The greatest chess tournament ever staged in Belgium, Your Next Move Grand Chess Tour, is taking place in the historic Town Hall of Leuven from Friday 17 June to Monday 20 June. The best chess players in the world at the moment will take part in the tournament: World Champion Magnus Carlsen, former World Champions Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, as well as Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, Aronian Levon, Wesley So and Veselin Topalov.
The players will compete in a Rapid Chess and Blitz Chess tournament during the four days. The prize money for the tournament is $150.000 (€134.100). Chess fans will be able to enjoy the experience of seeing the greatest players compete live in Leuven or watch the streaming broadcast, complete with grandmaster commentary.
Follow the games live on playchess
All photos by Lennart Ootes
The sixth round of the rapid games phase of Leuven, or the first round of day two, seemed to suggest a continuation of the first day. Only two wins were notched and one of those was for the leader Vishy Anand who beat Anish Giri in just 26 moves after the latter suffered from a couple of moments of chess blindness. This helped secure his lead by a full point now with 4.5/6.
Magnus Carlsen, who had suffered a dreadful start the previous day, including a disaster against Nakamura in round five, seemed to have recovered well enough as he outplayed Topalov to start the new day with a win.
Veselin Topalov greets Magnus with a jovial smile
One outside help for a symbolic first move is normal.... but two?
A small clock malfunction at the start...
... That is soon resolved. Andiamo!
Round seven was the first turning point as Anand faced his friend and rival Kramnik in a classic bout. Neither player was able to get the better of it, until the endgame when Kramnik held on to an edge for a long time, requiring precise play from the Indian.
A classic: Kramnik vs Anand
Kramnik - Anand
For the rest of the field this was crucial as it suddenly blew open the doors to the podium, allowing everyone to consider wresting the gold. One player who took advantage of this was Wesley So, who went into a bareknuckle fight with Topalov as the two fought an exciting opposite castling duel.
Wesley So, a top player but still building experience against elite opposition explained that
his MO, or Modus Operandi, was to not lose any games. That doesn't mean he was declaring
a challenge to fellow drawing experts, but that he wanted to lose fewer games.
Topalov - So
This left Wesley So tied with Anand for first, while Aronian and Carlsen, also victorious, trailed by just half a point with two rounds to go.
If round seven was a turning point, then round eight was no less pivotal. Magnus Carlsen, who had clawed his way back into the tournament, now faced Vishy Anand, and it was another classic, but this time with the rapid event at stake.
Carlsen and Anand playing for all the marbles
The Norwegian played strong and manged to box his rival in the type of position he is notorious for milking mercilessly. This big win for Carlsen, his third straight, pushed him to the top of the heap, but he was not alone. He shared it with Wesley So, who had drawn against Anish Giri, and Levon Aronian, who overcame Hikaru Nakamura, still unable to shake off his rough event.
Levon Aronian was also a contender for first in the Rapid after his win over Nakamura
Top French player Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, very much in the spotlight, had a lukewarm
event, with a loss to Anand, a win over Kramnik, and the rest drawn.
While Topalov also won his game against Aronian, there still remained one last obstacle for Magnus:
His fellow 2800 player: Vladimir Kramnik
Kramnik - Carlsen
In the final round, Nakamura put in a huge effort as he ground down Caruana in 117 moves
in a position even Carlsen, kibitzing live, was unsure could be won
A fantastic performance by Magnus Carlsen, who came back in heroic fashion with four wins in four. However, the Rapid tournament is but half of Leuven, and here remains the Blitz phase now. Although the rapid games are worth double, there are also twice as many blitz games to be played, so only half the total points have been covered and the game is very much afoot. That means Sunday will be full of top notch blitz almost non-stop. Don't miss it!
Note: In the overall standings, rapid games are worth 2 points for a win, one point for a draw and zero for a loss.
Thus each score above is worth double. Blitz games are worth the usual one for a win and half a point for a draw.
