Chess Satranç ajedrez échecs schaken Schach scacchi escacs xadrez şah шахматы šahmaty

Magnus Carlsen conquered overnight leader Grischuk to move to joint second place at Linares. Carlsen presented complicated challenges for Grischuk in the middle game and then sacrificed a bishop to gain an unstoppable connected pawn pair. Grischuk resigned when Carlsen threaten Queening of the pawn and also win heavy material. All the other games ended in draws.

Anand beat Radjabov in a Q+N vs Q+B endgame in the first round of Linares 2009.

Anand should be well rested and hopefully ready for the battle ahead. After all, he now needs to show who is the boss! There's always a threat of relaxing a bit too much and the relief after such an intense phase of preparing and winning the World Championship can make one complacent. Let's hope nothing like that happens. Aronian and Carlsen will of course be in the title race, as always. Chucky, will you make us proud just one more time in an elite field? Yue is expected to be fighting in this tournament and I predict a top half finish for him. Wijk Aan Zee was a rude shock to him. But we all know the Chinese, they'll get going sooner or later. Never ones to shirk hard work. Radjabov and Grischuk can never be counted out. Lenier Dominguez will continue delivering surprises and rise further.

The following players will fight for the Linares 2009 Chess title. An elite field participates in this edition. Topalov had to withdraw due to his match against Kamsky. Viswanathan Anand Magnus Carlsen Vassily Ivanchuk Levon Aronian Teimour Radjabov Wang Yue Alexander Grischuk Lenier Dominguez