Carlsen defeates Radjabov and Onischuk drew Motylev. They now share first place. Judit or Pelletier can join the leaders if either can manage to win as they face each other.
Update: Judit and Pelletier drew. Therefore, Onischuk and Carlsen do indeed tie for first with Radjabov, Judit and Pelletier tie for third.
Congratulations to Magnus and Alex!
Final standings
1-2 Alexander Onischuk (USA, 2650) 5.5
1-2 Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2710) 5.5
3-6 Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan, 2746) 5
3-6 Judit Polgar (Hungary, 2707) 5
3-6 Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland, 2583) 5
3-6 Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2726) 5
7-10 Bu Xianghzi (China, 2685) 3.5
7-10 Boris Avrukh (Israel, 2645) 3.5
7-10 Alexander Motylev (Russia, 2648) 3.5
7-10 Loek van Wely (Netherlands, 2679) 3.5
I knew Onischuk was good, but he played a very impressive tournament and scored beautiful wins against strong opposition. Anyone know how many rating points he will gain from this?
toward the end I thought maybe Onischuk could win maybe. It looked like there were some deep tactics. But I did not put an engine on it to double check it out so I can not be sure.
Glad to see Onischuk do so well. He seems to be steady improving.
Magnus had a fine game after 2 losses. He seems to play better against the top players. Maybe a bit of rivalry already starting among the youngsters. He beat Radjabov nicely.
Radj was doing well out of the opening and looked like he would win. But then after 14.Re3, he lost track of what to do and Carlsen went on a roll.
Radj took a lot of time on 15….Qc7 and it was not really the best move. Carlsen took over from there with some fine tactics. 23….Qb6 was simply too slow. Radj resigned caught in a mating net. This game is well worth going over.
I have considered Radjabov to be the better player over Carlsen. But today Carlsen proved the better player at least for today’s game.
I felt like Radjabov had the opening moves. But once it got into new territory, Radjabov seemed to flounder and Carlsen seemed to score dead on every move.
When these 2 play each other for the World Championship it will be a great tournament. Do not miss this one. Remember I told you first.
I meant to say
a great match not tournament.
Carlen’s last game was wild. I’ll be going over alternate, unplayed, moves for some time. Had Radjabov played 23… Bxe7 or 23… Nxe7, I think, but am not sure, the response would have been 24 Rh4+ Kg7 25. Qd4 but I can’t see what follows. Any ideas?
Brad Hoehne
Has JP clocked enough on the tie-breaking score even if she wins?
JP-YP looks like 35%-prob win, 65%-draw to me at the moment – but will be very interesting play: lots of moves left yet
JP-YP: What was 48.Rb2 about? Looks v drawish now
I think the tie-breaker is a rapid match.
Why is it so common for organizers of big tournaments to not inform tie-break rules on their internet site?
Anonymous of 1:07 has a good question. I often find it extremely difficult to find information on the specific rules of the tournament, such as the time control and tie-break policy. Organizers should endeavor to include this.
Brad Hoehne
Polgar-Pellitier was a draw, so it looks like Carlsen and Onischuk play a tie break.
Brad Hoehne
It may be common, but Biel does so inform: http://www.bielchessfestival.ch/cms/
Onischuk had 18.75 points (0.5/1-weighted scores of opponents?) and maybe now has 21.5+, Radjabov had 18.25 going to 21+, JP had 16.5 going to 19+ (but would have gone to 21+ with a win).
However, 48.Rb2 seemed to signal the JP-YP draw.
Grischuk wins (on time?).
Really? The following remark has been on the “Grandmaster tournament”‘s page for the last few days.
“Remark: if two or more players finish with the same amount of points at the first rank after the 9th and last round, there will be a tie-break on the same day (with the two best players) to design the official winner of the Tournament: two rapid games (15 minutes) and, if necessary, blitz.”
I think it means the best 2 on formula tie-breaks will play a match. In the actual case, the best are the only 2 with the highest score: Onischuk and Carlsen.
Michael Langer
Susan and Paul, I hope you can help develop some more professional opportunities for our best players; seems like only a few players get invited to the exclusive round robins (Kamsky, and now Alex), with everyone else stuck in playing in the roulette swisses here in America. Perhaps some prestigious round robins could be organized in NY and other large cities, like the one you won a year or two ago?!
Can anyone explain what was going on in Carlsen Radj. game? I didn’t understand most of it (besides the mate in the end..)
why did radj gave Rf8? for example?
your clarification will be wellcome!
The two winners with 5.5 points, A.Onischuck and M.Carlsen, had 5 Whites and 4 Blacks.
Runners-up T.Radjabov and J.Polgar with 5.0 points, each had only 4 Whites in their nine games.
Unfortunately this well-known problem is tolerated, so it goes on marring tournaments results.
This problem is fixable.
GeneM
Magnus wins the Armageddon game! Congratulations, Magnus!
Brad Hoehne
Congratulations to Magnus for winning this tournament! The rapid and blitz games were exciting!
And Onischuk ended up in a good 2nd place.
Gene Wood, don’t post nonsense; of Radjabov and Polgar’s four wins, three came with black.
Radjabov has beaten Carlsen many times already – today was just his unlucky day. Anyway, even if that was not Radja’s best tournament, he deserved to win it. I am sure he would beat Carlsen in the tie break. Onischuk’s results were just out of his ordinary, like Pellitier’s ones.
>>of Radjabov and Polgar’s four wins, three came with black.
so what? you can’t compare one game from another. but you can compare statistical chances playing white and black in each game. it is beyond dispute that white always has better win percentage than black.