Confident Magnus Takes Charge!

Update: Magnus clinched clear 1st by defeating Nakamura in the penultimate round.

World #1 ranked Magnus Carlsen has taken command at the Tata tournament at Wijk aan Zee in Holland.  He leads by an impressive 1.5 points over reigning world champion Vishy Anand with three rounds to play.  Only a trio of participants has avoided defeat in the first ten games: Carlsen, Anand and US champion Hikaru Nakamura

Round 10 Standings

• 8.0 Carlsen
• 6.5 Anand, Aronian, Nakamura
• 5.5 Karjakin, Leko
• 5.0 Harikrishna, vanWely
• 4.5 Caruana
• 4.0 Giri, WangHao
• 3.5 HouYifan
• 3.0 L'Ami
• 2.5 Sokolov

In round 9, Magnus beat the lowest seed, former women's world champion Hou Yifan of China, in a complex queen endgame arising from the offbeat Ponziani opening.  Watch the candid interview above for his analysis of the key moments of the game, pointing out some of his own inaccuracies.  When asked whether his resolution for 2013 was to break 2900 or to claim the world championship, his unequivocal reply was "both."

Fpawn Favorite Games from Tata A 
(rounds 1-7 click here)

• Rd 8: Carlsen 1-0 Karjakin == Reti == lengthy endgame win from drawish position
• Rd 9: HouYifan 0-1 Carlsen == Ponziani == Carlsen wins complex Q ending up a pawn  
• Rd 10: Sokolov 0-1 Leko == 4.e3 Nimzo == black wins a stunning tactical miniature 
• Rd 11: Karjakin 1-0 Sokolov ==  Ruy Archangelsk == white takes g-file, traps black Q
• Rd 12: Carlsen 1-0 Nakamura == Kalashnikov Sicilian == utter domination by #1
• Rd 13: Karjakin 1-0 vanWely == Dragon Sicilian == a tactical miniature in the Dragon