Carlsen goes ham

After a shaky start Magnus Carlsen has exploded at the 2015 Tata Steel tournament, winning 5 games in a row to lead the field with 6/8. Probably his most significant win was against Fabiano Caruana, in round 6. After Caruana's stellar performance in the 2014 Sinquefeld Cup, the Carlsen - Caruana rivalry became well established, but with this latest victory, Carlsen can claim to hold the edge.
In the Challengers event, young Australian IM Ari Dale is having the opposite experience to Carlsen, with a run of 5 losses. Nonetheless, the strength of this event is so great (compared to Dale's rating), that 1.5/8 still has him gaining rating points.


Caruana,Fabiano (2820) - Carlsen,Magnus (2862) [B31]
TataSteelChess2015 Wijk aan Zee (6.4), 16.01.2015

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 Nf6 7. Nc3 b6 8. Be3 e5 9. O-O O-O 10. a3 Qe7 11. Qb1 Nh5 12. b4 f5 13. bxc5 f4 14. Bd2 bxc5 15. Qb3+ Be6 16. Qa4 Rac8 17. Qa5 g5 18. Na4 g4 19. hxg4 Bxg4 20. Qxc5 Qf6 21. Nh2 f3 22. Nxg4 Qg6 23. Qe7 fxg2 24. Rfb1 Qxg4 25. Qg5 Qe2 26. Qe3 Qg4 27. Qg5 Qxg5 28. Bxg5 Nf4 29. Bxf4 exf4 30. Kxg2 f3+ 31. Kf1 Rf4 32. c3 Rd8 33. d4 Bh6 34. Ke1 Rxe4+ 35. Kd1 c5 36. Kc2 cxd4 37. Kd3 Re2 38. c4 Rxf2 39. Rd1 Re2 0-1