The Chess Mind

Magnus Carlsen continued the win-with-White, draw-with-Black pattern, easily holding in an old-fashioned Slav against Alexander Onischuk. This draw allowed Evgeny Alekseev to reclaim a share of the lead, thanks to a surprisingly easy win over Yannick Pelletier on the black side of a Ragozin Defense. Black obtained a queenside majority from the opening, and White, tied down in the attempt to blockade it, allowed things to get out of hand elsewhere and lost without much of a fight. In a way, that's not too surprising, as Pelletier and Etienne Bacrot, his companion in last place, have been getting kicked around pretty badly in this tournament. Today Bacrot lost on the black side of a Ruy Lopez Anti-Marshall, when after fighting back to equality, a series of errors before and after the time control sent him to defeat against Lenier Dominguez.

Standings after Round 4:

1-2. Carlsen, Alekseev 3
3-4. Dominguez, Onischuk 2.5
5-6. Bacrot, Pelletier .5

The only difference so far between the three pointers and the two and a halfs is what they've done against the tail-enders. The leaders managed to beat both of them, while the chasers only managed a single win each. The tournament won't really get going, for me, until the leaders start abusing each other, too. (To be fair, they're trying!)

Pairings for Round 5:

Alekseev - Onischuk
Carlsen - Dominguez
Bacrot - Pelletier (if they draw quickly, they should be forgiven)

Tournament site here; round 4 games (with my comments) here.