 Red Hot Carlsen
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Magnus Carlsen, after his humiliating loss in a miniature to Anish Giri in round 4, is now beginning to get hotter than the nearby Tata Steel furnaces in Wijk aan Zee. Since the Giri debacle, the world #1 has scored 3.5/4 for a remarkable comeback, the highlight of which unquestionably being his spectacular win in round 8 over tournament leader Hikaru Nakamura.
The eagerly-awaited match-up between the two rivals drew a bumper crowd on ICC, as they tuned in to watch it live on Chess.FM with our top commentary team of GMs Yasser Seirawan and Alex Yermoilinsky breaking down all the action - and it certainly didn't disappoint the crowds by being one of the best games so far of the tournament!
Carlsen's win also blows the tournament wide open at the top. Going into the second rest day of the tournament, Nakamura - who has been the revelation of the tournament - shares the top spot on 5.5/8 alongside world champion Vishy Anand, with both a half point ahead of a formidable chasing pack that includes Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
If you missed this exciting tussle between Carlsen and Nakamura, then, for ICC members only, you can view Alex Yermolinsky's amazing Game of the Day video on it - it is one GOTD not-to-be missed! To view all the GOTDs in full (and to tune in to the live coverage of what promises to be an exciting finish), then join ICC by clicking here. Below we've also included for non-members the first 20 minutes of both Peter Svidler days in the commentary booth and Loek van Wely's day.
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Game of the Day
Commentary Schedule
Standings after Round 8
| N |
Name |
FED |
FIDE |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
PTS |
TPR |
| 1 |
Anand, Viswanathan |
IND |
2810 |
. |
. |
½ |
½ |
½ |
. |
. |
1 |
. |
½ |
1 |
. |
½ |
1 |
5½ |
2883 |
| 2 |
Nakamura, Hikaru |
USA |
2751 |
. |
. |
½ |
0 |
. |
. |
. |
½ |
½ |
1 |
. |
1 |
1 |
1 |
5½ |
2870 |
| 3 |
Aronian, Levon |
ARM |
2805 |
½ |
½ |
. |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
. |
. |
. |
½ |
. |
1 |
. |
5 |
2858 |
| 4 |
Carlsen, Magnus |
NOR |
2814 |
½ |
1 |
½ |
. |
. |
. |
. |
½ |
0 |
1 |
. |
½ |
. |
1 |
5 |
2821 |
| 5 |
Kramnik, Vladimir |
RUS |
2784 |
½ |
. |
½ |
. |
. |
. |
½ |
½ |
1 |
. |
½ |
1 |
½ |
. |
5 |
2845 |
| 6 |
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
FRA |
2715 |
. |
. |
½ |
. |
. |
. |
. |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
½ |
1 |
5 |
2813 |
| 7 |
Nepomniachtchi, Ian |
RUS |
2733 |
. |
. |
0 |
. |
½ |
. |
. |
½ |
1 |
½ |
1 |
½ |
½ |
. |
4½ |
2777 |
| 8 |
Ponomariov, Ruslan |
UKR |
2744 |
0 |
½ |
. |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
. |
. |
½ |
. |
. |
. |
1 |
4 |
2737 |
| 9 |
Giri, Anish |
NED |
2686 |
. |
½ |
. |
1 |
0 |
½ |
0 |
. |
. |
½ |
1 |
. |
. |
½ |
4 |
2727 |
| 10 |
L'Ami, Erwin |
NED |
2628 |
½ |
0 |
. |
0 |
. |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
. |
. |
. |
. |
½ |
3 |
2652 |
| 11 |
Wang, Hao |
CHN |
2731 |
0 |
. |
½ |
. |
½ |
½ |
0 |
. |
0 |
. |
. |
½ |
1 |
. |
3 |
2666 |
| 12 |
Shirov, Alexei |
ESP |
2722 |
. |
0 |
. |
½ |
0 |
0 |
½ |
. |
. |
. |
½ |
. |
1 |
0 |
2½ |
2604 |
| 13 |
Grischuk, Alexander |
RUS |
2773 |
½ |
0 |
0 |
. |
½ |
½ |
½ |
. |
. |
. |
0 |
0 |
. |
. |
2 |
2563 |
| 14 |
Smeets, Jan |
NED |
2662 |
0 |
0 |
. |
0 |
. |
0 |
. |
0 |
½ |
½ |
. |
1 |
. |
. |
2 |
2540 |
|
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Featuring Chess.FM
One of the great benefits of ICC (apart from all the top-notch online play and tournaments) in recent years has been the upgrade in our Chess.FM service - many members agree that the live Chess.FM commentary and GOTDs from our elite tournament coverage alone is worthy of their membership fee. As a member you have access all through the year to our regular weekly shows: Ronens Opening Survey (Mondays), Chess Talk (Tuesdays), Attack With LarryC (Wednesdays), Boris Altermans Gambit Guide (Thursdays), Joel Benjamins Game of the Week (Fridays), and Dan Heisman's Improve Your Chess (Saturdays).
And for non-ICC members to tune-in to one of the most popular Chess.FM regular weekly shows, we have made a recent edition of Chess Talk with GM Jon Ludvig Hammer (who is playing in the B group at Wijk) for you to view to find out exactly what you are missing by not being a member of ICC!
Date |
Host |
Guest |
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FREE |
Sun, 23 Jan |
John Watson |
GM Hikaru Nakamura |
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 |
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John Watson
Nakamura |
Featured this week on Chess Talk with IM John Watson will be the young Norwegian Grandmaster, Jon Ludvig Hammer.
Jon Ludvig Hammer, 20, became a GM in 2009 and is ranked as #11 in FIDE's Junior World Ranking - and if it weren't for the little matter of being overshadowed by a certain Magnus Carlsen, he'd be hailed as the best player the tiny nation of Norway had produced. Like Carlsen, whom he grew up with as a neighbor, Hammer attended the Norwegian College of Elite Sport under the tutelage of GM Simen Agdestein.
Jon Ludvig Hammer (JonLudvig) is a regular on ICC and recently appeared as a commentator on Chess.FM. He writes a popular blog at http://gmhammer.wordpress.com/blog.
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