The Chess Mind

Despite the presence of a substantial chase pack, the tournament had looked like a two-man race between Levon Aronian and Viswanathan Anand for the past several rounds. This is no longer so. While Aronian has maintained his lead, thanks to his 1.5-.5 win over the aforementioned Anand, his closest competitor is now Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen blanked Mamedyarov 2-0, thereby leapfrogging Anand and taking clear second, a point behind Aronian and half a point ahead of...Peter Leko. With three days to go and seven players within two points of the lead, almost anything could happen, but the top spots in this tournament - and soon in the world - look like the inevitable possessions of Mssrs. Aronian & Carlsen.

Round 8 Results - Blindfold:
Aronian - Anand 1-0
Carlsen - Mamedyarov 1-0
Karjakin - Topalov 1/2-1/2
van Wely - Leko 0-1
Gelfand - Morozevich 1/2-1/2
Ivanchuk - Kramnik 1/2-1/2

Round 8 Results - Rapid:

Anand-Aronian 1/2-1/2
Mamedyarov-Carlsen 0-1
Topalov-Karjakin 1-0
Leko-Van Wely 1/2-1/2
Morozevich-Gelfand 1-0
Kramnik-Ivanchuk 1/2-1/2

Leading Blindfold Standings:

1. Morozevich 5.5
2. Carlsen 5
3-6. Aronian, Kramnik, Leko, Topalov 4.5

Leading Rapid Standings:

1. Aronian 6
2-4. Anand, Carlsen, Leko 4.5

Overall Standings:

1. Aronian 10.5
2. Carlsen 9.5
3. Leko 9
4-7. Anand, Kramnik, Morozevich, Topalov 8.5
8. Ivanchuk 8
9. Karjakin 7
10-12. Gelfand, Mamedyarov, van Wely 6

Round 9 Pairings: (On Tuesday; Monday is a rest day)

Leko - Karjakin
Morozevich - Aronian
Kramnik - Carlsen
Anand - Ivanchuk
Mamedyarov - van Wely
Topalov - Gelfand

(You know the drill: the players in the left column have White in the blindfold games and Black in the rapid.)

All the games can be replayed on the tournament website; I may post notes to a selection of games sometime tomorrow.