All draws in Nanjing

Veselin Topalov threw the kitchen sink at Viswanathan Anand and created some wild complications, but it was only worth a perpetual.
The other games were much quieter affairs and were also drawn, leaving the standings unchanged.

The game of the round was definitely Topalov's dramatic attempt to win with Black against the World Champion. Anand however held his cool and navigated the labyrinth of variations whilst grabbing further material. The Bulgarian was able to obtain perpetual check with White's king being so open, but had nothing better.

Wang Yue obtained slight pressure in the Catalan with ...Bb4+, which coincidentally was also played in the Anand-Topalov game. Carlsen freed his game by temporarily sacrificing a pawn before inducing a drawish rook ending.

The round eight summary:

Etienne Bacrot	FRA	2716	0.5-0.5	Vugar Gashimov	AZE	2719	Slav Exchange	14
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2800	0.5-0.5	Veselin Topalov	BUL	2803	Catalan/Bogo-indian	31
Wang Yue	CHN	2732	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	Catalan/Bogo-indian	28

Bacrot was unambitious taking a known repetition in a quiet line of the Slav. He perhaps decided to take things easy after blundering yesterday.

Here are the standings after the eighth round. With only two rounds to go Carlsen's grip on first place is even firmer:

Standing	Name	Country	Rating	Points
1	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	5.5
2=	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2800	4.5
2=	Etienne Bacrot	FRA	2716	4.5
4=	Veselin Topalov	BUL	2803	3.5
4=	Vugar Gashimov	AZE	2719	3.5
6	Wang Yue	CHN	2732	2.5

Carlsen has a full point margin, with White against Gashimov and Black versus Topalov to come.

Here is a summary of the previous rounds:

Round 1:

Viswanathan Anand	IND	2800	0.5-0.5	Wang Yue	CHN	2732	Slav/Grünfeld
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	1-0	Etienne Bacrot	FRA	2716	Scotch Opening
Veselin Topalov	BUL	2803	0.5-0.5	Vugar Gashimov	AZE	2719	Slav Defence

Round 2:

Wang Yue	CHN	2732	0.5-0.5	Vugar Gashimov	AZE	2719	Nimzoindian Defence
Etienne Bacrot	FRA	2716	0.5-0.5	Veselin Topalov	BUL	2803	Nimzoindian Defence
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2800	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	Spanish Breyer

Round 3:

Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	1-0	Wang Yue	CHN	2732	Petroff Defence
Veselin Topalov	BUL	2803	0-1	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2800	Queen's Gambit Declined Lasker
Vugar Gashimov	AZE	2719	0-1	Etienne Bacrot	FRA	2716	English Opening

Round 4:

Vugar Gashimov	AZE	2719	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	Spanish Breyer
Etienne Bacrot	FRA	2716	1-0	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2800	Slav Defence
Veselin Topalov	BUL	2803	0.5-0.5	Wang Yue	CHN	2732	Slav Defence

Round 5:

Viswanathan Anand	IND	2800	0.5-0.5	Vugar Gashimov	AZE	2719	Slav/Grünfeld Defence	25
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	1-0	Veselin Topalov	BUL	2803	Spanish d3	32
Wang Yue	CHN	2732	0-1	Etienne Bacrot	FRA	2716	Queen's Indian Defence	42

Clash of the leaders (official site)

Round 6:

Wang Yue	CHN	2732	0-1	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2800	Catalan/Bogoljubov	51
Etienne Bacrot	FRA	2716	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	Queen's Indian Defence	48
Vugar Gashimov	AZE	2719	0.5-0.5	Veselin Topalov	BUL	2803	Caro-Kann Panov	43

Gashimov-Topalov: The sharpest encounter of the day (official site)

Round 7:

Vugar Gashimov	AZE	2719	0.5-0.5	Wang Yue	CHN	2732	Petroff Defence	67
Veselin Topalov	BUL	2803	1-0	Etienne Bacrot	FRA	2716	Queen's Indian Defence	37
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	0.5-0.5	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2800	Spanish Berlin	68

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