Levon Aronian takes a one point lead into the final round of the 74th Tata Steel tournament. This event allows for shared first so even if he loses with white to rival Radjabov he will still be one of the winners. In today’s round 12 both he and opponent Boris Gelfand played for a win and Aronian emerged as winner only after a late blunder. Magnus Carlsen got into trouble against Gata Kamsky but just about scrambled to a draw. Vassily Ivanchuk was not in good shape today and blitzed moves out against Teimour Radjabov, he got way ahead on the clock however and when he offered a draw Radjabov accepted. Notes to these three games from the venue by Michiel Abeln in notes and PGN file. Almost every game today had drama. Read the details below. Kramnik also announced that he will play Aronian in a 6 game match 21st-28th April 2012. The lack of events in the first half of the year means they need practice for the candidates. 1st Aronian 8.5pts.
2nd-3rd Carlsen, Radjabov 7.5pts.
4th-6th Ivanchuk, Caruana, Nakamura 7pts.

Final Round 13 Sun 29th Jan 2012 EARLY 11:00am GMT
Kamsky-Topalov, Van Wely-Carlsen, Gashimov-Nakamura, Ivanchuk-Karjakin, Aronian-Radjabov, Caruana-Gelfand, Giri-Navara.

Source: The Week in Chess

More chess:

  1. Aronian a point clear of Tata Steel after Carlsen defeat in Rd9 – 9
  2. Carlsen beats Gelfand to rejoin Aronian in Tata Steel lead after 7 rounds – 7
  3. Aronian defeated by Navara in Tata Steel Rd11 Carlsen and Radjabov close gap – 11
  4. Aronian joins Carlsen in the lead after 4 rounds of Tata Steel – 4
  5. Aronian beats Nakamura and leads alone after Tata Steel Round 2 – 2