The 2nd Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament takes place 27th Sept - 9th October 2009 in Nanjing, China. The total prize fund is $365,000 (250,000 Euros) and event is part of the Grand Slam series, with the winner getting an automatic seat into next year's Grand Slam Masters Final.

The line-up (in rating order) for the 6-player double round robin will be: Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Peter Leko (Hungary), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia), Wang Yue (China). The average rating is 2763, which makes the event a category 21 tournament.

The Carlsen carnage continues, as the young Norwegian stands ominously poised for an epoch-making breakthrough victory. The 18-year-old rode his luck but finally ground down local hero Wang Yue in round eight, to take his score now to +5 on 6.5/8, two points clear of his nearest rival, world #1 Topalov.

So far, Carlsen has ripped through the opposition; and with only two rounds to play, he's on the verge of his first outright win in a super-tournament. And in the process, he's also boosted his live rating by 24.4-points to jump into the world #2 spot, less than four points shy now of breaking the 2800 barrier.

And you can follow Carlsen's progress here on ICC as he looks to take his first outright win in a super-tournament, with live game coverage of the final two rounds from Nanjing with a Thursday double-header - Rd.9 starting at 03:00am ET (15:00 local time) and Rd.10 starting at 22:00pm ET (13:00 local time).

Official site (In English): http://www.chess-pearlspring.com/www/chess_pk/2009/en/

  Game of the Day

Rd	Commentator	Game	Watch			Free preview
1	GM Larry Christiansen	GM Magnus Carlsen vs. GM Peter Leko
2	GM Larry Christiansen	GM Magnus Carlsen vs. GM Veselin Topalov
3	GM Nick De Firmian	GM Wang Yue vs. GM Magnus Carlsen
4	GM Joel Benjamin	GM Dmitry Jakovenko vs. GM Magnus Carlsen
5	GM Nick De Firmian	GM Magnus Carlsen vs. GM Teimour Radjabov
6	GM Joel Benjamin	GM Dmitry Jakovenko vs. GM Veselin Topalov
7	GM Ronen Har-Zvi	GM Veselin Topalov vs. GM Magnus Carlsen
8	GM Gregory Kaidanov	GM Magnus Carlsen vs. GM Wang Yue
9	GM Joel Benjamin	GM Wang Yue vs. GM Veselin Topalov
10	GM Larry Christiansen	GM Magnus Carlsen vs. GM Dmitry Jakovenko