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Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament is underway in the French city of Nice. The Armenian GM Levon Aronian won against Sergey Karjakin in Round 1 of the rapid, while lost to him in the blindfold game. In Round 2 Norwegian Magnus Carlsen defeated Aronian both in the rapid and blindfold games. By now, in the blindfold Aronian has scored 0 and shares 11-12 horizontals with Leinier Dominguez. In the rapid tournament Aronian has 1 point and runs 8th.

After Round 2, Vassily Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponomariov lead with 3 points. Peter Svidler and Vladimir Kramnik follow with 2,5 points.

Blindfold

Round 1: Sergey Karjakin – Levon Aronian 1:0

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O a6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. d4 exd4 8. Nxd4 Bd7 9. Qf3 c5 10. Nf5 Bxf5 11. exf5 Rb8 12. g4 h6 13. h4 Be7 14. g5 hxg5 15. hxg5 Nh7 16. Re1 O-O 17. g6 fxg6 18. Qd5+ Kh8 19. fxg6 Bg5 20. Qh1 Bh4 21. Re4 Qf6 22. Qxh4 Qxg6+ 23. Qg4 Qf6 24. Qg3 d5 25. Rf4 Qe6 26. Nc3 Rxf4 27. Bxf4 Rb4 28. a3 Rc4 29. b3 Rd4 30. Qe3 Qg4+ 31. Bg3 Ng5 32. Kf1 Qh3+ 33. Ke2 Ne4 34. Re1 Qh5+ 35. Kf1 Qh1+ 36. Ke2 Nxc3+ 37. Qxc3 Re4+ 38. Kd1 Rxe1+ 39. Qxe1 Qf3+ 40. Qe2 Qh1+ 41. Kd2 d4 42. Qxa6 1:0.

Round 2: Levon Aronian - Magnus Carlsen 0:1

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. Ne1 Nd7 10. Nd3 f5 11. Bd2 Nf6 12. f3 Kh8 13. g4 c6 14. Kg2 b5 15. b3 a5 16. Nf2 b4 17. Na4 Bb7 18. Rc1 fxe4 19. fxe4 cxd5 20. exd5 Nexd5 21. cxd5 Nxd5 22. Kg1 e4 23. Nxe4 Bd4+ 24. Rf2 Rxf2 25. Nxf2 Qh4 26. Qe1 Rf8 27. Bf3 Rxf3 28. Qe4 Qxf2+ 0:1.

Rapid

Round 1: Levon Aronian –Sergey Karjakin 1:0

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4 Nbd7 9. a3 cxd4 10. axb4 dxc3 11. bxc3 Qc7 12. Be2 Nd5 13. Ba3 Qxc3 14. Qb1 Qf6 15. Bd3 h6 16. b5 Rd8 17. Bb2 Qe7 18. Ra4 b6 19. Bh7+ Kh8 20. Rh4 N7f6 21. Ne5 Bd7 22. Ba3 Qe8 23. Bd3 Rac8 24. Qb2 Kg8 25. h3 Rc3 26. Rd1 Rdc8 27. Rd4 Rxd3 28. R1xd3 Bxb5 29. Rd2 a6 30. Ng4 Nxg4 31. Rxg4 f6 32. Rxd5 exd5 33. Qxf6 Qd7 34. Rxg7+ Qxg7 35. Qe6+ Kh7 36. Qf5+ Qg6 37. Qxc8 Qc6 38. Qd8 Qe6 39. Bb2 a5 40. Qh8+ Kg6 41. Qg7+ Kf5 42. Qg4+ 1:0.

Round 2: Magnus Carlsen - Levon Aronian 1:0

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bd6 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 Re8 7. Re1 a6 8. Bc4 Na5 9. a3 Nxc4 10. dxc4 h6 11. h3 Bc5 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Rxe3 d6 14. Qd2 Be6 15. b3 Nd7 16. Rd1 Rf8 17. Qe2 b6 18. Ne1 Nc5 19. Nd3 Nxd3 20. cxd3 b5 21. d4 exd4 22. Rxd4 bxc4 23. bxc4 Qf6 24. Rd1 Rab8 25. Nd5 Bxd5 26. cxd5 Rb2 27. Qf3 Qxf3 28. Rxf3 Re2 29. Rd4 Rc2 30. Ra4 Ra8 31. g4 c5 32. dxc6 Rxc6 33. Rb4 Rac8 34. Rd3 Rc3 35. Rbd4 R8c4 36. Rxc4 Rxd3 37. Ra4 Rxh3 38. Rxa6 g6 39. Kg2 Rd3 40. a4 Ra3 41. f3 Kg7 42. Kg3 Ra2 43. a5 Ra3 44. Ra8 Kf6 45. a6 Ke7 46. a7 Ra2 47. f4 Ra3+ 48. Kf2 Kf6 49. Ke2 Kg7 50. Kd2 h5 51. g5 h4 52. Ke2 h3 53. Kf2 Ra2+ 54. Kg1 Rg2+ 55. Kh1 Ra2 56. f5 Kh7 57. f6 h2 58. Rf8 Rxa7 59. Kxh2 Rb7 60. Kg3 Ra7 61. Kf4 Rb7 62. Ke3 Ra7 63. Kd4 Rc7 64. Re8 Ra7 65. Kd5 Ra5+ 66. Kxd6 Ra6+ 67. Ke7 Ra7+ 68. Kf8 1:0.