While World Champion Magnus Carlsen had a terrible first day at the Leuven Leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2016, he once again justified his top billing by staging one of the better comebacks one will ever witness. Carlsen, who took off slowly with only four points on the first day out of a possible ten, won all the four games on the second day, not only taking his tally to 12/18 but also emerging as the leader at the end of the rapid section.
So Wesley, who is unbeaten as yet, finished a close second, scoring 11/18.
Meanwhile, Day One leader Vishy Anand had a rough finish to the rapid event. After having won the first game of the second day against the super-solid Anish Giri, Anand lost his way, losing two games on the trot to Kramnik and Carlsen. A draw in the final round of the rapid event saw the Madras Tiger finish joint third Levon Aronian.
The 10 players will now battle it out in a blitz tournament, which will be played over the course of the next two days. The winner will be adjudged taking into account the points scored from the rapid tournament as well as the blitz event.