Candidates R10 – Kramnik, Aronian, Carlsen win

by Albert Silver
3/27/2013 – Once again the spectators were given a feast of great chess. Radjabov-Svidler ended in an early repetition, while the first win came after Grischuk blundered and converted into a lost endgame against Kramnik. Aronian beat Ivanchuk by exploiting his opponent’s time trouble to complicate and attack, and Carlsen ground down Gelfand in the same opening Radjabov had nearly defeated him with.

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From March 14 to April 1, 2013, FIDE and AGON – the World Chess Federation’s commercial partner – are staging the 2013 Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2013. It will be the strongest tournament of its kind in history. The venue is The IET, 2 Savoy Place, London. The Prize Fund to be shared by the players totals €510,000. The winner of the Candidates will become the Challenger to Viswanathan Anand who has reigned as World Champion since 2007. The main sponsor for the Candidates is State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic SOCAR, which has sponsored elite events chess in the past.

Round ten report

Round 10 March 27 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
1-0
Boris Gelfand
Levon Aronian
1-0
Vassily Ivanchuk
Teimour Radjabov
½-½
Peter Svidler
Alexander Grischuk
0-1
Vladimir Kramnik
Playchess commentary: GM Yasser Seirawan

Once again the spectators were given a feast of great chess, with a bit of everything for everyone. It wasn’t all wins, as the first game to end was Radjabov-Svidler in a mere 21 moves, but short of a miniature, a quick draw will always be the first to end. The two players played a main line Gruenfeld in which Svidler’s queen took a one pawn on a2 and was eventually forced into a repetition by rook attacks on a1 and b1.

The rest of the games were clearly headed to lengthy battles, each according to the style of the players. Vladimir Kramnik sprang his pet Berlin against Alexander Grischuk, and it was a typical trenchwar affair with each trying to prod and push the other into a fatal mistake. For nearly 30 moves this went on as the pieces continued to come off, and just when it seemed as if the draw were inevitable, Alexander Grischuk suffered a momentary lapse of reason and exchanged into a dead lost pawn endgame. This was a vitally important victory for Kramnik, who with this win stays within fighting distance of the leaders and keeps his chances alive with 6.0/10.

The game between Levon Aronian (above, carefully observed by Magnus Carlsen) and Vassily Ivanchuk not only followed the general course of their first game, but even their actual tournament. The Ukrainian decided to play a very controversial Budapest Gambit, possibly a first in a World Championship or Candidates game, and found a well-prepared Aronian on the other side. The Armenian played a line that had been championed by Yasser Seirawan, and soon achieved a very strong advantage. It was a curious and fortunate turn of fate for those watching on Playchess as Seirawan just so happened to be the commentator of the day, and provided thorough analysis to the delight of the subscribers.

Again, as in previous games, Levon slowly lost much of this advantage, but Ivanchuk also played as in many other games, and by move 21 was down to less than 20 minutes on the clock, with no increment to succor him. Aronian then did something fairly unexpected and switched from a positional game to a flat out attacking game, and created powerful threats and complications. This turned out to be an extremely clever decision and Ivanchuk’s flag fell before move 30. With Carlsen’s game still going, this temporarily put Aronian in first with 6.5/10, and he could only pray that Magnus fail in his effort to convert an advantage.

The world number one, Magnus Carlsen, showed that while he might have suffered badly in his opening play against Radjabov, it was a one off, and this was not a hole future opponents could hope to exploit. Gelfand understandably was more than willing to repeat the line, but should have expected Carlsen to be amply prepared for it. He was and the opening was clearly in favor of White this time. It was hardly a win via opening preparation though, but it was enough for the Norwegian to work with and tighten the screws on a resurging Gelfand, who was fresh from two wins. Though enjoying a big advantage, a final mistake by the Israeli on move 39 made Magnus’s work easier, and he converted. Magnus Carlsen leads with 7.0/10 with four rounds to go.

GM Daniel King analyses the game Carlsen vs Gelfand

Summary by Albert Silver, Pictures by Ray Morris-Hill

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Schedule and results

Round 1 March 15 at 14:00
Levon Aronian
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
Boris Gelfand
½-½
Teimour Radjabov
Vassily Ivanchuk
½-½
Alexander Grischuk
Peter Svidler
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik
Playchess commentary: GM Daniel King
Round 2 March 16 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik
Alexander Grischuk
½-½
Peter Svidler
Teimour Radjabov
1-0
Vassily Ivanchuk
Levon Aronian
1-0
Boris Gelfand
Playchess commentary: GM Chris Ward
Round 3 March 17 at 14:00
Boris Gelfand
0-1
Magnus Carlsen
Vassily Ivanchuk
0-1
Levon Aronian
Peter Svidler
1-0
Teimour Radjabov
Vladimir Kramnik
½-½
Alexander Grischuk
Playchess commentary: GM Yasser Seirawan
Round 4 March 19 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
1-0
Alexander Grischuk
Teimour Radjabov
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik
Levon Aronian 
½-½
Peter Svidler
Boris Gelfand
½-½
Vassily Ivanchuk
Playchess commentary: GM Daniel King
Round 5 March 20 at 14:00
Vassily Ivanchuk
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
Peter Svidler
½-½
Boris Gelfand
Vladimir Kramnik
½-½
Levon Aronian
Alexander Grischuk
½-½
Teimour Radjabov
Playchess commentary: GM Yasser Seirawan
Round 6 March 21 at 14:00
Peter Svidler
0-1
Magnus Carlsen
Vladimir Kramnik
½-½
Vassily Ivanchuk
Alexander Grischuk
½-½
Boris Gelfand
Teimour Radjabov
0-1
Levon Aronian
Playchess commentary: GM Chris Ward
Round 7 March 23 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
½-½
Teimour Radjabov
Levon Aronian
½-½
Alexander Grischuk
Boris Gelfand
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik
Vassily Ivanchuk
½-½
Peter Svidler
Playchess commentary: GM Alejandro Ramirez
Round 8 March 24 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
½-½
Levon Aronian
Teimour Radjabov
0-1
Boris Gelfand
Alexander Grischuk
1-0
Vassily Ivanchuk
Vladimir Kramnik
1-0
Peter Svidler
Playchess commentary: GM Alejandro Ramirez
Round 9 March 25 at 14:00
Vladimir Kramnik
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
Peter Svidler
½-½
Alexander Grischuk
Vassily Ivanchuk
1-0
Teimour Radjabov
Boris Gelfand
1-0
Levon Aronian
Playchess commentary: GM Maurice Ashley
Round 10 March 27 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
1-0
Boris Gelfand
Levon Aronian
1-0
Vassily Ivanchuk
Teimour Radjabov
½-½
Peter Svidler
Alexander Grischuk
0-1
Vladimir Kramnik
Playchess commentary: GM Yasser Seirawan
Round 11 March 28 at 14:00
Alexander Grischuk
-
Magnus Carlsen
Vladimir Kramnik
-
Teimour Radjabov
Peter Svidler
-
Levon Aronian
Vassily Ivanchuk
-
Boris Gelfand
Playchess commentary: GM Chris Ward
Round 12 March 29 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
-
Vassily Ivanchuk
Boris Gelfand
-
Peter Svidler
Levon Aronian
-
Vladimir Kramnik
Teimour Radjabov
-
Alexander Grischuk
Playchess commentary: GM Daniel King
Round 13 March 31 at 14:00
Teimour Radjabov
-
Magnus Carlsen
Alexander Grischuk
-
Levon Aronian
Vladimir Kramnik
-
Boris Gelfand
Peter Svidler
-
Vassily Ivanchuk
Playchess commentary: GM Daniel King
Round 14 April 1 at 14:00
Magnus Carlsen
-
Peter Svidler
Vassily Ivanchuk
-
Vladimir Kramnik
Boris Gelfand
-
Alexander Grischuk
Levon Aronian
-
Teimour Radjabov
Playchess commentary: GM Maurice Ashley

The games start at 14:00h = 2 p.m. London time = 15:00h European time, 17:00h Moscow, 8 a.m. New York. You can find your regional starting time here. Note that Britain and Europe switch to Summer time on March 31, so that the last two rounds will start an hour earlier for places that do not swich or have already done so (e.g. USA). The commentary on Playchess begins one hour after the start of the games and is free for premium members.

Links

The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.


Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.

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