 The attention in the eighth round was centred on the match between the top two seeds and tournament leaders after seven rounds Russia and the United States that ended 2–2.After about an hour of play, it was clear that the game between Hikaru Nakamura and Vladimir Kramnik on the second board was heading to a draw as Nakamura did not manage to get an opening advantage in a game with a solid Queen's Gambit Declined for Black.Kramnik, however, continued playing in a drawn position until the draw was agreed after 42 moves.