Magnus Carlsen

With 3 decisive games yesterday the Bilbao tournament is really picking up speed both with regard to coverage as well as action on the board.
As mentioned by Susan Polgar already the mood was excellent in the "white" car on the way to the playing venue and it turned out to be a foreboding of the white wins.
When it comes to commenting the actual games I'll be more than brief as the players comment upon the games in detail in the interviews with live commentators Leontxo and Susan right after the game.

In round three Carlsen - Topalov was the only decisive game. At this level a black win usually requires a poor day at work for white and a good game by black. This was certainly the case against Topalov.
After having spent about 30 minutes finding and checking the interesting continuation 15.b4, Magnus played somewhat indecisive afterwards. He later criticised 20.Rxc8. (He should have played Nd2 instead.) He played 21.Nd2 quickly, but it was a clear blunder and he felt awful when he discovered 24.Bd8. Topalov played a very good game and Magnus cannot see how he could have saved the game after the 21st move. 0-3.

Magnus has developed a habit of kicking back in the next round after a loss and remarkably, he managed to do so again.
Cudos to Radjabov for playing the (Chinese) Dragen against Magnus and black looked okey after the opening line. Magnus made a serious oversight with the questionable 19.g4? as he had missed the strength of the black defence hxg4 20.h5 g5! 
Deciding to keep the tension in the position, he retreated his queen to e3 and despite the extra pawn the position is not easy to play for black. Teimur continued to build up pressure on the queen side but with the Ka1, Rb1, Nc3 constellation black has only tricks and no real mating attack.
In the beginning time trouble Magnus found the elegant 27.e5! and although there is a computer line defense for black it was too difficult in practical play.
Even after 32.Rg6 there is a possible defence for black, but with only about a minute left on the clock both players probably thought black was lost at this time. As it went, black resigned after move 37 in face of imminent mate. 3-0.

Topalov presented a novelty in a topical Queen Indian line and when Anand couldn't find the best defense he was simply crushed and resigned already after 25 moves.

Aronian - Ivanchuk looked fairly drawish but Aronian played an excellent endgame and punished Ivanchuk's inaccuracies efficiently and won.

Before round 5 the standing is Topalov 8 points, Magnus 7, Aronian 5 and the others at 3 points. (The order is the same with traditional scores.)

I normally follow the live rating but must admit that it was a real (and pleasant) surprise to see Magnus on top of the list yesterday night with 2791!
As a proud and probably not objective father I'll leave it to others to bring out the superlatives :-)
Okay, it is "only" a live rating, it is "only" in the middle of a tournament, he has "only" a few decimal points lead and there is 4 players within 5 points, but Magnus was off course delighted to enter the live-rating top spot, as #1 ahead of Anand, Morozevich, Topalov and Ivanchuk. Let's just enjoy it while it lasts.

Today Magnus has black against Anand. This is normally a very difficult task although Anand has not at all played up to his usual high standards so far this tournament.
Ivanchuk is white against Topalov and Radjabov white against Aronian. Quite a day!

Tomorrow is a free day, and the three sisters of Magnus are arriving in Bilbao to support him next week :-)

Henrik Carlsen,
Bilbao, September 6th 2008.