Steeling Home

And then there were two. As the 73rd edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee heads down the homestretch, two players, world champion Vishy Anand and Hikaru Nakamura again share the lead at the top going into the final weekend of play.

The two have proved to be the most consistent players in the tournament and both have played some of the best chess overall - a fact that was reinforced by the method and manner of their wins in round 10.

World champion Anand made easy work of struggling cellar-dweller Alexei Shirov as the latter made a series of costly errors in the Cambridge Springs. Joining Anand at the top of the table is Nakamura, who overpowered the rising French star Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (see Yasser Seirawan's GOTD below) in a game that could well be the catalyst for possibly the biggest victory for an American in an elite tournament since the days of Bobby Fischer.

Anand and Nakamura, on 7/10, have the advantage of a half point lead at the top over Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik - but failing to keep pace with the leading pack was world #1 Magnus Carlsen, who suffered his second loss of the tournament after being outplayed by the new Russian champion, Ian Nepomniachtchi.

And as we head towards what could be an exciting and dramatic final weekend of play, Chess.FM will be on the air throughout to bring you all the action till the final move of the first major of the year is played - and what a weekend line up we have with Yasser Seirawan being joined by GMs Peter Svidler, John Fedorowicz and Miguel Illescas!

To tune in to Chess.FM's Game of the Day service and the live coverage of what promises to be an exciting weekend, then join ICC now by clicking here. Below we've included for non-members the first 5 minutes of all of our GOTDs and the first 20 minutes of both Peter Svidler days in the commentary booth, along with that of Loek van Wely and Joel Benjamin.

Rd	Date	Commentator	Game	ICC MEMBERS	NON-MEMBERS
10	Sun, 26 Jan	GM Yasser Seirawan	FULL SHOW
6	Sun, 21 Jan	GM Loek Van Wely	FULL SHOW
2	Sun, 16 Jan	GM Peter Svidler	FULL SHOW
1	Sat, 15 Jan	GM Peter Svidler	FULL SHOW

Game of the Day

Rd	Date	Commentator	Game	WATCH	FREE
10	Wed, 26 Jan	GM Yasser Seirawan	GM Hikaru Nakamura vs. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
9	Tues, 25 Jan	GM Larry Christiansen	GM Levon Aronian vs. GM Alexei Shirov
8	Sun, 23 Jan	GM Alex Yermolinsky	GM Magnus Carlsen vs. GM Hikaru Nakamura
7	Sat, 22 Jan	GM Gregory Kaidanov	GM Hikaru Nakamura GM Jan Smeets
6	Thu, 21 Jan	GM Yasser Seirawan	GM Erwin L’Ami vs. GM Hikaru Nakamura
5	Thu, 20 Jan	GM Alex Yermolinsky	GM Jan Smeets vs. GM Vishy Anand
4	Tue, 18 Jan	GM Larry Christiansen	GM Vishy Anand vs. GM Wang Hao
3	Mon, 17 Jan	GM Joel Benjamin	GM Magnus Carlsen vs. GM Anish Giri
2	Sun, 16 Jan	GM Peter Svidler	GM Anish Giri vs. GM Jan Smeets
1	Sat, 15 Jan	GM Alex Yermolinsky	GM Hikaru Nakamura vs. GM Alexander Grischuk

Commentary Schedule

RD	Date	HOST	Analyst
11	1/28	Yasser	GM Peter Svidler
12	1/29	Yasser	GM John Fedorowicz
13	1/30	Yasser	GM Miguel Illescas

Standings after Round 10

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	½	.	.	.	1	1	1	½	½	1	7	2890
2	Nakamura, Hikaru	USA	2751	½	.	½	.	0	.	1	½	½	.	1	1	1	1	7	2884
3	Aronian, Levon	ARM	2805	½	½	.	½	½	1	½	½	.	½	.	.	1	1	6½	2861
4	Kramnik, Vladimir	RUS	2784	½	.	½	.	.	½	.	1	½	½	½	1	½	1	6½	2839
5	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2814	½	1	½	.	.	0	½	0	½	.	1	1	.	½	5½	2761
6	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	RUS	2733	.	.	0	½	1	.	.	1	½	1	0	½	½	½	5½	2770
7	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	FRA	2715	.	0	½	.	½	.	.	½	½	½	1	½	½	1	5½	2767
8	Giri, Anish	NED	2686	.	½	½	0	1	0	½	.	.	1	½	½	½	.	5	2739
9	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	2744	0	½	.	½	½	½	½	.	.	0	1	½	1	.	5	2740
10	Wang, Hao	CHN	2731	0	.	½	½	.	0	½	0	1	.	.	1	1	½	5	2740
11	Smeets, Jan	NED	2662	0	0	.	½	0	1	0	½	0	.	.	½	.	1	3½	2628
12	L'Ami, Erwin	NED	2628	½	0	.	0	0	½	½	½	½	0	½	.	.	.	3	2594
13	Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	2773	½	0	0	½	.	½	½	½	0	0	.	.	.	0	2½	2555
14	Shirov, Alexei	ESP	2722	0	0	0	0	½	½	0	.	.	½	0	.	1	.	2½	2564

A Message from Dusan Popovic

Back in 2008, we here at ICC were shocked to hear that GM Dusan Popovic took tragically ill and was diagnosed with chronic kidney fatigue and was in the need of an urgent kidney transplant.

ICC and its community-based membership worldwide soon sprang into action by being one of a group of chess outlets that helped to raise money for Dusan's kidney transplant - even young Magnus Carlsen stepped up to help by taking part in a hugely-successful online simul on ICC, and there came support from others, including world champion Vishy Anand, who all supported the Dusan Fund.

And after his successful transplant and rehabilitation, ICC is pleased to hear that Dusan is making a complete recovery from his tragic illness. He's now traveling and playing chess once again, and we received a letter from Dusan and his family thanking all in the chess community for their support in his hour of need...

Dear Chess Friends,

There is no media service or space through which my family and I could use to adequately express our gratitude for all the selfless help you all offered in my hour of need that allowed me to overcome a sudden illness.

It is very difficult, even impossible, to single out any one in particular when so many individuals, companies and chess associations from across the globe came to my assistance - from World champions to ordinary players and fans alike, who all demonstrated their solidarity and support.

They showed the true meaning of our chess motto "We Are One Family" (Gens Una Sumus) with their heartfelt support for me, someone they didn't know. There is no one word or sentence that either I or my family could adequately use to describe the invaluable contribution you all made in changing my life.

But thanks to you all, I am now able to play chess again - and more importantly, to travel and to have a normal life once again!

GM Dusan Popovic and the Popovic Family

ICC's iphone app has been updated, and still FREE!!

We've been hard at work making your "Chess at ICC" app even better, using your feedback to add new features and fix bugs! This update adds the most popular requests and addresses issues you've reported to us.

What's New in this version:

- Seek a game with upper-lower rating limits, to control who can accept your match offer.

- Ability to observe, follow and chat with any user on the club.

- New chat system. Chat in the most popular chat rooms and with any user on the club. Maintain a chat history.

- "Observe Games" system redesigned. Now it's possible to observe ALL popular categories and save your favorite category for easy access.

- Game chat redesigned so you can chat and watch the game at the same time.

- Ability to review previous moves while observing a game.

- Ability to see the entire move list and go to any move during any games.

- Timestamp toggle. Users can now turn off timestamp to reduce bandwidth, which is useful when the signal is weak.

- Stability fixes for reported crashes.

- Other bug fixes.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chess-at-icc/id380526850?mt=8

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