Kramnik forges ahead

Le Quang Liem © official site

Vladimir Kramnik outplayed Hikaru Nakamura in a simplified position and thus increased his lead. He now has 3½ after four rounds with Ruslan Ponomariov in second place on 2½. Le Quang Liem has drawn all four games and is equal third with Anish Giri.

The longest game of the day was Ponomariov's against the German Meier. He always had a nominal advantage, but with opposite bishops a draw was always on the cards.

In the other draw, there was another steady performance from Le Quang Liem, who gradually neutralized Anish Giri's slight pull.

Hikaru Nakamura had rook and bishop against rook and knight in a fairly balanced pseudo-endgame. He should then have allowed drawish simplification, rather than maintaining the tension, as Kramnik's pieces then took over. Another bad day for the US No.1.

Round 4 summary:

White	Rating	Result	Black	Rating	Moves	Openings details
Hikaru Nakamura	2770	0-1	Vladimir Kramnik	2781	47	Nimzoindian with g3
Ruslan Ponomariov	2764	½-½	Georg Meier	2656	91	Nimzoindian Leningrad
Anish Giri	2701	½-½	Le Quang Liem	2715	47	Neo-Grünfeld

The standings after the fourth round:

Rank	Name	Country	Rating	Kw	Kb	Pw	Pb	Lw	Lb	Gw	Gb	Nw	Nb	Mw	Mb	Points	Perf.
1	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2781	*	*	1	.	½	.	.	.	.	1	.	1	3½	3062
2	Ruslan Ponomariov	UKR	2764	.	0	*	*	.	.	1	.	.	1	½	.	2½	2822
3-4	Le Quang Liem	VIE	2715	.	½	.	.	*	*	.	½	½	.	.	½	2	2727
3-4	Anish Giri	NED	2701	.	.	.	0	½	.	*	*	½	.	1	.	2	2726
5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2770	0	.	0	.	.	½	.	½	*	*	.	.	1	2547
6	Georg Meier	GER	2656	0	.	.	½	½	.	.	0	.	.	*	*	1	2547

Schedule:

July 21st to 25th: Rounds 1 to 5

July 26th: Rest day

July 27th to 30th: Rounds 6 to 9

July 31st: Round 10

The first nine rounds begin at 3pm local time (3pm Paris, 2pm London, 9am New York).

The final round will be two hours earlier.

The time limit is 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 in 20, and finally 15 minutes for the remainder of the game. The players also receive an increment of 30 seconds per move.

Official site: http://www.sparkassen-chess-meeting.de/2011

Live games: http://schachtage.dokomserver.de/toma/live.htm

The transmission is with a 30 minute delay in order to avoid any possibility of 'external influences affecting the players decisions'.