|

|

|

Magnus Carlsen`s Blog

Amber blindfold and rapid, round 9

1.5-0.5 against Dominguez today, finally back on track. The blindfold game was not a very exiting affair, as after a quiet opening as white, Dominguez played solidly without blundering, and there was not much I could do. Actually the most interesting thing that happened, was that I made an illegal move at one point, having forgotten where my rook was. Afterwards I discovered that the move I had attempted to make was a serious blunder, so I could really count myself lucky :) Anyway I eventually got a symbolic advantage in an almost symmetrical position, but there was no way to make progress, and the game quickly ended in a draw by three-fold repetition on move 50. The rapid game was considerably more interesting. After a slightly unusual opening I obtained a very promising position in the early middlegame. Soon I was already searching for a way to finish him off. I did not manage to do that, but after a couple of mistakes by my opponent, I got a winning position anyway. Subsequently, I certainly did not find the quickest win, but what I did was more than good enough, and I forced my opponent's capitulation on move 47, when one of my three connected passed pawns was about to queen. Ivanchuk has slowed down his pace a bit, but with two draws today he is still leading with 12/18, ahead of me at 11.5, and Kramnik and Grischuk at 11. Tomorrow I play Ruslan Ponomariov, who became FIDE world champion in 2002 at the age of 18. He has not had such great results since then, but is still a great player. I am certainly hoping to close in on the gap though, as my recent results against Ponomariov have been pretty good. Ivanchuk and Kramnik are playing each other, in another crucial contest. Magnus Carlsen, Nice, March 23rd, 2298

2010-03-23 23:51:51