In the tenth round, the Carlsen-Karjakin battle was of course the main focus of people's attention. Sergey Karjakin simplified and managed to keep his position active, indeed it was Carlsen who had to bail out with a repetition.
The Exchange Slav sometimes has a drawish reputation, but can be a dangerous weapon when the white player is able to keep a pull and Black isn't able to obtain any counterplay. Ivanchuk's win is a fine example of White squeezing out a win, due in a large part to the Ukrainian's fine technique.
Teimour Radjabov faced the Caro-Kann, but the game didn't stay solid for long. Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu sacrificed a pawn to get his king into safety and then switched his pieces over towards Radjabov's king. He then gave up the exchange to deliver perpetual check.
| White | Black | Result | Moves | ECO | Opening |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teimour Radjabov | Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu | ½-½ | 34 | B18 | Caro-Kann Classical |
| Magnus Carlsen | Sergey Karjakin | ½-½ | 30 | E43 | Nimzoindian Defence |
| Vassily Ivanchuk | Hikaru Nakamura | 1-0 | 60 | D14 | Slav Exchange |
The final table was as follows.
The earlier rounds were as follows.
Nakamura hit back in the second round.
In the third round, only the bottom seed Nisipeanu won.
Only draws in the fourth round.
Before the rest day the two youngest players were victorious.
Karjakin won again in round six.
Round seven was another good day for Carlsen.
The eighth round was the second one with all draws.
Ivanchuk had a bad day in the ninth round.
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