Shirov’s dream-tournament suddenly turns into a nightmare! Imagine it: You’re leading one of the strongest tournaments ever, with only two rounds to go, and you lose with white to one of the bottom guys…

Shirov was probably a little nervous in this important encounter, but Movsesian deserves credit for the way he defended himself against the world number four. Not to mention the Czech’s dazzling pyrotechnics at the end.

"Excuse me, Mr. Georgiev. Is this your head?" In his notes to this game, Kasparov tries to make it sound like a real struggle went on here, but all I saw was the Bulgarian getting his head handed to him. Maybe I need new glasses.

Morozevich tried to surprise his young adversary with the Evans Gambit, but the 17-year-old Frenchman had probably prepared for all sorts of crazy stuff prior to this encounter. You never really know what a guy like Morozevich is going to throw at you.

Bacrot equalised effortlessly in the opening, and he was probably better when he missed a fairly obvious exchange sacrifice that gave Morozevich a dangerous initiative.

Evans Gambit number two. I don’t know who was looking at whose board, but I find it hard to believe that both Short and Morozevich walked into the tournament hall intending to sac the b-pawn on move four. But never mind – it’s not like they were cheating on a test…

Anyway, Short got the same kind of "sub-optimal" position as Morozevich did. I was a bit surprised when Adams accepted his compatriot’s early peace-offering, since he was in no apparent danger…and in the running for first place.

Even though the queens got hosed off pretty early in this game, the players still managed to make a meal of it. I think Topalov may have been better at one point, but the position was so messy, it was hard to tell. In the end, the Bulgarian Ace had to suffer a little in a drawn ending.

This game could have become a real barn-burner had Sokolov  decided not to back down from Gurevich’s dare on move 17. Instead of grabbing the exchange, the Bosnian decided play it safe and offer a draw. Sokolov apparently feels he’s done enough fighting for one tournament.