Karjakin neck-and-neck with Carlsen

Sergey Karjakin
An easy won over the out-of-sorts Vassily Ivanchuk enabled Sergey Karjakin to catch Magnus Carlsen in the lead of the 5th King's tournament. The other games were drawn. The two youngest players meet tomorrow with the 2011 title at stake.

Sergey Karjakin disposed of Vassily Ivanchuk in 22 moves after Ivanchuk played quickly are unconvincingly. Black's kingside was soon ripped to shreds by the younger player.

Teimour Radjabov played the ambitious Kalashnikov Variation, but Hikaru Nakamura reacted quietly in order to avoid any of the Azerbaijani's famed home preparation. The American eventually won a pawn, but the resulting bishop ending was drawn.

A complex Breyer led to chances for both sides. Nisipeanu made a positional sacrifice of the exchange, whereupon Carlsen had nothing better than giving it back, which led to a drawish rook and opposite bishop pseudo-endgame.

After the ninth round the players are in ascending age order in the table!

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.

The official site gives more information, plus the possibility of following the games live

http://www.turneulregilor.com/

The Final round tomorrow begins at 1.30 pm local time.


Published on , Updated on