Carlsen does it again!

Magnus Carlsen beats Veselin Topalov with the black pieces to secure first place in the 2010 Pearl Spring tournament with a round to go.
Anand and Bacrot are still equal second.

Carlsen managed to liberate his position and achieved comfortable equality. Indeed it was the Norwegian who was pressing when Topalov overlooked a tactical shot that left Black with a winning position.

Gashimov played a very cautious sideline against the Berlin. His nominal advantage involved use of the d4-square, but this was hardly enough to worry Black.

The round eight summary:

Etienne Bacrot	FRA	2716	0.5-0.5	Wang Yue	CHN	2732	Petroff Defence	27
Vugar Gashimov	AZE	2719	0.5-0.5	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2800	Spanish Berlin	42
Veselin Topalov	BUL	2803	0-1	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	Catalan/Bogo-indian	33

Etienne Bacrot and Wang Yue played out a very solid game. White had however managed to win a pawn, but then took a repetition due to his poor structure which was about to come under attack.

Here are the standings after the ninth round:

Standing	Name	Country	Rating	Points
1	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	6.5
2=	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2800	5
2=	Etienne Bacrot	FRA	2716	5
4	Vugar Gashimov	AZE	2719	4
5	Veselin Topalov	BUL	2803	3.5
6	Wang Yue	CHN	2732	3

With one-and-a-half points ahead of his rivals Magnus Carlsen has already won the event.

Magnus Carlsen: back into good form (chessanytime)

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

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

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

Round 8:

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

For those who like to follow the games, in Europe it means an early morning and in America a very short night!

Live games can be watched everyday (except today the 25th which is a rest day!) from 3pm local time Live Games

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Moscow 10.30am

Paris, Madrid 08.30am

London 07.30am

New York 02.30am

Los Angeles 23.30pm

For more information go to the Official site

where there is an option for English!

However for results and statistics I prefer Results