Magnus Carlsen

In round 2 Magnus played black against Shirov and chose the unusual 5...Ne7 line in the Kan Sicilian.
As expected this was a surprise for Shirov who spent much time on the clock. Magnus transposed to a typical French Nd2 position with an isolani on d5 and defended well.
Shirov had a slight advantage but not enough to create serious problems for Magnus.
When Shirov defended the h-pawn with 18.Qh6 Magnus seriously considered Qf4 (which is mate in one at f8...), but fortunately discovered the mate in time and played Bf5 equalising.
After 28...c4 Magnus felt that black, if any,had the advantage due to the weak black queenside, but Shirov pushed his kingside pawns creating sufficient threats to keep Magnus occupied. The queen ending was drawn on move 39. 



Aronian won in style as black against Anand with the Marshall attack.
Ivanchuk got two rooks for his queen against Leko and carefully improved his position until Leko went wrong in the time trouble.
Radjabov-Topalov ended in a draw after each of the players had blundered a pawn in the Petroff. 



More often found at the other side of the camera, this is Frederic Friedel, Chessbase, Macauley Peterson, Chess.FM / ICC and local media representatives in the press room. 



In round 3 Magnus faced Anand with the white pieces and was eager to revenge the Corus loss. Magnus enter Slav Anti Moscow line even if Anand knows this line very well. He followed his preparation but waiting for Anands response while in the rest room, he discovered 16... Rh6! which he had missed prior to the game. 
Magnus spent some 40 minutes trying to find a plan and chose to exchange pawns on c6 and b5 as well as rooks in the a-file. He was clearly worse but thought there should be a way of saving the game.
Anand maintained his advantage in a precise manner and when Magnus allowed the exchange of queens he entered a bishop + 4 pawns versus rook + 3 pawns. With the white king trapped on the 1^st row it is lost for white, and Anand secured the full point with accurate play.
In the tablebase ending with pawns on h3 and h4, black forces the white king away through zugswang after which he can sack his rook and advance the h4-pawn. 0-1.

One point out of three is not so bad, but Magnus is concerned about having suffered serious lapses of concentration or oversights related to all three games thus far. 

Topalov won a nice game against Ivanchuk to take the sole lead with 2.5/3 ahead of Anand at 2. 

Aronian put some pressure on Radjabov but the latter found sufficient resources to force an equal ending. Draw.

Leko played the 8.Nf3 Najdorf line and maintained the control over d5 throughout the game. However, Shirov got counterplay in the f-file and after exchanging most of the material a draw was agreed just before the time control.

The Open tournament was won by GM A.Ramirez. He is full time student these days but obviously still is as strong as ever.

On the free day we'll play some tennis in the sun!

Henrik Carlsen,
Morelia, February 17^th 2008