Amber 2009: Anand in the lead after eight rounds

The 18th Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament, organized by the Association Max Euwe in Monaco, is taking place from March 14 (first round) to March 26 (last round) at the Palais de la Mediterranée, splendidly located on the famous Promenade des Anglais in Nice. The total prize fund is € 216,000. The rate of play is 25 minutes per game per player. With every move made in the blindfold games 20 seconds is added to the clock, with every move made in the rapid games 10 seconds is added. Every day four sessions are played: two blindfold and two rapid games. The first session starts at 14.30h. The fourth session finishes around 20.00h. (Note: the final round on March 26 starts at 12.30h. March 18 and 23 are rest days).

Round seven: Anand and Kramnik set the pace

In Round 7 World Champion Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik overtook Levon Aronian to take the shared lead. Anand defeated Sergey Karjakin 1½-½, while Kramnik booked the same result against Aronian. Magnus Carlsen was the only player with a clean score today. The Norwegian had no mercy with out-of-form Wang Yue and moved in third place half a point behind the leaders. Full bulletin report.

Round eight: Anand defeats Kramnik to take sole lead

In the key encounter of the 8th round of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament World Champion Vishy Anand defeated Vladimir Kramnik 1½-½ thanks to a fine win in the blindfold game. With three rounds to go the Indian grandmaster is in the sole lead half a point ahead of Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen, and one full point ahead of Kramnik. Magnus Carlsen dominates the blindfold competition with a score of 6½ from 8, although today’s win against Veselin Topalov was far from impeccable. In the rapid competition three players are leading with 5 from 8; Anand, Aronian and Gata Kamsky. Full bulletin report.

Standings after eight rounds

1.  Carlsen    6½
2.  Anand      5½
3.  Aronian    5    
    Kramnik    5    
    Leko       5    
6.  Morozevich 4    
7.  Radjabov   3½
    Topalov    3½
9.  Ivanchuk   3    
10. Kamsky     2½
    Wang Yue   2½
12. Karjakin   2

1.  Anand      5    
    Aronian    5    
    Kamsky     5    
4.  Karjakin   4½
    Kramnik    4½
6.  Topalov    4    
7.  Carlsen    3½
    Ivanchuk   3½
    Leko       3½
    Morozevich 3½
11. Radjabov   3    
    Wang Yue   3   

1.  Anand      10½
2.  Aronian    10    
    Carlsen    10    
4.  Kramnik    9½
5.  Leko       8½
6.  Kamsky     7½
    Morozevich 7½
    Topalov    7½
9.  Ivanchuk   6½
    Karjakin   6½
    Radjabov   6½
12. Wang Yue   5½ 

Pictorial impressions from Nice by John Nunn

Magnus Carlsen is late and as he rushes to the playing room he is handed his obgligatory orange juice drink for the game by father Henrik. It worked: Magnus defeated Wang Yue 2-0.

Arbiter Geurt Gijssen has to find Karjakin, who is also late for the game

Kramnik enjoys a joke before the game...

...which is shared by his opponent Gata Kamsky

The humour is contagious, as shown by Levon Aronian

Some players take it more seriously, like Veselin Topalov

Ivan Cheparinov, a regular member of the Topalov team, arrived on Saturday to help his master

Lev Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik debate their moves with a chessboard

Vishy Anand and Sergey Karjakin discuss their round seven games in the corridor

We keep telling you: it's the orange juice! Carlsen defeats Topalov in the blindfold

Kramnik starts his blindfold game with a mysterious blue drink which would probably
provoke an immediate drug test in a FIDE event.

Laid back: Vassily Ivanchuk during his blindfold game in round eight

Alexander Morozevich, who is minus one after eight rounds

Oh the pain! Kamsky, also on minus one, suffering after a lost game

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN: Blindfold + Rapid The games of this event are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games.