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| Round 5: Saturday, September 29, 15h | ||
Francisco Vallejo |
½-½ |
Sergey Karjakin |
Viswanathan Anand |
½-½ |
Magnus Carlsen |
Levon Aronian |
½-½ |
Fabiano Caruana |
Before the start of the round, GM Alexander Fier gave a simul
It was a beautiful day once more and the park was quite full on the Saturday afternoon
It was another beautiful day, and another dramatic round. But for a miracle, the leaderboard might have suffered some severe changes. The first game to end was between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand, though not after a good fight.
Both Carlsen and Anand put up a good fight
Anand had white and after a number of draws, was no doubt hoping to at least fight for the advantage, but an upsetting early positional mistake dismissed this option, and instead he found himself fighting an uphill battle to regain control.
The players were thanked by the live commentators Susan Polgar and Gilberto Milos
A view of the glass box from within
The experience was much enjoyed by those who came to visit as they could watch
up close, and comment without disturbing the players.
Paco starts his game against Karjakin
Francisco Vallejo-Pons had a bit of work against Sergey Karjakin, but in the end, they too drew after a serious struggle.
Carlsen checks out the opening moves of Aronian-Caruana
The game of the round though was between the two leaders, Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana, with the Italian in the driver’s seat, a full point ahead. The Armenian soon achieved a huge advantage and everything pointed towards an upset that would change the entire tournament’s outlook.
A win for Aronian would have seriously affected the outlook on the second half
For the longest time, the only changes in the evaluation were between ‘huge advantage’ and ‘dead won’. While Caruana put up the greatest resistance, it was not really in his hands, and it seemed more a question of when, not if. Yet, little by little, Aronian made some imprecisions that allowed Caruana to hope a little longer until the results ceased to be a certainty, and even Levon could see that as his consternated face showed.
When they finally shook hands, Fabiano was more than a little jubilant at this minor miracle, while Levon’s fixed smile belied the writhing disappointment underneath. It seemed more a case of holding his composure together or letting out a torrent of fury unfit for the public, for missing a chance to close in on the top spot.
Left to right: Herman Claudius van Riemsidjk (chief arbiter), Francisco Vallejo-Pons,
Marta Hoffman and Davy D'Israel (organizers),
Gilberto Milos and Susan Polgar (commentators),
Vishy Anand, Fabiano Caruana,
Magnus Carlsen, and Sergey Karjakin. Levon Aronian was absent.
Prior to the second half starting in a week's time, both the seed favorites Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian will have some self-analysis to do to unearth the cause for the blunders marring their results.
Fabiano Caruana continues his streak of good fortune and excellent play, and need only worry whether he has used up his nine lives already.
Your reporter and photographer Albert Silver (picture kindly taken by Cathy Rogers)
Date |
Round |
Commentator |
08.10.2012
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round 06
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D‘Costa
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09.10.2012
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round 07
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King
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10.10.2012
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round 08
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King
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11.10.2012
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rest day
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12.10.2012
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round 09
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King
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13.10.2012
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round 10
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D'Costa
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LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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