Dominguez, Leko and Kramnik win, but Shirov can only draw!

The leading players all draw, including Shirov, despite trying his best for more, but Kramnik's win brings him up into the chasing pack on equal second.
Leko and Dominguez also won with White.
Leinier Dominguez is one of the least well-known of the participants, but he was World Blitz Champion in 2008, so is no slouch!
See the latest video report.

Kramnik maintained his space advantage in a King's Indian with a totally blocked centre. He gradually managed to make progress on the queenside whilst holding off Van Wely on the other wing. The breakthrough came with a piece sacrifice for two connected passed pawns which led to a race which Kramnik won by a tempo.

Dominguez sacrificed a pawn for more comfortable development and the centre, but Black's position stayed solid until the Cuban managed to smash open the centre with d4-d5. Then Tiviakov's poorly developed pieces were unable to cope as White decisively generated a passed pawn.

Caruana sacrificed a piece for a couple of pawns in some interesting complications but Leko gradually consolidated before pressing home his advantage.

With Shirov drawing the only '100% records' remaining are the six draws achieved so far by Anand and Karjakin.

Viswanathan AnandIND27900.5-0.5Magnus CarlsenNOR2810B77Sicilian Dragon
Vassily IvanchukUKR27490.5-0.5Hikaru NakamuraUSA2708D17Slav Defence 6 Ne5
Alexei ShirovESP27230.5-0.5Nigel ShortENG2696C96Spanish Chigorin (Keres)
Vladimir KramnikRUS27881-0Loek van WelyNED2641E92King's Indian Gligoric
Sergey KarjakinRUS27200.5-0.5Jan SmeetsNED2657C42Petroff's Defence
Leinier DominguezCUB27121-0Sergey TiviakovNED2662E11Bogoljubov/Catalan
Peter LekoHUN27391-0Fabiano CaruanaITA2675C78Spanish Modern Archangel

Shirov has a clear lead and would seem to be comfortable so far, but things may become rocky starting from tomorrow as he will play Nakamura with Black. Another noticeable pairing will be Carlsen-Ivanchuk.

SeedNameCountryRatingPoints
1Alexei ShirovESP27235.5
2=Magnus CarlsenNOR28104
2=Vladimir KramnikRUS27884
2=Vassily IvanchukUKR27494
2=Hikaru NakamuraUSA27084
6Leinier DominguezCUB27123.5
7=Viswanathan AnandIND27903
7=Peter LekoHUN27393
7=Sergey KarjakinRUS27203
10=Nigel ShortENG26962
10=Fabiano CaruanaITA26752
10=Sergey TiviakovNED26622
13=Loek van WelyNED26411
13=Jan SmeetsNED26571

B-Group

Giri seems to go from strength to strength! Winning with black against Nyback was another turn-up for the books.

Sutovsky and Howell had a long struggle but the Israeli eventually won the queen ending.

Erwin l'AmiNED26151-0Parimarjan NegiIND2621A16English (Anti-Grünfeld)
Penteala HarikrishnaIND26720.5-0.5Varuzhan AkobianUSA2628A21English opening
Liviu-Dieter NisipeanuROM26810-1Wesley SoPHI2656A07Reti Capablanca
Dimitri ReindermanNED25730.5-0.5Arkadij NaiditschGER2687A18English opening
Ni HuaCHN26571-0Anna MuzychukSLO2523B01Scandinavian
Emil SutovskyISR26661-0David HowellENG2606C99Spanish Chigorin
Tomi NybackFIN26430-1Anish GiriNED2588D12Slav Defence 4 e3

With previously second-placed David Howell losing, Anish Giri finds himself a full point ahead.

RankTitleNameCountryRatingPoints
1GMAnish GiriNED25885
2=GMNi HuaCHN26574
2=GMErwin l'AmiNED26154
4=GMArkadij NaiditschGER26873.5
4=GMPenteala HarikrishnaIND26723.5
4=GMWesley SoPHI26563.5
4=GMDavid HowellENG26063.5
8GMParimarjan NegiIND26213
9=GMEmil SutovskyISR26572.5
9=GMTomi NybackFIN26432.5
11=GMLiviu-Dieter NisipeanuROM26812
11=IMAnna MuzychukSLO25232
13=GMVaruzhan AkobianUSA26281.5
13=GMDimitri ReindermanNED25731.5

Group C

The US whizz-kid Ray Robson won again and thus consolidated his lead. Tomorrow he will have the Black pieces against Vocaturo, who has 3/3 with White, but the stiffest test of all could well be in the ninth round when he will have Black against Li Chao-b.

Soumya SwaminathanIND23230-1Robin van KampenNED2456B90Sicilian Najdorf 6 Be3
Kjetil LieNOR25470-1Li Chao-bCHN2604C43Petroff's Defence
Nils GrandeliusSWE25151-0Sjoerd PlukkelNED2279C42Petroff's Defence
Abhijeet GuptaIND25771-0Daniele VocaturoITA2495E70King's Indian Defence
Ray RobsonUSA25701-0Benjamin BokNED2322C78Spanish Modern Archangel
Robin SwinkelsNED24950.5-0.5Zhaoqin PengNED2402A25English Opening
Marya MuzychukUKR24470-1Stefan KuipersNED2340B23Sicilian Defence

The two Robins are both on plus one. IMs Swinkels and Van Kempen are the leading Dutch players and are both handily placed on 3.5/6.

RankTitleNameCountryRatingPoints
1GMRay RobsonUSA25705.5
2GMLi Chao-bCHN26045
3GMAbhijeet GuptaIND25774
4=GMDaniele VocaturoITA24953.5
4=IMRobin SwinkelsNED24953.5
4=IMRobin van KempenNED24563.5
7=GMKjetil LieNOR25473
7=GMZhaoqin PengNED24023
7=FMStefan KuipersNED23403
10IMNils GrandeliusSWE25152.5
11=WGMMarya MuzychukUKR24472
11=FMBenjamin BokNED23222
13-Sjoerd PlukkelNED22791
14WGMSoumya SwaminathanIND23230.5

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