The opening round of the candidates tournament was an exciting
one.GM Fabiano Caruana (left) -here in action in Dortmund 2015-
won a nice game as white against countryman GM Wesley So.
Caruana was white in a Bb4+ variation in the Catalan defence.
So never managed to stop Caruana building up initaitive in the
centre and on the King side, and after 33 moves black resigned in
view of an unstoppable mating attack.A perfect start for Caruana.
In the game Karjakin-Mamedyarov black established a free pawn
in the b-file.In the resulting Queen endgame the players made
mistakes, but in the end Mamedyarov could decide the game.
A great start for the Azeri player.
The third player to raise his hands in the air was Kramnik. The
Russian exworldchampion won a hard fought game against his
countryman Grischuk. Kramnik got a pleasant advantage in the
middle game. Grischuk gave an Exchange. Kramnik later gave
it back, having a free a-pawn as a triumph. After 48 moves Grischuk
resigned. Then Kramnik`s active pieces and a-pawn was deciding.
A super start for Kramnik.
The last game between Aronian and Liren ended in a draw. Aronian
could have gotten a winning advantage With 19.Rb2, but instead
went for repetition with 19.Rb1 and Rb5. A disappointing start for
the Armenian.
The 2nd round will be played Sunday 15.00. The games are
Kramnik-Karjakin, Mamedyarov-Aronian, Liren-Caruana and Grischuk-
So. Follow live on Chess.24 or ChessBomb.
