Kramnik closes in!

Vladimir Kramnik joins Magnus Carlsen in second place.
The former World champion outplayed Nakamura to overtake him in the tournament. In the other big clash between Shirov and Carlsen, just when anything seemed possible the players settled for a repetition.

Four White wins but only after some complicated struggles.

Shirov found himself in another Sveshnikov, but this time with White. Play became very complex indeed as Carlsen sacrificed three(!) pawns in order to seek the initiative. He spurned the exchange in order to keep his bind but found nothing better than allowing a repetition.

It will be interesting to see the player's notes as it was far from clear who was better!

Kramnik met Nakamura's Leningrad Dutch with a line that is frowned upon by theory. Play then became complex quite quickly and must surely have been reasonable for Black at one point. Later, Kramnik gradually took a grip on the position after winning a pawn.

In the other games, Peter Leko obtained nothing against Smeets's Petroff but then the Dutchman played an overly-ambitious move and allowed Leko's queen to penetrate. Leko then won a pawn and was well on the way to victory.

Last year's champion Karjakin finally won a game! Against Nigel Short, his threat of creating a central pawn front induced the Englishman to seek two rooks for a queen, but it soon became apparent that Karjakin's queen was superior to the rook pair.

Caruana played a nice technical game against Tiviakov. He maintained a pull in the middlegame due to his bishop pair and eventually obtained a superior pseudo-endgame with queen and bishop against queen and knight.

His winning idea was remarkable and involved giving up his f-pawn and walking his king to safety on the queenside.

Dominguez-Van Wely was a tense game but despite plenty of muscle flexing from both sides neither player managed to break through.

Anand drew his eighth straight game. He had a Marcozy-bind set-up and thus a nominal edge, but found Ivanchuk's shell too hard to crack.

Viswanathan Anand	IND	2790	0.5-0.5	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2749	B36	Sicilian Accelerated Dragon
Alexei Shirov	ESP	2723	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2810	B33	Sicilian Sveshnikov
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2788	1-0	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2708	A88	Leningrad Dutch
Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2720	1-0	Nigel Short	ENG	2696	C96	Spanish Chigorin (Keres)
Leinier Dominguez	CUB	2712	0.5-0.5	Loek van Wely	NED	2641	B90	Sicilian Najdorf
Peter Leko	HUN	2739	1-0	Jan Smeets	NED	2657	C42	Petroff's Defence
Fabiano Caruana	ITA	2675	1-0	Sergey Tiviakov	NED	2662	B01	Scandinavian

Here are the standings before the second rest day.

Seed	Name	Country	Rating	Points
1	Alexei Shirov	ESP	2723	6
2=	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2810	5.5
2=	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2788	5.5
4	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2708	5
5=	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2749	4.5
5=	Peter Leko	HUN	2739	4.5
5=	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2720	4.5
5=	Leinier Dominguez	CUB	2712	4.5
9	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2790	4
10	Fabiano Caruana	ITA	2675	3.5
11=	Nigel Short	ENG	2696	2.5
11=	Sergey Tiviakov	NED	2662	2.5
13	Loek van Wely	NED	2641	2
14	Jan Smeets	NED	2657	1.5

B-Group

Anish Giri comfortably beat David Howell to confirm his lead. Dmitri Reinderman was the only other winner beating fellow struggler Varuzhan Akobian.

Erwin l'Ami	NED	2615	0.5-0.5	Penteala Harikrishna	IND	2672	E05	Catalan Opening
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	ROM	2681	0.5-0.5	Parimarjan Negi	IND	2621	B90	Sicilian Najdorf
Dimitri Reinderman	NED	2573	1-0	Varuzhan Akobian	USA	2628	D33	Queen's Gambit Tarrasch
Ni Hua	CHN	2657	0.5-0.5	Wesley So	PHI	2656	B52	Sicilian Moscow
Emil Sutovsky	ISR	2666	0.5-0.5	Arkadij Naiditsch	GER	2687	C48	Four Knights Defence
Tomi Nyback	FIN	2643	0.5-0.5	Anna Muzychuk	SLO	2523	E10	Blumenfeld Counter Gambit
Anish Giri	NED	2588	1-0	David Howell	ENG	2606	D85	Gruenfeld Defence

Anish Giri has opened up a one-and-a-half point gap.

Rank	Title	Name	Country	Rating	Points
1	GM	Anish Giri	NED	2588	6.5
2=	GM	Ni Hua	CHN	2657	5
2=	GM	Wesley So	PHI	2656	5
2=	GM	Erwin l'Ami	NED	2615	5
5=	GM	David Howell	ENG	2606	4.5
5=	GM	Arkadij Naiditsch	GER	2687	4.5
5=	GM	Penteala Harikrishna	IND	2672	4.5
8	GM	Parimarjan Negi	IND	2621	4
9	GM	Emil Sutovsky	ISR	2657	3.5
10=	GM	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	ROM	2681	3
10=	GM	Tomi Nyback	FIN	2643	3
10=	IM	Anna Muzychuk	SLO	2523	3
13	GM	Dimitri Reinderman	NED	2573	2.5
14	GM	Varuzhan Akobian	USA	2628	2

Group C

Peng was the only player in all three groups to win with Black.

Otherwise Grandelius continues his purple patch with a third win in a row.

Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2323	0.5-0.5	Kjetil Lie	NOR	2547	B35	Sicilian Acclerated Dragon
Nils Grandelius	SWE	2515	1-0	Robin van Kampen	NED	2456	B86	Sicilian Sozin
Abhijeet Gupta	IND	2577	0.5-0.5	Li Chao-b	CHN	2604	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Ray Robson	USA	25700	0.5-0.5	Sjoerd Plukkel	NED	2279	B64	Sicilian Richter-Rauzer
Robin Swinkels	NED	2495	0.5-0.5	Daniele Vocaturo	ITA	2495	A49	King's Indian Defence (without c4)
Marya Muzychuk	UKR	2447	0.5-0.5	Benjamin Bok	NED	2322	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Stefan Kuipers	NED	2340	0-1	Zhaoqin Peng	NED	2402	C15	French Defence

The battle between Gupta and Li Chao-b led to a hard-fought draw and, as Ray Robson failed to win with White, the top three remain in the same positions.

Rank	Title	Name	Country	Rating	Points
1	GM	Ray Robson	USA	2570	6
2=	GM	Li Chao-b	CHN	2604	5.5
2=	GM	Abhijeet Gupta	IND	2577	5.5
4=	GM	Daniele Vocaturo	ITA	2495	5
4=	IM	Robin Swinkels	NED	2495	5
6=	IM	Nils Grandelius	SWE	2515	4.5
6=	GM	Zhaoqin Peng	NED	2402	4.5
8=	GM	Kjetil Lie	NOR	2547	4
8=	IM	Robin van Kempen	NED	2456	4
10	FM	Stefan Kuipers	NED	2340	3.5
11	WGM	Marya Muzychuk	UKR	2447	3
12	FM	Benjamin Bok	NED	2322	2.5
13=	WGM	Soumya Swaminathan	IND	2323	1.5
13=	-	Sjoerd Plukkel	NED	2279	1.5

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