Radjabov gives Carlsen a scare before settling for draw

The impossible,a Magnus Carlsen defeat,almost came to pass in round seven of the Candidates tournament in London.

Playing black,Teimour Radjabov pushed the Norwegian all the way and was in line to inflict on the World No. 1 a first defeat in more than 18 months before missing the thread in a complex struggle. Radjabov elected to draw the game by repeating moves after the chance had gone by.

Levon Aronian,who leads the tournament with Carlsen,couldnt take advantage when his own chances for a win petered out against Alexander Grischuk. In fact,round seven did not provide decisive results over any of the four boards as Carlsen and Aronian still continue to lead the field by a healthy 1.5 points.

The results may have all been draws,but there was no shortage of exciting chess as the tournament reached the half way point. Vladimir Kramnik,for whom the clock will start ticking if he doesnt narrow the gap with the leaders soon,played like he was aware of it,striving hard against Boris Gelfand in the Nimzo Indian and almost paying for it. His blunder in the middle game was however replied for in kind as Gelfand committed one of his own and the game ended in a draw.

Peter Svidler,who is in third place,had a minor advantage against last-placed Vassily Ivanchuk in the Scotch game,but lacked the technique to convert the pawn advantage on his queen side to a winning ending.

Aronian too wasted his turn with the white pieces as Grischuks Queens Indian held firm. White threatened the isolated pawn on the queen side and as black committed more and more of its resources to the defense,Aronian could theoretically have moved his attack elsewhere and gone into a rook ending a pawn-up. However the engines suggestion for the continuation remained unexplored in the draw.

The most exciting game of the round was the Sicilian between Carlsen white and Radjabov. The opening gave way to an unbalanced middle game,with the positional play of the Norwegian being met with the aggression of the World No. 4. Black had isolated-doubled pawns with c5 being a particular weakness.

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However,he had more control of the center and a possible king-side attack going. Blacks pawn penetrated deep into the opposition territory and so did Radjabovs knight,but with the final blow waiting to be made,Radjabovs pawn move liquidated the position and a further mistake allowed Carlsens queen to come rushing back to defend the exposed king. Almost as if in disappointment at having the win slip by,Radjabov agreed to a draw when he could still have pushed on.

Results,round seven: Boris Gelfand 2.5 drew with Vladimir Kramnik 3.5; Levon Aronian 4.5 drew with Alexander Grischuk 3; Magnus Carlsen 4.5 drew with Teimour Radjabov 3; Vassily Ivanchuk 2.5 drew with Peter Svidler 3.5