TWIC is 29. First issue 17th September 1994.
FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament 2020 (2)
Four lead the FIDE Candidates on 1.5/2
Mark Crowther - Wednesday 18th March 2020
Fabiano Caruana moves into the joint lead after two rounds. Photo © | https://en.candidates-2020.com/main
The FIDE Candidates has got off to a decisive start with half the games being decisive in the first two rounds. There are four leaders on 1.5/2; Fabiano Caruana, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Wang Hao.
Fabiano Caruana had a fairly smooth win against Kirill Alekseenko. Caruana, as white, chose a sharp variation of the f3 Nimzo-Indian which he hadn't played before and he just seemed better prepared, Alekseenko soon had to give up material and in time trouble his position collapsed. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also scored his first win beating Ding Liren in an Anti-Marshall where Ding's 14...c5 followed by 15...f5 seems to be just bad, certainly after 18.c4! white has a large advantage and after the desperate 19...g5 black's position was busted. Wang Hao was close to winning against Anish Giri at first time control having an extra pawn but his technique let him down and he had to settle for a draw. Ian Nepomniachtchi took on Alexander Grischuk's Berlin Defence with a novel idea that didn't turn out well. Grischuk berated himself for falling asleep for an hour and thus not having the time to try and exploit his advantage.
Round 2 standings: 1st-4th Caruana, Nepomniachtchi, Vachier-Lagrave, Wang Hao 1.5pts, 5th Grischuk 1pts, 6th-7th Giri, Alekseenko 0.5pts, 8th Ding Liren 0pts.
Round 3 19th March 2020 11am GMT Ding Liren-Caruana, Giri-Vachier-Lagrave, Grischuk-Wang Hao, Alekseenko-Nepomniachtchi
FIDE Candidates Round 2 18th March 2020
Fabiano Caruana vs Kirill Alekseenko Round 2 Candidates. Photo © https://en.candidates-2020.com/main.
Fabiano Caruana started as favourite for the event and has played well so far. Today he got a good position direct from the opening and pushed home his advantage against Kirill Alekseenko. If Caruana can avoid time trouble like he did today he will definitely be the man to beat. Today Caruana chose the sharp f3 variation of Nimzo Indian with white and it just seemed like he knew the details better, after 13.d6 Alekseenko got into trouble both on the board and the clock (making time control by seconds at one point) 15...Re6?! (15...Rb8) and 23...Bxd6 (23...Nf6) seemed to be the two errors that eventually led to a loss.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs Ding Liren Round 2 Candidates. Photo © https://en.candidates-2020.com/main.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also looks to have started the event in good form in contrast to Ding Liren who was perhaps second favourite going into the event but looks completely out of sorts. Today in an opening he knows well as black, the Ruy Lopez Anti-Marshall, Ding seemed to choose completely the wrong plan with 14....c5 and 15....f5 and was soon in just desperate trouble he couldn't get out of.
Wang Hao vs Giri Round 2 Candidates. Photo © https://en.candidates-2020.com/main.
At one stage it looked like Wang Hao was going to be sole leader on 2/2 relegating Anish Giri to joint last place on 0 points. Giri won the opening battle as black in the English and Wang Hao admitted such after the game but after 12.Qc1 the move 12...a6 was poor leaving white a tiny bit better, later it wasn't even Giri's queen side pawn pushes that were problematic but that he stopped, once Giri lost a pawn white was objectively winning but Wang Hao drifted and the game was drawn by repetition on move 61.
Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Alexander Grischuk Round 2 Candidates. Photo © https://en.candidates-2020.com/main.
Ian Nepomniachtchi took on Alexander Grischuk's Ruy Lopez Berlin Defence and he got less than nothing with his 18.Rb1 with the idea of targeting the Queen side but later Nepomniachtchi admitted he drifted into trouble but Grischuk had used too much time to take advantage of it. It seems the Grischuk's time trouble is going to be a constant factor in this event and most likely will rule him out of a battle for first place.
| FIDE Candidates 2020 Yekaterinburg RUS (RUS), 15 iii-5 iv 2020 | cat. XXI (2774) | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |||||||||||||||
| 1. | Caruana, Fabiano | g | USA | 2842 | * | * | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | . | 1½ | 2925 |
| 2. | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | g | RUS | 2774 | . | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | ½ | . | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | 1½ | 2963 |
| 3. | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | g | FRA | 2767 | ½ | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | 1½ | 3016 |
| 4. | Wang, Hao | g | CHN | 2762 | . | . | . | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | 1 | . | 1½ | 2977 |
| 5. | Grischuk, Alexander | g | RUS | 2777 | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | 1 | 2736 |
| 6. | Giri, Anish | g | NED | 2763 | . | . | 0 | . | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | ½ | 2575 |
| 7. | Alekseenko, Kirill | g | RUS | 2698 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | ½ | 2616 |
| 8. | Ding, Liren | g | CHN | 2805 | . | . | . | . | 0 | . | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | * | * | 0 | |
| Round 2 (March 18, 2020) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caruana, Fabiano | - Alekseenko, Kirill | 1-0 | 34 | E20 | Nimzo Indian | |
| Nepomniachtchi, Ian | - Grischuk, Alexander | ½-½ | 40 | C67 | Ruy Lopez Berlin | |
| Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | - Ding, Liren | 1-0 | 37 | C88 | Ruy Lopez Closed | |
| Wang, Hao | - Giri, Anish | ½-½ | 61 | A37 | English Symmetrical | |
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