The second cycle got underway today at Biel, and Wang Hao still leads after a short and easy draw with the black pieces against Etienne Bacrot. If White ever had anything, it was gone by move 20, and the rest was mass liquidation leading to a draw.
Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen had their second draw of the event, and like Bacrot-Wang Hao it was a Gruenfeld. This one too was quicker than it seemed. After Nakamura's 11.c5, Carlsen thought for half an hour and found an effective way to hoover up all the minor pieces to reach a drawn major piece ending; after that, it was just a matter of engineering a draw that would satisfy the nannies.
Finally, Anish Giri moved to clear second by beating poor Viktor Bologan in a 92-move marathon. Giri went up a pawn in the opening, but this wasn't easy to convert at all. After 30 moves they reached a position with rooks, opposite-colored bishops and knights, with each side having an a-pawn and White enjoying a 4-3 kingside majority. After 20 more moves White's e-pawn had been swapped for Black's f-pawn, but nothing much else had changed. What eventually made the difference was the poor position of Black's king. Giri seized the 7th rank, cutting off Black's king on the back rank, and that forced Bologan to make concessions that eventually proved fatal.
Standings After Round 6:
1. Wang Hao 13 (based on 3-1-0 scoring)
2. Giri 11
3. Nakamura 9
4. Carlsen 7 (based on five games)
5. Bacrot 5
6. Morozevich/Bologan 0 (based on five games)
Tomorrow is a rest day, except for Bologan and Carlsen, who will play their round 3 game. Round 7 will be Monday.