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The 13th round of the FIDE Candidates tournament in Moscow saw another day of high tension and fluctuating fortunes. At the end of the day Sergey Karjakin is the favourite over Fabiano Caruana to win the event and play Magnus Carlsen later in the year. Karjakin has white against Caruana and a slightly more favourable tie-break situation. At one stage it seemed that many more players could have been in contention as both leaders were in trouble before move 40, later Caruana turned his game around and missed a late win against Svidler. There is no guarantee that the final round 14 won't see similar errors and reversals of fortune.

Caruana-Svidler saw white get a nice plus out of the opening in a Ruy Lopez. This advantage drifted away to near equality by move 26. By move 34 Svidler was pressing but his 34...Rae8? ran into a tactical refutation leaving Caruana pressing. Svidler transferred into a Rook vs Rook and Bishop endgame which was theoretically drawn but difficult. 102...Ka4? was a losing error. 111.Bf6? (111.Rb2! would have won) returned the favour and the game was drawn.

Aronian-Karjakin was another marathon. Aronian won a piece for two pawns and this compensation was even reduced to a pawn but Karjakin had a powerful a-pawn which made realising the advantage difficult. Karjakin survived to draw in 101 moves.

Anand-Giri: Anand was seeking equality from around move 14 as white in a Ruy Lopez. Giri was pressing really hard on the run up to first time control. Giri thought there must be something better than his 32...g2+ but it doesn't seem to be so and a draw does seem to have been the fair result.

Topalov-Nakamura. Topalov admitted he couldn't wait for the tournament to end. Nakamura won the opening debate with a nice 10...d4 novelty in the 5.Bf4 Queen's Gambit. Topalov had a roughly equal position but made two errors 33.Rg3? (33.Ra1=) and 34.Ra1? which lost out of hand.

Regulations in the case of a tie:

a) The results of the games between the players involved in the tie.

If they are still tied:

b) The total number of wins in the tournament of every player involved in the tie

If Karjakin and Caruana tie then Karjakin has more wins (tie-break b, they drew both their games). If Anand catches these two players then Caruana's plus score vs Anand (tie-break b) will win him the event instead.

Round 13 Standings: Caruana, Karjakin 7.5pts, Anand 7pts, Giri, Svidler, Aronian, Nakamura 6.5pts, Topalov 4pts.

Round 14 pairings Monday 28th March 2016 13:00 BST: Svidler-Anand, Giri-Topalov, Nakamura-Aronian, Karjakin-Caruana

FIDE Candidates 2016 Moscow (RUS), 10-30 iii 2016																			cat. XXII (2778)
					1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8
1.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	USA	2794	*	*	½	.	½	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	7½	2833
2.	Karjakin, Sergey	g	RUS	2760	½	.	*	*	1	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	1	7½	2836
3.	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2762	½	0	0	1	*	*	½	½	1	.	½	1	½	0	1	½	7	2810
4.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2793	½	½	½	½	½	½	*	*	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	.	6½	2775
5.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2757	½	½	½	½	0	.	½	½	*	*	½	1	½	½	½	½	6½	2782
6.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2786	½	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	½	0	*	*	1	.	1	½	6½	2775
7.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2790	½	0	0	½	½	1	½	½	½	½	0	.	*	*	1	1	6½	2775
8.	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2780	½	½	½	0	0	½	½	.	½	½	0	½	0	0	*	*	4	2635

Round 13 (March 27, 2016)
Caruana, Fabiano	- Svidler, Peter	½-½	116	C84	Ruy Lopez Centre Attack
Anand, Viswanathan	- Giri, Anish	½-½	52	C50	Giuoco Piano
Aronian, Levon	- Karjakin, Sergey	½-½	101	A29	English Four Knights
Topalov, Veselin	- Nakamura, Hikaru	0-1	40	D37	QGD 5.Bf4

View the games on this Page

Download the PGN from this page

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