Well, I guess Magnus will be okay after all. Magnus Carlsen -- once against the world's #1-rated player -- scored an impressive victory in the Nanjing Pearl Spring Tournament, finishing at 7/10 to take first place by a full point over World Champion Viswanathan Anand. Carlsen won four games without losing any, including two victories over the struggling Veselin Topalov.
Topalov has struggled mightily lately, and has seen his rating fall to "only" 2774 in the live rating list, putting him in 5th position -- which I believe is his lowest world ranking in several years. In the final round, he lost to Carlsen with the White pieces after falling for a fairly simple trap. According to a report by ChessBase, Carlsen said after the game that he actually suspected Topalov might fall into it, which might be a sign that Topalov's peers recognize that he's in poor form at the moment.
For those who love to follow along with elite chess events, the next one on the horizon appears to be the London Chess Classic, which will take place in early December. The 2nd annual Classic has another great field; Anand and Carlsen will both be there, as will Vladmir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura, and four top English grandmasters: Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Luke McShane and David Howell.
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