Another five draws!

Michael Tal
Despite the best will in the world, no one could break the deadlock for the third round running. The closest to a win could well have been Peter Svidler, who seemed to be doing well in the middlegame, but Carlsen fought back creating enough counterplay to maintain the balance.

Peter Svidler obtained a decent opening from his pet-opening the Grünfeld defence. In the middlegame he has the bishop pair and seemed to have the slightly better chances. His pawn push on the kingside had the Norwegian on the defensive, but a surprising tactical counter-blow gave White enough play to hold.

A solid opening system is the Queen's Gambit Declined. In the 5.Bf4 line Levon Aronian only obtained a nominal advantage against Boris gelfand, but Black's shell was too tough to crack.

Ivanchuk preferred to place his bishop on g5 against Viswanathan Anand. The Indian's Lasker variation proved to be equally rock-solid, and with symmetrical pawns a draw seemed inevitable right from the opening. Viswanathan Anand yet again proved that he is able to 'kill off' a game if he wants to.

In contrast, in an all-Russian encounter, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Sergey Karjakin played out a totally imbalanced struggle. Nepomniachtchi had queen and two pawns for rook bishop and knight, and spurning a repetition sacrificed a further exchange for two dangerous-looking passed pawns. Karjakin found the right moment to return a piece for equality.

Vladimir Kramnik and Hikaru Nakamura enteres the Grünfeld Defence, via a move order that generally arises via the English Opening. White delays expanding in the centre to limit Black's chances for counterplay. Even so the American was able to hit back at the centre inducing Kramnik to sacrifice a pawn in slightly dubious circumstances. Nevertheless, towards the time control White was able to resore material equality.

Here is a summary of the sixth round games:

White Country Rating Result Black Country Rating Moves Opening description
Magnus Carlsen NOR 2826 0.5-0.5 Peter Svidler RUS 2755 53 Grünfeld Defence (Exchange 7 .Bc4)
Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2730 0.5-0.5 Sergey Karjakin RUS 2763 40 Nimzoindian Defence (4.Qc2)
Levon Aronian ARM 2802

0.5-0.5

Boris Gelfand ISR 2744 40 Queen's Gambit Declined  5.Bf4
Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2800 0.5-0.5 Hikaru Nakamura USA 2758 42 English (Anti-Grünfeld, Qb3)
Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2775

0.5-0.5

Viswanathan Anand IND 2811 36 Queen's Gambit Declined (Lasker)

The table after the sixth round:

Rank Name Country Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points
1-4 Levon Aronian ARM 2802 * ½ . . ½ 1 . ½ ½ ½ 3.5
1-4 Magnus Carlsen NOR 2826 ½ * ½ . . ½ ½ ½ . 1 3.5
1-4 Sergey Karjakin RUS 2763 . ½ * ½ ½ . ½ . ½ 1 3.5
1-4 Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2730 . . ½ * ½ ½ . 1 ½ ½ 3.5
5-7 Viswanathan Anand IND 2811 ½ . ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ . . 3
5-7 Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2775 0 ½ . ½ ½ * 1 ½ . . 3
5-7 Peter Svidler RUS 2755 . ½ ½ . ½ 0 * . 1 ½ 3
8-9 Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2800 ½ ½ . 0 ½ ½ . * ½ .
8-9 Hikaru Nakamura USA 2758 ½ . ½ ½ . . 0 ½ * ½
10 Boris Gelfand ISR 2744 ½ 0 0 ½ . . ½ . ½ *

Details of the earlier games:

The first round:

White Country Rating Result Black Country Rating Moves Opening description
Hikaru Nakamura USA 2758

0.5-0.5

Boris Gelfand ISR 2744 34 Queen's Gambit Declined 5.Bf4
Viswanathan Anand IND 2811 0.5-0.5 Sergey Karjakin RUS 2763 42 Nimzoindian 4.Qc2
Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2775 1-0 Peter Svidler RUS 2755 61 Grünfeld 4.e3
Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2800 0-1 Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2730 53 English Symmetrical
Levon Aronian ARM 2802 0.5-0.5 Magnus Carlsen NOR 2826 57 Queen's Indian 4.g3 Ba6

The second round:

White Country Rating Result Black Country Rating Moves Opening description
Magnus Carlsen NOR 2826 1-0 Boris Gelfand ISR 2744 38 Slav Defence 4.e3
Sergey Karjakin RUS 2763

0.5-0.5

Hikaru Nakamura USA 2758 43 Sicilian Najdorf 6.Be2
Peter Svidler RUS 2755

0.5-0.5

Viswanathan Anand IND 2811 23 Caro-Kann Advance
Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2730

0.5-0.5

Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2775 76 Sicilian Sveshnikov
Levon Aronian ARM 2802

0.5-0.5

Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2800 49 Queen's Gambit Tarrasch

The third round:

White Country Rating Result Black Country Rating Moves Opening description
Boris Gelfand ISR 2744 0-1 Sergey Karjakin RUS 2763 59 Open Catalan
Hikaru Nakamura USA 2758 0-1 Peter Svidler RUS 2755 48 Grünfeld Exchange 7.Bc4
Viswanathan Anand IND 2811

0.5-0.5

Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2730 27 Grünfeld (Russian Variation)
Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2775 0-1 Levon Aronian ARM 2802 57 Spanish Berlin
Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2800

0.5-0.5

Magnus Carlsen NOR 2826 41 English (Botvinnik) 

The fourth round:

White Country Rating Result Black Country Rating Moves Opening description
Magnus Carlsen NOR 2826 0.5-0.5 Sergey Karjakin RUS 2763 67 Nimzoindian 4.Qc2
Peter Svidler RUS 2755 0.5-0.5 Boris Gelfand ISR 2744 40 Reti Opening
Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2730

0.5-0.5

Hikaru Nakamura USA 2758 85 Sicilian Dragon
Levon Aronian ARM 2802 0.5-0.5 Viswanathan Anand IND 2811 60 Queen's Gambit Declined 5.Bf4
Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2800

0.5-0.5

Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2775 57 Chebanenko Slav

The fifth round:

White Country Rating Result Black Country Rating Moves Opening description
Sergey Karjakin RUS 2763 0.5-0.5 Peter Svidler RUS 2755 26 Sicilian Kan
Boris Gelfand ISR 2744 0.5-0.5 Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2730 62 Grünfeld Defence 4.Bg5
Hikaru Nakamura USA 2758

0.5-0.5

Levon Aronian ARM 2802 53 Queen's Gambit Declined 3...Be7
Viswanathan Anand IND 2811 0.5-0.5 Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2800 36 Queen's Gambit Declined 5.Bf4
Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2775

0.5-0.5

Magnus Carlsen NOR 2826 76 Grünfeld 4.Bf4

More information from the official site:

http://www.russiachess.org/

Live games from 2pm local time

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11 am London

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