Carlsen leads; Bacrot..
USCL Week 10
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Carlsen leads; Bacrot on a roll

Magnus Carlsen claimed world No1 bragging rights again at the Pearl Spring Masters, as he stormed into the lead at the end of the first half while his main rival, World Champion Vishy Anand suffered a shock defeat at the hands of a player who was once dubbed the Carlsen of his day.

The Norwegian teenager's demolition of out of form Veselin Topalov moved him into the lead on 4/5, and also strengthened his claim on the top spot in the world rankings - but surprisingly, he's being chased by rank outsider Etienne Bacrot, after the Frenchman had triple joy with successive wins over Gashimov, Anand and Wang Yue to be just a half point behind the leader.

Like Carlsen, Bacrot was hailed in his youth as a great prospect. Many predicted the young prodigy was destined for greater things when, in 1997, at the age of 14, he became the youngest Grandmaster in history. Immediately his Soviet emigre coach, Iosif Dorfman, who was also a former trainer to Garry Kasparov, boldly proclaimed that his new star pupil was "born to bury Kasparov".

But the only thing that got buried was Bacrot's career at the chessboard. He struggled continually with his game and he never lived up to the early promise of being proclaimed a future world championship candidate. Now late in life, he's showing he can still mix it at the elite level with a superb (and lucky!) display at Nanjing - and especially as many feared he would become the tournament punch bag after his opening round loss to Carlsen!

Recently Chess.FM was delighted to have GM Yasser Seirawan join our live coverage show, as he and fellow GM Joel Benjamin expertly broke down the action for us in round 4. Many ICC members asked if they could somehow listen to the show as they missed it due to it being broadcast during the wee small hours here on ICC. So, for ICC members only, you can listen to all 5 hours of that particular show by clicking here!

Join ICC now to listen to Seirawan and Benjamin from round 4 - and catch all the rest of the live Chess.FM action from Nanjing (plus upcoming Tal Memorial and London Chess Classic) by clicking here!

Rounds 1-9 start at 2:30 PM local time (2:30 AM ICC / 11:30 PM Pacific daylight / 8:30 AM CET), and round 10 at 10 AM local time (10 PM ICC / 7 PM Pacific daylight / 4 AM CET).

Official site: http://www.chess-pearlspring.com/www/chess_pk/2009/en/

Game of the Day

Rd	Date	Commentator	Game	WATCH	FREE
1	Wed, 20 Oct	GM Alex Yermolinsky	GM Magnus Carlsen vs. GM Etienne Bacrot
2	Thurs, 21 Oct	GM Ronen Har-Zvi	GM Wang Yue vs. GM Vugar Gashimov
3	Fri, 22 Oct	GM Varuzhan Akobian	GM Veselin Topalov vs. GM Vishy Anand
4	Sat, 23 Oct	GM Joel Benjamin	GM Etienne Bacrot vs. GM Vishy Anand
4	Sat, 23 Oct	GM Yasser Seirawan	FULL BROADCAST!		Join ICC!
5	Sun, 24 Oct	GM Joel Benjamin	GM Magnus Carlsen vs. GM Veselin Topalov

Standings after round 5

N	Name	FED	FIDE	1		2		3		4		5		6
1	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2826	.	.	1	.	½	.	½	.	1	.	1	.	4
2	Bacrot, Etienne	FRA	2716	0	.	.	.	1	.	1	.	½	.	1	.	3½
3	Anand, Viswanathan	IND	2800	½	.	0	.	.	.	½	.	1	.	½	.	2½
4	Gashimov, Vugar	AZE	2719	½	.	0	.	½	.	.	.	½	.	½	.	2½
5	Topalov, Veselin	BUL	2803	0	.	½	.	0	.	½	.	.	.	½	.	1½
6	Wang Yue	CHN	2732	0	.	½	.	½	.	½	.	½	.	.	.	1½

Schedule

Rd	Date	Host	Commentator
1	10/20	GM Ronen Har-Zvi	GM Alex Yermolinsky
2	10/21	GM Ronen Har-Zvi	GM Alex Yermolinsky
3	10/22	GM Ronen Har-Zvi	GM Varuzhan Akobian
4	10/23	GM Joel Benjamin	GM Yasser Seirawan
5	10/24	GM Ronen Har-Zvi	GM Varuzhan Akobian
6	10/26	Mig	GM Larry Christiansen
7	10/27	Mig	GM David Smerdon
8	10/28	tba	GM Jon Speelman
9	10/29	tba	tba
10	10/29	GM Ronen Har-Zvi	GM Alex Yermolinsky

USCL Week 10

It's getting tense at the top of both divisions of the US Chess League, as this week sees the final week of the season and the big battle to claim the remaining spots for the playoffs.

In the Eastern, New England Nor'easters have made it a memorable title-winning first season by dominating their division. Also claiming playoff places are Boston Blitz and the New York Knights - and this leaves this week's big battle between Baltimore Kingfishers and the New Jersey Knockouts for the final spot.

In the Western, the Arizona Scorpions have shown they have a potent sting by taking their divisional title and guaranteed playoff spot - but the remaining three spots will go down to the wire of the final games of the regular season, as any three of Chicago Blaze, St. Louis Archbishops, Miami Sharks, Seattle Sluggers, San Francisco Mechanics and Dallas Destiny can make it to the postseason.

Visit uschessleague.com for more recaps, news, and lineups for week 10 this week (Monday & Wednesday) exclusively here on ICC!

Week 10: Monday, October 25th

1. Manhattan Applesauce vs New England Nor'easters	7:00 PM ET
2. Carolina Cobras vs Philadelphia Inventors	7:15 PM ET
3. Boston Blitz vs New York Knights	7:30 PM ET
4. New Jersey Knockouts vs Baltimore Kingfishers	7:45 PM ET

Week 10: Wednesday, October 27th

5. Chicago Blaze vs Dallas Destiny	8:00 PM ET
6. San Francisco Mechanics vs Miami Sharks	8:45 PM ET
7. Seattle Sluggers vs St. Louis Arch Bishops	9:00 PM ET
8. Los Angeles Vibe vs Arizona Scorpions	9:15 PM ET

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