Aronian, Carlsen and Grischuk share lead after two rounds
In the second round of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Magnus Carlsen joined Levon Aronian and Alexander Grischuk in the shared lead in the overall standings thanks to a 2-0 defeat of Vugar Gashimov. Aronian beat Hikaru Nakamura 1½-½, while Grischuk had the same result in his mini-match against former co-leader Boris Gelfand.
Carlsen’s rapid win with the black pieces won the €1,000 Game of the Day Prize. The Game of the Day Prize in Round 1 was won by Alexander Grischuk for his blindfold win against Vladimir Kramnik (which he gratefully accepted saying that he thought that Carlsen’s rapid win against Nakamura should in fact have won the prize!).
| Sunday 13 March Round II | |||
| 14.30 | Blind | Topalov-Karjakin | ½-½ |
| Kramnik-Anand | ½-½ | ||
| Gelfand-Grischuk | 0-1 | ||
| 16.00 | Blind | Carlsen-Gashimov | 1-0 |
| Giri-Ivanchuk | ½-½ | ||
| Nakamura-Aronian | 0-1 | ||
| 17.45 | Rapid | Karjakin-Topalov | ½-½ |
| Anand-Kramnik | ½-½ | ||
| Grischuk-Gelfand | ½-½ | ||
| 19.15 | Rapid | Gashimov-Carlsen | 0-1 |
| Ivanchuk-Giri | ½-½ | ||
| Aronian-Nakamura | ½-½ | ||
Official website: http://www.amberchess20.com
Magnus rules.
Gashimov is drinking Magnus’ orange juice!
Call FIDE!
After sacrificing a pawn early in the opening, Nakamura soon had an advantage of nearly +4 (if I remember) over Aronian. He blundered in the blind by just giving his rook when clearly he was better with lots of mate threats. Aronian was just waiting for a mistake which he gracefully received.
In the rapid, Hikaru dominated Aronian only to make some incredibly patzer moves in the end which cost him the full point. I mean, we are talking close to a +4 adv. again with black!
Nakamura plays incredibly great chess, but he may be his own worst enemy.
As a fan, I’m just devastated by those losses. He plays so well, only to give it away. (Yes, I know it is is so easy behind chess engines and all that… but I wish he converted those points).
“As a fan, I’m just devastated by those losses. “
Oh poor baby.Will you cry now?:-)