Three Black wins in Moscow

In play (official site)

After the third round, Levon Aronian has joined the lead after beating Vassily Ivanchuk with the black pieces in a Spanish Berlin. Apart from Ian Nepomniachtchi and Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin is also up there on 2/3. Peter Svidler won with his favourite Grünfeld Defence against Hikaru Nakamura.

Viswanathan Anand and Ian Nepomniachtchi were the first to finish, with Black obtaining perpetual check against White's exposed king.

Vladimir Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen also led to a draw in a similar fashion, but only after wild complications. Carlsen decided to sacrifice the exchange to release the pressure, which led to Kramnik playing the remainder of the game with his knight in the corner. The Norwegian walked his king from the centre to the queenside in a bid to get organized, whereupon Kramnik switched wings with his queen which earned him a draw.

Peter Svidler took the initiative with an exchange sacrifice which enabled him to place White's centre under siege. Nakamura gave back the material, but could do no better than get an endgame a couple of pawns down for the more active king. Svidler had no problems converting his advantage in the knight endgame, as White's king was too distant to put up much resistance.

Peter Svidler

Levon Aronian's win came after he provoked Ivanchuk to advance his 'e' and f-pawns. This rebounded on the Ukrainian, as his centre became weak and was soon gobbled up by the thankful Armenian.

The last game to finish was a tense struggle between Boris Gelfand and Sergey Karjakin, which turned in Black's favour towards the first control. Then despite his dangerous-looking rooks, Gelfand suffered due to a pin on his knight, and had to make all sorts of contortions with his major pieces to save the steed. Although Gelfand stayed as active as he could, Karjakin's extra pawn and superior minor piece enabled the young Russian to gradually overcome the defence.

Here is a summary of the third round games:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening description
Boris Gelfand	ISR	2744	0-1	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2763	59	Open Catalan
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	0-1	Peter Svidler	RUS	2755	48	Grünfeld Exchange 7.Bc4
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	0.5-0.5	Ian Nepomniachtchi	RUS	2730	27	Grünfeld (Russian Variation)
Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2775	0-1	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	57	Spanish Berlin
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	41	English (Botvinnik)

The table after the third round:

Place	Name	Country	Rating	Points
1-4	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	2
1-4	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	2
1-4	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2763	2
1-4	Ian Nepomniachtchi	RUS	2730	2
5-7	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	1.5
5-7	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2775	1.5
5-7	Peter Svidler	RUS	2755	1.5
8-9	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	1
8-9	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	1
10	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2744	0.5

Details of the earlier games:

The first round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening description
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	0.5-0.5	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2744	34	Queen's Gambit Declined 5.Bf4
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	0.5-0.5	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2763	42	Nimzoindian 4.Qc2
Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2775	1-0	Peter Svidler	RUS	2755	61	Grünfeld 4.e3
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	0-1	Ian Nepomniachtchi	RUS	2730	53	English Symmetrical
Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	57	Queen's Indian 4.g3 Ba6

The second round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening description
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	1-0	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2744	38	Slav Defence 4.e3
Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2763	0.5-0.5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	43	Sicilian Najdorf 6.Be2
Peter Svidler	RUS	2755	0.5-0.5	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	23	Caro-Kann Advance
Ian Nepomniachtchi	RUS	2730	0.5-0.5	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2775	76	Sicilian Sveshnikov
Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	0.5-0.5	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	49	Queen's Gambit Tarrasch

Both of today's photos are our own and were taken last week in Porto Carras.

More information from the official site:

http://www.russiachess.org/

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