After his opening round debacle, GM Levon going hammer and tongs vs Shak, lamang > 1 in all 3 chessdom engines.

Round 12
SNo. Name FED Res. Name FED SNo.
6 GM Anand Viswanathan IND - GM Andreikin Dmitry RUS 1 5 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE - GM Karjakin Sergey RUS 2 8 GM Topalov Veselin BUL - GM Svidler Peter RUS 3
7 GM Aronian Levon ARM - GM Kramnik Vladimir RUS 4

Round 13
SNo. Name FED Res. Name FED SNo.
1 GM Andreikin Dmitry RUS - GM Aronian Levon ARM 7
2 GM Karjakin Sergey RUS - GM Anand Viswanathan IND 6 3 GM Svidler Peter RUS - GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar AZE 5 4 GM Kramnik Vladimir RUS - GM Topalov Veselin BUL 8

1. GM Vallejo Pons Francesco ESP 2697

2. GM Socko Bartosz POL 2651

3. GM Fedorchuk Sergey A. UKR 2647

4. GM Gustafsson Jan GER 2635

5. GM Barbosa Oliver PHI 2564

6. GM Gomez John Paul PHI 2534

7. GM Venkatsh M.R. IND 2515

8. GM Laylo Darwin PHI 2511

9. IM Liu Qingnan CHN 2501

In the domestic front,nag start na NCC Elims last night. Its encouraging to see > 100 participants this time for a 5 day tournament,a merry mix of veteran Non-Masters and Ex-NMs, varsity alumni and current varsity, Palaro players (all 4 STCAA HS players were there),Age groupers/Kiddies.

Considering the current issues/concerns with our TOP GMs,was wondering about development /turnover of talents. Well,if we see College varsity players competing and seeing such events as avenue to improve their games,that's good move.

"It’s official now. India’s Viswanathan Anand will be facing Magnus Carlsen (Norway) in a rematch for the world chess championship in November 2014. There have been no bids so far to host the match, but now that the name of the challenger has been determined I cannot imagine both Chennai (Anand’s hometown) and Tromso, Norway, not coming up with very competitive bids.

Anand played strong and controlled chess and was not in any danger in any game of the tournament. This was really a deserved victory. Magnus Carlsen in his youtube channel made the following comments after the 12th round:

“Overall it’s been an exciting tournament. The quality has been a bit up and down. I think it really shows, in the games of the players, that only first place counts but as I said, that’s no reason to defend poorly and play too desperately [smiles]. I think you need to find a middle ground, find a balance. There’s one player who has managed to do that so far: Anand. That’s why I think he’s going to win.”

Aronian, Kramnik and Svidler played very strong chess in the early part of the tournament and were vying for top honors, but come the second half tiredness became a factor and they all faded."

"I think for Anand the important encounter came in the first round, when he faced and defeated the tournament favorite Levon Aronian. After this loss Aronian had to exert considerable effort to make up for lost ground and in this he was successful and caught up with Anand in the 7th round. All this nervous energy had its toll and Aronian could not sustain his surge in the final rounds."

"Some interesting news. After losing his title to Magnus Carlsen last year Vishy Anand seriously considered taking himself out of the world championship cycle and skipping this Candidates. It was Kramnik who convinced him to give it another shot. This was during the London Classic last December.