Magnus Carlsen, the 18-year-old chess phenomenon from Norway, has won the Grand Slam-tournament Nanjing Pearl Springs in China. With one round to go, Carlsen has a lead of one and a half points.

Two kings: Garry Kasparov (left) and Magnus Carlsen

The six participants in the Nanjing tournament are all among the best players in the world: World no 1 Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Magnus Carlsen (Norway, no 4 on the current world ranking), Peter Leko (Hungary, no 6), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbadjan, no 7), Dimitry Jakovenko (Russia, no 11) and Wang Yue (China, no 15).

As the top rated player in the world, Veselin Topalov was the pre-tournament favourite. However, Magnus Carlsen won his to first games and never looked back. After five rounds Carlsen had the amazing score of 4,5 points. In the second half Carlsen has not dominated quite as much, but his total score of 7 points after 9 rounds is nevertheless a fantastic feat.

The performance is Magnus Carlsen’s best to date, and it clearly shows that his training sessions with Garry Kasparov have been very useful. Carlsen now packs a real punch in the opening, something that was lacking in previous tournaments.

Let’s have a look at some interesting positions from Carlsen’s games in Nanjing 2009.

Carlsen v Leko, round 1

 

10.f4!? A very interesting pawn sacrifice, which was probably analysed in the sessions with Kasparov. 10...Qxe4 11.Bf2 Bxd4 12.cxd4 N5g6 13.g3 0–0 14.Nc3 Qf5 15.d5 a6 16.Re1 Kh8 17.Rc1 Bd7 18.Bf3 Rac8 19.Qb3 b5 20.Ne2 Qh3 21.Nd4 Bg4 22.Bg2 Qh5 23.h4 Ng8?! 24.Rc6! and white won convincingly. 24...Nf6 25.Rxa6 Bd7 26.Nxb5 Rb8 27.a4 Ng4 28.Bf3 Qh6 29.Qc4 Nxh4 30.Bxg4 Bxg4 31.gxh4 Bf3 32.f5 Qh5 33.Qf4 Bxd5 34.Nxc7 Bb7 35.Rb6 f6 36.Bd4 Qf7 37.Ne6 Rg8 38.Kf2 Rbc8 39.Bc3 Bd5 40.a5 Rc4 41.Nd4 Ba8 42.Qxd6 Qh5 43.Qf4 Rcc8 44.Rbe6 1–0

Carlsen v Topalov, round 2

  

The Bulgarian world number one survived the time control at move 40, but resigned the very next move. 41.Rc1! and Topalov resigned. The rook penetrates to the seventh rank with deadly effect. 1-0

Jakovenko v Carlsen, round 4

 

63...Kb4! White has to reply Kc2, but then Bf6 places him in complete zugzwang: If he moves the king he loses the b-pawn, if he moves the knight he loses the h-pawn, and if Nf3-g5 then Bxg5 wins for black. Because of this the Russian GM resigned after Magnus’ 63rd move.

More about the tournament can be found at Chessbase and at The Chess Phantom Blog (in Norwegian).