Magnus Carlsen: it was a “very, very, very good game”

Anish Giri won what Magnus Carlsen described as a “very, very, very good game” to beat Wang Hao in Round 9 of the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg and move to within just half a point of leader Ian Nepomniachtchi. Fabiano Caruana had a great chance to catch Nepo but was held to a draw by Kirill Alekseenko, while MVL is also just half a point back after narrowly avoiding a second loss in a row. He escaped with an 88-move drawn that Magnus called the “last nail in the coffin” of Ding Liren’s chances of winning the tournament.

Every round is massive now, and in Wednesday’s Round 10 we have a clash between two of the chasing pack, MVL-Giri, while Nepomniachtchi-Alekseenko is a game Ian is probably targeting for a full point, despite Kirill’s excellent restart. Caruana-Ding Liren, it goes without saying, is a heavyweight clash, though Fabiano by now has a lot more to play for.

Magnus Carlsen warned us off making any predictions for the final result, since he recalled how the final four rounds of his only Candidates Tournament, in London 2013, had been pure mayhem. “Something weird always happens,” he noted – in short, you don’t want to take your eyes off this event!