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Amber: Carlsen and Ivanchuk win 19th Amber

3/26/2010 – The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament has ended in an overall victory for Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Ukraine’s Vasily Ivanchuk. Ivanchuk caught up with the leading Carlsen in the final round thanks to a 1½-½ victory over Boris Gelfand, while Magnus shared the points with Alexander Grischuk with one win apiece. Big pictorial report with some really cool Google imagery of Nice.

Amber: Carlsen back on top with one round to go

3/25/2010 – In round ten Magnus Carlsen reclaimed first place in the overall standings with a 2-0 win over Ruslan Ponomariov. With one round and two games to go, the Norwegian grandmaster is half a point ahead of Vasily Ivanchuk and one and a half points ahead of Vladimir Kramnik. Ivanchuk and Kramnik drew their mini-match today after two hard-fought games. Round ten report.

Amber: Carlsen closes in on tournament leader Ivanchuk

3/24/2010 – Vasily Ivanchuk defended first place in the overall standings with two draws against Vugar Gashimov. With two rounds and four games to go the Ukrainian grandmaster has a half-point lead over Magnus Carlsen, who defeated Leinier Dominguez of Cuba 1½-½. Vladimir Kramnik also improved his position, moving into third place, which he shares with Alexander Grischuk. Round nine report.

Amber: Kramnik defeats Carlsen, Ivanchuk retains the lead

3/22/2010 – Magnus Carlsen lost a key encounter with Vladimir Kramnik ½-1½, and actually couldn’t complain that he didn’t lose both games. Kramnik moved up to joint third place with Boris Gelfand, only half a point behind Carlsen. Vasily Ivanchuk retained first place in the overall standings. Monday is a free day. Europe Echecs interviewed Kramnik on the Anand-Topalov match in Sofia. Round eight report.

Amber: Carlsen scores a fourth 2-0 knock-out

3/20/2010 – Apparently nothing can stop the world's highest-ranked player. In round six of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament Magnus Carlsen dispatched Boris Gelfand, who had won his four previous games, with a 2-0 score. Carlsen is now alone in the lead. Dutch GM Jan Smeets won his first game in Nice – against Vladimir Kramnik in blindfold. Round six report with video interviews.

Amber: Gashimov beats Carlsen, Ivanchuk leads

3/20/2010 – Vasily ‘Mr Amber’ Ivanchuk once again back in the sole lead. The Ukrainian beat Alexander Grischuk 1.5:0.5, while his main rival, Magnus Carlsen, lost 0.5:1.5 to Azeri GM Vugar Gashimov. Sergey Karjakin scored 2-0 against his compatriot Ruslan Ponomariov, while Vladimir Kramnik and Levon Aronian shared the points with a win each. Round seven report.

Amber: Carlsen's winning streak ends after seven games

3/18/2010 – It must surely be a record: seven wins in a row for the Norwegian super-talent Magnus Carlsen. But he was stopped by a defeat at the hands of Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine. Boris Gelfand, Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler all scored 2-0 wins, while Vassily Ivanchuk celebrated his 41st birthday by regaining the overall lead at the Amber tournament. Round five report.

Amber: Carlsen continues with sixth victory in succession

3/17/2010 – This is a real Rambo-style comeback: after the shock 0-2 loss in round one Magnus Carlsen has won six games in a row, and caught the leading Vassily Ivanchuk in the overall score. Israeli GM Boris Gelfand shocked former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik with a 2-0 wipe-out. Gelfand and Grischuk are now a point behind the leaders. Wednesday is a free day. Round four report.

Amber: Carlsen back in business, with second 2-0 victory

3/16/2010 – The third round started with a misunderstanding: Magnus Carlsen wanted to key in a move in the blindfold game but found 1.e4 already on the screen for his opponent Peter Svidler. Magnus did not know he had black! But never mind, after a shot of orange juice he went on to demolish Svidler 2-0. Aronian also did a 2-0 round against Jan Smeets. Ivanchuk leads overall. Round three report.

Carlsen (and Gelfand) bounce back with 2:0 victories

3/15/2010 – The youngest and oldest players took painful 0-2 defeats on the first day in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament. On the second day both bounced back with 2-0 wins. Magnus Carlsen demolished defending champion Levon Aronian, Gelfand fared similarly with Azeri GM Vugar Gashimov. Vasily Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponomariov are in the lead in the overall standings with 3.0/4. Round two report.

Ivanchuk-Carlsen 2:0 – shock start in Amber 2010

3/14/2010 – The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament began with a shock: top seed Magnus Carlsen played 1.a3 in his blindfold game against "Mr Amber" Vassily Ivanchuk and lost. Carlsen went on to lose the rapid game as well. Former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, playing for the first time, also won 2-0 against Boris Gelfand. Big report with pictures from the opening ceremony.

Amber 2010: Let the games begin

3/13/2010 – The 19th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament begins today, with the first games at 2:30 p.m. EST (4:40 Moscow, 1:30 London, 8:30 a.m. New York) The participants include Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk (who jumped in for Alexander Morozevich), Peter Svidler, Boris Gelfand, and others. Watch the live action on the official site and on Playchess.
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