Candidates Tournament
: Created:22 Mar 2014 , byIt is just after the half-way point and the "big three" Anand, Aronian and Kramnik have opened up a gap on the rest of the field.
Peter Svidler was having a good tournament until today when Sergey Karjakin without a win in the first seven rounds beat him with an inspired exchange sacrifice. Svidler slips back into a pack of five players all sharing three and a half points.
Aronian and Anand played a quick draw in the eigth round. One must despair for teachers trying to show youngsters the correct way of developing pieces in the opening when Aronian the world number two moves his queen five times in the first eight moves so that he can capture a pawn. Unsurprisingly the queen was forced back to base camp and Aronian bailed out with a repetition of moves. Aronian and Anand continue to share the lead with five points but Kramnik is snapping at their heels with 4.5.
I've loved the combative nature of most of the games so far. This tournament is developing into a classic. I'm a great admirer of former world champions Kramnik and Anand because both have been great title holders and splendid human beings but Aronian is the one player capable of giving Carlsen a real test in a world championship match.