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FIDE Candidates Tournament 2018 (11)

Karjakin beats Aronian to move within a point of Caruana after Candidates Round 11

Levon Aronian looked and sounded drained at his press conference with Sergey Karjakin. Photo ©

Levon Aronian looked and sounded drained at his press conference with Sergey Karjakin. Photo © | https://worldchess.com/berlin/

The FIDE Candidates is heading for a photo finish as leader Fabiano Caruana drew yet again and his round 12 opponent Sergey Karjakin moved within striking distance of the lead alongside Alexander Grischuk. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is sandwiched between them just half a point behind Caruana.

Caruana was faced with the very striking 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 c6 4. e4 dxe4 5. Nxe4 c5!! by Vladimir Kramnik. This move isn't quite new but it is at the top level and after 11.Bd2 Kramnik was slightly for choice in a complicated position. The game was interesting for a while but after 33...Rxc1, exchanging rooks, a draw was almost inevitable and was agreed to on move 40.

Sergey Karjakin beat a clearly dispirited Levon Aronian with black. Aronian played for the advantage but didn't get much, there was dynamic equality for a long time until Aronian mistakenly gave up the a-pawn (42.a5 was still fine) and after that he was always struggling and lost in 74 moves.

Ding Liren has drawn all his games so far but today against Alexander Grischuk he was completely winning with many options. Grischuk found the amazing 29.Nc1 in time trouble and dragged Ding into clock problems too with the complications. For one move computers said Grischuk was level, after 38.Bd4? Ned3 was equal, Grischuk's 38...Nxh3+ should have led to a loss but after first time control Ding's play didn't seem to recover from all the drama. 42.Bxe5 caused more problems than it created and gradually Ding lost most of his advantage and had to settle for a draw. A fantastic defensive effort from Grischuk but nonetheless Ding really should have converted his advantage .

Wesley So played very solidly as white against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and a draw was agreed on move 41.

Round 11 standings: 1st Caruana 7pts, 2nd Mamedyarov 6.5pts, 3rd Karjakin 6pts, 4th Grischuk 6pts, 5th Ding Liren 5.5pts, 6th Kramnik 5pts, 7th Wesley So 4.5pts, 8th Aronian 3.5pts

Round 12 pairings Saturday 24th March 2pm GMT: Grischuk-Aronian, Karjakin-Caruana, Kramnik-Wesley So, Mamedyarov-Ding Liren

FIDE Candidates 2018 Berlin GER (GER), 10-28 iii 2018 cat. XXII (2786)
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  
1. Caruana, Fabiano g USA 2784 * * ½ ½ ½ . ½ . ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 . 7 2890
2. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2809 ½ ½ * * ½ . 1 ½ ½ . 1 . ½ ½ ½ ½ 2848
3. Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2767 ½ . ½ . * * ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ ½ . 6 2822
4. Karjakin, Sergey g RUS 2763 ½ . 0 ½ ½ ½ * * ½ . ½ 1 1 . 0 1 6 2826
5. Ding, Liren g CHN 2769 ½ ½ ½ . ½ ½ ½ . * * ½ . ½ ½ ½ ½ 2787
6. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2800 0 ½ 0 . 1 0 ½ 0 ½ . * * ½ . 1 1 5 2745
7. So, Wesley g USA 2799 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 . ½ ½ ½ . * * 1 . 2718
8. Aronian, Levon g ARM 2794 0 . ½ ½ ½ . 1 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 . * * 2651
Round 11 (March 23, 2018)
Caruana, Fabiano - Kramnik, Vladimir ½-½ 40 D31 Semi-Slav Defence
Ding, Liren - Grischuk, Alexander ½-½ 96 A35 English Symmetrical
So, Wesley - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar ½-½ 41 E06 Catalan
Aronian, Levon - Karjakin, Sergey 0-1 74 A13 Reti Opening

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