The second cycle of the King's Tournament started today, with a colors-reversed rematch of round 1. In all three games, the player with the white pieces did half a point better than he did the first time around. Today, Nakamura drew with White against Carlsen, Radjabov drew with White against Ivanchuk, and Karjakin won with White against Nisipeanu.
Nakamura - Carlsen was a Breyer with 11.c4. The line had a flurry of popularity several decades ago, but now it seems to be of use mainly as a surprise weapon, as the variation 11...c6 12.Nc3 b4 13.Na4 c5 is extremely drawish. That's how the game went, and White never obtained a plus. At the end Carlsen was making dangerous inroads on the queenside, but the threat of a white counterattack on the kingside forced a repetition.
Radjabov - Ivanchuk was a Semi-Tarrasch with a rather slow-looking novelty, 15.h3. If there's anything to it, and not just a pragmatic response to an unexpected opening, then White will need to find some improvement before trading queens on move 19. After that Black had no problems at all, and the rest of the way it was Radjabov who needed to maintain the balance - not that it was too tough a job.
Finally, Karjakin - Nisipeanu was a good grind 'em down win for the youngster. Nisipeanu played the Schliemann (aka Jaenisch) and sacrificed two pawns for counterplay in the 5...d5, 7...Qg5 line. The counterplay was sufficient but Black needed to be accurate, and near the end of the time control Nisipeanu's play was inaccurate. Karjakin managed to consolidate an extra, passed pawn in a double-rook ending, and went on to win the game. As a result, he has caught Carlsen in first place in the tournament and surpassed Kramnik into fourth place in the live FIDE ratings. Not bad for a day's work!
Standings After Round 6:
Round 7 Pairings: