Sergey Karjakin made Viswanathan Anand work very hard for the draw, but the former champion rose to the occasion, split the point and thereby won the tournament. One important moment came on move 48, when Karjakin played g4; this was in his opinion his only real mistake in the game. He thought he was winning the pawn ending that would arise after 53.Nxg5 Rxd2+ 54.Kxd2 Kxg5 55.Ke3 - e.g. 55...h3 56.Kf2 Kh4 57.Kg1 Kg5 58.Kh1 Kh4 59.Kh2 with a winning zugzwang - but then realized that both 55...Kf6 and 55...Kh6 draw. If White plays 56.f4 (against either move) then 56...h3 is fine.
Realizing that the pawn ending wasn't a win, Karjakin played 53.Kd3 and tried to find other plans, but nothing came close. The 50-move rule was coming in sight near the end and Anand could surely have held in that way without any trouble, but to his credit he was both alert and appropriately greedy when he played 88...h3+! Three moves later it was Karjakin who would have something to worry about, but when he offered the draw it was too much for Anand to turn down. (Magnus Carlsen surely would have played on, but Vishy's fans will have to be satisfied with 88...h3+ and tournament victory.)
The other games were eventful in their own way as well. The stealthy Dmitry Andreikin put an end to Levon Aronian's ambitions in this cycle, beating him on the white side of a Trompowsky. Andreikin's concept with 14.Qxe5+, entailing the sacrifices that followed on moves 16, 19 and 20, was remarkable. Soon Aronian was lost, and while there may have been some inaccuracies here and there White's win was logical and well-deserved.
Both Aronian and Andreikin have reached 50%, coming from opposite directions, while Karjakin stayed there. And they're not alone: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov remained on 50%, holding a slightly inferior position against Peter Svidler (a 6.Be3 Ng4 Najdorf), and Vladimir Kramnik returned there after winning the grudge rematch against Veselin Topalov. That game was extremely complicated and (not surprisingly) rather mistake-filled. The last pair of errors came in tandem on move 50. Kramnik had several ways to win, including 50.Ne4+ (50...Bxe4 51.Rd8+ Ke7 52.Rxd2 Bc2 and now one way is 53.Kf2 b2 [53...Kf7 54.Rd7+ Kg6 55.Rd6+ Kh7 56.Rb6+-] 54.h7 and White wins whether the pawns are promoted or exchanged), but instead uncorked 50.N7f5+(??). Topalov thought for a while and played 50...Bxf5(??); instead 50...Kc7! 51.h7 b2 52.Rc8+ Kxc8 53.h8Q+ Kb7 and it's simply a draw; White cannot prevent Black from safely promoting without surrendering his own queen.
The difference with Topalov's version can be seen in the final position. After Black moves the king somewhere, White plays 56.Ne3. The knight covers d1 and the queen covers b1, something that was impossible when Black's bishop was alive and kicking on d3.
The tournament could just as well end here, but unlike matches play will continue even after a winner has been decided. So here are the pairings for the last round, to be played tomorrow (player scores in parentheses):
I have a feeling that everyone except Topalov will be amenable to a quick draw, but we'll see. Speaking of Topalov, it would be bizarre if he overpressed and lost, as that would leave Andreikin of all people in clear second (assuming the other games are drawn). It could happen!
Meanwhile, congratulations to Anand, whose stable chess in the tournament was clearly better than everyone else's. A couple of interesting tidbits: first, Anand has done at least one thing he's going to need when facing Carlsen the grinder, and that's get in better shape. Anand has lost a good deal of weight lately, and he acknowledged in the press conference today that he was at least in part inspired by Svidler's example last year. Second, it was a nice surprise to hear (again at today's presser) that when he was unsure about playing in this tournament it was Kramnik whose strong encouragement when most of the way towards getting him to participate. In fact it was a feel-good story all the way around: it was at last year's London tournament that it happened. Kramnik had eliminated Anand, but was then eliminated in the next round by Hikaru Nakamura in a "ridiculous" ending (Anand's word). So even though Kramnik had eliminated him, he felt bad for Kramnik and wanted to encourage him, so he invited him for dinner the next day. As it turned out, it was Kramnik who encouraged him - and now it's time for a world championship rematch.
Does Anand have a shot this time around? I wouldn't rule it out if he's physically and psychologically prepared!