Magnus Carlsen entered round 6 half a point in front of Sergey Karjakin and Viswanathan Anand, and exits round 7 with that same half point lead, still over Karjakin, with Anand having dropped a further point behind. Karjakin caught Carlsen in round 6, winning a very good game over Anand that was part good preparation, part excellent technique at the board. Carlsen only managed to draw against Ding Liren, and only after some anxious moments.
Veselin Topalov got back to 50%, while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's bad 2019 continues. Mamedyarov was alright most of the way, but a miscalculation on move 29 led to a loss. (29...Qe7 was equal.)
The other two games - Anish Giri vs. David Navara and Alexander Grischuk vs. Teimour Radjabov - finished in draws. Grischuk had a nice advantage coming out of the opening, but 17.Bxc6 gave it away. (17.Ne1 was correct.)
Carlsen bounced back in round 7, and in a big way, crushing Giri with a vicious attacking plan the Dutchman didn't see coming. After 16...c6 Giri expected 17.d4, and was seriously surprised by the champion's 17.f4 instead. He didn't react well, and was completely lost just a few moves later. Carlsen didn't find the best way to finish Black off, but given a slight chance to resist Giri almost immediately re-collapsed, losing before the time control.
The other four games were drawn, including that of the co-leader, Karjakin. He had some difficulties in the opening against Navara, but was let off the hook by the Czech GM's 19.Nc3 instead of 19.Nd6. The right move would have given Navara a clear advantage; after the error, Karjakin drew without any further trouble.
Mamedyarov-Ding was a long game that finished with a dramatic king and pawn ending that both sides played correctly, resulting in a drawn queen ending. Mamedyarov has been having a poor tournament, so it's to his credit that he stayed resilient through his long defensive task.
Finally, Radjabov-Topalov and Anand-Grischuk were fairly uneventful draws.
The games, with my notes to Karjakin's win in round 6 and Carlsen's win in round 7, are here. Here are the pairings for round 8, and it features THE pairing of the tournament: Karjakin-Carlsen: