Three key players are missing this year, all of whom have been busy of late: Ivanchuk, Carlsen and Anand but the players who are present are almost as strong!
World No.3 Aronian plays his first tournament as a 2800-player and seems to be confirming his new status with two white wins.
Alexei Shirov and Pavel Eljanov had dreadful starts, losing their first three games, and are at the other end of the table.
The results of the first four rounds were as follows:
Round 1 (5th of November):
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | AZE | 2763 | 0.5-0.5 | Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2741 | 43 | Queen's Gambit Declined Lasker |
Sergey Karjakin | RUS | 2760 | 1-0 | Boris Gelfand | ISR | 2741 | 57 | Petroff Defence |
Alexei Shirov | ESP | 2735 | 0-1 | Wang Hao | CHI | 2727 | 51 | French Defence |
Levon Aronian | ARM | 2801 | 1-0 | Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2791 | 41 | Queen's Gambit Ragozin |
Alexander Grischuk | RUS | 2771 | 1-0 | Pavel Eljanov | UKR | 2742 | 58 | Catalan/Bogoljubov |
Round 2 (6th of November):
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | AZE | 2763 | 0.5-0.5 | Sergey Karjakin | RUS | 2760 | 39 | Nimzoindian Defence 4.g3 |
Boris Gelfand | ISR | 2741 | 1-0 | Alexei Shirov | ESP | 2735 | 61 | Slav Defence |
Wang Hao | CHI | 2727 | 0.5-0.5 | Levon Aronian | ARM | 2801 | 39 | Catalan Opening |
Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2791 | 0.5-0.5 | Alexander Grischuk | RUS | 2771 | 39 | Queen's Gambit Declined |
Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2741 | 1-0 | Pavel Eljanov | UKR | 2742 | 40 | Catalan/Bogoljubov |
Round 3 (7th of November):
Alexei Shirov | ESP | 2735 | 0-1 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | AZE | 2763 | 71 | Spanish Breyer |
Sergey Karjakin | RUS | 2760 | 0.5-0.5 | Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2741 | 70 | Spanish Berlin |
Levon Aronian | ARM | 2801 | 1-0 | Boris Gelfand | ISR | 2741 | 43 | Catalan Opening |
Alexander Grischuk | RUS | 2771 | 0.5-0.5 | Hao Wang | CHI | 2727 | 22 | Slav Defence |
Pavel Eljanov | UKR | 2742 | 0-1 | Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2791 | 51 | Nimzoindian Defence 4.Qc2 |
Round 4 (8th of November):
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | AZE | 2763 | 0.5-0.5 | Levon Aronian | ARM | 2801 | 35 | Slav Defence |
Sergey Karjakin | RUS | 2760 | 0.5-0.5 | Alexei Shirov | ESP | 2735 | 63 | Spanish Neo-Archangel |
Boris Gelfand | ISR | 2741 | 0.5-0.5 | Alexander Grischuk | RUS | 2771 | 43 | Catalan/Bogljubov |
Hao Wang | CHI | 2727 | 0.5-0.5 | Pavel Eljanov | UKR | 2742 | 79 | English Opening |
Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2741 | 0.5-0.5 | Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2791 | 33 | Petroff Defence |
The table after four rounds is as follows with six of the ten players on plus scores.
Standing | Name | Country | Rating | + | = | - | Points |
1 | Levon Aronian | ARM | 2801 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
2= | Alexander Grischuk | RUS | 2771 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2.5 |
2= | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | AZE | 2763 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2.5 |
2= | Sergey Karjakin | RUS | 2760 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2.5 |
2= | Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2741 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2.5 |
2= | Wang Hao | CHI | 2727 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2.5 |
7 | Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2791 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
8 | Boris Gelfand | ISR | 2741 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1.5 |
9= | Pavel Eljanov | UKR | 2742 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.5 |
9= | Alexei Shirov | ESP | 2735 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.5 |
This nine round Swiss has a classical rate of play but with somewhat more time than usual (120 mins for 40 moves followed by 60 minutes for 20 moves and then 15 minutes plus 30 seconds per move from the 61st).
For more information go to the Official site
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