Magnus Carlsen

In round 1 as white against Leko, Magnus chose 1.e4. They entered a Ruy Lopez line where Magnus played 8.d4, somewhat unusual at top level. After 8... Nxd4 they quickly entered a quite symmetrical open position, but it is not that easy to defend as black.
Both players thought black was in trouble after 20.Rad1 and agreed that Rad8 is the only move in this position. Magnus continued to press for some moves. Leko spent most of his time on the clock at this stage and found the best defense. After Magnus mistakenly played 26.Rd3 black is suddenly equal or slightly better. Magnus offered a draw after 29.Re3 and maybe Leko still was happy to have escaped when he accepted, or maybe he considered the remaining 18-19 minutes on 12 moves as inadequate for a serious winning attempt. 

Kramnik - Anand and Gelfand - Alekseev also ended in draws while Mamedjarov won as white against Najditch to take the sole lead in the tournament. 

As earlier they play in the theatre near the centre and a few hundred spectators followed the games live. Great interest from the media, as you can see it was difficult to get a good shot from the audience. (Magnus is playing on the right hand side.)

 
  
Table 1 in the Open is also playing live on the stage and tomorrow Jon Hammer (Magnus class mate) will play on the stage!

As you have noticed the internet relay has a 15 minute delay. It is an interesting measure taken to avoid potential suspicion of cheating with help from outside. Following part of the games from the hotel at ICC I did not see any complaints about this delay among the internet spectators. A good idea.

Tomorrow Magnus has black against Naiditsch. Not an easy task despite his earlier 2.5/3 black score from Corus 2006, Sarajevo 2006 and the Olympics 2006. (Correction 3/4, they also played a draw in the European Championship in 2005.)

Henrik Carlsen
Dortumund, June 23nd