Tata Steel 2015 Round 8

Opening: C88, D11: Ruy Lopez, QGD Slav

Player(s): Ivanchuk, So, Ding Liren, Saric

GM John Fedorowicz recaps Round 8. An amazing 8th round in Week aan Zee! Strange openings, blunders and brilliancies: all the best a tournament can offer to chess fans. Carlsen shift into his usual incredible gear and wins the 5th game in a row, to take the sole lead with 6/8. Ivanchuk falls into a tricky and rare variants of the Spanish opening, and lose in 26 moves to Wesley So, who is having the tournament of his life so far. Caruana needs 82 moves to regulate van Wely, trying to stay up there, though 1.5 points behind the leader. Radjabov beats Wojtaszek who, after defeating the two super guys, is now struggling. Ding Liren defeats Saric in 34 moves. Only one draw in this incredoble round: Hou Yifan vs. Aronian. After 8 rounds, Magnus Carlsen leads solo, with three young wolf howling in hunting mode half a point behind: MVL, Welsey So and Ding Liren. Ivanchuk stands alone in 5th, with 5/8, then with 4.5/8 Caruana and Radjabov. Tomorrow is a rest day in Wijk aan Zee. Tuesday round 9, starting at 8AM EST.