The Week in Chess

Wesley So was surprised by a King's Gambit from Baskaran Adhiban and didn't manage the kind of advantage which some say black should achieve, the game was drawn in 39 moves.

Anish Giri won his first game of the event after finding two shock bishop pawn captures 17.Bxh6 won a pawn after Ian Nepomniachtchi missed a relatively straightforward tactic but in spite of this winning the game was problematic until Nepomniachtchi allowed 32.Bxa6 which decided the game.

Wei Yi beat Richard Rapport with the black pieces in an out and out tactical battle. 19.Nxg4 was recommended as keeping white's advantage, the played 19.Nc7 and 20.Bxb7 left Wei Yi with a winning position which he converted.

World Champion Magnus Carlsen again had to be accurate with the black pieces to hold an inferior position, this time against Levon Aronian. The draw hasn't been kind to Carlsen so far with tough opposition and 4 out of 6 games with black. The remainder of the event he will have more games with white than black and will play more of the tail-enders. He's still in good shape for a successful event.

Loek van Wely put an end to his four game losing run but in spite of a nearly winning opening advantage a series of errors left him struggling for the draw against Dmitry Andreikin but he fought well to hold. Pentala Harikrishna was winning against Radoslaw Wojtaszek but a series of errors left him even having to be accurate to hold the draw. Pavel Eljanov and Sergey Karjakin drew an interesting game where black had some advantage.

Round 6 standings: 1st Wesley So 4.5pts 2nd Carlsen, Eljanov 4pts 4th Aronian, Giri, Wei Yi 3.5pts 7th Harikrishna, Andreikin, Karjakin, Wojtaszek 3pts 11th Adhiban 2.5pts 12th Nepomniachtchi 2pts 13th Rapport 1.5pts 14th Van Wely 1pt

Round 7 pairings Saturday 21st January 2017 12:30pm UK time: Karjakin- Aronian, L. So-Eljanov, Wojtaszek-Adhiban, Andreikin-Harikrishna, Wei Yi-Van Wely, Nepomniachtchi-Rapport, Carlsen-Giri.