TWIC is 29. First issue 17th September 1994.
FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament 2020 (1)
FIDE World Chess Championship Candidates start in defiance of the Coronavirus crisis
Mark Crowther - Tuesday 17th March 2020
Ian Nepomniachtchi shares the lead with Wang Hao after the first round of the Candidates. Photo © | http://en.candidates-2020.com/main
The first round of the FIDE World Chess Championship Candidates tournament got under way in Yekaterinburg, Russia on Tuesday the 17th March 2020. As Caruana put it, this is "one of the last sporting events in the world not to have been cancelled. We'll see if it's the right decision at the end of the tournament."
The players are under strict medical supervision and testing, they barely have to interact with anyone, perhaps they will be safer playing than they would be at home. Teimour Radjabov questioned whether the event should take place at all during the current crisis, a question that ultimately cost him his place in this tournament, I'm not at all sure it would have gone ahead if the organisers had known a few weeks ago what we know now. I know my opinion has changed. Even if the event is concluded without incident it's very unclear when the winner will be able to play the champion Magnus Carlsen. But the event is on, the players seem mostly subdued but determined, and chess fans can perhaps be thankful for the distraction.
The first round saw Fabiano Caruana put Maxime Vachier-Lagrave under pressure but he couldn't find anything substantial and the game finished in a draw. Alexander Grischuk let a very good position drift away to a draw in time trouble against Kirill Alekseenko. Ding Liren over pressed against Wang Hao, even after he did he missed a late chance to hold. Anish Giri set a difficult opening problem for Ian Nepomniachtchi but when his opponent reacted well Giri, by his own admission, played poorly and went down to a loss in 73 moves in the final game to finish.
Round 1 Standings: 1st= Nepomniachtchi, Wang Hao 1pt, 3rd= Caruana, Grischuk, MVL, Alekseenko 0.5pts 7th= Ding Liren, Giri 0pts.
Round 2 18th March 2020 11am GMT: Caruana-Alekseenko, Nepomniachtchi-Grischuk, Wang Hao-Giri, MVL-Ding Liren.
Candidates Round 1 17th March 2020
Giri vs Nepomniachtchi Round 1 Candidates. Photo © https://en.candidates-2020.com/main.
Anish Giri's opening erudition is rightly respected and today he set Ian Nepomniachtchi a very interesting problem in the Symmetrical English with 12.Rc1. Nepomniachtchi's 12...d5 was a novelty, albeit one expected by Giri, but the highly pragmatic 19...b4 was only given a cursory glance by Giri who had expected a pawn grab instead. After that Giri was gradually outplayed, 24.Qd3?! seemed imprecise and perhaps also 29.Bxc4 and 30.Qb3 were inaccurate. Giri ended up having to give up his Queen for Rook and Bishop, both players thought this endgame should be drawn, but Giri couldn't hold it and lost in 73 moves.
Grischuk vs Alekseenko Round 1 Candidates. Photo © https://en.candidates-2020.com/main.
Alexander Grischuk built up a big advantage against Kirill Alekseenko although it is perhaps hard to point to a clear cut win for him. Grischuk's advantage disappeared in time trouble after Alekseenko found complications starting with 29...a6!? which were enough to secure equality by move 40.
Ding Liren vs Wang Hao Round 1 Candidates. Photo © https://en.candidates-2020.com/main.
One of the pre-event favourites Ding Liren went down to a loss with the white pieces against fellow countryman Wang Hao. Ding had a nice edge, but perhaps nothing more, before becoming a little too aggressive with 30.f4? The situation remained complicated and Wang Hao gave Ding one chance to equalise had he found 40.d4, instead the move 40.Rdd2 was played and the game finished quickly in Wang Hao's favour on move 45.
Vachier-Lagrave vs Caruana Candidates Round 1. Photo © https://en.candidates-2020.com/main.
Pre tournament favourite Fabiano Caruana played a very sharp Ruy Lopez Archangel variation with black against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, a variation he played just recently in January in Wijk aan Zee. MVL admitted to feeling very uncomfortable and worried during the game but he was equal to the task and the game was drawn on move 44. Caruana said his 32...Ng5 didn't feel right but he couldn't find anything better, the computers suggest 32...Rd8 as being slightly superior, nothing that would have immediately changed the result of the game though.
Equipment by the side of the board. Photo © https://en.candidates-2020.com/main.
Instead of the normal clutter of drinks bottles it is hand wipes, tissues and gels that take pride of place by the board. The Coronavirus crisis cannot be forgotten during this event.
| FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg RUS (RUS), 15 iii-5 iv 2020 | cat. XXI (2774) | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |||||||||||||||
| 1. | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | g | RUS | 2774 | * | * | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | 1 | |
| 2. | Wang, Hao | g | CHN | 2762 | . | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | . | 1 | |
| 3. | Caruana, Fabiano | g | USA | 2842 | . | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | 2767 |
| 4. | Grischuk, Alexander | g | RUS | 2777 | . | . | . | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | 2698 |
| 5. | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | g | FRA | 2767 | . | . | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | 2842 |
| 6. | Alekseenko, Kirill | g | RUS | 2698 | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | ½ | 2777 |
| 7. | Ding, Liren | g | CHN | 2805 | . | . | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | 0 | |
| 8. | Giri, Anish | g | NED | 2763 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | * | * | 0 | |
| Round 1 (March 17, 2020) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grischuk, Alexander | - Alekseenko, Kirill | ½-½ | 41 | A20 | English Opening | |
| Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | - Caruana, Fabiano | ½-½ | 44 | C78 | Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence | |
| Ding, Liren | - Wang, Hao | 0-1 | 45 | A20 | English Opening | |
| Giri, Anish | - Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 0-1 | 73 | A33 | English Symmetrical | |
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