian

Enemies: Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov not shaking hands

The two are not on speaking terms (since Toiletgate in Elista), but FIDE rules say you cannot refuse a handshake. So the modus vivendi is that the player who arrives first – here Topalov – will immerse himself in the position and simply not offer a handshake, which the other player – Kramnik – logically does not have to refuse. The same opening system is applied when Topalov plays Morozevich, whereby the latter has introduced a novelty: he is known to hide behind a pillar until the photographers have left.

Another picture of the two not shaking hands. During the blindfold games there is even no danger of eye contact...

... Sergey Karjakin, who after 30 attempts finally gives us a smile

World Champion Anand shares some insights with Lev Aronian

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.