Petrosian Memorial: Grischuk-Kramnik Drawn; Grischuk Takes Clear First
Alexander Grischuk finished the Petrosian Memorial facing Vladimir Kramnik, and if Kramnik had won the players would have concluded the event tied for first. Winning to order against Grischuk would be a difficult task for Kramnik even in his best form and with the white pieces, but with the black pieces and seeing Grischuk playing the best chess of his life this year it wasn't in, on, under or through the cards.* Kramnik tried a sharp line against the Catalan, one he had previously used successfully against Veselin Topalov, but an alert Grischuk noticed that instead of the theoretical 10.Bd6 White could play 10.Bc3 and more or less force a draw on the spot, as Black cannot afford to allow Nxb5. So Grischuk took clear first and Kramnik took clear second.
Three players were tied for third entering the round, and two of them won. Boris Gelfand defeated Peter Leko with a nice breakthrough in a rook ending, and Levon Aronian won a complicated bishop ending against Ernesto Inarkiev. The third member of the pre-round triumvirate, Ding Liren, only drew with Morozevich. For Gelfand, going +1 was a nice rebound from the disaster in Tashkent (and a real accomplishment for a man playing in his third straight tournament, perhaps especially at his age), and it was a decent result for Aronian as well.
Back now to the main show - the Carlsen-Anand match!
* A little joke for those who caught Peter Svidler's discussion a week or so ago on "in the cards" vs. "on the cards".