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Six rounds into the Candidates, Viswanathan Anand leads. The former world champion has 4 points, with two wins (against Levon Aronian and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov), four draws. Aronian is placed second, with 3.5. Veselin Topalov, Vladimir Kramnik, Mamedyarov and Peter Svidler share 3rd -6th place with 3 each. Sergey Karjakin and Dmitry Andreikin have minus scores.
Remarkably, Anand is the only unbeaten player. The Indian GM has not yet looked in trouble. Unused prep from the world title match versus Magnus Carlsen is certainly partially responsible.
But Anand has also played the middlegames incisively and with ambition.
The stakes in a candidates tournament are obviously very high. The nominal prize fund of Euro 600,000 is the least of it since the winner is guaranteed a million Euro payoff in a title match. There have been plenty of signs of nerves from most of the players. The event is close to halfway. Tension is liable to mount, given the tight point-spread.
Topalov got an opening plus against Svidler before he chucked the point. Svidler got a draw against Aronian, drew from a winning position against Kramnik and blundered into a loss in a better position against Mamedyarov. Kramnik has missed a win against Aronian. Aronian messed up a win against Andreikin. Interspersed with errors, there have also been many brilliant ideas.
Meanwhile, Alexander Motylev won the European championships, with 9 points from 11 games and a 2870 result. It qualifies 23 players for the World Cup and it also carries a prize fund of Euro 160,000. Motylev's result was terrific - the 2656-rated Russian started as 33rd seed. Second and third place were also surprising. Spanish GM David Guijarro (Elo 2559 and ranked 99th) took silver with 8.0/11 and 2775 performance. Bronze went to 19-year-old Russian GM Vladimir Fedoseev.
The DIAGRAM, WHITE TO PLAY, (White: Kramnik Vs Black: Aronian, Candidates 2014) sees white embarking on an attack against the weakened Kingside.
26.Bxe4 dxe4 27.d5! e3! This is the only defence. 27. --Bg7 28. Nh5 Nxh5 29.Qxh5 Bxe5 30. f6 is terrible. Play continued 28.Ng4 Nxg4 29.Qxg4 h6 30.Ne4 Rc2! Desperate but it's the only try and it should draw.
White took the queen 31.Nf6+ Qxf6 32.Bxf6 e2 33.Bxg5! Bxd5??! There are draws by perpetual after 33.--exf1=Q+ 34. Rxf1 hxg5 35.Qxg5+ but this loses since it walks into deadly discoveries. But White must calculate well in time trouble. White continued 34.Bxh6+ Kh7 At this point, 35. Rg1! Bxh6 36. Rde1 is a win and so is 35. Rg1 exd1=Q 36. Qxd1. But white played 35.Bxf8? exf1Q+ 36.Rxf1 Rxg2 37.Qxg2 Bxg2+ 38.Kxg2 Rxf8. Kramnik is a safe pawn up. But the rook ending is difficult to win and it was drawn (1/2-1/2, 60 moves).
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
