Carlsen, Shirov, Ponomariov win at Khanty Mansiysk

Carlsen-Leko from an earlier tournament

Teenage prodigy Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Alexei Shirov of Spain, and Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine won the first games of the 4th round at the World Chess Cup.

The other 5 games, Alekseev - Bareev, Karjakin - Nisipeanu, Cheparinov - Wang Yue, and Svidler- Kamsky were drawn.

Carlsen outplayed his experienced rival in a minor pieces endgame. For a while, Carlsen had the advantage of two bishops and also of an extra pawn. In a major time scramble, Carlsen held his nerve to win convincingly.

Shirov played a vintage-Shirov game to beat the hapless Akopian while Ponomariov crushed India's Sasikiran.

Kamsky seems to be getting stronger by the day. We feel that he will be a major force to reckon with very soon again ! He seems to be peaking at the very appropriate moment. Svidler could not make any progress against the fighting spirit of Gata Kamsky.