Caruana stops Kramnik, in a rollercoaster game, and takes the solo lead after 4 Rounds!
Aronian beats Karjakin to climb back up to 50%.
Mamedyarov and Grischuk draw their games with, respectively, So and Ding.
Four draws in Round 5.
Standings unchanged, with Caruana leading, followed by Kramnik and Mamedyarov, half a point behind the leader.
Tomorrow Round 6 at 10 AM EDT, 15:00 CET.
Kramnik lost again in round 6, against Mamedyarov. After a very good start, the 42-year-old Russian former World Champion looks a bit worn out. But again, it’s only Round 6 out of 14, and anything can happen.
Aronian lost to So, who won his first game in this tournament.
Caruana drew and is still in the lead, joined by Mamedyarov.
Tomorrow is a rest day. Don’t miss ICC’s LIVE recap of the first 6 rounds!
Kramnik fought hard with Ding, in an apparently drawn endgame, which nonetheless gave the fans a lot to discuss about.
At last, it ended in a draw, but the game was a rollercoaster.
Caruana defeated Aronian in 37 moves, and since Mamedyarov drew against Grischuk, now Fabiano is solo at the top of the standings.
Karjakin won against Wesley So, who’s not having the tournament of his life.
Standings after Round 7
5.0 GM Fabiano Caruana
4.5 GM Shakriyar Mamedyarov
3.5 GM Vladimir Kramnik
GM Alexander Grischuk
GM Liren Ding
3.0 GM Sergey Karjakin
2.5 GM Wesley So
GM Levon Aronian
Another great struggle for Vladimir Kramnik.
In the only decisive game of Round 8, The two Russians - Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk - played an epic game, with Kramnik trying to hold the draw until the very end, alas to no avail.
The other three games were drawn.
Standings after 8 rounds:
5.5 GM Fabiano Caruana
5.0 GM Shakriyar Mamedyarov
4.5 GM Alexander Grischuk
4.0 GM Liren Ding
3.5 GM Vladimir Kramnik
GM Sergey Karjakin
3.0 GM Wesley So
GM Levon Aronian
It’s again Kramnik the protagonist of the round, being his the only decisive game of the day.
Unfortunately for the former World Champion, it was another loss for him, which now relegates Kramnik to last place, along with Aronian and Wesley So.
Vladimir had a great start in this edition of the Candidates’ tournament, to then fade out rather abruptly. After the first round, nobody would have expected to see Kramnik and Aronian sit in last place.
There are other five rounds to play, which means these two super.strong players can come back somehow, though it’s almost impossible that either of them wins the chair to challenge Magnus Carlsen.
The other three games were drawn, therefore the standings at the top remain unchanged:
6.0 GM Fabiano Caruana
5.5 GM Shakriyar Mamedyarov
5.0 GM Alexander Grischuk
4.5 GM Liren Ding
GM Sergey Karjakin
3.5 GM Vladimir Kramnik
GM Wesley So
GM Levon Aronian
Tomorrow is a rest day. GM Yermolinsky will recap the last three rounds on ICCTV. Don’t miss the show!
The main match today was Mamedyarov vs. Caruana.
The two talents played the game to the bitter end, finishing with the bare kings on the board, leaving the tournament outcome to be decided yet.
Kramnik interrupted his bad streak, unfortunately at the expenses of Levon Aronian, who is - at this point - having one of his worst tournaments ever.
Aronian is now relegated to the last position in the standings, and it is quite odd to see how Levon down there, after starting as one of the favorites.
Grischuk vs. Karjakin and Ding vs. So drew their games.
Standing after 10 rounds:
6.5 GM Fabiano Caruana
6.0 GM Shakriyar Mamedyarov
5.5 GM Alexander Grischuk
5.0 GM Liren Ding
GM Sergey Karjakin
4.5 GM Vladimir Kramnik
4.0 GM Wesley So
3.5 GM Levon Aronian
Fourth round in a row with only one decisive game.
Aronian lost again, getting deeper and deeper into what looks like a crisis.
Nobody would have imagined Levon at the bottom of the standings after 11 rounds, with 3.5 points, at minus four.
His game against Karjakin - Levon played White - looked drawish until move 42. After the time control, Aronian started to play minor imprecisions, which Sergey was able to spot and use in his favor. Then, with Karjakin holding a slight advantage, Aronian collapsed almost inexplicably, allowing the Russian’s Queen to sweep all over the board, wreaking havoc and building up a mating net.
Karjakin gets up at plus one, joining Grischuk, one full point behind Caruana, which leads half a point ahead of Memedyarov.
And then what nobody expects to happen… happens!
Both Caruana and Mamedyarov lost today.
Caruana against Karjakin, which joined the American in the lead, with 7 points.
Mamedyarov lost to Ding Liren, and now is part of a pack of three with Grischuk and Ding, chasing the co-leaders by half a point behind.
It would seem that the battle is among these 5 players, with Caruana and Karjakin - obviously - favorite for the final success.
Will we see Carlsen-Karjakin 2.0 in November?
Who knows, but seeing how determined the Russian was in the last rounds, it wouldn’t be surprising at this point.
Standings after Round 12:
7.0 GM Fabiano Caruana
GM Sergey Karjakin
6.5 GM Shakriyar Mamedyarov
GM Liren Ding
GM Alexander Grischuk
5.5 GM Vladimir Kramnik
5.0 GM Wesley So
4.0 GM Levon Aronian