The Week in Chess

Fabiano Caruana's winning streak will most likely end at some point in the Sinquefield Cup but it wasn't at the start of the second half. Caruana's preparation was far superior to Topalov's and in a sharp Sicilian this meant big trouble for the Bulgarian. Topalov was left with a very difficult position after the opening and his position was ripped apart. As the other games were drawn this leaves Caruana 3 points clear with just 4 rounds to go, even if he were to lose his remaining games this is likely to be a winning total.

Veselin Topalov was involved in two of the most frequently mentioned winning streaks at the start of events and he rates this one above those. Topalov himself started with 6.5/7 in San Luis in 2005 but pointed out a couple of the players weren't in good shape. Topalov beat Leko, drew with Anand from a winning position, then beat Morozevich, Adams, Svidler, Polgar and Kasimdzhanov before drawing out the 2nd half for victory. He seemed to rate Anatoly Karpov's 6/6 at the start of Linares 1994 more highly where he beat Lautier, Bareev (he dropped a rook in an inexplicable way), Illescas, Topalov, Ivanchuk and Polgar before Kasparov draw in Round 7.

Garry Kasparov's major winning streak came in Wijk aan Zee 1999. After a first round draw with Ivanchuk he beat Van Wely, Yermolinsky, Topalov, Reinderman, Piket, Shirov and Kasimdzhanov, 7 games before being beaten by Ivan Sokolov.

If Caruana now goes on to take number one in the world from Carlsen and become World Champion this will no doubt be spoken in the same way as Magnus Carlsen's 8/10 in the Pearl Spring tournament of 2009 which effectively started his reign as number one, confirmed in the rating list just a few months later (Players: Topalov, that man again! Wang Yue, Radjabov, Leko and Jakovenko).

Carlsen admitted to being in a "foul mood" he said this was in frustration with his own form which he believes has seen three bad games with white and three decent ones with black. Carlsen looked a bit careworn as his own form hasn't been good of late and he truly believe he was just winning today (32.g5!? maybe) and failed to be accurate enough in an ending. Carlsen also has a career defining decision to make over whether he will play in Sochi against Anand or if his and his management's many objections to the venue and conditions will mean he will give up the title. Carlsen has had wins this year in Zurich and a triumph in the world rapid and blitz but he hasn't been impressive over all with a sub-par Norwegian Chess Tournament and a poor Olympiad, not just in result but even more in play. Carlsen's self-confidence resides in his belief he's the best player. How will he react to this challenge? He's been playing nothing like to the 2900+ level of recent years and his openings, especially with white and never his strong point seem in need of a huge amount of work.

Hikarua Nakamura and Levon Aronian drew a Berlin in the final game to finish but the opening was pretty dull and Nakamura played a risky Queen sortie only to retract it the following move to hold the draw.

Round 6 Standings: Caruana 6pts/6, Carlsen 3pts, Topalov, Vachier-Lagrave 2.5pts, Aronian and Nakamura 2pts.

Round 7 Vachier-Lagrave-Caruana, Carlsen-Nakamura, Topalov-Aronian.