The Week in Chess

Boris Gelfand beat Hikaru Nakamura in a complicated Sveshnikov Sicilian to take the lead from the American with two rounds to go. The game became very complicated when Nakamura grabbed a pawn on move 25 but by move 28...Rxb3 it was clear Gelfand was better if quite short of time, 35...e3! was excellent and with 40...Bf3! Gelfand secured the win, resignation followed on move 45. Gelfand isn't leading this event by accident, he's been quietly impressive so far.

Vladimir Kramnik seems to be suffering a hangover from the massive effort he made to qualify from the Candidates which ended up so close to success. He's been unrecognisable in this event and today he made a terrible blunder in the most innocuous of positions against Dmitry Andreikin. First Kramnik gradually lost his the edge he had out of the opening between moves 13 and 18, after 25...Na4 it was clear he had to be a bit careful. But 27.Ke3?? was just terrible after 27...Bb3 (27.Nd4 or 27.g4 Nd4) after which there was no way back. Rather strangley this means Andreikin has scored the only win by a Russian in the event so far. Kramnik is now in dead last place on 2/7.

Viswanathan Anand was challenged by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the same variation of the Semi-Slav he had already used against Gelfand and Vachier-Lagrave earlier in the year. Anand thought 27...h5 might have been more accurate but in general this was just a careful draw.

"My head wasn't working great today" was how Magnus Carlsen explained his draw against Alexander Morozevich on the white side of a Caro-Kann. In truth after a little creativity from Carlsen went wrong the game was completely equal after 15 moves and might easily have been agreed drawn after 25 if it had been permitted. Not at all impressive from Carlsen today ahead of his game (again with white) against Nakamura in Round 8.

Sergey Karjakin had a significant advantage against Fabiano Caruana about move 21 but his play was hardly convincing and the game ground on and on until later Karjakin eventually had Rook and Knight vs Rook and Pawn and later Rook and Knight vs Rook. Drawn in 138 moves. There are quite a number of players in this event who need a break including these two it seems but my they're tough.

Round 7 Standings: Gelfand 5pts, Nakamura 4.5pts, Mamedyarov, Andreikin, Carlsen 4pts, Caruana 3.5pts, Krajakin 3pts, Anand, Morozevich 2.5pts, Kramnik 2pts.

Round 8 Pairings Saturday 21st June 2013 12pm: Morozevich-Caruana, Andreikin-Karjakin, Anand-Kramnik, Gelfand-Mamedyarov, Carlsen-Nakamura.