The Norwegian won four games (twice thumping Topalov) and drawing six to finish a full point ahead of Anand, who placed second. Bacrot won third prize, while Gashimov and Toppy shared fourth-fifth places. Hapless Wang was dead last.
Speaking of the latest ELO rankings, here’s the FIDE list of the world’s top 21:
1 Anand, Viswanathan IND 2804
2 Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2802
3 Aronian, Levon ARM 2801
4 Kramnik, Vladimir RUS 2791
5 Topalov, Veselin BUL 2786
6 Grischuk, AlexanderRUS 2771
7 Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR 2764
8 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE 2763
9 Karjakin, SergeyRUS 2760
10 Wang, Yue CHN 2756
11 Ponomariov, RuslanUKR 2744
12 Radjabov, Teimour AZE 2744
13 Eljanov, Pavel UKR 2742
14 Gelfand, Boris ISR 2741
15 Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2741
16 Shirov, Alexei ESP 2735
17 Gashimov, Vugar AZE 2733
18 Wang, Hao CHN 2727
19 Kamsky, Gata USA 2726
20 Wojtaszek, RadoslawPOL 2726
21 Jakovenko, Dmitry RUS 2726
Game of the week. Here’s the future world champ against China’s top player. GM Anish Giri annotates.
White: M. Carlsen (2826)
Black: WangYue (2732)
Nanjing 2010
1.e4 e5. Everybody still remembers the King’s Gambit game that Carlsen won, and I think there is no doubt Magnus wants to keep his 100 percent score there, so… 2.Nf3! Nf6. Wang has a very solid repertoire and Petroff is an essential part of it. 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Nd7 6.Nxd7 Bxd7 7.0-0 Bd6. 7…Qh4!? has lost its popularity nowadays, though my Dutch teammate Jan Smeets (I am still in Olympiad mode…) tried it against Tiviakov in Corus 2010. 8.Qh5!? interesting try, that took the Chinese super-GM by surprise. Strangely, though, since the move is relatively well known… Statistically the main move 8.c4 is normally chosen in order to force a draw. 8…Nf6 The d-pawn was attacked, but now 9.Re1+ The point. Now Black has a choice. 9…Kf8. Strange looking, but main. Black trusts his better development and hopes it will compensate for the uncomfortable position of the king. After this game though, I think this trust may be weakened. 9…Be7 is more solid, but still, life is not so easy after let’s say 10.Qe2 Be6 11.Nd2 0-0 12.Nf3 Re8 13.Ne5 Nd7 14.f4 Nxe5 15.dxe5 and Tiviakov got some (practical) advantage against Socko this year. In the game Black managed to escape. 10.Qe2! 10.Qh4 is played more often, but Black has a simple way to equalize: 10…Ng4! and white has to change the queens. The arising endgame is deadly equal. 10…Ng4. Perhaps this logical move, which was also considered to be main, is a bit over-optimistic after all. The solid 10…c6!? deserves attention and should be studied by those who are interested. Still after the critical 11.Nd2 Qc7 12.Nf3 Bg4 13.Qe3! Bxf3 14.Qxf3 Bxh2+ 15.Kf1 Bd6 16.Bg5 played twice by Sutovsky. Maybe not without reason… Life isn’t that simple. 11.h3 Qh4 12.Qf3 Bh2+. 12…Nf6 is main and more solid, but I believe after 13.Nc3 c6 14.Ne2 Black has no attack, but a little bit uncomfortable king, so White should be slightly better with no risk. 13.Kf1 Nxf2. The whole operation is conducted in the spirit of position, with the white queenside still undevelopped, but in fact the black pieces are also not perfect with the rook on h8 and the king on f8, eager to swap places. 14.Qxf2 Bg3 15.Qd2 Qf6+ 16.Kg1 Bxe1 17.Qxe1 Qxd4+ 18.Kh2 Re8 19.Qg3 Qe5. Leads to a lost endgame, which though at first sight seems interesting for Black. However there was already no way back, because if White develops, the position is just lost for Black. 20.Qxe5 Rxe521.Bf4! I was about to write “fearless Magnus,” but I think “well prepared Magnus” is more appropriate here. 21…Re1 22.Bxc7. Here I first thought that the computer doesn’t understand that his queenside is stuck, but then I realized that in fact the threat is Ba5-d2 followed by Be2 kicking out or winning the rook. 22…a6. Only try. Black wants to change the potentially dangerous d3 bishop, but White has a logical antidote: 23.Ba5 Rd1 24.a4! Now there is nothing Black can do against Bd2, followed by Be2, or 24…Ke7 25.Bd2 Rc8 26.c3! with idea Bc2! Now Black is clearly lost and the rest is easy. 26…d4 27.c4 g6 28.Be2 Bxa4 29.Bb4+ Ke6 30.Bxd1 Bxd1 31.Nd2 Be2 32.b3 f5 33.Kg3 Rd8 34.Kf2 d3 35.Bc3 Kf7 36.Nf3 f4 37.Ng5+ Kg8 38.Ne6 and 1-0.
Puzzler.
White: Qa8, Nd5, Bg5, Kh7
Black: Ke5
White to play and mate in three.
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