It was another very exciting round, with some similarities to round 1. Once again there were three victors, and the draw saw Vishy Anand pushing hard against an opponent who escaped after holding on for dear life.
All four games went 50 moves or more, and the first to finish was Carlsen-Adams. Carlsen played the English and didn't get much (if anything) from the opening, but starting with 29.f4 Adams was unable to hold the balance as the time control drew near. Carlsen built an advantage, and Adams' 40th move was a serious error. Before it Adams, though down a pawn, had annoying pressure against Carlsen's kingside - not enough to win or gain an advantage, but enough to make it difficult for Carlsen to make progress. After his 40th move, Carlsen could force a trade of queens, and then it was a relatively straightforward win.
The next game, Short-McShane, was extremely lively, a main line Dragon with 9.g4. This was a surprise to McShane, who admitted not really knowing the line. White built a very dangerous initiative, but Black had what seemed to Short like almost miraculous defenses to keep the balance. Eventually White's initiative dried up, and Black started collecting pawns in the ending. With one of the pawns about to queen, Short resigned.
The last decisive result was Kramnik-Nakamura, a truly bizarre affair. Some strong kibitzers opined that Kramnik blundered a piece on move 12, others felt it was a speculative sacrifice. They didn't get to do an online press conference, so we'll have to wait and see what Kramnik said. Whatever the truth, Kramnik had to fight to prove compensation for the piece, and it was always an uphill climb. Right after the time control, however, Kramnik had his chance to save the game. The key variation was 41.Kg2 Re2+ 42.Kf3 Ne5+ 43.Rxe5! Rxe5 44.Kf4 and the dual threats of mate on the h-file and 45.Kxe5 give Kramnik the better half of the draw. Black can do better with 41...Re5 42.Rxe5 Nxe5 43.Rf5 Nxg4, but White will have good drawing chances in the inevitable rook and two vs. rook and three pawn ending. Kramnik quite possibly missed the 43.Rxe5! idea in the first line, chose 41.Rf3? instead, and Nakamura brought home the full point 14 moves later.
Finally, it looked like Anand would defeat Howell with the Black pieces, but the young Englishman did a fine job of coordinating his pieces in the queen and rook ending - despite being a pawn in arrears - and held the draw.
After two rounds the scoreboard is a surprising one. A supposed outsider - McShane - is leading with a perfect score, while the world champion is near the bottom (due to the 3-1-0 scoring) and Nakamura is in second, despite having the black pieces against the last two world champions. May the fun continue!
Standings After Round 2:
1. McShane 6 (+2)
2. Nakamura 4 (+1 =1)
3-5. Kramnik, Carlsen, Adams 3 (+1 -1)
6. Anand 2 (=2)
7. Howell 1 (=1 -1)
8. Short 0 (-2)
Round 3 Pairings:
McShane - Kramnik (Obviously a big game for the standings, especially if McShane wins)
Adams - Short (The battle for British supremacy...but not for long if McShane keeps up what he's doing)
Anand - Carlsen (Whichever player wins will be #1 on the rating list)
Nakamura - Howell (A nice chance for Nakamura to push for the lead)
Tournament site here; as for games, I'll post something later if I have the time - I have a very busy weekend ahead of me, unfortunately for blogging purposes. (Perhaps one of my stronger, computer-savvy readers would like to take over annotated game duties the next few days? Ken, maybe?)