Qatar Masters Rd8: It’s a Carlsen vs Kramnik showdown!

by Sagar Shah
12/29/2015 – Magnus Carlsen won his game with ease against Mamedyarov and shot into sole lead with 6.5/8. Kramnik beat Sjugirov while Yu Yangyi got the better of Nils Grandelius. Both of them follow Magnus with 6.0/8. It is going to be a superb last round as Carlsen takes on Kramnik and Wesley takes on Yu Yangyi. In this article we also introduce you to the eight chess couples in Qatar!

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Qatar Masters 2015 – It’s a Carlsen vs Kramnik showdown!

Report from Doha by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal

What a finale we have at the Qatar Masters Open 2015! It’s Magnus Carlsen against Vladimir Kramnik on board one of the final round, but before we start to discuss the possibilities on who will lift the trophy and also the tiebreak regulations (yes, there is one!), let us first shift our attention to the penultimate round.

At the start of the eighth round three players were in the lead with 5.5/7 – Magnus Carlsen, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Sanan Sjugirov. Carlsen faced Mamedyarov on the top board and Sjugirov was up against his countryman Vladimir Kramnik.

Name first, surname second, that’s the way the World Champion writes his scoresheet

At first, Mamedyarov played all solid with the Bxf6 variation in the Ragozin. Was he going to play it solidly and just make a draw? Well, the decision of taking back on d4 with the pawn and accepting the isolated pawn meant that Mamedyarov wanted something more. He then went ahead with his h-pawn and prepared for the d4-d5 central break. But it is one thing to trick 2600 rated opponents, which Mamedyarov has been doing quite successfully in this event, and quite another to fool the highest rated player in the world. Magnus was up to the task, gobbling up Shakhriyar’s incorrect pawn sacrifice and later even won a piece. The game ended in just 25 moves!

Mamedyarov - Carlsen

[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"] [Site "Doha QAT"] [Date "2015.12.28"] [Round "8.1"] [White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2748"] [BlackElo "2834"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "50"] [EventDate "2015.12.20"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Rc1 dxc4 9. Bxc4 c5 10. O-O cxd4 11. Ne4 Qe7 12. exd4 {This is much more combative than taking on d4 with the knight. The isolated pawn means that there is an imbalance and an imbalance means that both sides have to play actively to make use of their imbalances.} (12. a3 {is the new move with which Dubov beat Anand in the World Rapid.}) 12... Rd8 13. Qe2 Nc6 14. Rfd1 Ba5 15. Ng3 Bb6 16. Qe4 Bd7 17. h4 $5 {Typical Mamedyarov. Until here everything was seen in the game Shimanov-Matlakov 2014. But this is a new move.} Be8 18. a3 Rd6 19. Qg4 $6 ({ It was a good time to think about equalizing and get rid of the isolated pawn. } 19. d5 exd5 (19... Rad8 20. Qc2 $1 Rxd5 (20... exd5 21. Nf5 $16) 21. Bxd5 exd5 $14) 20. Rxd5 Qxe4 21. Nxe4 Rxd5 22. Bxd5 Rd8 23. Nc3 $11) 19... Rad8 { Now the d4 pawn is just a weakness.} 20. d5 Qf8 $1 {You are not going to be able to fool Magnus. He takes out his queen from the Nf5 fork tricks and gets ready to take on d5.} 21. Qe4 Ne7 {Thanks to the pin on the d-file the pawn cannot really move.} 22. Bd3 f5 $1 23. Qe5 Nxd5 24. Bxf5 $2 exf5 25. Nxf5 { Did Mamedyarov stir up some complications once again?} Rc6 $1 {Not really! The rook on c1 would hang if the d-rook moved and if Rxc6 then bxc6 would solidify the knight on d5.} 0-1

A composed Mamedyarov a few minutes before all hell broke loose and he landed in a lost position

The sole leader of the Qatar Masters Open 2015 – Magnus Carlsen with 6.5/8

The only other person who could catch him was Sanan Sjugirov. The 22-year-old was up against Vladimir Kramnik. Last year at the Qatar Masters Kramnik had defeated Sjugirov by playing an absolutely flawless game from the white side of the Reti. Today the ex-World Champion decided to play the London System, and things were not very different from 2014. Kramnik once again played some fantastic chess to beat Sanan, although it must be said that Sjugirov made his opponent’s task considerably easier by castling long.

Sanan Sjugirov was having a great event with wins over Radoslaw
Wojtaszek and Dmitry Jakovenko, but the youngster had to taste
bitter defeat against Vladimir Kramnik

What? Wait! Come on Vlad, that is illegal!

Kramnik - Sjugirov

[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"] [Site "Doha QAT"] [Date "2015.12.28"] [Round "8.2"] [White "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Black "Sjugirov, Sanan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2796"] [BlackElo "2646"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "111"] [EventDate "2015.12.20"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 cxd4 6. exd4 Bf5 7. c3 e6 8. Qb3 Qc8 9. Nh4 $1 {At the first possible opportunity Kramnik goes ahead to create an imbalance. Once he achieves that he will have much easier task in outplaying his opponent.} Bg6 (9... Be4 $5 10. f3 Bg6 11. Nxg6 hxg6 {should have been considered. The move f3 doesn't do anything constructive to White's position.}) 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Bd3 Nh5 12. Be3 Bd6 13. O-O-O a6 14. Kb1 b5 15. Qc2 Na5 (15... Nf4 16. Bf1) 16. Nf3 Nc4 17. Bc1 $1 {First this bishop retreats to its initial square and after a few moves the other one also retreats!} Qc7 18. Ng5 Nf4 19. Bf1 $1 {Quite a picturesque position. Both bishops on their initial squares.} O-O-O $6 {A bad decision by Sanan whose king is not at all safe on the queenside. Kramnik must have been glad to see the sight of 0-0-0.} 20. a4 Qb7 21. axb5 axb5 22. b3 Na5 (22... Na3+ 23. Bxa3 Bxa3 24. g3 Nh5 25. b4 $16 {And the bishop on a3 has come too far from home.}) 23. Qa2 Nc6 24. g3 Nh5 25. Bd3 Kb8 26. Qe2 Na7 27. Bd2 Rc8 28. Kb2 Rc6 29. Ra1 Rf8 30. Ra2 Ra6 31. Rxa6 Qxa6 32. Ra1 {By methodical play Kramnik has got everything in his favour. The bishops are wonderful defenders and at the same time attacking the black queenside and the rook has controlled the open a-file.} Qb7 33. b4 Nf6 34. Ra5 Bc7 35. Bf4 Bxf4 36. gxf4 Qc7 37. Bxb5 Qxf4 38. Nf3 Ne4 39. Ne5 {The knight, bishop, rook, and queen will launch a deadly attack against the black king.} Rh8 40. Nc6+ Nxc6 41. Bxc6 Nxc3 $5 {A desperate attempt to complicate the position. But Kramnik is alert and upto the mark.} 42. Kxc3 Rh3+ 43. Kc2 Qxd4 44. Qb5+ Kc7 45. Qb7+ Kd6 46. Qb8+ (46. Rxd5+ $1 exd5 47. Qd7+ Ke5 48. Qxh3 $18 {was another way to win.}) 46... Ke7 47. Qa7+ Qxa7 48. Rxa7+ Kd6 49. Ba4 Rh4 ( 49... Rxh2 50. Rd7+ Ke5 51. Rxf7 $18) 50. Kb3 Rh3+ 51. Kb2 Rh4 (51... e5 52. Rxf7 Rxh2 53. Kc3 Ke6 54. Rxg7 Rxf2 55. Rxg6+ Kf5 56. Rd6 $18) 52. Rd7+ Ke5 53. Ka3 Kd4 54. Rxf7 Rxh2 55. b5 Kc5 56. Rc7+ {A great game by Vladimir but it must be said that Sanan made his task considerably easier when he castled long. } 1-0

Kramnik always takes special care to keep himself in the best possible shape at the board

“Who am I playing?” Yu Yangyi does a la Kramnik, before the start of his game against Nils Grandelius

Nils Grandelius - Yu Yangyi

[Event "Qatar Masters Open 2015"] [Site "Doha QAT"] [Date "2015.12.28"] [Round "8.7"] [White "Grandelius, Nils"] [Black "Yu, Yangyi"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E35"] [WhiteElo "2632"] [BlackElo "2736"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "64"] [EventDate "2015.12.20"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 c5 8. dxc5 g5 9. Bg3 Ne4 10. Nf3 Qa5 11. Nd2 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Bxc3 13. Rb1 Nc6 14. e3 Bb4 15. h4 gxh4 16. Rxh4 Qxc5 17. Qa4 Ba5 18. Bb5 Bd7 {Diagram [#] White had chances to snatch the advantage at a prior phase of the game but as things stand right now he is not worse. The position is around equal. Nils makes a huge blunder now.} 19. Qf4 $4 Qc2 $1 {A simple double attack on b1 and d2.} 20. Bxc6 (20. Rd1 {Most probably Grandelius missed that this is losing to} Bxd2+ $1 21. Rxd2 Qb1+ $1 $18 {And the bishop on b5 falls.}) 20... Qxd2+ 21. Kf1 Qd3+ 22. Kg1 Qxb1+ 23. Kh2 Bxc6 24. Qe5+ Kd7 {Black is a rook and a piece up and White has absolutely no compensation.} 25. e4 Rhe8 26. Qf5+ Kd8 27. Qxf7 Bd7 28. Qf6+ Kc8 29. exd5 b6 30. Rc4+ Kb7 31. Rc7+ Ka6 32. Rxd7 Re1 0-1

Due to the huge number of draws, Vladimir Kramnik and Yu Yangyi are the only players in second with 6.0/8. While Magnus, the sole leader, faces Vladimir Kramnik, Yu Yangyi will take on Wesley So. The Chinese player still has some chances to defend his title.

Bd No.   Name Rtg Pts Result Pts   Name Rtg No.
1 1 GM Carlsen Magnus 2834 6½   6 GM Kramnik Vladimir 2796 2
2 11 GM Yu Yangyi 2736 6   5½ GM So Wesley 2775 4

The most important pairing for the final round

If Magnus beats Vladimir then it is all over. He wins the title as no one can catch him. But in case the top board clash ends in a draw and Yu Yangyi is able to beat Wesley So, then both Carlsen and Yu Yangyi would be on 7.0/9. The rules of the tournament say that, “In the event of a tie for the first place in the Tournament, there shall be conducted a Play-Off for the first prize of $27,000 and Trophy.” The players will play a blitz (5 minutes + 3 seconds) tiebreak of two games. If that ends in a draw there will be another tiebreak of two games. In the event of another 1-1 tie the person to win the next decisive game would be the champion.

By the way this tiebreak scenario can also arise if Kramnik beats Carlsen and Yu Yangyi gets the better of Wesley So. In any case the blitz tiebreaks will only happen if Yu Yangyi scores a full point. For all other spots except the first place the tiebreak criteria is rating performance.

An about-to-yawn-Anish Giri was not able to breakthrough Ruslan Ponomariov’s defenses
and the game ended in a draw

Wesley So had a great chance of winning against Lin Chen (2532) but was unable to do
so and hence has fallen out of the race for the top spot. He will still play a pretty huge
role in determining the winner of the tournament as he faces Yu Yangyi in the final round.

Sergey Karjakin has been nowhere close to the form he showed in the
Baku World Cup 2015. He is currently on 5.5/8 and in the tenth spot.

Surya Shekhar Ganguly beat Salem Saleh in a tense encounter to move to 5.5/8

A battle between two men in their forties ended in a draw. Trivia: Who do you think is older:
Vladimir Akopian (left) or Vassily Ivanchuk? Please write your answers in the comments section
below. (Don’t use Google!)

Red – a colour that is associated both with love and war. In their game Vladimir Fedoseev
went for blood and defeated Dronavalli Harika

The two super Chinese players: Lin Chen (standing) drew against Wesley So in the eighth
round, while Xu Yinglun drew against David Howell and has a rating performance 2811. Both
are on 5.5/8 and the latter had already achieved his GM norm with two rounds to spare!

Somewhere around the 40th move, Shardul Gagare (right) was in a lost position and had
only one second on his clock when he made his move against Daniele Vocaturo. Nevertheless,
he miraculously saved his position and thus made his final GM norm. He is currently on 2491
and requires nine Elo points to become India’s latest grandmaster.

Four women players on 4.5/8 have a chance to win the women’s prize of US $8,000. From
top left clockwise: Aleksandra Goryachkina, Hou Yifan, Eesha Karavade and Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Currently Kosteniuk has the best tiebreak.

Chess Couples!

Chess is one of the very few sports where men and women can compete with each other on equal footing. When male and female players compete in the same event it is natural that many of them interact with each other! And when these meetings happen repeatedly in many chess events all over the world there are high chances of a relationship building up. In such a scenario the country, creed, caste etc. doesn’t really matter. What matters is the love for each other and the common bonding thread of the beautiful game of chess! At the Qatar Masters 2015 there are many chess couples. Amruta Mokal took pictures of them over the days of the event and we present them to you now:

The tournament director Mohamed-Al-Modiahki (2550) is the first grandmaster of Qatar and his wife
Zhu Chen (2416) is the former World Women’s Champion. They both married in the year 2001.

It’s been only a few months since Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2749) and IM Alina Kashlinskaya (2448) have
married each other and they are already back to the thing they love the most – playing chess together!

Pavel Tregubov (2576) is a strong Russian grandmaster while Alexandra Kosteniuk (2520)
is a former World Women’s Champion. They tied the knot in 2015.

One of the most lively and enthusiastic couples in Qatar are the Bartels! Mateusz is a strong
grandmaster with an Elo of 2631 while Marta is a WGM with a peak rating of 2379. They have
been married for two years.

Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son was a wonder kid. He started playing chess at the age of three and won
the world under-10 title. His wife IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen has shown a marked improvement in her
level of play ever since they got married in 2015. Take for example where she beat two GMs
Neelotpal Das and Aravindh Chithambaram and drew with Alex Lenderman and Nils Grandelius!

Ni Hua with his wife Su Shenzen who is a musician, though we are almost certain that she knows the rules of chess!

Chinese couple who now live in Singapore: GM Zhang Zhong and IM Li Ruofan

Do these guys even need an introduction! Currently the most famous chess couple in the
town Anish Giri and Sopiko Guramashvili. This might be a good time to revisit the beautiful
day of 18th July 2015 when the couple got hitched to each other.

 

The video above is shared by Anish’s father Sanjay Giri on Youtube and has the famous Indian
song “Tum Hi Ho” playing in the background.

Note: The last round begins three hours earlier than usual, at 12.p.m local time.

That’s the million dollar question!

Photos by Amruta Mokal of ChessBase India

Replay games of round eight (with times per move)

Pairings and results for round eight on 28.12.2015

Bo. No. Title Name Rtg Pts.
Res.
 Pts. Title Name Rtg No.
1 7 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2748 5½
0-1
 5½ GM Carlsen Magnus 2834 1
2 2 GM Kramnik Vladimir 2796 5
1-0
 5½ GM Sjugirov Sanan 2646 33
3 3 GM Giri Anish 2784 5
½-½
 5 GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2710 17
4 4 GM So Wesley 2775 5
½-½
 5 IM Lin Chen 2532 57
5 36 GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son 2642 5
½-½
 5 GM Karjakin Sergey 2766 5
6 18 GM Ni Hua 2693 5
½-½
 5 GM Harikrishna P. 2743 9
7 40 GM Grandelius Nils 2632 5
0-1
 5 GM Yu Yangyi 2736 11
8 34 GM Swiercz Dariusz 2646 5
½-½
 5 GM Vitiugov Nikita 2724 13
9 16 GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2710 5
½-½
 5 GM Akopian Vladimir 2648 29
10 79   Xu Yinglun 2470 5
½-½
 4½ GM Howell David W L 2688 20
11 6 GM Li Chao B 2750 4½
½-½
 4½ GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2644 35
12 42 GM Lenderman Aleksandr 2626 4½
½-½
 4½ GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2744 8
13 10 GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2737 4½
½-½
 4½ GM Naroditsky Daniel 2628 41
14 46 GM Zhang Zhong 2619 4½
1-0
 4½ GM Bologan Viktor 2654 27
15 30 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2648 4½
1-0
 4½ GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2622 43
16 12 GM Wei Yi 2730 4
½-½
 4 GM Ipatov Alexander 2619 45
17 14 GM Wojtaszek Radoslaw 2723 4
1-0
 4 GM Bartel Mateusz 2620 44
18 50 GM Bok Benjamin 2594 4
½-½
 4 GM Korobov Anton 2713 15
19 51 GM Bluebaum Matthias 2590 4
½-½
 4 GM Matlakov Maxim 2684 21
20 22 GM Hou Yifan 2683 4
½-½
 4 GM Lu Shanglei 2618 47
21 24 GM Fedoseev Vladimir 2664 4
1-0
 4 GM Harika Dronavalli 2513 63
22 52 GM Tregubov Pavel V. 2589 4
0-1
 4 GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof 2663 25
23 28 GM Khismatullin Denis 2654 4
1-0
 4 IM Ly Moulthun 2462 83
24 75 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2486 4
1-0
 4 GM Khairullin Ildar 2647 31
25 37 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2639 4
1-0
 4 IM Vignesh N R 2422 102
26 38 GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2638 4
½-½
 4 FM Li Di 2389 111
27 66 IM Yuffa Daniil 2504 4
0-1
 4 GM Piorun Kacper 2637 39
28 56 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2542 4
½-½
 3½ GM Moiseenko Alexander 2689 19
29 82 IM Ma Zhonghan 2463 3½
0-1
 3½ GM Adhiban B. 2669 23
30 48 GM Hamdouchi Hicham 2597 3½
½-½
 3½ IM Aryan Chopra 2436 96
31 78 IM Gagare Shardul 2470 3½
½-½
 3½ GM Vocaturo Daniele 2597 49
32 106 WGM Saduakassova Dinara 2407 3½
1-0
 3½ GM Esen Baris 2562 53
33 54 GM Rambaldi Francesco 2560 3½
½-½
 3½ IM Saiyn Zhanat 2394 108
34 99 FM Rohan Ahuja 2426 3½
½-½
 3½ GM Xu Jun 2526 59
35 62 GM Al-Sayed Mohammed 2520 3½
1-0
 3½   Firouzja Alireza 2372 118
36 115 IM Karavade Eesha 2379 3½
1-0
 3½ GM Schroeder Jan-Christian 2511 65
37 119   Roy Prantik 2370 3½
½-½
 3½ GM Khotenashvili Bela 2496 68
38 126 IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen 2319 3½
0-1
 3½ WGM Goryachkina Aleksandra 2493 70
39 124   Raja Harshit 2325 3½
½-½
 3½ GM Shoker Samy 2489 72
40 26 GM Dubov Daniil 2655 3
1-0
 3 IM Puranik Abhimanyu 2442 89
41 93 FM Basso Pier Luigi 2438 3
1-0
 3 GM Dzagnidze Nana 2559 55
42 60 GM Bromberger Stefan 2521 3
1-0
 3 IM Vogel Roven 2439 91
43 97 GM Carlsson Pontus 2433 3
½-½
 3 GM Stefanova Antoaneta 2521 61
44 64 GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2513 3
½-½
 3 IM Wang Yiye 2438 92
45 69 IM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan 2494 3
1-0
 3 FM Abdusattorov Nodirbek 2429 98
46 73 GM Zhukova Natalia 2488 3
1-0
 3 WGM Abdumalik Zhansaya 2390 110
47 77 GM Neelotpal Das 2475 3
½-½
 3 IM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat 2380 114
48 109 IM Abhishek Kelkar 2393 3
½-½
 3 GM Krush Irina 2468 80
49 128 WFM Vaishali R 2313 3
1-0
 3 IM Ali Marandi Cemil Can 2454 84
50 86 GM Venkatesh M.R. 2451 3
1-0
 3 IM Guramishvili Sopiko 2368 120
51 87 IM Kashlinskaya Alina 2448 3
1-0
 3 IM Nezad Husein Aziz 2425 100
52 121 IM Tissir Mohamed 2346 3
1-0
 3 IM Firat Burak 2446 88
53 58 IM Svane Rasmus 2529 2½
1-0
 3 WIM Derakhshani Dorsa 2307 129
54 131 WGM Bartel Marta 2271 2½
0-1
 2½ IM Sanal Vahap 2487 74
55 81 FM Moroni Luca Jr 2466 2½
1-0
 2½   Fang Yuxiang 2438 94
56 105   Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh 2414 2½
1-0
 2½ IM Sagar Shah 2441 90
57 116 IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy 2377 2
0-1
 2 IM Batsiashvili Nino 2498 67
58 71 IM Ezat Mohamed 2490 2
0-1
 2   Dai Changren 2328 123
59 122 WIM Bivol Alina 2344 2
0-1
 2 IM Tabatabaei M.Amin 2482 76
60 85 IM Lorparizangeneh Shahin 2454 2
1-0
 2 IM Piasetski Leon 2287 130
61 125 WGM Pourkashiyan Atousa 2322 2
½-½
 2 IM Padmini Rout 2437 95
62 101 IM Seyb Alexander 2425 2
1-0
 2 WIM Pratyusha Bodda 2260 132
63 127 FM Goriatchkin Jouri 2318 2
0-1
 2 FM Haria Ravi 2416 104
64 103 FM Gholami Aryan 2422 1½
0-1
 1½ IM Slavin Alexey 2388 112
65 117 IM Li Ruofan 2372 1½
1-0
 1½ IM Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 2385 113
66 107   Siva Mahadevan 2400 1
1
     bye    
67 32 GM Shankland Samuel L 2646 2
0
     not paired    

Standings after eight rounds

Rk
SNo
Ti.
Name
FED
Rtg
Pts
 TB 
rtg+/-
1
1
GM
 Carlsen Magnus
NOR
2834
6,5
2902
7,3
2
2
GM
 Kramnik Vladimir
RUS
2796
6,0
2840
4,6
3
11
GM
 Yu Yangyi
CHN
2736
6,0
2819
8,9
4
3
GM
 Giri Anish
NED
2784
5,5
2837
6,1
5
79
 
 Xu Yinglun
CHN
2470
5,5
2811
35,4
6
4
GM
 So Wesley
USA
2775
5,5
2806
3,7
7
7
GM
 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
AZE
2748
5,5
2806
6,3
8
34
GM
 Swiercz Dariusz
POL
2646
5,5
2787
15,6
9
46
GM
 Zhang Zhong
SIN
2619
5,5
2776
17,0
10
5
GM
 Karjakin Sergey
RUS
2766
5,5
2769
0,6
11
17
GM
 Ponomariov Ruslan
UKR
2710
5,5
2752
4,8
12
33
GM
 Sjugirov Sanan
RUS
2646
5,5
2750
11,9
13
9
GM
 Harikrishna P.
IND
2743
5,5
2749
0,9
14
30
GM
 Ganguly Surya Shekhar
IND
2648
5,5
2746
11,0
15
18
GM
 Ni Hua
CHN
2693
5,5
2745
5,8
16
29
GM
 Akopian Vladimir
ARM
2648
5,5
2705
6,4
17
13
GM
 Vitiugov Nikita
RUS
2724
5,5
2692
-2,4
18
36
GM
 Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son
VIE
2642
5,5
2685
5,3
19
57
IM
 Lin Chen
CHN
2532
5,5
2675
15,2
20
16
GM
 Ivanchuk Vassily
UKR
2710
5,5
2661
-4,3

Click for complete standings

Schedule for Playchess Commentary

Day Round Time English German
Tue 29 December  Round 9 12 PM Yasser Seirawan Sebastian Siebrecht

Links

The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the 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 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
 
Sagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He is also a chartered accountant. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India website, the biggest chess news outlet in the country.