Chess - The Scotsman 27/03/13

WORLD No 1 Magnus Carlsen has moved a step closer to finally realising his ambition to play for the world championship, as he jumped into the lead in the Candidates Tournament in London. Levon Aronian, who had been tied with Carlsen, suffered his first – and crucial – loss of the event in Monday’s Round 9 against former title challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel, leaving Carlsen ahead by half a point.

Carlsen came into the tournament with heavy expectations of becoming the official title challenger. But in a dramatic round, the Norwegian superstar was made to sweat all the way to avoid a loss that could have blown the tournament wide open, as he salvaged a draw “by a millimetre” according to his opponent, the Russian former world champion Vladimir Kramnik.

The drawn game between Russians Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk waas one of the most exciting seen in a candidates in a long time, and will feature in tomorrow’s column. Also creeping from the cellar is veteran Vassily Ivanchuk, who beat Teimour Radjabov.

Standings: 1. Carlsen, 6/9; 2. Aronian, 5.5; 3. Kramnik, 5; 4-5. Gelfand, Grischuk,4.5; 6. Svidler, 4; 7. Ivanchuk, 3.5; 8. Radjabov, 3.

B Gelfand - L Aronian

FIDE Candidates, (9)

QGD/Stonewall

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 Nc3 Be7 5 Bf4 0–0 6 e3 Nbd7 7 Be2 c6 8 0–0 Nh5 9 Be5 f6 10 Bg3 f5 11 Be5 Nhf6 12 h3 Nxe5 13 Nxe5 Nd7 14 f4 Nxe5 15 fxe5 Bg5 16 Qd2 Bd7 17 Rac1 Rc8 18 a3 Kh8 19 b4 Be8 20 Bd3 Rc7 21 Ne2 Bh5 22 Nf4 Bxf4 23 exf4 Rd7 24 Qe3 dxc4 25 Bxc4 Rxd4 26 Bxe6 Bf7 27 Bxf5 Bc4 28 e6 Qd6 29 Rfe1 Re8 30 e7 Bf7 31 Rc5 g6 32 Bg4 h5 33 f5! Kg7 34 fxg6 Bxg6 35 Bxh5 Rd3 36 Qe5+ Qxe5 37 Rcxe5 Bxh5 38 Rxh5 Rxa3 39 Rf5 Rd3 40 Re4 Rd7 41 Rg4+ Kh6 42 Rf6+ Kh7 43 Rf7+ Kh6 44 Rgg7 Rd1+ 45 Kh2 Rf1 46 Rh7+ Kg6 47 Rhg7+ Kh6 48 Rh7+ Kg6 49 Rfg7+ Kf6 50 h4 Ke6 51 Rg4 Kf5 52 Kg3 Re1 53 Rf4+ Ke6 54 h5 Rxe7 55 Rxe7+ Kxe7 56 Kh4 b6 57 h6 Rh1+ 58 Kg5 Ke6 59 Kg6 Ke5 60 Rf5+ 1–0