Corus: Final Countdown

We're heading for an exciting final week at Corus Wijk aan Zee, as Vladimir Kramnik makes his move to join the leaders by defeating Hikaru Nakamura in round eight.

After his über-smooth performance in beating runaway leader Alexei Shirov in round seven, Nakamura found the going tougher against the former world champion, who ruthlessly exploited a couple of weak moves played by the US champion in his now trade-mark Leningrad Dutch.

ICC members were amazed at Kramnik's skills in expertly and succinctly annotating his win during the press conference that was transmitted live here on Chess.FM. You can watch Macauley Peterson's interview with Kramik - and for added measure, the game was also GM Gawain Jones' choice for Game of the Day below.

With Shirov and Carlsen drawing, Shirov hangs on to the lead with Kramnik now joining the Norwegian World #1 just a half point behind, and Nakamura on his own in fourth place. And behind them, there now lurks a pack containing Karjakin, Dominguez, Leko and Ivanchuk. So it's all still up for grabs with play resuming on Tuesday after the second rest-day.

Svidler's Rally

Joining Mig in the Chess.FM hot-seat for round two was a very special guest in five-time Russian champion Peter Svidler (and also for an hour, GM Jan Gustafsson). Top-flight commentators is one of the many reasons to be a member here at ICC - and for non-members to tune-in to what ICC members will be getting every round of Corus, we're bringing you the full 5-hour rebroadcast of Mig & Svidler's round two action from Corus. To listen in full, click here.

Game of the Day

Rd	Commentator	Game	Watch	Free
8	GM Gawain Jones	GM Vladimir Kramnik vs. GM Hikaru Nakamura
7	GM Joel Benjamin	GM Hikaru Nakamura vs. GM Alexei Shirov
6	GM Nick De Firmian	GM Ray Robson vs. FM Benjamin Bok
5	GM Jon Speelman	GM Hikaru Nakamura vs. GM Magnus Carlsen
4	GM Larry Christiansen	GM Alexei Shirov vs. GM Jan Smeets
3	GM Peter Svidler	GM Nigel Short vs. GM Hikaru Nakamura
2	GM Ronen Har-Zvi	GM Hikaru Nakamura vs. GM Loek Van Wely
1	GM Gregory Kaidanov	GM Loek van Wely vs. GM Nigel Short

Macauley's videos

Macauley Peterson is also in the press room at Corus bringing us all the latest news & gossip and a round-up of all the best video action. You can view his free video player by clicking on the image below - and his last two videos have included a Vladamir Kramnik interview and a special 19min worth of Hikaru Nakamura's post-mortem of his win over Shirov! You can also follow Chess.FM on our Twitter page http://twitter.com/ChessFM

Corus Crosstable

N	Name	FED	FIDE	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	PTS	TPR
1	Shirov, Alexei	ESP	2723	.	½	.	0	1	.	.	.	.	1	½	1	1	1	6	2891
2	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2810	½	.	.	½	.	.	.	1	½	.	½	½	1	1	5½	2844
3	Kramnik, Vladimir	RUS	2788	.	.	.	1	½	½	.	.	.	½	½	½	1	1	5½	2827
4	Nakamura, Hikaru	USA	2708	1	½	0	.	.	.	.	½	½	.	1	.	1	½	5	2826
5	Leko, Peter	HUN	2739	0	.	½	.	.	½	½	.	½	1	.	½	.	1	4½	2758
6	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	CUB	2712	.	.	½	.	½	.	½	.	½	½	.	1	½	½	4½	2752
7	Karjakin, Sergey	UKR	2720	.	.	.	.	½	½	.	.	½	½	1	½	½	½	4½	2739
8	Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	2749	.	0	.	½	.	.	.	.	½	½	½	½	1	1	4½	2747
9	Anand, Viswanathan	IND	2790	.	½	.	½	½	½	½	½	.	½	½	.	.	.	4	2726
10	Caruana, Fabiano	ITA	2675	0	.	½	.	0	½	½	½	½	.	.	1	.	.	3½	2692
11	Short, Nigel D	ENG	2696	½	½	½	0	.	.	0	½	½	.	.	.	0	.	2½	2600
12	Tiviakov, Sergei	NED	2662	0	½	½	.	½	0	½	½	.	0	.	.	.	.	2½	2598
13	Van Wely, Loek	NED	2641	0	0	0	0	.	½	½	0	.	.	1	.	.	.	2	2545
14	Smeets, Jan	NED	2657	0	0	0	½	0	½	½	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	1½	2492

Chess.FM will have extended live coverage of Corus throughout starting each round at 7:30am ET (1:30pm CET local). Joining Mig Greengard each day will be our expert team of Chess.FM commentators that includes Peter Svidler, Jan Gustafsson, Gregory Kaidanov, Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen, Jon Speelman, Gawain Jones, Ronen Har-Zvi, Andy Martin and Nick De Firmian.

We'll also have the New In Chess trivia, where each day an ICC member can win a 1-year subscription to New In Chess magazine. There's also Game of the Day trivia sponsored by USCF Sales, where each day an ICC member can win a $70 gift certificate for the USCF Sales store.

Now is the time to join ICC for the best in all the live chess action from Corus here at Chess.FM. To join ICC, please click here.