The starting gun went off for the Unive Crown Group today, and the players immediately fell over and took a nap. Tiviakov-Giri was drawn in 14 and a half moves, while Vachier-Lagrave and Shirov made it to move 25 before calling it a day. Hopefully the fans will have better luck tomorrow.
Meanwhile, after two (of three) days and five (of seven) rounds of preliminaries at Cap D'Agde, Group A is led by Nakamura with 5/5, half a point ahead of Bu Xiangzhi, while Ivanchuk and Le Quang Liem head the Group B with 4/5. I think (but am not positive) that four players from each group will qualify for the final stage (knockout matches), so I'll add that GMs Nguyen and Polgar have the inside track for the third and fourth spots in Group A (both have 3/5), while Group B is a mess: Pelletier has 3, while Gharamian, Lahno, and Hammer have 2.5.
The players are on a rest day in Nanjing. Carlsen leads with 4/5, half a point ahead of Bacrot, a point and a half ahead of Anand and a full two and a half points ahead of Topalov. It's not at all likely that Topalov will contend for first, but before consigning him to the bottom there are three things to consider.
First, during his best runs of form he would sometimes start a tournament poorly and then go on a big winning streak. There's no obvious reason why that couldn't happen again. Second, he's due for three white games in the second half, which doesn't hurt. And third, with the conclusion of the European Club Cup a couple of days ago, it's possible that his manager (Danailov) and his long-time second (Cheparinov) might show up. If they do, that should help lift his spirits and perhaps help his preparation as well.
Can Bacrot keep up his great tournament? I would be shocked if he went 3.5/5 in the second half, especially since his points in the first half were as much his opponent's gifts as his earnings. Still, even if he were to score 50% in the second half, it would be one of the greatest results if his career, if not the greatest.
As for Carlsen, his first cycle wins were all convincing, but in every case his opponent played the opening or early middlegame very badly. That's not his fault, and he won each game in good style. But whether this means he's "back" remains to be seen. Still, given his big lead over his main rivals, it would take a near disaster for him to finish anywhere but first.