Amber R4: Kramnik goes into the lead

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 three

Although they both only drew their mini-matches, Levon Aronian and Alexander Morozevich defended their leading positions. Morozevich drew both games against Radjabov, while Aronian reaped one win and one loss from two tumultuous games against Gata Kamsky. Magnus Carlsen moved into shared third place thanks to a 1½-½ win over World Champion Vishy Anand. Full bulletin report.

What am I doing here? Is it all a bad dream? Chinese GM Wang in deep trouble

Blindfold game: Carlsen beats Anand – again! Weren't they supposed to be friends?

Round four

Vladimir Kramnik has taken the sole lead. Winning both the blindfold and the rapid game, the Russian grandmaster defeated the luckless Wang Yue 2-0. Kramnik said that so far he was particularly satisfied with his blindfold play in Nice. After four games he tops the blindfold standings with 3½ points. Full bulletin report.

Crushing: Vladimir Kramnik demolished the luckless Wang Yue 2-0 in round four

A shocking 0-2 defeat for Wijk aan Zee winner Sergey Karjakin as well

Anand-Aronian ½-½, Aronian-Anand ½-½ – these two were equally matched in Nice

Standings after four rounds

1.  Kramnik    3½
2.  Carlsen    3    
3.  Aronian    2½
    Leko       2½
    Morozevich 2½
    Topalov    2½
7.  Anand      2    
    Radjabov   2    
9.  Ivanchuk   1    
    Kamsky     1    
    Karjakin   1    
12. Wang Yue   ½

1.  Aronian    2½
    Kamsky     2½
    Morozevich 2½
    Radjabov   2½
5.  Anand      2    
    Ivanchuk   2    
    Karjakin   2    
    Kramnik    2    
    Topalov    2    
10. Carlsen    1½
11. Leko       1½
12. Wang Yue   1 

1.  Kramnik    5½
2.  Aronian    5    
    Morozevich 5    
4.  Carlsen    4½
    Radjabov   4½
    Topalov    4½
7.  Anand      4    
    Leko       4    
9.  Kamsky     3½
10. Ivanchuk   3    
    Karjakin   3    
12. Wang Yue   1½ 

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.