Carlsen clinches Pearl Spring with one round to go

Topalov-Carlsen, Nanjing 2010

(while you were sleeping last night!)

Black to play and win

Express report (and answer) at ChessBase.

(Edit Nov. 1: I had hyperlinked to the diagram of the position after Topalov's 32.Rc3??; you can go to ChessBase to see the diagram.  It's been replaced by the above photo: how many bottles of juice can Carlsen drink?)

Just a couple weeks ago, both Magnus Carlsen and Veselin Topalov were having crises of form, and Kramnik, Aronian, and current world champion Anand were making serious runs at the #1 rating spot.  (In fact, both Anand & Aronian have been briefly number one on the unofficial but highly respected live ratings list.)

Carlsen (+4 in Nanjing) is back in top form, but Topalov (-2) is obviously not.

Pearl Spring, Round 3: three decisive games in Nanjing

Carlsen 1 - Wang Yue 0 (Google translate of annotations at chesspro.ru)

Topalov 0 - Anand 1 (another QGD Lasker variation: ouch!)

Gashimov 0 - Bacrot 1

Or you can play through the games via ChessBase.  Insomniacs only: ICC is covering the event live.

Nanjing - Pearl Spring round 1

This is the first tournament ever with three 2800's participating!  Wang Yue (China's #1) and Gashimov (a young player formerly in the top ten) are logical picks, but I'm surprised that Bacrot was invited instead of someone like Vachier-Lagrave.

Sidebar: Topalov has fallen well below 2800 on the unofficial but widely quoted live rating list, but Levon Aronian now joins Anand and Carlsen now above 2800, so there are still three 2800s in the world.  Signs of the time: none of the four are Russian, and only one of the four current / recent 2800s (Aronian) was born in the former Soviet Union.  But Kramnik is over 2790 with a bullet....

Back to Nanjing: the games begin at something like 2:30 a.m. Chicago time, so check them with your morning coffee.  Carlsen wins in round one and will probably reclaim the live #1 spot later today....