Carlsen and Anand the only winners on day one in Kristiansund

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Arctic Securities Chess Stars 2010 (Day 1)

Carlsen and Anand the only winners on day one in Kristiansund

Mark Crowther - Sunday 29th August 2010

Carlsen and Anand drew in Round 3. Photo ©

Carlsen and Anand drew in Round 3. Photo © | http://bit.ly/chessnrk

Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand share the lead on 2.5/3 at the half way point of the preliminary group stages of the Arctic Securities Chess Stars tournament. The organisers will be hoping these two meet in the final on Monday. Both players enjoyed a bit of luck against Jon Ludwig Hammer with Anand being gifted the full point when a draw seemed likely and Carlsen surviving a trivial one move loss where both players missed the obvious if they had only taken a step back.

Carlsen's profile in Norway justified a live TV broadcast of his games and this is available to watch live on the internet.

Arctic Stars Prelim Kristiansund (NOR), 28-29 viii 2010											cat. XX (2736)
					1		2		3		4
1.	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2800	*	*	½	.	1	.	1	.	2½	2987
2.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2826	½	.	*	*	1	.	1	.	2½	2979
3.	Hammer, Jon Ludvig	g	NOR	2636	0	.	0	.	*	*	½	.	½	2496
4.	Polgar, Judit	g	HUN	2682	0	.	0	.	½	.	*	*	½	2481

Round 1 (August 28, 2010)
Anand, Viswanathan	- Hammer, Jon Ludvig	1-0	56	C53	Giuoco Piano
Polgar, Judit	- Carlsen, Magnus	0-1	35	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Round 2 (August 28, 2010)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Hammer, Jon Ludvig	1-0	73	D42	Semi-Tarrasch Defence
Polgar, Judit	- Anand, Viswanathan	0-1	4	C65	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Round 3 (August 28, 2010)
Anand, Viswanathan	- Carlsen, Magnus	½-½	31	B77	Sicilian Modern Dragon
Hammer, Jon Ludvig	- Polgar, Judit	½-½	45	E53	Nimzo Indian

Final game of the day Anand against Carlsen. Europe-Echecs are on the spot.. Photo ©: http://europe-echecs.com/

Anand allowed Jon Ludwig Hammer to equalised in the first game but then the Norwegian panicked.

Jon Ludwig Hammer

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 50.Kb7

50....f5??

Presumably he feared being turned and losing all his pawns after 50...Nf8 51.Bxf8 but that isn't quite the case as 51.Bxf8 Kxf8 52.Kc6 Ke7 53.Kc7 Ke6 54.Kd8 Kd6! 55.Ke8 Kc5 56.Kf7 Kd4 57.Kxf6 Kxe4 58.Kxg5 Kf3 is a draw.

51. exf5 e4 52. Kc6 Ne5+ 53. Kd5 Nd3 54. Bd2 Nf2 55. Bxg5 Nxh3 56. Be3 1-0

Judit Polgar certainly gave it her best shot against Magnus Carlsen with some enterprising play including a piece sacrifice. However Polgar doesn't play enough these days and Carlsen calmly stayed in the game and turned the tables when Polgar couldn't follow through correctly.

Magnus Carlsen

Judit Polgar

Position after 16.Nd6

16. Nd6+ cxd6 17. exd6 Nd5 18. c4 Nxf4 19. d7+ Kd8 20. Ne5 Be7 21. axb6 Ne2+ 22. Kf1 Nd4 23. dxc8=Q+ Kxc8 24. b4?

Polgar has played some very tricky ideas but now she has to find accurate moves. Now 24.Re1 might be the very best, but walking into a fork doesn't seem especially sensible. Now she gets pushed back.

24...f6 25. Nd3 cxb4 26. c5 Nc6 27. Rac1 Rd8 28. Ke1 Rd5 29. Rc4 a5 30. Re4 Ne5 31. Ke2 Rxd3 32. Rxe5 Rxd1 33. Rxe7 Rd7 34. Re8+ Rd8 35. Re7 b3 0-1

Anand beat Polgar in game two in a game that wasn't broadcast due to problems but which is now available.

Magnus Carlsen and Jon Ludwig Hammer in Round 2. Photo © the excellent live coverage on TV at: http://bit.ly/chessnrk

Magnus Carlsen won a long game against Jon Ludwig Hammer where Hammer contributed with some enterprising play but Carlsen came out on top. However that isn't quite the full tale as Carlsen blundered horribly and allowed a win in one move that his opponent didn't spot, a case of mutual chess blindness. Hammer was down to his last minute and had decided to speed up and had more or less preplanned his reply to something to d2 not noticing the difference between a rook and a bishop going to that square.

Jon Ludwig Hammer

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 38...Rh2

Here 39. Rxe8+ Kf7 40. Rd2 Rcxd2 41. Bxd2 Kxe8 42. Bc3 is drawish)

39.Rd2??? Rhxd2?

39...Rc1+ would have been horribly embarrassing for Carlsen. Now he wins with a long grind.

40. Bxd2 Kf7 41. Bc3 Bxa4 42. Rb7+ Ke6 43. Rxg7 Bb5+ 44. Kg1 Be8 45. Rh7 Kf5 46. Rxh6 Kg5 47. Re6 Bxh5 48. Re5+ Kh6 49. f4 Kg6 50. f5+ Kf7 51. f6 Bg6 52. Re7+ Kf8 53. Rc7 Ke8 54. b4 Kd8 55. Rc5 Kd7 56. b5 Kd6 57. Bb4 Rb2 58. Ba3 Ra2 59. Rc3+ Ke6 60. b6 Ra1+ 61. Kf2 Be4 62. Be7 Bh1 63. Re3+ Kf7 64. Rb3 Bb7 65. Ke3 Ra5 66. Rc3 Rb5 67. Rc7 Bh1 68. Bd8+ Ke8 69. f7+ Kf8 70. Bf6 Bd5 71. Bd4 Bxf7 72. b7 Be8 73. Ba7 1-0

In the final Round Hammer and Polgar drew in a Nimzo-Indian.

Carlsen and Anand drew an interesting Sicilian Dragon where Carlsen's exposed King certainly gave cause for concern but the major piece middlegame had drawish traits. The game ended in perpetual check when Carlsen generated some strong counterthreats of his own.

Magnus Carlsen