Magnus Carlsen’s bid for Stavanger domination founders after three draws
Leonard Barden
The Guardian, Friday 6 June 2014 10.48 EDT
World champion Magnus Carlsen is trying to dominate one of the strongest events of chess history this weekend when rounds four and five (of nine) of Stavanger are screened free and live with computer commentaries on the internet (2.30pm start). Seven of the world top 10 are competing. Carlsen plays Black to Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov, he is White against the world No2 Levon Aronian.
Carlsen has scored only three draws in three rounds and his bid for glory is in trouble. The leader Fabiano Caruana was crushed by the Norwegian in their blitz game below but has 2.5/3 in the main event. Italy’s Caruana is now world No3, is still aged only 21, and despite disadvantage of the black pieces had the better of his third round draw with Carlsen.
The tournament has a banner which says ‘No Logo Norway Chess 2014’. Its sponsor is the online betting firm Unibet which is offering odds on the results and is screening all Carlsen’s games on its own TV channel. But Norwegian law only allows sponsorship from gambling firms if there is is no identifying logo.
The pairings were determined by a blitz tournament (three minutes each for the game plus two seconds increment per move) which Carlsen, who has stated that he wants to be No1 in speed chess as well as classical play, won impressively with 7.5/9, a point ahead of Aronian. Yet the blitz will not count for official Fide blitz ratings, allegedly because the organisers forgot to register it in time. Carlsen has a track record of fast wins against Caruana, and he scored the quickest win of the blitz against the Italian. An online video shows the position after 10 Qf3 and Caruana thinking carefully before castling. On seeing Carlsen’s reply winning a piece, Caruana looks away in disgust before offering his hand in resignation.
Full article: http://www.theguardian.com
Nakamura would make this tournament more exciting.