Magnus on Anand's Heels
By Jennifer Shahade   
March 2, 2008
AnandCarlsenlead.jpg
Anand and Carlsen faced off in the tenth round. Photo Cathy Rogers

Vishy Anand is still leading Linares-Morelia with 6.5/10, but Magnus Carlsen's ninth round win over Shirov leaves him just half a point behind. Unfortunately for the fans,  Carlsen and Anand's tenth round face-off was a relatively bloodless draw.

The ninth round had two decisive games, including a long endgame grind by Carlsen:

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Fans can't complain too much about the all draw tenth round, as it was the first undecisive round all tournament! Here is Anand and Carlsen's short-lived Sveshnikov battle.

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The final four rounds will take place from March 3-7, with a free day on March 5. You can watch them live on ICC, and look out for more CLO coverage, including more from GM Ian Rogers.  Previous Linares coverage on CLO included: predictions by major American chess personalities, a Linares blog by GM Ian Rogers and Macauley Peterson's recap at the half.

Linares-Morelia
Standings after ten rounds
1. V.Anand-6.5
2. M.Carlsen-6
3. L.Aronian-5.5
4. Topalov- 5
5-7.T.Radjabov, V.Ivanchuk and A.Shirov-4.5
7-8. Peter Leko - 3.5