MOSCOW, January 23, Oleg Bogatov. World champion Magnus Carlsen takes the lead of the elite tournament in Wijk aan Zee (Netherlands), but it is still premature to call the Norwegian a clear contender for the final victory, said Sergey Smagin, vice president of the Moscow Chess Federation (FCM). Carlsen won two games in a row and scored five points out of seven. Azerbaijani Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is half a point behind, Indian Santosh Vidit, Netherlands Anish Giri, Hungarian Richard Rapport and Russian Andrey Esipenko scored four points. «To give him credit, Magnus has the highest athletic qualities of any chess player. He knows how to adapt to a specific opponent at the right time and impose an uncomfortable nature of the struggle. Even if not in the best shape, he can achieve excellent results. He is in the lead, but he still has a lot to play difficult games: with Mamedyarov, (Russian) Sergey Karyakin (3.5), (American) Fabiano Caruana (3.5). I would not be in a hurry to say that he is already guaranteed first place. «The agency's interlocutor also appreciated the performance of Esipenko and Karyakin .»Sergey improved his business a bit, having won at the expense of the class (over the Dutchman Jorden van Forest), — the grandmaster noted. — On the whole, he plays at the level at which he lately we have become accustomed to seeing him. Andrei looks attractive and has a chance of a good result. He shows a solid game, but he lacks, perhaps, some kind of trick. Somewhere he misses and scatters promising positions a little. I think that he will claim a high place, at least a prize. The competition with the participation of 14 grandmasters will end on January 30th.
