Karjakin wins Norway 2013

Well Norway 2013 did not quite go according to script, with Sergey Karjakin finishing half a point ahead of tournament favourite Magnus Carlsen. Karjakin had a half point lead going into the final round, and kept that lead after his game against Topalov was drawn, while the Aronian - Carlsen game also ended in a draw. Joining Carlsen in second place was Hikaru Nakamura, who defeated Jon Ludwig Hammer in a nice final round game.
One thing that is now starting to look like a tradition was the moments of madness that occured in the last 2 rounds. Round 8 saw both Karjakin and Carlsen lose, while the last round saw World Champion Viswanathan Anand lose to Wang Hao. Despite finishing on 50% (and in 7th place) Hao beat the World No. 1 and the World Champion in successive rounds. The thing to note with this tournament was the number of decisive games, with 24 wins ahead of 21 draws. In part this was due to both Karjakin at the top (+5=2-2) and Hammer at the bottom (+1=1-7), but every player dropped at least 1 game. A rarity at this level.


Wang,Hao (2743) - Anand,Viswanathan (2783) [A34]
Supreme Masters 2013 Sandnes NOR (9.4), 18.05.2013