Three-in-a-row for Carlsen!

A hat-trick of wins takes Magnus Carlsen into a commanding lead on 4.5/6.
His victim today was Ruslan Ponomariov in a sharp King's Indian.
The other two games were drawn.

Carlsen was in a combative mood right from the start and met Ponomariov's Sämisch variation with both ...h5 and ...b5 in an attempt to seize the initiative. Later Carlsen even sacrificed the exchange for dangerous attacking chances, but the Ukrainian returned the material accepting a disadvantage. Carlsen converted his advantage in a minor piece endgame.

White	Rating	Country	Result	Black	Rating	Country	No. Moves	Opening
Ruslan Ponomariov	2733	UKR	0-1	Magnus Carlsen	2813	NOR	50	King's Indian Sämisch
Wang Yue	2752	CHN	0.5-0.5	Boris Gelfand	2752	ISR	31	Queen's Gambit Vienna
Teimour Radjabov	2740	AZE	0.5-0.5	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	2672	ROU	30	Queen's Gambit Accepted

Wang Yue avoided going into the main theoretical lines and sought to maintain a pull by occupying the d5-square. Gelfand however successfully traded pieces until opposite bishops persuaded the players that there were no winning chances.

Teimour Radjabov brought his queen's rook to the kingside at an early stage, so Nisipeanu wisely refrained from castling. Later it was touch-and-go whether the rook was 'active' or simply 'misplaced', so Radjabov (who probably had his doubts!) sought to trade off this rook and offered a draw in a fairly unclear position.

Nisipeanu accepted and finds himself in fourth place a point adrift of Radjabov and Gelfand who are now a whole point behind the leader.

Position	Name	Country	Rating	Pre-tournament rating change	World Ranking	points
1st	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2813	-	1	4.5
2nd-3rd	Teimour Radjabov	AZE	2740	-	13	3.5
2nd-3rd	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	-9	11	3.5
4rd	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu	ROU	2672	+11	59	2.5
5th-6th	Wang Yue	CHN	2752	+3	8	2
5th-6th	Ruslan Ponomariov	UKR	2733	-4	18	2

Wang Yue and Ponomariov share last place with 2/6.

No wins yet for Wang Yue.

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