Fabiano Caruana sole leader of Tata Steel after R4

Fabiano Caruana is the sole leader of the 2016 Tata Steel tournament. After four rounds, the Italian / US grandmaster has collected 3,0/4. This is half a point more than the chasing pack – Wesley So, Sergey Karjakin, Yifan Hou, Ding Liren, and Pavel Eljanov.

Caruana was close to scoring his third victory in Tata Steel against the local hero Anish Giri with black. A possible continuation 55… Rd6 56. Ra8 e3 57. Re8 Kf3 59. Rf8+ Ke4 60. Rf1 e2 61. Re1 Kf3 or the alternative could have sealed a full point, but the game ended in a draw (replay the game here).

The lucky escape of Anish Giri does not improve much the situation for the local players. Giri is shared 13th with 1,5/4, while Van Wely lost his game today against Eljanov and is last with 1,0/4.

The top seeded player in the event – World Champion Magnus Carlsen – shook hands with Shakhryar Mamedyarov for a fourth consecutive draw. The Norwegian is currently 7th with 2,0/4, the same points as Chinese prodigy Wei Yi.

Victorious today were Sergey Karjakin, Yifan Hou, and Pavel Eljanov, all now at shared second.