When Vassily Ivanchuk appeared in the playing hall for his round 5 game against Magnus Carlsen, almost all participants of the Tal Memorial couldn’t resist a smile.
When he is asked about his mask – if he was afraid to catch the virus from Magnus (he is ill from the beginning of the tourrnament). Ivanchuk answers that “Well, yeah… I was kinda told that Aronian got ill after the game against him… So I decided… In any case.”
With his last round win, Magnus Carlsen takes the #1 spot on live rating list. He already briefly held that position in 2008.
Whether he will officially become #1 at the end of the year when official FIDE list is published, depends on his result in London Chess Classic in December. I'm not sure if Topalov is scheduled to play in any event.
Tal Memorial was deservingly won by Kramnik who's play reminded of the "old" Kramnik in the 1990's, before he became "Drawnik"
