(Photo taken from the official site)
Yesterday was a very good day for the fans of Topalov as he is leading the event with 6 points after drawing Mamedyarov. Caruana is 2nd with 5.5 points and 3 players are on 5 – Ponomariov, Nakamura and Karjakin.
Results of the 9th round
Giri Anish 2727 ½ – ½ GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2709
GM Leko Peter 2744 ½ – ½ GM Karjakin Sergey 2786
GM Kamsky Gata 2741 0 – 1 GM Caruana Fabiano 2772
GM Topalov Veselin 2771 ½ – ½ GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2766
GM Nakamura Hikaru 2767 1 – 0 GM Morozevich Alexander 2758
GM Radjabov Teimour 2793 1 – 0 GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2733
Standings after 9 rounds
1 GM Topalov Veselin 2771 BUL 6 25,25
2 GM Caruana Fabiano 2772 ITA 5½ 22,00
3 GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2733 UKR 5 23,50
4 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2767 USA 5 20,50
5 GM Karjakin Sergey 2786 RUS 5 21,50
6 GM Kamsky Gata 2741 USA 4 17,50
7 GM Morozevich Alexander 2758 RUS 4 16,75
8 GM Radjabov Teimour 2793 AZE 4 18,75
9 GM Giri Anish 2727 NED 4 19,00
10 GM Leko Peter 2744 HUN 4 18,25
11 GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2766 AZE 4 18,00
12 GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2709 UZB 3½ 15,50
Morozevich got a very good position with Black in the King’s Indian (which later transposed into the Benoni) against Nakamura and made a novelty on move 13. Then, due to White’s inaccuracies got a much better position and had he played 22…Qf6 or 22…Na3, exchanging some of White’s active pieces could have gotten a nearly decisive advantage.
Pairings of the penultimate round
Round 10 on 2013/04/29 at 14:00
GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2709 – GM Ponomariov Ruslan 2733
GM Morozevich Alexander 2758 – GM Radjabov Teimour 2793
GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2766 – GM Nakamura Hikaru 2767
GM Caruana Fabiano 2772 – GM Topalov Veselin 2771
GM Karjakin Sergey 2786 – GM Kamsky Gata 2741
GM Giri Anish 2727 – GM Leko Peter 2744