Norway Chess 2015 Supertournament

[ajay]

Anand is playing some good chess in an ongoing high class tournament where he also had a win against the current world champion Carlsen.
With 8 of the top 10 players participating (only Kramnik and So are missing), a very high level chess tournament is going on in Norway. And interestingly, in a field of 10 players, half of the players were at 2800+ ratings at some point in the tournament. Only today Caruana lost 5 points to fall to 2799.6, leaving 4 players in the 2800 club. I'm not sure if we ever had four to five 2800+ players simultaneously in the chess ratings and playing the same tournament.

Carlsen had his worst tournament start ever by losing 3 games in first 4 rounds and drawing one. Finally he scored a victory today in the 5th round today. Anand has 1 victory (over Carlsen) and 4 draws. No one had been able to put any pressure on Anand so far in this tournament. And out of 4 draws, he had a upper hand in three of the games. Its surprising and little disappointing that he did not have more victories to show so far.

The real lucky player is Topalov who already has 4 victories and one draw in the five rounds so far. The lucky Topalov was involved in the dramatic start of the tournament when from the lost position he got a very unusual gift from the world champion Carlsen as Carlsen ran out of time at move 60. Carlsen had no idea that there was no additional time given after they reach 2nd time control at move 60, except 30sec increment. Well, he had no one else but himself to blame as he turned in late on the first day and missed the announcement on time control. Topalov was again lucky today as he got a gift when in a totally draw end game, the opponent Jon Ludvig blundered on move 74th and had to straight away resign. But he did play some good chess in other two victories.

Anand is playing a very confident chess in this tournament. He has sorted out Nakamura who used to have an edge over Anand for a while, but not anymore. Today, Anand playing with black against Nakamura, defended solidly. In fact for a while Caruana also had had upper hand against Anand, but this time Caruana was happy to salvage half point against Anand in the first round. In second round, Anand with black managed to get advantage over Giri but could not bring back full point. In the 3rd round, Grischuk managed to hold Anand who looked like winning in the middle game. Finally Anand tasted victory with white over Carlsen in the 4th round.

The current standings:

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1  Topalov, Veselin    	 4½	2798
2  Nakamura, Hikaru 		 3½	2802
3  Giri, Anish   			 3	2773
4  Anand, Viswanathan  	 3	2804
5  Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 2½	2723
6  Aronian, Levon   		 2	2780
7  Grischuk, Alexander 	 2	2781
8  Caruana, Fabiano 		 2	2805
9  Carlsen, Magnus  		 1½  2876
10 Hammer, Jon Ludvig  	 1	2677

[ajay]

Pairing for the 6th round

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1	 GM Grischuk, A. (2)  	— —	 GM Topalov, V.   (4½) 
2	 GM Caruana, F.  (2)  	— —	 GM Hammer, J. L. (1) 
3	 GM Giri, Anish  (3)  	— —	 GM Aronian, L.   (2) 
4	 GM Anand, V.    (3)  	— —	 GM Vachier-Lagr. (2½) 
5	 GM Carlsen, M.  (1½) 	— —	 GM Nakamura, H.  (3½) 

[ajay]

Vishy has a winning attack in his game against Vachier-Lagrave. Let's see if he converts this game to a win.

[Prashant]

How the heck did Topalov score 4.5 out of the first 5? That's pretty ridiculous in a top level tournament...

[Edit]He's also in a very strong position in round 6. I can't remember seeing 5.5/6.0 in a tournament like this before.

[ajay]

Anand gets his win and moves on to 4 pts. and second spot. Nakamura still playing aginst Carlsen with game in balance. If Nakamura holds, he'll tie with Anand on 2nd spot.

However, the leader Topalov won yet another game and moved to 5.5/6. Incredible stuff by Topalov as he is playing really good, and that is further helped by incredible gifts from the two Norwegians Carlsen and Hammer. Carlsen gifted him one full point by losing on time while Hammer gifted him 1/2 point by making an incredible blunder that defies logic. But even without those gifts Topalov would have been leader albeit joint.

Anyway, this incredible tournament has brought Topalov's rating to his all time high at 2821.1 and he actually passed Anand's all time high rating of 2820.7 in Jan 2011. But Anand himself has come to 2813.2 and if he gets couple of wins more, he can also be at his all time high rating.

Incredible stuff is going on in this highly exciting tournament. With his recent games, Anand has reestablished himself at the top level firmly and silenced all his critics who were asking about his retirement.

[ajay]

Topalov's run of 5.5 points from 6 games reminds similar, actually better run from Caruana last year in the 2014 SINQUEFIELD CUP when he went on an amazing streak to win 7 games on a trot. Those were all hard earned wins, i.e. no gifts. In that streak he beat Carlsen, Aronian, Nakamura, Maxime(twice) and Topalov(twice). It was considered the strongest tournament ever at that time as all the 6 players in the field were all top 10 with three 2800+ players (and Carlsen at 2877). Caruana's good form later brought him to a rating of 2851, and he started threatening Carlsen's world # 1 position. But Caruana could not sustain that rating and the gulf between him and Carlsen again grew. And Caruana has dropped below 2800 in this tournament.

By the way, the 2015 SINQUEFIELD CUP to be played in Aug-Sep may once again become the strongest tournament ever as there is a good chance to see 9 of the top 10 players playing in St. Louis.

[ajay]

The 7th round was all draws. Two rounds and Topalov is still clear of the rest of the field. Anand remains tied with Nakamura for the second place. For Anand to catch up with Topalov, he must win both remaining games. Or Topalov loses tomorrow then Anand can even draw. He basically needs to come 1/2 point closer to Toplaov tomorrow and and beat him in the final round. This is highly unlikely but never say never. Tomorrow he plays the weakest player of the tournament, Norwegian Jon Ludvig Hammer. And Anand has a white. So he definitely have winning chances and chance of moving that 1/2 point closer to the leader. Let's see what happens.

The current standings at the end of the 7th round are:

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1 	 Topalov, Veselin			 6/7 	2798
2 	 Nakamura, Hikaru			 4½/7	2802
3 	 Anand, Viswanathan		  4½/7	2804
4 	 Giri, Anish					4/7 	2773
5 	 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	3/7 	2723
6 	 Aronian, Levon			   3/7 	2780
7 	 Caruana, Fabiano			 3/7 	2805
8 	 Carlsen, Magnus			  2½/7	2876
9 	 Grischuk, Alexander		 2½/7	2781
10	 Hammer, Jon Ludvig		  2/7 	2677

The 8th round match up:

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1	 GM Grischuk, A. (2½) — —	 GM Caruana, F.   (3) 
2	 GM Giri, Anish   (4) — —	 GM Topalov, V.   (6) 
3	 GM Anand, V.    (4½) — —	 GM Hammer, J. L. (2) 
4	 GM Carlsen, M.  (2½) — —	 GM Aronian, L.   (3) 
5	 GM Nakamura, H. (4½) — —	 GM Vachier-Lagr. (3) 

[Prashant]

Anand is winning against Hammer (almost definite), and Topalov has an inferior position vs Giri, but that one doesn't seem as clear. Hopefully Giri forces a win & Anand completes his - that will give Anand an outside shot of catching Topalov on points.

[Prashant]

Anand does win, and Giri is nearing a win over Topalov. Which means Anand can tie Topalov on points if he beats him with black.

I'm not sure I understand the tie-break rules, it appears that they won't use progressive score or Sonneborn-Berger or anything for a first place tie, only for the other places. For the first place it suggests a "play off". Not sure how that would work.

[ajay]

Prashant, there will be a clear winner tomorrow. Topalov is just 1/2 point ahead and a draw maintains his 1/2 lead. A win for Anand means he leapfrogs Topalov and wins the tournament.

[ajay]

It was a perfect script for Anand today. He gets his deserved win, Giri does a huge favor to Anand by stopping Topalov. And Nakamura, who also had his ambitions to win the tournament and who was tied with Anand, lost an opportunity to force a win.

It has been a flawless performance from Anand in this tournament. Anand, Nakamura and Giri are the only unbeaten players in the tournament as it moves to the last round. Nakamura and Giri are tied for the third place. Mathematically both of them still have a chance to finish 2nd if they win and there is a decision in Anand Toplav game. But all eyes will be on Toplov vs Anand match tomorrow. Anand is playing black and must win to win the tournament.

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1     Topalov, Veselin          6/8     2798
2     Anand, Viswanathan        5½/8    2804
3     Nakamura, Hikaru          5/8     2802
3     Giri, Anish               5/8     2773
5     Carlsen, Magnus           3½/8    2876
5     Caruana, Fabiano          3½/8    2805
5     Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime   3½/8    2723
8     Aronian, Levon            3/8     2780
9     Grischuk, Alexander       3/8     2781
10    Hammer, Jon Ludvig        2/8     2677

Match up for the final round:
 GM Vachier-Lagr. (3½) 2723 — —  GM Grischuk, A. (3) 2781
 GM Aronian, L. (3) 2780 — —  GM Nakamura, H. (5) 2802
 GM Hammer, J. L. (2) 2677 — —  GM Carlsen, M. (3½) 2876
 GM Topalov, V. (6) 2798 — —  GM Anand, V. (5½) 2804
 GM Caruana, F. (3½) 2805 — —  GM Giri, Anish (5) 2773

[ajay]

Just two days back, Topalov passed his earlier highest ever rating and also passed Anand's highest ever ratings. But today, he lost and Anand won and the result is that Anand gets ahead of him and becomes the world #2 again. Anand with 2816,2 is just 4.5 points behind his best ever ratings(2820.7).
Tomorrow, if he win, he'll be at his best ratings. Go Anand!!!!

The top 10 ratings after this round loks like this.

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1 		Carlsen 		2860.9
2 		Anand   		2816.2
3 		Topalov 		2815.9
4 		Nakamura		2809.4
5 		Caruana 		2797.5
6 		Giri 			2790.2
7 		Kramnik 		2783
8 		So   			2780.1
9 		Grischuk		2771.9
10		Aronian 		2769.9

[Prashant]

Prashant, there will be a clear winner tomorrow. Topalov is just 1/2 point ahead and a draw maintains his 1/2 lead. A win for Anand means he leapfrogs Topalov and wins the tournament.

You're right of course. Not doing the math right. I don't think it will be easy to beat Topalov with black, but hopeful....

[Sin Hombre]

Anand should not try and force a win with black and just play naturally.

[ajay]

And that is what happened. It was a draw with in 30 minutes. Anand only took 6 minutes, while Topalov took 20 minutes and they signed the truce. No one wanted to take a risk.

Topalov wins the tournament, Anand, as far as points are concerned, will be 2nd place, but if Giri wins today, he'll finish 2nd in the tournament although tied with Anand. And Giri is trying had to get that win with black. Same way, Nakamura is trying hard to win his game with black to tie with Anand.