Sunday 1 February 2009

Wijk aan Zee final round

All eyes have been on the hard fought and incredibly close A group at this year's Corus. Six players share the lead with 7/12. Magnus Carlsen, who finally won a game has joined five others including Levon Aronian in the lead. But quietly and with tremendous fighting spirit, 'veteran' GM and British favourite Nigel Short has taken the B group by storm suffering only one loss to the lack-lustre Sashikiran. Today he and Rustam Kasimdzhanov will battle it out for first place, Nigel on 8/12 plays black against Fabiano Caruana rated 2646 with 7½ and Kasimdzhanov also on 8/12 with black plays Alexander Motylev rated 2676 with 7/12. The final round starts at 11:30 GMT today one hour earlier than normal!

Nigel Short on 8/12 and leader of the B group with a performance rating of 2760 - photo: John Nunn.