Carlsen, Ivanchuk lead Amber

Magnus Carlsen catches up with Vasily Ivanchuk after third 2-0 wipe-out

After four rounds of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, Magnus Carlsen and Vasily Ivanchuk are tied for first in the overall standings with 6 points from 8 games. The Ukrainian grandmaster defeated last year’s winner Levon Aronian 1½-½. Magnus Carlsen continued his remarkable comeback after he lost 2-0 to Ivanchuk in Round 1. The world’s number one defeated Jan Smeets 2-0, raising his number of consecutive wins to six. Manifold Amber winner Vladimir Kramnik suffered a highly atypical 2-0 defeat at the hands of Boris Gelfand. Perhaps typical for the fighting spirit of the round was the fact that 5 out the 6 rapid games were won by black.

Score after Round 4

Blindfold

1.  Carlsen    3 
 Grischuk   3 
 Ivanchuk   3 
4.  Gelfand    2½
 Karjakin   2½
 Ponomariov 2½
7.  Gashimov   2 
8.  Aronian    1½
 Kramnik    1½
 Svidler    1½
11. Dominguez  ½
 Smeets     ½

Rapid

1.  Carlsen    3 
 Ivanchuk   3 
3.  Gelfand    2½
 Kramnik    2½
5.  Aronian    2 
 Grischuk   2 
 Ponomariov 2 
 Svidler    2 
9.  Dominguez  1½
 Gashimov   1½
11. Karjakin   1 
 Smeets     1 

Combined

1.  Carlsen    6 
 Ivanchuk   6 
3.  Gelfand    5 
 Grischuk   5 
5.  Ponomariov 4½
6.  Kramnik    4 
7.  Aronian    3½
 Gashimov   3½
 Karjakin   3½
 Svidler    3½
11. Dominguez  2 
12. Smeets     1½

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