Nakamura drops his game with black after a draw with white yesterday and is knocked out in round 4. Caruana, Kamsky, Kramnik and Korobov are through to round 5. The other 4 matches were 2 draws and go to tiebreaks tomorrow.
Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Kamsky, Karjakin, now Korobov… It’s the K-factor!
If Maria Sharapova can change her last name to Sugarpova, then Hikaru should go for Knakamura.
Or perhaps Snackamura
Round 4 is finally done, including tiebreaks. Results are as follows:
Tomashevsky defeats Morozevich (3.5-2.5 in tiebreaks)
Kamsky defeats Mamedyarov (1.5-0.5 in regulation)
Svidler defeats Le (1.5-0.5 in tiebreaks)
Andreikin defeats Karjakin (2-0 in tiebreaks)
Caruana defeats Granda Zuniga (2-0 in regulation)
Vachier-Lagrave defeats Gelfand (1.5-0.5 in tiebreaks)
Kramnik defeats Ivanchuk (1.5-0.5 in regulation)
Korobov defeats Nakamura (1.5-0.5 in regulation)
The quarterfinals are Tomashevsky-Kamsky, Svidler-Andreikin, Caruana-MVL, and Kramnik-Korobov.
It appears that Russia will feature half of the “elite eight”. France (MVL), Italy (Caruana), Ukraine (Korobov) and USA (Kamsky) will have one player each.
Tomashevsky showed a lot of resolve against Morozevich, and that after eliminating top seed Aronian. It will be interesting to see how he does against Kamsky, who appears to be rounding into form at just the right time.
Korobov put on a good show against Nakamura - held nicely with Black, and put on a clinic about how to entomb a piece with White. However, Kramnik is still playing, in this patzer’s MHO, the best chess in the field so far.
Svidler demonstrated how to win K+B+N vs. K in his second tiebreak game against Le - not too shabby, especially with a minute on his clock and a 10-second increment. (Yes, I know many readers can probably do this too. But I can’t. 
)
Polgar and Trent continue to do a good job of breaking ideas down for their audience. They’re not using computer analysis, either, so it’s nice to get an idea of how strong players approach various positions. Extended guest commentary today from Ivanchuk and Nakamura was a bonus.
[edited to reflect final result of Morozevich-Tomashevsky match.]
Round 5, game 1 is done…
Tomashevsky 0.5 - 0.5 Kamsky
Vachier-Lagrave 0.5 - 0.5 Caruana
Kramnik 1 - 0 Korobov
Andreikin 0.5 - 0.5 Svidler
A few comments:
Tomashevsky agreed to a draw in 16 moves. Surprisingly short game, especially given that Kamsky is not likely to return the favor as white. Perhaps Tomashevsky was still recovering from his marathon tiebreak yesterday.
Kramnik missed several shorter wins in his game, I thought. However, he was never threatened with losing his advantage after the opening, and was able to convert to a win. Korobov is in the unenviable position of having to play for a win with Black tomorrow…
Down goes Kamsky 
Kamsky could have forced a draw by 27. Kh1 or Kh2, but went for a risky 27.Kf1 and lost that gamble.
Tremendous victory for the young generation. I think this tournament is an earthquake in the chess world.
Yi (“the kid”, 14 years old) over Shirov
Korobov over Jobava, then Nakamura.
Dubov over Ponomariov.
Tomashevsky over Aronian, then Morozevich.
Le over Grischuk. Svidler defeated Le but it felt like a narrow escape.
Andreikin defeats Dreev, then Karjakin, then Svidler.
Vachier-Lagrave defeats Gelfand.
and domestically, Dominguez defeated Onischuk. But Robson over Volokitin. Our guys did well overall esp. Kamsky who looked stronger than Nakamura in my opinion.
Many of the world’s elite – Ponomariov, Shirov, Aronian, Morozevich, Grischuk, Karjakin, Svidler, Gelfand – all lost to youngsters. These matches looked to me like the turn of a generation, they weren’t accidents.
Well Korobov (I’m part Ukrainian so I guess I like him) isn’t quite a kid but he has been pretty much unknown and was passed over for the Ukrainian Olympiad team.
The World Cup has reached the semifinals. Game 1 was played today. Current scores…
Tomashevsky 0.5 - 0.5 Andreikin
Vachier-Lagrave 0.5 - 0.5 Kramnik
Two very short draws today: Andreikin-Tomashevsky, 14 moves; MVL-Kramnik, 16 moves.
Tomashevsky is clearly the star of the show in Tromso. He’s played a brutal field thus far: Ramirez, So, Aronian, Morozevich, Kamsky. He had must-win situations against Ramirez and Moro, but came through both times with flying colors. And I thought Tomashevsky was dancing on a very fine line in game 2 against Kamsky in the quarterfinals, but his post-match comments showed that his preparation was outstanding. He’s absolutely earned his place in the final four.
However, during today’s broadcast, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam mentioned that Nakamura has predicted Andreikin would win the tournament. So… 
Something obviously has to give.
MVL opted for a short day against Kramnik. Kramnik’s reputation as a grinder will be on display tomorrow, as he’d probably just as soon win in the classical games and not give MVL a chance to show off his rapid/blitz skills.
Speaking of the broadcast…the following two paragraphs are strictly IMO.
In the last few rounds, the live-commentary team of Susan Polgar and Lawrence Trent has been replaced with ten Geuzendam and Nigel Short. Perhaps it’s just personal preference, but I think the broadcast was better with Polgar/Trent doing the commentary. Short tends to dominate the conversation a bit (completely understandable when it comes to chess, not so much on other subjects). His style is, I imagine, an acquired taste. Having talked with him in London last year, and watched him both in the VIP room there and on this broadcast, I must confess I have not yet acquired said taste.
Polgar and Trent kept the conversation focused on the games, and provided good analysis broken down so that patzers like me could easily see the ideas and themes. Their post-game interviews were much better too. (Short’s treatment of Eva Repkova was especially unsavory, I thought.) Ten Geuzendam is a very articulate and intelligent man, but his personality doesn’t seem suited for this particular job. To be fair, though, Short has been very good at challenging the players in post-match interviews about their lines of thought during games - something that none of the other three commentators could do as effectively.
Anyway, on to round 6, game 2 tomorrow.
Even if Kramnik were to lose his semi-final match, he would still qualify as the 2nd highest rated player who participated in either the Grand Prix or the World Cup (Aronian is the highest), so at this point, its the money and the title he is playing for.
The World Cup semifinals’ classical portion finished today. Cumulative scores…
Tomashevsky 1 - 1 Andreikin
Vachier-Lagrave 1 - 1 Kramnik
Tomashevsky got nowhere fast against Andreikin, and their draw was signed in 29 moves.
Kramnik ground away against MVL in a very drawish-looking R+N+3P vs. R+N+2P ending. His constant pressure rewarded him with a critical position where 62 Nd7 led to a win due to a pretty zwischenzug a few moves later. However, the move is counter-intuitive, and Kramnik didn’t have a lot of time left. He didn’t find the idea, and MVL was able to blockade and prevent further progress. The game eventually liquidated to R+N vs. R, in which MVL held easily, though Kramnik played on to within 10 moves of the 50-move rule before conceding the draw.
So, both matches go to tiebreaks tomorrow. More fun for viewers! Now if the commentators could be bothered to keep up with the moves on the board, that would be fantastic.
The World Cup semifinals’ tiebreaks finished today. Cumulative scores…
Tomashevsky 1.5 - 2.5 Andreikin
Vachier-Lagrave 1.5 - 2.5 Kramnik
Tomashevsky pretty much collapsed deep into the second game in a double-edged position. But Andreikin has, again, showed remarkable nerves in the tiebreaks. A great tournament for Tomashevsky regardless, and Andreikin moves one step closer to fulfilling Nakamura’s prediction for him.
MVL played a bad White game in the tiebreaks, losing a Scotch in 22 moves. Kramnik had only to draw as White in the next game, and he was significantly better when the draw was agreed. A fine tournament for the Frenchman, though, who has climbed up to 15th in the world on the live rating list. (Andreikin, by contrast, has lost almost 9 rating points on the live list since the start of Tromso, though this is likely more indicative of his tournament strategy than of his playing strength.)
Interesting tidbit: Kramnik is 0-2 in classical games against Andreikin this year, losing as White in the Tal Memorial and as Black at Dortmund. Andreikin’s performance in the tiebreaks at Tromso has been outstanding. Kramnik did beat Andreikin in the Tal blitz, though, and has scored an undefeated 5-1 in the six tiebreak games he’s had to play. However, convention holds that Kramnik should have an advantage in the classical portion of the finals.
The finals will be a four-game classical match, followed by tiebreaks if needed. Tomorrow is an off-day; the finals start Friday.
Congratulations to Andreikin for making the 2014 candidates’ tournament. Congratulations also to Sergey Karjakin, who now qualifies as well (Kramnik would have qualified by average rating, had he not made the final; his appearance there gives Karjakin the second rating-qualifier spot, after Levon Aronian).
Five of the eight spots in the 2014 Candidates are now decided
Dmitry Areikin (Finalist of 2013 World Cup)
Vladimir Kramnik (Finalist of 2013 World Cup)
Veselin Topalov (1st place FIDE Grand Prix 2012-13)
Levon Aronian (Highest rated player between August 2012 - July 2013)
Sergey Karjakin (2nd Highest rated player between Aug 2012 - July 2013)
A sixth spot will go to the loser of the 2013 WCC Match (Carlsen or Anand)
A seventh spot will go to the 2nd place finisher of the FIDE Grand Prix (either Grischuk, Mamedyarov, or Caruana)
The last spot will be a nominee of the organizing committee (min FIDE 2725)
IMO, Nakamura is very unlikely to be that nominee. If Caruana takes 2nd in the Grand Prix, then he has a chance.
Peter Svidler, who earned bronze in the last candidates event, would be an excellent choice.
The highest rated players (using the same average of Aug 2012 - July 2013) after Karjakin are Radjabov, Caruana, and Nakamura in that order. Radjabov is actually below 2725 FIDE right now, so if Caruana grabs the last Grand Prix spot, then I think Nakamura has a chance (but probably not a very good one) to be the organizer’s nominee.
No details about the 2014 tournament, AFAIK, have yet been released. If the 2013 tournament is any indication, the identity of the primary sponsor might provide a useful hint about the eventual wild-card selection.
Khanty-Mansiysk is bidding on the 2014 Candidates Match.
Then Jakovenko might get the wild-card. He is from up around there. (He was born in Omsk, but spent his childhood in Nizhnevartovsk, which is in the same region as Khanty-Mansiysk).
Grischuk?
It would be a bit much to ask Mr. Sinquefield alone to bear (even the most generous donors get fatigued), but … perhaps the US could cobble a respectable bid together if a couple major donors took a lead role.