Candidates Tournament 2013

[Mark Hannon]

Thor Heyerdahl, Roald Amundsen , Edvard Grieg, Tomas Munch, Gro Harlem Bruntland, Gro Harlem Bruntland can you hear me ? your boy took a hell of a beating!!!

any one remember that football commentator rubbing it in when Norway beat England?

Joking apart what a topsy turvy days chess. best of Luck to both Magnus and Vladimir.

[Nick Ivell]

I hate to kick a man when he is down, but is it fair to say that Magnus's biggest weakness now lies exposed to the world? Namely, the openings. I am an admirer, but he cannot always be winning games like the one v Adams at the Classic.

[Ray Sayers]

I'm not sure how true that is. He has become the highest rated player in history with his repertoire. Plus, playing main lines leaves him open to prep.

Actually, before the Grischuk game he looked well set to win this tournament comfortably. I think nerves are playing their part. His e5 against Grischuk resolved all the tension in the game when normally I would have expected him to chip away and win. The Chucky game was probably trying to compensate for the previous round and also because Chucky wasn't sticking to the script; he wasn't losing on time! Carlsen could have got 1.5 points out of the last 2 games and got 0.5, which is why he is 2nd instead of 1st.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Chucky wasn't sticking to the script; he wasn't losing on time!

I remember noticing that and thinking it was strange. Still not quite sure why Ivanchuk gets into such time trouble in some games and not others. I suppose you have to get a position he is willing to think about, or maybe after four losses on time it has got through to him that he needs to adopt a different style? I'm actually a great admirer of Ivanchuk for both his style of play (when at his best) and his longevity at the top of the chess world. I just hope he maintains this form against Kramnik in the final round, though I suspect it may be another crazy game depending on what happens in round 13. It is entirely possible that the tournament will be decided by the end of round 13, though I hope not.

[Mick Norris]

Busy day today for the seconds, I guess - do we know who Kramnik is using?

[John McKenna]

Don't know Kramnik's official second(s) but in the past E. Bareev has been one and he has been seen at the venue. Peter Svidler has also seconded Kramnik and plays Carlsen in the final round - would expect him to try hard not to lose that one.

[JustinHorton]

Where's Nige today?

[Carl Hibbard]

Where's Nigel today?

It's more than hard work but Trent does seem to be getting better at this

[Carl Hibbard]

Out on a limb but I predict Kramnik and Carlsen both losing today

[MikeTasker]

Thor Heyerdahl, Roald Amundsen , Edvard Grieg, Tomas Munch, Gro Harlem Bruntland, Gro Harlem Bruntland can you hear me ? your boy took a hell of a beating!!!
any one remember that football commentator rubbing it in when Norway beat England?
Joking apart what a topsy turvy days chess. best of Luck to both Magnus and Vladimir.

Its here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqZTP8-8wIs
Maggie Thatcher can you hear me?
Munch is an Edvard also

[Matt Mackenzie]

Out on a limb but I predict Kramnik and Carlsen both losing today

A brave prediction, in the Sir Humphrey usage of that word

Hmmm, could Carlsen eke out another "miracle" win??

[Matthew Turner]

If Carlsen wins this it will be truly incredible - I wouldn't bet against it though

[Chris Rice]

Wow! should have put some money on it Matthew. How the hell Carlsen pulled a win out of that position defies belief. This tournament has just been fantastic and we're going down to the wire......

[Eoin Devane]

Absolutely brilliant from Carlsen today!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The positions in both the Kramnik-Gelfand and Radjabov-Carlsen games looked dead drawn at the time control at move 40 (after Kramnik looked to have had an overwhelming position earlier), and I was about to leave to go home, but then decided to stay and see it out to the end. Seeing Carlsen win that endgame was amazing. Radjabov has this mannerism where he puts his hands over his chin with his fingers making V-shapes around his eyes. Rather intimidating, but there were moments in that endgame where his eyes flicked up to look across the board at Carlsen as if questioning his play or trying to discern what Carlsen was thinking, not that it helped! I think ultimately it was the pressure of the clock that told on Radjabov. Playing that sort of position with 30 seconds per move is not easy.