The leader wobbles!

For much of the game Shirov seemed to be the one making the aggressive moves whereas Nakamura was trying to consolidate. Later on when Black's attempts at seizing the initiative had been nullified it turned out that Nakamura's king was the more secure and he gradually prised open his opponent's.

Carlsen against Ivanchuk was rather one-sided as Black's temporary pawn sacrifice in the opening was shown to be dubious. Regaining the pawn came at a heavy price as Ivanchuk fell into a nasty pin and, rather than losing a piece, he gave his queen for some play against White's king. However Carlsen demonstrated that Black didn't have enough.

Short seems to be gradually getting his form back and today he was close to beating Kramnik.

Smeets against Dominguez was a delightful tactical mêlée that led to perpetual check.

Caruana against Anand livened up with some tricky tactics which led to the Indian taking a repetition and his seventh draw.

Tiviakov played his trademark Worrall Attack against the Spanish but all the manoeuvring only led to equality.

Van Wely offered a draw quite early when there was still plenty of play in the position, perhaps five losses in a row is enough for anyone! Karjakin is also stuck in drawing mode.

So Shirov's lead has been pegged back to half-a-point with Carlsen and Nakamura closing in.

B-Group

Just as in the A-Group there were two White wins and five draws in round seven. The youthful pair Howell and So thus gained ground and join Ni Hua and L'Ami in equal second.

Giri was the only leader of the three (the others being Shirov and Robson) not to lose, and he retains a full point lead.

Group C

Vocaturo makes it 4/4 with White whilst taking the scalp of Ray Robson, who is still in the lead as second placed Li Chao-b also lost.

Grandelius is rapidly rising up the field after a poor start. Gupta is up to equal second only half-a-point off the lead.

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