Corus: Homestretch

We go into the homestretch of Corus with former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who now seems to have found a new lease of life in the game after losing the title, leading at the top after the demise of early pace-setter Alexei Shirov.

Shirov sprinted to a perfect 5/5 start before the setback of a brace of loses to US Champion Hikaru Nakamura and then World Champion Vishy Anand today (featured below in Joel Benjamin's choice for GOTD) in round ten, saw the ex-Latvian knocked off the top spot for the first time in the tournament.

His defeat paved the way for Kramnik to take the sole lead going into the final three rounds as he easily drew with Vassily Ivanchuk- but hot on his tail is the young World #1 Magnus Carlsen, who beat fellow young gun Sergey Karjakin to bounce back from his round nine defeat to Kramnik to be (along with Shirov) just a half point behind the new leader.

We're now set for a dramatic final three rounds when play resumes at Corus Wijk aan Zee on Friday - and by signing-up to be an ICC member by clicking here, you can get all the best of the live action as it unfolds with grandmaster commentary on Chess.FM!

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
10	GM Joel Benjamin	GM Viswanathan Anand vs. GM Alexei Shirov
9	GM Ronen Har-Zvi	GM Magnus Carlsen vs. GM Vladimir Kramnik
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 three videos have included a Vladamir Kramnik interview, segments of his Carlsen post-mortem, 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	Kramnik, Vladimir	RUS	2788	.	1	.	.	1	½	½	.	½	½	½	½	1	1	7	2853
2	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2810	0	.	½	½	½	.	1	1	.	.	½	½	1	1	6½	2823
3	Shirov, Alexei	ESP	2723	.	½	.	0	0	.	½	.	1	1	1	½	1	1	6½	2822
4	Anand, Viswanathan	IND	2790	.	½	1	.	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	.	.	5½	2755
5	Nakamura, Hikaru	USA	2708	0	½	1	½	.	½	½	0	.	.	.	1	1	½	5½	2764
6	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	CUB	2712	½	.	.	½	½	.	.	½	½	½	1	½	½	½	5½	2743
7	Ivanchuk, Vassily	UKR	2749	½	0	½	½	½	.	.	.	.	½	½	½	1	1	5½	2751
8	Karjakin, Sergey	UKR	2720	.	0	.	½	1	½	.	.	½	½	½	1	½	½	5½	2745
9	Leko, Peter	HUN	2739	½	.	0	½	.	½	.	½	.	1	½	½	0	1	5	2706
10	Caruana, Fabiano	ITA	2675	½	.	0	½	.	½	½	½	0	.	1	.	½	0	4	2646
11	Tiviakov, Sergei	NED	2662	½	½	0	½	.	0	½	½	½	0	.	.	.	1	4	2664
12	Short, Nigel D	ENG	2696	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	0	½	.	.	.	0	.	3½	2628
13	Van Wely, Loek	NED	2641	0	0	0	.	0	½	0	½	1	½	.	1	.	.	3½	2622
14	Smeets, Jan	NED	2657	0	0	0	.	½	½	0	½	0	1	0	.	.	.	2½	2535

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.