It wasn't the most interesting round of the Norway Chess tournament, but given all the blood we've seen so far there's not much to complain about. Besides, most of the draws had their interesting moments as well.
Veselin Topalov came into (and left) the round with a one and a half point lead, and it looked like his game with Fabiano Caruana would be a dull draw. Caruana played the ...c6+...d5 line of the Fianchetto Gruenfeld, a line that tends to be pretty dry even on the best of days. When the game looked like it was about to terminate in a handshake, Topalov shook things up on the board with 28.Qa1 and a series of very risky moves. The geometry involved in some of the lines was pretty remarkable, and while most of the risk was objectively Topalov's the position definitely held some dangers for Caruana. Still, he defended alertly, and the game concluded with a Topalov piece sac followed by perpetual check.
With a win Hikaru Nakamura could have come to within a point of Topalov, but he didn't manage to get anything with White against Alexander Grischuk in an English. Likewise for Viswanathan Anand, who was also slugging things out in an English, but with Black against Levon Aronian. Anand equalized easily and drew quickly, while Nakamura's game made it to the end of the first time control.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Magnus Carlsen had an even shorter draw - just 17 moves - but theirs was a wild and almost completely uncharted opening. In the Semi-Slav with 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 g5 7.Bg3 Carlsen came up with 7...Ne4, a very unusual and provocative move. Vachier-Lagrave's reply was even more remarkable: he sacrificed two pawns for unclear compensation. Unfortunately, the game didn't get much further, ending in a repetition that commenced just four moves after the second pawn sac. Hopefully the line will get played again soon, as it has the potential for great entertainment.
The longest game of the round was Jon Ludwig Hammer's. He had a chance for a huge attack against Anish Giri while the game was still in the opening, but instead of 12.0-0-0 he went for a slightly better queenless middlegame with 12.Be4. Although he retained some advantage after that, it wasn't nearly enough to push Giri over the edge.
The games (with my notes) are here. The round 8 pairings are as follows: