A-group
So three draws and four wins for the least favoured colour! Shirov, Nakamura, Carlsen and Ivanchuk were the winners with Black, an unusual scenario but in each case they were playing lower-ranked opposition.
Shirov reacted very aggressively to Tiviakov's anti-Sicilian and sacrificed a pawn, before regaining it quickly as Shirov engineered some favourable complications. He soon obtained an attack and finished the game with a king-hunt. Entertaining stuff!
Nakamura made Short's attempt to sharpen the struggle look inadequate. Another loss for the Englishman that won't do his shaky confidence much good.
Carlsen managed to liven up a Queen's Gambit Exchange Variation with a surprising pawn sacrifice. Van Wely is not one to shirk from complex play, but here the Dutchman was outplayed as Carlsen steered the game into a favourable double-rook ending.
Ivanchuk reacted dynamically to Smeet's early Bxf6 against the Najdorf. Nakamura was successful with this yesterday but here Smeets didn't have an answer to the Ukrainian's model counterplay.
Caruana got nothing against Kramnik's ultra-solid Petroff.
Dominguez kept a slight pull and even won a pawn against Anand's 'Modern Archangel'. However he was unable to win the ending with only pawns on one wing.
Leko played an ambitious pawn sacrifice against the Queen's Indian, but Karjakin timed a counter-sacrifice that equalized.
Summing up:
| Leinier Dominguez | CUB | 2712 | 0.5-0.5 | Viswanathan Anand | IND | 2790 | C78 | Spanish (Modern Archangel) |
| Peter Leko | HUN | 2739 | 0.5-0.5 | Sergey Karjakin | RUS | 2720 | E15 | Queen's Indian Defence |
| Fabiano Caruana | ITA | 2675 | 0.5-0.5 | Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2788 | C42 | Petroff's Defence |
| Sergey Tiviakov | NED | 2662 | 0-1 | Alexei Shirov | ESP | 2723 | B23 | Sicilian (with an early Nc3, Bb5) |
| Jan Smeets | NED | 2657 | 0-1 | Vassily Ivanchuk | UKR | 2749 | B96 | Sicilian Najdorf |
| Loek van Wely | NED | 2641 | 0-1 | Magnus Carlsen | NOR | 2810 | D37 | Queen's Gambit Declined (Exchange Variation) |
| Nigel Short | ENG | 2696 | 0-1 | Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2708 | B58 | Sicilian Classical |
Here are the standings after the third round.
| Seed | Name | Country | Rating | Points |
| 1 | Alexei Shirov | ESP | 2723 | 3 |
| 2= | Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2708 | 2.5 |
| 2= | Magnus Carlsen | NOR | 2810 | 2.5 |
| 4 | Vassily Ivanchuk | UKR | 2749 | 2 |
| 5= | Viswanathan Anand | IND | 2790 | 1.5 |
| 5= | Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2788 | 1.5 |
| 5= | Sergey Karjakin | RUS | 2720 | 1.5 |
| 5= | Leinier Dominguez | CUB | 2712 | 1.5 |
| 9= | Peter Leko | HUN | 2739 | 1 |
| 9= | Fabiano Caruana | ITA | 2675 | 1 |
| 9= | Sergey Tiviakov | NED | 2662 | 1 |
| 9= | Loek van Wely | NED | 2641 | 1 |
| 13= | Nigel Short | ENG | 2696 | 0.5 |
| 13= | Jan Smeets | NED | 2657 | 0.5 |
B-Group
| Emil Sutovsky | ISR | 2657 | 0.5-0.5 | Erwin l'Ami | NED | 2615 |
| Tomi Nyback | FIN | 2643 | 0-1 | Ni Hua | CHN | 2657 |
| Anish Giri | NED | 2588 | 0.5-0.5 | Dimitri Reinderman | NED | 2573 |
| David Howell | ENG | 2606 | 0.5-0.5 | Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu | ROM | 2681 |
| Anna Muzychuk | SLO | 2523 | 0-1 | Penteala Harikrishna | IND | 2672 |
| Arkadij Naiditsch | GER | 2687 | 0.5-0.5 | Parimarjan Negi | IND | 2621 |
| Wesley So | PHI | 2656 | 0.5-0.5 | Varuzhan Akobian | USA | 2628 |
In a day with many draws there were few changes to the standings. Anish Giri maintains his first place, but with Ni Hua's winning against Nyback (with black of course!) he now has to share the top spot. Naiditsch is the only other player on a plus score.
| Rank | Title | Name | Country | Rating | Points |
| 1= | GM | Ni Hua | CHN | 2657 | 2.5 |
| 1= | GM | Anish Giri | NED | 2588 | 2.5 |
| 3 | GM | Arkadij Naiditsch | GER | 2687 | 2 |
| 4= | GM | Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu | ROM | 2681 | 1.5 |
| 4= | GM | Penteala Harikrishna | IND | 2672 | 1.5 |
| 4= | GM | Emil Sutovsky | ISR | 2657 | 1.5 |
| 4= | GM | Wesley So | PHI | 2656 | 1.5 |
| 4= | GM | Parimarjan Negi | IND | 2621 | 1.5 |
| 4= | GM | Erwin l'Ami | NED | 2615 | 1.5 |
| 4= | GM | David Howell | ENG | 2606 | 1.5 |
| 11= | GM | Tomi Nyback | FIN | 2643 | 1 |
| 11= | GM | Varuzhan Akobian | USA | 2628 | 1 |
| 11= | IM | Anna Muzychuk | SLO | 2523 | 1 |
| 14 | GM | Dimitri Reinderman | NED | 2573 | 0.5 |
C-Group
The higher ranking players are gradually making their way up the leader board.
| Robin Swinkels | NED | 2495 | 1-0 | Soumya Swaminathan | IND | 2323 |
| Marya Muzychuk | UKR | 2447 | 0.5-0.5 | Ray Robson | USA | 2570 |
| Stefan Kuipers | NED | 2340 | 0-1 | Abhijeet Gupta | IND | 2577 |
| Zhaoqin Peng | NED | 2402 | 0.5-0.5 | Nils Grandelius | SWE | 2515 |
| Benjamin Bok | NED | 2322 | 0-1 | Kjetil Lie | NOR | 2547 |
| Daniele Vocaturo | ITA | 2495 | 1-0 | Robin van Kempen | NED | 2456 |
| Sjoerd Plukkel | NED | 2279 | 0-1 | Li Chao-b | CHN | 2604 |
Three players share the lead and only GMs are now on plus scores.
| Rank | Title | Name | Country | Rating | Points |
| 1= | GM | Li Chao-b | CHN | 2604 | 2.5 |
| 1= | GM | Ray Robson | USA | 2570 | 2.5 |
| 1= | GM | Daniele Vocaturo | ITA | 2495 | 2.5 |
| 4= | GM | Abhijeet Gupta | IND | 2577 | 2 |
| 4= | GM | Zhaoqin Peng | NED | 2402 | 2 |
| 6= | GM | Kjetil Lie | NOR | 2547 | 1.5 |
| 6= | IM | Nils Grandelius | SWE | 2515 | 1.5 |
| 6= | IM | Robin Swinkels | NED | 2495 | 1.5 |
| 6= | FM | Stefan Kuipers | NED | 2340 | 1.5 |
| 10= | IM | Robin van Kempen | NED | 2456 | 1 |
| 10= | WGM | Marya Muzychuk | UKR | 2447 | 1 |
| 12= | WGM | Soumya Swaminathan | IND | 2323 | 0.5 |
| 12= | FM | Benjamin Bok | NED | 2322 | 0.5 |
| 12= | - | Sjoerd Plukkel | NED | 2279 | 0.5 |
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