English hopes fade after Luke McShane spoils winning position in the fifth round against the world No 2 CaruanaThree rounds from the end of the $430,000 Fide/Chess.com Isle of Man event, chances of a bunch finish were growing as just half a point covered the leading 13 contenders, among them the world champion, Magnus Carlsen, and the world No 2, Fabiano Caruana.
Top pairings in round nine (of 11) on Saturday are Levon Aronian (Armenia) v David Anton (Spain) and Carlsen (Norway) v Caruana (US). Anton, Aronian and Caruana are joint leaders with 6/8, followed by Carlsen and nine others on 5.5/8. The upset of Friday’s eighth round was a crushing 24-move victory by Anton over the world-ranked
Russian Alexander Grischuk, whose king was fatally exposed on an open board. Anton, 24, is ranked only No 52 in the world in the live ratings, but now takes on three of the top 10 elite.