Reggio Emilia, Round 8: Morozevich Beats and Closes in on Nakamura

Round 8 was an oddity in the Reggio Emilia super-tournament. It's not that there were three decisive games; that seems almost par for the course, as rounds four through six were also drawless. Rather, the oddity came from the games, from two in particular.

The most important game of the round was Nakamura-Morozevich. With a win, Nakamura could have just about put the tournament on ice, and a draw would have been pretty good as well. Instead he played the opening so poorly that after 15 moves he was down two pawns with no compensation to speak of, and Morozevich won with ease. Nakamura still leads Morozevich, but it's only by a point (on 3-1-0 scoring, which means that a Morozevich win would enable him to leapfrog past Nakamura if the latter only manages a draw).

Ivanchuk continued to plummet as if an anvil had been tied around his chest. Perhaps hoping for a boring position and an easy draw, Ivanchuk played the London System against Caruana - but it didn't work. By around move 20, Ivanchuk was in trouble and by move 26 he was lost. The weirdest part came on moves 30 and 31 Ivanchuk gave up first his queen and then a rook in an absolutely absurd (and obviously intentional) way. Perhaps it was a way of expressing his distaste with himself; whatever the case, he has collapsed terribly - this was his fourth consecutive loss.

Finally, Giri has really caught fire the past several rounds, going 3.5/4 after a poor start. Today he beat Vitiugov in nice style, sacrificing the exchange and a pawn for attacking chances, and they paid off. Vitiugov was able to return the material and eventually a pawn more to reach an endgame, but Giri's technique was good and he won.

With two rounds to go, the standings look like this:

1. Nakamura 15
2. Morozevich 14
3. Giri 12
4. Caruana 11
5. Ivanchuk 8
6. Vitiugov 5

The games, with my comments, are here.

Reggio Emilia, Round 2: Morozevich Wins Again

Today two of the three games in the 2011/12 edition of Reggio Emilia were drawn, but mighty Alexander Morozevich struck again - and again, with the black pieces, defeating Anish Giri with a brutal attack in the center. He now leads with a 2-0 score - or rather, 6-0, as they seem to be using the 3-1-0 scoring system borrowed from soccer.

Hikaru Nakamura drew Fabiano Caruana; they have 4 points (1.5/2) and 1 point (.5/2), respectively. Vassily Ivanchuk's game with Nikita Vitiugov was also drawn, leaving Ivanchuk with two points thanks to his two draws and Vitiugov, like Caruana and Giri, with a single point based on their one draw.

Today's games, including my notes to Giri-Morozevich (and a bad pun), can be replayed here.