Round 10 of the Candidates featured a few lively games.
Anand-Mamedyarov was the first game to end. This was a Sicilian where neither side had much of a pull. Both players castled queenside. Black had a target with White’s e4 pawn, and White had a target with Black’s d6 pawn. White had a somewhat awkward rook on c4, and Black had a somewhat awkward queen on a7. There weren’t any real threats either way, though, and the GMs decided the position was sufficiently balanced that the only way a player could lose was to try to win. A draw was agreed on move 30.
Karjakin-Andreikin was another Sicilian, but Black didn’t castle at all in this game. The queens came off early, and Karjakin perhaps was not as accurate as he could have been in the early middlegame. By move 22, the position was probably equal, but there looked to be plenty of material and play left in the game. The Russian compatriots, however, declined to probe further, and shook hands.
Kramnik-Svidler was another see-saw affair. Svidler appeared to go wrong in the early middlegame, and by move 30, White had a very pleasant position. However, White’s 32nd was simply a losing mistake, and White’s 34th threw away any practical chances Kramnik had to hold the game. Black’s 39th move, opening up another wave of mating threats to go with further material losses, compelled the former world champion to capitulate. There was some rough justice in this result, as in their previous game, Kramnik was able to hold from what appeared to be a lost position.
Aronian-Topalov was the longest game of the round - not surprising, given that Aronian needs some wins ASAP if he is to catch Anand, and Topalov has stayed true to his uncompromising nature throughout this event. Out of the opening, Aronian looked like he had a slight edge, but then Topalov began to play energetically and, if anything, was a little better, I thought. However, when liquidation began, Topalov was perhaps slightly imprecise, and a R+B ending soon appeared that looked very drawish. Aronian tried for a while to coax some advantage from the ending, but Topalov found the most active plan, and the players eventually repeated moves to draw shortly after the first time control.
So, we have no change at the top of the standings. Anand leads with 6.5/10, followed by Aronian with 5.5/10. Karjakin and Mamedyarov remain equal third, with 5/10, and they are joined there by Svidler. Kramnik falls to -1, tied for sixth with Andreikin at 4.5/10. Topalov still trails the field, with 4/10.
A few additional thoughts…
- Aronian will need something pretty close to a miracle to outscore Anand by 1.5 points through the next four rounds. If Anand “draws out”, this means Aronian has to go 3.5/4 (recall that if Aronian ties Anand, Anand still wins due to head-to-head tiebreak). Possible? Yes. Likely? Not so much.
- For those used to Kramnik’s traditional precision and solidity, this tournament is a very strange viewing experience. He’s really lucky to not be in even worse scoring shape, as Mamedyarov gifted him a full point from a winning position earlier.
- Kramnik’s loss today really takes a lot of the potential steam out of his round 11 game against Anand. It does, though, add some potential drama to the last round. Svidler will have black against Anand, and if Svidler can manage to get within striking distance, perhaps he will let it all hang out to try and reel in the leader.
- I know I keep saying this every round…but Anand is just cruising at this event. To this untrained eye, it really seems like Vishy’s just relaxing, playing natural, intuitive chess, and just taking what his opponents give him. He’s really not yet had even a hint of trouble in this tournament. Keeping oneself from being under undue pressure has to be a big help against such a strong field.
- The commentators talked about the strains of a tournament like this, and how much goes into both competitive and physical preparation. It is true that several players (most notably Svidler and Anand) really did put some effort into their fitness.
- Svidler’s been pretty unlucky this tournament, as the commentators rightly observed, so he was really overdue for a bit of good fortune, which he certainly received from Kramnik.
Round 11 is tomorrow at 5am. As mentioned earlier, Kramnik is white against Anand, which is probably the most important game in terms of the overall tournament. Kramnik is almost completely out of the running for first place now, but he can make things much more interesting for the field if he beats Anand. Meanwhile, Svidler has White against Aronian, in a game where the result will have great impact on the race for the top places.
The tournament report is over for this round. 
I’d like to share a personal story (it does relate to this event, though). If you don’t want to read it, stop here.
When Nielsen and Cmilyte were discussing the playing schedule and the work required to consistently perform at a high level, I was drawn back to a conversation I had with Cmilyte a few months ago. I was working late one round at the Tradewise Masters, when she had what looked like a winning ending against Alexey Dreev.** Dreev was able to hold the draw, though. The following morning, it happened that we were waiting for a bus into central Gibraltar. She was going walking/sightseeing; I was headed across the border to La Linea to rent a car so I could go explore southern Spain in the mornings.
So, I asked her about the game, and after confirming my suspicion that she was indeed winning (I was pleasantly surprised that I could actually remember enough of the ending to follow some of her analysis), she then asked me some questions about tournaments in the US. She noted that, for the most part, she only plays invitational events - Gibraltar is the only open tournament she plays (not hard to understand why, with its substantial prizes for top female players).
I always knew, on an impersonal level, how different top-level chess in Europe is from the US. But talking to one of the world’s strongest female players, and listening to what she goes through to prepare for an event (not to mention the 6- and 7-hour playing sessions she often had in Gibraltar) really drove that point home for me. When you play 100 games a year, you’re really putting in well over 2,000 hours of work, playing time included. Our top players - male and female - just don’t get that same environment here, for the most part, and it tends to show up over time when they match up with the world’s best.
Someday, if I ever strike it rich (there’s always next year’s billion-dollar bracket 
), I want to see what I can do to help change that for our top players.
** - I try very hard not to analyze games in progress when I’m working. I feel it distracts me from being an effective arbiter. But every now and then, usually in the sixth hour of a session, the chess fan in me takes control of my neural network.
