WORLD CHESS CANDIDATES 2018 BERLIN – ROUND 1

Matters got heated even before the first move of round 1 was played. First there was the twitter war between Giri and Carlsen when it emerged that Giri would be helping Kramnik during the Candidates.

Next was the fiasco of a press conference the day before the event. Figures were quoted of 30 million people watching the games live and over a billion following the results. The press conference was sprung with zero pre-announcement, and was live streamed to a massive audience of fifty people around the world.

Now that round one is complete, we have yet more behind the scenes revelations. First, the official tournament website is still incomplete and not functioning properly. In addition, the player toilets do not have any water. Then there was the noise. Even spectators complained of not being able to concentrate on the games due to the background noise. Noise that FIDE says is caused by “technical issues,” not there is any indication whether this will be resolved in future rounds.

From such a low point, we can but hope that matters improve.

As regards the games themselves, the first game to finish was the draw between Aronian and Ding out of the Flohr-Mikenas System in the English Opening.

Next up was Caruana’s win with White against So using the main line of the Closed Catalan.

The next was a hard pressing Kramnik with White against Grischuk from the London / Colle system.

The final game, between Karjakin and Mamedyarov was a Ruy Lopez. All was even until Karjakin played 49 Kg2. Mamedyarov replied with Qe3! After that Blacks attacking pressure and the passed pawn on b3 continued for another 20 moves.

Here are the games from round 1:

Aronian,Levon (2794) - Ding,Liren (2769)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (1), 10.03.2018

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 4.e5 d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.bxc3 Qxf6 7.d4 b6 8.h4 A18: English Opening: Flohr-Mikenas System (1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e6 3 e4) [8.Be2 Bb7 9.Bf3 Bxf3 10.Nxf3 Bd6 11.Qa4+ c6 12.0–0 0–0 13.Rb1 Bc7 14.Re1 Rc8 15.Kh1 Qf5 ½–½ (26) Svidler,P (2763)-Ding,L (2774) Palma de Mallorca 2017] 

8...Bb7 9.Bg5 Qf5 10.Bd3N 

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[10.Rh3 h6 11.Bd3 Qa5 12.Bd2 Nd7 13.Nf3 0–0–0 14.Kf1 Be7 15.h5 Nc5 1–0 (31) Budczies,J-Vogt,L (2500) Bochum 1990] 

10...Qa5 11.Kf1 Nc6 12.Rb1 f6 13.Bd2ƒ White is more active. 

13...0–0–0 [13...Qa3=] 14.a4!± e5 15.c5 [15.Rh3!?] 

15...Bxc5! 16.Rb5 Qa6 17.Rh3 Bxd4 ...Bc5 is the strong threat. 

18.Be2 Rd6± 

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[Wrong is 18...Bc5? 19.Rxc5! Rxd2 20.Qxd2+-; 18...Ba8!= remains equal.] 

19.Rb1 [Much worse is Much weaker is 19.cxd4?! Nxd4 20.Bd3 Ne6³; White should play 19.Rb2!± Qa5 20.cxd4] 

19...Qa5!= aiming for ...Qd5. 

20.Rb5 [20.cxd4= Qd5 21.Rb5 Qxd4 22.Rd3 Qxh4 23.Rxd6 cxd6 24.Bc3] 

20...Qa6± 

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21.Rb1 Qa5!= Hoping for ...Qd5. 

22.Rb5  ½–½

Caruana,Fabiano (2784) - So,Wesley (2799)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (1), 10.03.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Be7 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 0–0 7.0–0 c6 8.Qb3 Nbd7 9.Bf4 a5 E07: Closed Catalan: Main Line (5 Nf3 0–0 6 0–0 Nbd7) 

10.Rd1 Nh5N 

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[10...b5 11.c5 Ba6 12.Qc2 b4 13.Bf1 Ne4 14.Nbd2 f5 15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.Bxe5 Nxd2 17.Qxd2 ½–½ (35) Mamedyarov,S (2775)-Kovalenko,I (2644) Riga 2013] 

11.Bc1 Nhf6 The position is equal. 

12.Nbd2 b5 13.c5 b4 14.Qc2 a4 15.Re1 e5 16.Nxe5 Nxe5 17.dxe5 Nd7 18.Nf3! Bxc5 19.Ng5! g6 20.Bf4 e6 is the strong threat. 

20...Qb6 21.e4 b3! 22.axb3 axb3 23.Qe2! Ba6 

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[Black should try 23...Rxa1!² 24.Rxa1 Nxe5] 

24.Qf3!± Bc4 next ...Rxa1 is good for Black. 

25.Rxa8 Rxa8 26.e6 dxe4 27.exf7+‚ White attacks with force. 

27...Bxf7 28.Nxe4 aiming for Bh3. 

28...Bd4 

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[28...Re8±] 

29.Nd6!+- Bd5? [29...Nf6] 

30.Qe2 Threatens to win with Bxd5+. 

30...Nf8 

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[¹30...Qa5 31.Rd1 Qc5] 

31.Bxd5+! cxd5 32.Qf3 Qa5 33.Re7  1–0

Kramnik,Vladimir (2800) - Grischuk,Alexander (2767)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (1), 10.03.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.b3 c5 A48: 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6: Torre, London and Colle Systems 

4.dxc5 Qa5+ 5.Nbd2 Qxc5 6.Bb2 Bg7 7.e3 0–0 8.c4 8...b6N 

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[8...d6 9.Be2 Nbd7 10.0–0 b6 11.Rc1 1–0 (94) Grachev,B (2655)-Chatalbashev,B (2552) Astana 2017] 

9.Be2 Bb7 10.0–0 Qc7 11.Rc1 d6 12.Nb1 Nbd7 13.Nc3 Rac8 14.Rc2 Qb8 15.Qa1 a6 16.Rd2 Rfe8 17.Rfd1 Ba8 18.Ng5 Rc5 19.Nh3 b5 20.Nf4 bxc4 21.Bxc4 Rg5 22.Ncd5 Ne5 23.Be2 Ne4 24.Rd4 [24.Rc2±] 

24...Nc5 25.h4 Rf5 26.e4 [26.g4± Rxf4 27.Rxf4 (27.exf4 e6±) ] 

26...Rxf4! 

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[Wrong is 26...Nxe4? 27.Rxe4 Qc8 28.Qc1+-] 

27.Nxf4 Nxe4 28.Nd5 Nc5 29.Rb4 Qa7 30.Ne3 a5 [30...h5=] 

31.Rb5 Ne6 32.Rxe5 dxe5 33.Bxe5 Qc5 34.Bxg7 Nxg7 35.Qd4 [35.Rc1± Qb4 36.Bc4] 

35...Qxd4 36.Rxd4 Bc6! 37.Rd2 Rb8 

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 38.Rc2! Be8 39.Rc7 Kf8 

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40.Ra7! a4 41.bxa4 Rb1+ 42.Kh2 Rb4 [42...Rb2± 43.Bc4 Rxf2] 

43.a5 Rxh4+ 

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44.Kg1! Ra4 45.Bc4 Bc6 46.Rc7 Be8 47.a6 Nh5? [47...Ra5 was called for. 48.a7 h5] 

48.Nd5+- 1–0

Karjakin,Sergey (2763) - Mamedyarov,Shakhriyar (2809)

World Chess Candidates 2018 Berlin (1), 10.03.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.c3 a6 C60: Ruy Lopez: Unusual Black 3rd moves and 3...g6 [4...d6 5.d4 Bd7 6.0–0 Bg7 7.Be3 Nf6 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Nbd2 0–0 10.Re1 Re8 11.h3 h6 12.a4 a6 13.Bc4 b6 14.b4 Qc8 15.a5 bxa5 16.bxa5 ½–½ (24) Tari,A (2597)-Kamsky,G (2677) Moscow 2018] 

5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bg4 8.Qb3 Bxf3 9.gxf3 Bg7 10.Be3N 

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[10.Nc3 Ne7 11.Ne2 0–0 12.h4 ½–½ (37) Tobler,P (2154)-Egner,M (2188) ICCF email 2016] 

10...Ne7 11.Nc3 Bxd4 12.Bxd4 Qxd4 13.Qxb7 0–0 14.Qxc7 Rab8 15.0–0 Rxb2 16.Qxe7 Qxc3 17.Kg2 Rc2 18.Rad1 Rxa2 19.Rc1 Rc2 20.Rxc2 Qxc2 21.Ra1 Qc4 22.Qb7 Qb5 23.Qxa6 Qg5+ 24.Kf1 Qf6 25.Kg2 Rb8 26.Ra5 Rb3 27.Qc8+ [Better is 27.Qe2!³ ] 

27...Kg7 28.Qg4 

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28...Rb5! 29.Rxb5 cxb5 30.Qd7 Qg5+ 31.Kf1 Qe5 32.h4 b4 33.Qb7 Qc3 34.e5 b3 35.Kg2 

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35...Qc4! 36.Qb6 h6 37.Kg3 Qd5 38.f4 Kh7 39.Qb8 Qc4 40.f3 Qc3 41.Qf8! Qc4 42.Qb8 Kg7 43.Qb6 Qd5 44.Qb8 Qd1 45.Qb7 Qg1+ 46.Kh3 Qe3 47.Kg2 Qe2+ 48.Kg3 Qe1+ 49.Kg2? 

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[49.Kh3µ] 

49...Qe3! [Don't play 49...Qxh4 50.e6] 

50.Qb4 

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[50.Kf1 was necessary.] 

50...g5! 51.hxg5 hxg5 52.fxg5 Qe2+ 53.Kg3 Qxe5+? [53...b2–+ 54.e6 Qe5+ 55.Kg2 fxe6] 

54.Kf2 Qh2+ 55.Ke3 Qg1+ 56.Kf4! Qc1+ 

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[56...Qd1!? 57.Qc3+ Kh7µ] 

57.Kg4! Qe3 58.Kg3? [58.f4!³] 

58...Qxg5+ 59.Kf2 Qd5 60.Ke3 Kg6? [60...Kf6] 

61.Ke2 Kf6 62.Ke3 Ke6 63.Qb6+ Kd7 64.Qa7+ Kc6 65.Qa6+ Kc5 66.Qa4 Qc4 67.Qa5+ Kc6 68.Qa1 Kb5 69.Qb2 Kb4 

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[And not 69...Qc2 70.Qxc2 bxc2 71.Kd2=]  0–1