Status quo maintained in Medias

Hikaru Nakamura

Three draws in the fourth round kept the leader board as it was with Carlsen still half-a-point ahead. Today he soon obtained a pull with black against Sergey Karjakin, but it was insufficient for victory.

A steady day with no decisive results doesn't mean that the players weren't seeking the full point.

Nakamura maintained an edge after the opening against Ivanchuk's sideline in the Nimzo-indian. He was even able to win a pawn, but Black was too active and he never looked like making any progress.

The same could be said for Carlsen (who won a pawn) against Karjakin (who was sufficient active to be in any danger).

Nisipeanu played cautiously against Radjabov's Schliemann defence and Black equalized comfortably. Opposite bishops led to the players abandoning any hopes of winning.

At club level the Schliemann (or Jänisch) Defence is an aggressive weapon, but at this level it is used quite successfully by Radjabov and others to nullify White's opening advantage.

White	Black	Result	Moves	ECO	Opening
Sergey Karjakin	Magnus Carlsen	½-½	35	B12	Caro Kann Advanced
Hikaru Nakamura	Vassily Ivanchuk	½-½	49	E40	Nimzo-Indian Rubinstein
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	Teimour Radjabov	½-½	31	C63	Spanish Schliemann

Tomorrow (Wednesday) there will be the fifth round, and then there follows a rest day before the sixth round on Friday.

Standing	Name (World Ranking)	Country	Rating	Age	C	C	I	I	K	K	Na	Na	Ni	Ni	R	R	Score so far
1	Magnus Carlsen (2)	NOR	2815	20	*	*	.	½	.	½	1	.	.	.	½	.	2½
2=	Vassily Ivanchuk (5)	UKR	2776	42	½	.	*	*	.	.	.	½	.	0	1	.	2
2=	Sergey Karjakin (6)	RUS	2776	21	½	.	.	.	*	*	½	.	.	½	.	½	2
2=	Hikaru Nakamura (8)	USA	2774	23	0	.	½	.	.	½	*	*	1	.	.	.	2
2=	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (81)	ROU	2659	34	.	.	1	.	½	.	.	0	*	*	½	.	2
6	Teimour Radjabov (13)	AZE	2744	24	.	½	0	.	½	.	.	.	.	½	*	*	1½

The previous results were as follows.

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

http://www.turneulregilor.com/

The games begin at 3.30 pm local time.

The games will be played from the 11th to 15th and from the 17th to 21st of June.