The Week in Chess

Vladimir Kramnik scored a very impressive victory against Levon Aronian in the third round of the FIDE Candidates tournament in Berlin. Aronian's attempt to surprise Kramnik with 1.e4, a move he hardly ever uses, completely backfired. Kramnik had the opportunity to play a 2 year old idea (7...Rg8!) that left him at least equal and with huge attacking chances. Kramnik couldn't remember much of the precise detail, only that 8...Nh5 was interesting. Aronian didn't react at all well to this dangerous situation starting with 9.c3 (9.Nc3 was certainly stronger) and he kept missing key moves of his opponent, for instance 14...Qe7! and 18....f5!. In contrast Kramnik was thoroughly enjoying himself and also playing the best moves, sweeping Aronian aside in just 27 moves. Kramnik has started with 2.5/3, there's a long way to go, but no-one has looked better so far. Aronian seems unsettled and this loss will have been extremely painful.

Fabiano Caruana and Shakhriyar drew a very sharp and complicated Sicilian Najdorf. Mamedyarov took the very risky decision to grab a pawn with 22...Qxh2? which computers say could have been more or less refuted by 29.Rde1. After Caruana's alternative 29.Nf7+ Mamedyarov had to give up the exchange but fought his way back to equality at move 40. The game continued to be tricky but was agreed drawn on move 49. They are still tied in second place half a point behind Kramnik.

After losing his first two games Wesley So didn't seem in the mood for for a third against Ding Liren. The Marshall was played, and So played solidly as white and they drew in 37 moves. Alexander Grischuk equalised quickly with black against Sergey Karjakin and the game was drawn on move 30.

Round 3 Standings: 1st Kramnik 2.5pts, 2nd Mamedyarov, Caruana 2pts, 4th Ding Liren, Grischuk 1.5pts, 6th Karjakin, Aronian 1pt, 8th Wesley So 0.5pts

Tuesday 13th March 2018 REST DAY.

Round 4 Pairings 2pm GMT Wednesday 14th March 2018. Grischuk-Ding Liren, Mamedyarov-Wesley So, Kramnik-Caruana, Karjakin-Aronian.