TWIC is 30. First issue 17th September 1994.
FIDE Candidates Tournament 2018 (1)
Sharp start to the FIDE Candidates tournament in Berlin
Mark Crowther - Saturday 10th March 2018
Karjakin eventually lost to Mamedyarov in the final game of round 1 to finish. Photo © | https://worldchess.com/berlin/
The FIDE Candidates tournament in Berlin started with a very hard fought first round and three of the four games finished decisively. Candidates tournaments don't have to be cautious with lots of draws, hopefully this sets the tone.
Levon Aronian obtained the advantage against Ding Liren but decided to take a draw by repetition rather than win material at the expense of murky complications. Wesley So equalised out of the opening against Fabiano Caruana but soon invited a sharp position that turned out not to be in his favour and his position soon collapsed. Vladimir Kramnik beat Alexander Grischuk in a heavy-weight struggle where after some adventures he took a clear endgame advantage and converted it. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov ground down Sergey Karjakin in a long Queen and Pawn endgame where his practical chances of winning were good.
After the round there were various complaints about the venue from the players including noise. It will be interesting to see how these are resolved.
Round 2 pairings 2pm GMT 11th March 2018: Grischuk-So, Ding Liren-Caruana, Mamedyarov-Aronian, Kramnik-Karjakin
Round 1 Standings: Kramnik, Mamedyarov, Caruana 1pt. Ding Liren, Aronian 0.5pts. Grischuk, Karjakin, So 0pts
Candidates Berlin: Round 1
Fabiano Caruana scored a crushing win over Wesley So in 33 moves. The opening however went in So's favour and he was completely equal after 15 moves. So questioned if there was an alternative to 15...e5, there probably wasn't but if there was a move that started the trouble it was 18...Bxc5, instead 18...Nxc5 was a much safer alternative. Not that it was clear to the players that 18...Bxc5 was bad, Caruana thought some time over his 19.Ng5 being aware that he was risking a strong counter-attack. Caruana expected 23...Ra2 when the computer suggestion of 24.e6 may still be quite favourable for white, instead after 23...Ba6 black's position fell apart at an alarming rate. While So might have defended better I'm not sure he could save the game.
"Things went really bad real quick." Wesley So.
Levon Aronian played a very sharp variation of the English at high speed against Ding Liren with the aggressive 8.h4 surprising his opponent. The game became extremely complicated. According to the computer the move 18...Ba8! was equal and the played 18...Rd6 worse for black but it didn't seem so clear to Aronian that winning a piece after 19...Rb2 was good for him and he repeated to a draw. In practical terms this may well have been the right decision.
"He played h4 and I sank into shock" Ding Liren.
Vladimir Kramnik won a very difficult game against Alexander Grischuk. Kramnik's 3.b3 was a move order trick to reach a known setup. 18.Ng5 started a complex phase where Grischuk's Rook pointed at white's king but was also in danger of being trapped. Kramnik felt he was winning around move 25 but he couldn't find the winning blow (26.g4 might have been it but it looks risky). Kramnik won the exchange and then returned it for a very dangerous edge in the endgame 38...Rb8 was perhaps the decisive error (38...Ne6!?) and in practical terms the game was almost over at first time control. 42.Rb2 and grabbing on f2 was perhaps the final chance to resist but most likely there was simply no way to stop white's a-pawns.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won the final game to finish against Sergey Karjakin. Mamedyarov at least equalised out of the opening and in the major piece middle game/endgame he was the one pushing. With 28. Rb5 Mamedyarov forced Karjakin into a nasty Queen endgame. Mamedyarov had an outside passed pawn and a slightly safer king. Karjakin had reasonable saving chances but it was difficult for both players to work out the variations. Even near the end 58.f4 was a saving move for Karjakin, after he chose 58.Kg3, which must have been played with a heavy heart, Karjakin had no more chances.
| FIDE Candidates 2018 Berlin GER (GER), 10-28 iii 2018 | cat. XXII (2786) | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |||||||||||||||
| 1. | Kramnik, Vladimir | g | RUS | 2800 | * | * | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | |
| 2. | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | g | AZE | 2809 | . | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | . | 1 | |
| 3. | Caruana, Fabiano | g | USA | 2784 | . | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | 1 | |
| 4. | Ding, Liren | g | CHN | 2769 | . | . | . | . | . | . | * | * | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | 2794 |
| 5. | Aronian, Levon | g | ARM | 2794 | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | . | . | ½ | 2769 |
| 6. | Grischuk, Alexander | g | RUS | 2767 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | . | . | 0 | |
| 7. | Karjakin, Sergey | g | RUS | 2763 | . | . | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | * | * | . | . | 0 | |
| 8. | So, Wesley | g | USA | 2799 | . | . | . | . | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | * | * | 0 | |
| Round 1 (March 10, 2018) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kramnik, Vladimir | - Grischuk, Alexander | 1-0 | 48 | A48 | King's Indian Defence /c2-c4 | |
| Caruana, Fabiano | - So, Wesley | 1-0 | 33 | E00 | Catalan | |
| Aronian, Levon | - Ding, Liren | ½-½ | 22 | A18 | English Opening | |
| Karjakin, Sergey | - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | 0-1 | 71 | C60 | Ruy Lopez | |
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