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Winning with theDouble Fianchetto:Nicholas Pert providesdeep insights into thispopular opening.Geller-Karpov (1976):Let Robert Ris show you

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Candidates R01: Anand the first to scoreby Sagar Shah

3/11/2016 – Today, the 2016 World Championship Candidates tournament finally took off in the CentralTelegraph building in Moscow. And what a fighting round it was! Although there was only one decisive game,all the players tried really hard. Like in 2014, Vishy Anand is the only player to lead the event w ith 1.0/1 afterhe beat Veselin Topalov. We have extensive and Elo-boosting analysis of all four games.

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The 2016 FIDE World Chess Candidates Tournament is a 14-round event, which determines the next Challenger toMagnus Carlsen's title, is taking place in Moscow from March 10–30. Eight players, including six of the World’s top-ten rated grandmasters. The time control is 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, 50 minutes for the next 20 movesand then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move one. Theguaranteed prize fund is US $420,000.

Candidates Round one: Anand the first to score

Full report from Moscow by IM Sagar Shah

Round 1, Friday 11 March 2016Karjakin Sergey ½-½ Svidler PeterNakamura Hikaru ½-½ Caruana FabianoGiri Anish ½-½ Aronian LevonAnand Viswanathan 1-0 Topalov Veselin

It is said that good things are never easily achieved – you have to work hard for them. Similarly, for all thepeople who made their way to the Central Telegraph building on the Tverskaya Street in Moscow, to enjoy theCandidates 2016, had to wait for quite a bit of time outside before they were admitted into the building.

We waited for nearly half an hour to get to the next level

After getting admitted into the building we climbed five flights of stairs to reach a final security checkwhere everyone was carefully monitored, before they could enter the playing and press area.

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Anand and form ing the cornerstone ofmany strong GM repertoires today.

On this 60 Minutesrenowned andsuccessful coach AdrianMikhalchishin presentscritical positions andshows how to handlethem.

The usual move orderis 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3Nf3 cxd4 4 Nxd4 e5!? 5Nb5 d5 6 cxd5 Bc5bringing us to a verysharp position. AndrewMArtin shows thisvariation from black's

point of view.

AdvertisingBooks, boards, sets:Chess Niggemann

Even big names like Andrey Filatov and Zurab Azmaiparashvili had to wait in the queue …

… before they could take their seats for the 2 p.m. press conference along with AGON CEO Ilya Merenzon.

The interest of local and international press and reporters is extremely high

Soon it was nearing three p.m. and the games were about to begin. The people w ith “Press” cards wereallowed inside the tournament hall where the players were going to fight it out. The reporters had exactly tenminutes (five w ith flash, five w ithout it) to take as many pictures as they wanted.

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The official FIDE chess sets were used on all the four boards of the event

The magnitude of an event is often determined by the guests who attend its opening.In the above picture we have two Presidents. Can you identify them?

Chief Arbiter Wener Stubevoll takes a final look at the arrangements before the first round

Sergey Karjakin vs Peter Svidler 0.5-0.5

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The two World Cup 2015 gladiators faced off against each other in the first round of the Candidates. Karjakin’smain weapon as White is, of course, 1.e4, but from time to time he likes to start w ith 1.Nf3. The players soonreached the main line of the Slav Defence and as Svidler put it in the press conference, “Sergey chose the onlyline which I hadn’t studied in the morning! But it was important to show that I knew the position and hencemade the move 9…Bd7 quickly.” As it turned out Svidler’s modest setup became quite potent when all hispieces started to co-ordinate perfectly. Karjakin had to forget about an opening advantage and instead had tofocus on making accurate defensive moves to hold the balance. Being an excellent defender, Sergey did thatto perfection. Soon most of the pieces were exchanged and the game petered (no pun intended) out to adraw.

Three friends, Sergey Karjakin, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Peter Svidler,enjoy a nice session of post mortem after the first round game ended in a draw

Hikaru Nakamura vs Fabiano Caruana 0.5-0.5

The mouth-watering clash between the two Americans lived up to its expectations

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“It is just like any other super tournament, w ith the addition that there are many photographers andreporters!” That was Hikaru Nakamura’s answer when he was asked whether he felt any nerves aboutplaying his first Candidates. He faced his country mate Fabiano Caruana in the first round and the twoprovided quite an interesting opening for the fans to view and analyze: the English Opening transposed into aweird Benoni where Caruana’s knight on e7 didn’t look particularly impressive. Hikaru maintained the pressurefor quite some time, until he made an inaccuracy and the game ended in a draw in 31 moves.

[Event "FIDE Candidates 2016"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2016.03.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Nakamura,Hikaru"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2790"] [BlackElo "2794"] [Annotator "SagarShah"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2016.03.10"] 1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. e3 $5 {While Nf3 and Nc3are the main moves in this position, e3 is not very uncommon. White's idea is simple that he wants to play animmediate d4 or Nge2 followed by d4 and for that he doesn't need to develop his b1 knight.} e6 {Fabianowants to keep the game in uncharted territory. Nf6 and Nc6 are both more popular.} (4... Nf6 5. d4 (5. Ne2 O-O 6. Nbc3 {might soon lead to a main line in the English.}) 5... cxd4 6. exd4 d5 { looks great for Black.}) 5. d4cxd4 6. exd4 Ne7 7. d5 $5 exd5 8. cxd5 d6 { Interesting comments were made about this position byMiroshnichenko, Kosteniuk and Gelfand. As Kosteniuk and Miro said, "It's a tradeoff between having morespace w ith the pawn on d5 and the open bishop on g7. What is more important? It is not so easy to decide!"Boris had some other important points to make. "Black would have been completely fine if the black knightwould have been on f6 instead of e7. As things stand right now, the f5 square is the best for both the knightand the c8 bishop and that in some ways hinders Black's development."} 9. Nc3 Nd7 10. Nf3 O-O 11. O-O h6$5 {An intersting move preventing ideas like Bg5 and getting ready to play g6-g5 at an appriopriate moment.}12. h4 $5 {White nips the g5 idea in the bud. But everything comes at a cost. This move weakens the g4square and the c8 bishop would like to reach there soon.} Nc5 13. Re1 Bg4 {Now things look quite smooth forFabi. The knight is coming to f5 and the queen to f6 and the rooks to c8 and e8. Suddenly all the co-ordinationissues seem to have been solved, or have they?!} 14. Bf4 Nf5 15. Qd2 Bxf3 (15... Qf6 16. Nh2 {makes thebishop on g4 looks silly and hence taking on f3 was the right choice.}) 16. Bxf3 Qf6 17. Rac1 { This moveprepares b4. After the knight on c5 is displaced, the c3 knight jumps to e4. Black might have got his pieces co-ordinated but the bishop pair, combined w ith the space always give the first player some better chances.} a518. Nb5 $1 {Nakamura is never averse when it comes to tactical complications. He sees that exchanging theb2 pawn for the guy on d6 would be a good deal.} Qxb2 19. Qxb2 Bxb2 20. Rc2 Bf6 21. Bxd6 (21. Nxd6 {looksnatural but fails to} Nd4 $1 {The knight on b5 keeps this possibility under check.}) 21... Nxd6 22. Nxd6 (22.Rxc5 b6 23. Rc6 Nxb5 24. Rxf6 $14 {might also be a position to explore for White, especially because Blackcannot get his blockade on d6.}) 22... b6 23. Rb1 Rab8 24. Nc4 (24. h5 $5 {Throwing in this move at somepoint would have created an additional tension in the position that would have been to White's advantage. Itis a Karpovian move whose benefits are not so apparent in the current position. But later, when the rookspenetrate, the possibility of opening the seventh rank w ith hxg6 fxg6 might play an important role.}) 24... Na425. Bg4 $6 {Black equalises after this inaccurate move.} (25. Ne3 Nc3 26. Rb3 Rfc8 {also looks pretty muchfine for Black.}) (25. h5 $5) 25... Rfd8 $1 {Attacking the d5 pawn.} 26. d6 h5 $1 27. Bh3 b5 28. Nxa5 Rxd6 $1129. Nc6 Rb6 30. Nb4 Nc3 31. Rb3 {Nakamura had really got the pressure going in the position. But he couldn'tsustain it. One wrong move and Caruana was right back and made what looked like an effortless draw.} 1/2-1/2

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“I knew I was better but during the game it didn’t look as if it was much!” – Hikaru Nakamura

Viswanathan Anand vs Veselin Topalov 1-0Anand was White. He began w ith 1.e4, and his opponent replied 1…e5. His was the only decisive game of theround, and the tournament was in Russia. All of these things happened today and also in Candidates 2014!Talk about Déjà vu! Whether Anand w ill w in this year’s Candidates or not is still a question that is a long wayoff, but he surely he made a good start. Playing the Anti Berlin w ith 4.d3, Anand improvised on the existinggames w ith a novelty on move 12. Topalov faced hardly any difficulties to equalize. As Anand said in the pressconference, “I had to take the bait on b7, otherw ise all my pieces would just end up looking silly.” The pawnsurely was not for free as Topalov got loads of activity in return. In fact on the 20th move he even had acombination starting w ith 20…Bxf2+! which would have given the Bulgarian a clear advantage.

Topalov had his eyes wide open before the start of the game, but failed to see the Bxf2 tactic on move 20

Veselin didn’t go for that line and instead chose a variation that turned the evaluation 180 degrees. Anandheld the advantage, and although his technique was not the best, he managed to w in the game and takehome the full point.

Another Candidates victory? Fingers crossed! Anand is the sole leader with 1.0/1 after the first round

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A very nice video prepared by AGON on Vishy Anand, which is shown during the commentary breaks

The thing which stood out was Topalov’s great sporting behavior in spite of the loss

[Event "FIDE Candidates 2016"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2016.03.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Anand,Viswanathan"] [Black "Topalov, Veselin"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2762"] [BlackElo "2780"] [Annotator "SagarShah"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "2016.03.10"] {In 2014 Candidates, Vishy Anand began w ith a w in overLevon Aronian w ith 1.e4 in the first round. Two years later and 2500 kilometres apart (Khanty Mansisyk toMoscow), Vishy Anand sees no reason to change his strategy.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {Of course theBerlin – the opening that cannot be refuted. What better way to start a tournament!} 4. d3 Bc5 {Theinteresting part about this position is that Anand has reached it w ith the white pieces on 24 occasions in thepast, w ith 15 of them continuing w ith Bxc6. In this game, however, he keeps his options open and goes for 0-0.} 5. O-O d6 6. c3 O-O 7. Nbd2 (7. d4 $6 Bb6 $5 8. Bxc6 bxc6 9. dxe5 Nxe4 $15) 7... Ne7 {Kramnik introducedthis plan w ith Ne7 in his game against Aronian in 2012. The idea is to take the game into a territory where thepawn structures would not be symmetrical.} 8. d4 exd4 9. cxd4 Bb6 {Now we have a position w ith quite someimbalances. White has a beautiful central pawn duo, but Black has absolutely no problems in finding squaresfor his pieces. If Vishy can develop his guys on c1 and a1, keeping his centre intact, his position would bemuch better. But as we w ill see this is not so easy.} 10. Re1 Bg4 11. h3 Bh5 {All this has been seen manytimes w ith Topalov himself having this position against Fabiano Caruana in 2015 w ith the white pieces. Butnow Anand makes the first new move of the game - the novelty!} 12. a4 $5 $146 {The idea of this move issimply to gain more space on the queenside w ith a4-a5. At some point the rook may come into the game viaa3.} a6 13. Bf1 Re8 14. a5 Ba7 15. Qb3 Nc6 $1 {As Boris Gelfand rightly pointed out in the commentary room,"Good players are always flexible w ith their plans." Nc6-e7 wasn't played w ith the intention to return back toc6, but Topalov sees that the position has changed since his Ne7 move. This is the best and although it maylook weird Veselin doesn't hesitate to play it.} (15... Rb8 {is possible but is quite passive. White can continuewith } 16. Qc3 $14 {with the idea of b4 and developing the c1 bishop.}) 16. d5 Nd4 17. Nxd4 Bxd4 18. Qxb7$5 {Good or bad, this pawn had to be taken. Anand had made his previous moves w ith the intention of takingon b7, so there was no backing out now.} Nd7 $1 {A strong move by the Bulgarian. The knight not onlythreatens to jump to c5 but also opens the route for the queen to come to f6 or h4. White's pieces areuncoordinated and undeveloped and the queen is looking a bit silly on b7. Anand has to be really carefulhere.} 19. Nc4 $6 ( 19. Ra3 {was Anand's original intention but he changed his mind at the last moment.} Qh4{is now met by} 20. Rae3 $1 {An completely appropriate exchange the sacrifice. The bishop on d4 is worththe rook.} Nc5 21. Qxc7 f5 $1 $13 ( 21... Bxe3 22. Rxe3 $14)) 19... Nc5 20. Qc6 {[%csl Rf2,Rg1][%calGd4f2,Gd8h4, Gc5e4] [#]A look at the position reveals that Black has clear cut compensation and a player ofTopalov's class knows that. However, it is one thing to know that you have compensation and quite another

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to find a concrete tactical refutation. This was the moment when Black had a chance to take the advantagebut Topalov was unable to find it.} Nb3 $2 (20... Bxf2+ $1 {This was the move that would have destroyedAnand's position.} 21. Kxf2 Qh4+ {The rook is hanging so g3 has to be played.} 22. g3 Nxe4+ {Once againthe knight has to be taken or else g3 falls.} 23. Rxe4 Qxe4 $17 {And even though White has two pieces for arook his position is pretty bad as his king is exposed. It's not so easy to come up w ith a good move for Whitehere. For eg.} 24. Bf4 $2 { fails to} g5 $1 $19) ({Another extremely interesting idea is the follow ing:} 20... f6{What is the point, you may ask? Well for starters how about meeting the threat of trapping the white queenwith Re7 and Be8. Seems very difficult.} 21. Be3 Bxe3 22. Rxe3 Re7 $1 {Be8 is threatened and the queen w illperish. The best White can try is} 23. b4 Be8 24. Qxa8 Qxa8 25. bxc5 $44 {Black should be better here, butthe position is not so easy to play due to the material imbalance.}) 21. Rb1 Nxc1 $6 {This makes White's taskeasier.} (21... f5 { creating some play was better.}) 22. Rbxc1 Rb8 23. Qxa6 $16 {White is two pawns upright now. Black may regain one of the pawns but even then he would be in a poor position, mainly becausethe a5 pawn is super strong.} Qh4 { This looks like the most natural human move to make as it attacks boththe f2 and e4 pawns.} (23... f5 $5 {could have been a tricky move to face.} 24. exf5 $6 (24. Ne3 $1 $14) 24...Bxf2+ $1 25. Kxf2 Qh4+ 26. g3 Qd4+ 27. Kg2 Bf7 $3 $40 {Only computers can see moves like these!}) 24. Rc2Rxe4 25. Ne3 $1 {Experts praised this extremely accurate move by Vishy Anand. The knight saves the kingsideand now the c7 pawn is attacked.} (25. Rxe4 Qxe4 {gives some activity to Black.}) 25... Qd8 26. Qc4 Bg6 27.Bd3 $1 {Once again very accurate.} (27. Qxc7 Bxe3 $1 28. fxe3 Ra4 {The rook on c2 is attacked and the prideof White's position - the a5 pawn falls.}) 27... Rf4 28. Bxg6 hxg6 (28... Bxe3 29. Be4 $18 ) 29. g3 $1 (29. Qxc7$6 Qxc7 30. Rxc7 Rxb2 $132) 29... Re4 30. a6 Qe8 31. Rce2 {This is a human move to make. The computercomes up w ith a very interesting solution.} (31. Qxc7 $1 Bxe3 32. Rxe3 Rxe3 33. fxe3 Qxe3+ {Many playerswould see until this move and reject this variation because of counterplay. But the engine suggests} 34. Kh2$18 {with a completely w inning position.}) 31... Bb6 32. Qd3 Ra8 33. Kg2 Qa4 34. b3 Rd4 35. bxa4 $6 (35.Qc2 {was much better as the natural} Qxa6 {loses to the very nice tactical shot} 36. Nf5 $3 gxf5 37. Re8+Rxe8 38. Rxe8+ Kh7 39. Qxf5+ $18) 35... Rxd3 {White's advantage has been reduced at this point, but still itis much more pleasant to be in Anand's shoes than Topalov's!} 36. Nc4 Rxa6 37. a5 {This is a nice trickysolution that Vishy came up w ith.} Bd4 (37... Bxa5 $2 38. Ra1 $16) (37... Bc5 {was much better as after} 38.Re8+ Kh7 39. R1e7 {the d5 pawn is hanging. The same was not possible when the bishop was on d4.} Rxd540. Rxf7 Rf5 $11) 38. Re8+ Kh7 39. R1e7 Rc3 40. Nd2 $5 {Anand transfers his knight to better squares afterNd2-e4.} (40. Rxc7 $1 $16) 40... Rc2 $6 (40... f5 {prevents Ne4, but the knight can reach g5 via anotherroute.} 41. h4 $1 $14 {[%cal Gd2f3,Gf3g5]}) 41. Ne4 f6 {stops Ng5 but exposes the seventh rank, whichAnand takes full advantage of.} 42. h4 $1 {Stopping Black from going g5.} (42. Rf7 g5 {was Black's idea.})42... Rxa5 43. Rf7 g5 44. h5 {The mating net cannot be broken.} Rxf2+ 45. Nxf2 Ra2 46. Rff8 Rxf2+ 47. Kh3g4+ 48. Kxg4 f5+ 49. Rxf5 {With a complete exchange down, there is no way to survive as Black, and henceTopalov resigned.} 1-0

Anish Giri vs Levon Aronian 0.5-0.5

The thing which stood out in this round was surely Anish Giri’s persistence. The Dutch grandmaster is famousfor being super solid, sometimes not taking enough risks. But today Anish was not ready to split the point. Hefought on and on right until the bitter end. The computer keeps showing 0.00 after a certain point, but thatdoesn’t make much sense because both the players agreed that White was better and Black’s defensive taskwas not so easy. The game lasted nearly 65 moves w ith Aronian taking refuge in a theoretically drawn pawnendgame. It was the last game to finish.

Anish Giri and Levon Aronian entertained the crowdwith some highly instructive post-mortem analysis

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[Event "FIDE Candidates 2016"] [Site "Moscow RUS"] [Date "2016.03.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Giri, Anish"][Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2793"] [BlackElo "2786"] [Annotator "SagarShah"] [PlyCount "130"] [EventDate "2016.03.10"] {In this game I w ill avoid commenting too much about theopening as it is all well known and many games have been played in this line. But the middlegame and thelate endgame are particularly interesting.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5c6 8. h3 b6 9. b4 a5 10. a3 h6 11. Bd3 Ba6 12. O-O Qc8 13. Rb1 axb4 14. axb4 Bxd3 15. Qxd3 Qb7 {Thisposition has been reached, just 15 days ago in the game of Sargissian w ith the black pieces against DingLiren. Sargissian is one of Levon's second and we can be sure that he prepared this line w ith him.} 16. Rfc1{This same position w ith a different move order was already played by Aronian against Nakamura from thewhite side in the Zurich Chess Challenge 2016.} Rfc8 17. Ne1 $146 {Giri's novelty, not an earth shattering onebut just improving his f3 knight.} Bd8 18. Qd1 Bc7 19. Nd3 Bxf4 20. exf4 Ne4 21. Ne2 Ra2 22. Rc2 {As Anishmentioned after the game, Black is comfortable here. He should only be careful not to allow b4-b5. Aroniandoes not prevent it and after that he is under grave pressure.} Rca8 $6 23. f3 Rxc2 24. Qxc2 Nef6 25. b5 $1Rc8 (25... bxc5 26. dxc5 cxb5 27. Nd4 $36 (27. c6 Qb6+ $11)) 26. Qa4 $1 {An extremely strong move by Anishwho threatens to play his queen to a6 here. This idea was missed by Levon. Anish mentions that he found thisidea after much deliberation and his thoughts were mainly concerned w ith breaking on the kingside w ith f5.But when that didn't work he turned his attention on the other w ing and found this idea. } Qc7 (26... bxc5 27.dxc5 cxb5 28. Rxb5 Qc7 29. Nd4 $16) (26... cxb5 27. Qxb5 $16 {It is not at all easy for Black to untangle.}) 27.bxc6 Qxc6 28. Qxc6 Rxc6 {[#] White has a way out.} 29. Rc1 (29. Nb4 Rc7 30. c6 Nb8 31. Nc3 $1 {Theabsolute star move and hats off to Aronian for having seen this for his opponent. It just shows how goodthese guys are, always looking out for opponent's threats.} (31. Ra1 Nxc6 32. Rc1 Nxd4 $11) (31. Rc1 Ne8)31... Nxc6 32. Nb5 Rc8 33. Nd6 Rd8 34. Nxf7 $1 Kxf7 35. Nxc6 $16 {The knight comes to e5. The position mightnot be 100% lost, but it is really unpleasant to be black here.}) 29... Rc7 (29... Rc8 30. c6 Nb8 31. Nb4 Ne8 32.f5 $1 {Once again Aronian suggested this move. One gets the feeling that the Armenian wanted to get upfrom the board and sw itch sides! He was seeing some really excellent w inning resources for his opponent.}Nd6 33. fxe6 fxe6 34. Nf4 $16 Kf7 $2 35. c7 $1 Nd7 36. Rc6 $18) 30. Nc3 bxc5 31. dxc5 Ne8 (31... Nxc5 32. Nb5{Anish thought that he was w inning at this point, but the computer shows an excellent defensive resource forBlack.} Nfd7 $3 {Even 2800 players can miss such moves!} (32... Nxd3 33. Rxc7 Nxf4 34. Nd6 d4 35. Rc8+ Kh736. Nxf7 d3 37. Rh8+ Kg6 38. Ne5+ Kf5 39. Nc4 $18) 33. Nxc7 Nxd3 $11) 32. Nb5 Rc8 33. Kf2 Nc7 34. Nxc7Rxc7 35. Ke3 {White is better here, but Black can cling on by quickly bringing his king to the center.} Kf8 36.Kd4 (36. f5 $5) 36... Nb8 $1 {A nice move by Levon. Suddenly it is not easy to make progress.} 37. Nb4 Rb738. Kc3 Ke7 39. Ra1 Kd7 40. Nd3 f6 {Aronian offered a draw at this point, but Giri saw that he w ill always havesome chances w ith the f5 break or the kingside pawn storm and hence decided to continue the battle.} 41.Ra8 Kc6 42. h4 Kb5 43. Ra1 Nc6 44. Rb1+ Ka6 45. Re1 Re7 46. Ra1+ Kb7 47. Nb4 g5 $5 {Aronian doesn't liketo just sit around. He actively tries to draw the game.} 48. fxg5 fxg5 49. h5 Rf7 ({ A very interesting variationshowed by both the players was} 49... Re8 50. Ra6 Nxb4 51. Rb6+ Kc7 52. Kxb4 Rb8 53. Kb5 {Both theplayers thought this was lost for Black, but as always the computer begs to differ!} Kc8 $1 {A passive,backward retreating and a difficult move for humans to see.} (53... e5 { Aronian and Giri showed this line andthis is really nice.} 54. Rxb8 Kxb8 55. Kc6 $1 d4 56. Kd7 $18) 54. Rxb8+ (54. Kc6 $2 Rxb6+ 55. cxb6 d4 $19)54... Kxb8 55. Kc6 Kc8 $11 {and miraculously Black holds the draw.}) 50. Ra6 (50. Nxc6 Kxc6 51. Ra6+ Kxc552. Rxe6 g4 $1 {A key point that had to be seen beforehand.} 53. fxg4 Rf2 $11) 50... Nxb4 51. Rb6+ Kc8 (51...Kc7 $2 {Is losing. The point is that Black doesn't have Rb7 now.} 52. Kxb4 $1 g4 53. fxg4 Rf4+ 54. Kb5 Rxg455. Rxe6 Rxg2 56. Re7+ Kd8 57. Rh7 $18 {[%cal Gh7h6,Gc5c6]}) 52. Rxb4 (52. Kxb4 Rb7 $1 {This pawnending is drawn.} 53. Kb5 Rxb6+ 54. cxb6 d4 55. Kc4 e5 56. g3 Kb7 57. f4 exf4 58. gxf4 gxf4 59. Kxd4 $11)52... Rf4 $1 {The king and pawn ending is drawn.} 53. Rxf4 gxf4 54. Kd4 Kd7 55. Ke5 Kc6 56. Kxf4 Kxc5 57. g4Kd6 $1 {Only move to draw.} 58. Ke3 (58. g5 hxg5+ 59. Kxg5 Ke7 $1 (59... d4 $2 60. h6 d3 61. h7 d2 62.h8=Q d1=Q 63. Qd8+ $18) 60. h6 Kf8 61. Kg6 Kg8 $11) 58... e5 $1 59. g5 Ke7 $1 60. g6 Kf6 61. Kd3 e4+ $1{Aronian knows his endgame fortresses!} 62. fxe4 dxe4+ 63. Kxe4 Kg7 64. Kf5 Kg8 65. Kf6 Kf8 {A superbgame w ith some very nice resources found by both players. An entire chapter on how to keep pressing youropponent and finding small nuances in simplified positions can be written on this very game.} 1/2-1/2

The final move for the final game: Giri concedes the draw at 20:37h Moscow time

Guests on day one

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One of the distinguished guests on the first day was Boris Gelfand. He spent a lot of time in the commentaryroom and when he wasn’t speaking about the games he was busy posing for pictures w ith his friends andfans! By the way, in case you are interested to increase the level of your chess understanding you must havea look at the video broadcast of round one here and watch Boris’ instructive comments.

Topalov’s manager Silvio Danailov (sitting) has a word withthe Wijk Aan Zee tournament director Jeroen van Den Berg

Local stars Vladimir Potkin (standing), Ian Nepomniachtchi andMaxim Matlakov enthusiastically followed the games on the big screen

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Levon Aronian’s fiancé Arianne Caoili is in Moscow and watched the live games on the first day

On a parting note we would like you to have a look at the walls in the background of this tournament hall. Itlooks like a dilapidated building, but the organizing committee has turned it around so well for this event. Itgives a traditional and historical feel and at the same time everything about the game and organization ismodern. A nice blend!

Pictures by Amruta Mokal of ChessBase India, World Chess live broadcast

Pairings and results

Round 1, Friday 11 March 2016Karjakin Sergey ½-½ Svidler PeterNakamura Hikaru ½-½ Caruana FabianoGiri Anish ½-½ Aronian LevonAnand Viswanathan 1-0 Topalov Veselin

Round 2, Saturday 12 March 2016Svidler Peter Topalov VeselinAronian Levon Anand ViswanathanCaruana Fabiano Giri AnishKarjakin Sergey Nakamura Hikaru

Round 3, Sunday 13 March 2016Nakamura Hikaru Svidler PeterGiri Anish Karjakin SergeyAnand Viswanathan Caruana FabianoTopalov Veselin Aronian Levon

Rest day, Monday 14 March 2016Round 4, Tuesday 15 March 2016

Svidler Peter Aronian LevonCaruana Fabiano Topalov VeselinKarjakin Sergey Anand Viswanathan

Nakamura Hikaru Giri AnishRound 5, Wed. 16 March 2016

Giri Anish Svidler PeterAnand Viswanathan Nakamura HikaruTopalov Veselin Karjakin SergeyAronian Levon Caruana Fabiano

Round 6, Thursday 17 March 2016Anand Viswanathan Svidler PeterTopalov Veselin Giri AnishAronian Levon Nakamura HikaruCaruana Fabiano Karjakin Sergey

Rest day, Friday 18 March 2016Round 7, Saturday 19 March 2016

Svidler Peter Caruana Fabiano

Round 8, Sunday 20 March 2016Svidler Peter Karjakin SergeyCaruana Fabiano Nakamura HikaruAronian Levon Giri AnishTopalov Veselin Anand Viswanathan

Round 9, Monday 21 March 2016Topalov Veselin Svidler PeterAnand Viswanathan Aronian LevonGiri Anish Caruana FabianoNakamura Hikaru Karjakin Sergey

Rest day, Tuesday 22 March 2016Round 10, Wed. 23 March 2016

Svidler Peter Nakamura HikaruKarjakin Sergey Giri AnishCaruana Fabiano Anand ViswanathanAronian Levon Topalov Veselin

Round 11, Thursday 24 March 2016Aronian Levon Svidler PeterTopalov Veselin Caruana FabianoAnand Viswanathan Karjakin Sergey

Giri Anish Nakamura HikaruRound 12, Friday 25 March 2016

Svidler Peter Giri AnishNakamura Hikaru Anand ViswanathanKarjakin Sergey Topalov VeselinCaruana Fabiano Aronian Levon

Rest day, Saturday 26 March 2016Round 13, Sunday 27 March 2016

Caruana Fabiano Svidler PeterAronian Levon Karjakin SergeyTopalov Veselin Nakamura HikaruAnand Viswanathan Giri Anish

Round 14, Monday 28 March 2016Svidler Peter Anand Viswanathan

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Karjakin Sergey Aronian LevonNakamura Hikaru Topalov VeselinGiri Anish Anand Viswanathan

Giri Anish Topalov VeselinNakamura Hikaru Aronian LevonKarjakin Sergey Caruana Fabiano

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Sagar ShahSagar Shah is an International Master from India w ith two GM norms. He is also a charteredaccountant and would like to become the first CA+GM of India. He loves to cover chess tournaments,as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He maintains his ownchess blog.

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Topics

Candidates 2016

See also

Candidates R03: Aronian beats Topalov3/13/2016 – In a tense battle Anish Giri sacrificed two pieces to force a perpetualagainst Sergey Karjakin. Viswanathan Anand and Fabiano Caruana split the point ina clearly dawn rook-and-pawn endgame. Veselin Topalov miscalculated badly tolose two pawns and the game to Levon Aronian. Svidler was better w ith blackagainst Hikaru Nakamura but could not w in. Flash report w ith the finished games.[Discuss]

Candidates R02: Nakamura implodes, Karjakin strikes!3/12/2016 – Svidler against Topalov was a sedate draw. Anand and Aronian playeda theoretical battle where both of them were excellently prepared. Giri andCaruana’s game promised quite a bit, but in the end also finished in a draw. Thegame of the day was surely Sergey Karjakin’s victory over Hikaru Nakamura. TheRussian put on the slow stove pressure and Nakamura simply self-destructed.Detailed game analysis. [Discuss]

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great start by vishy!

Not another Carlsen - anand !

Thank you for this quick summary of events. The

Take this "Computer simulates and predicts Candidates w inner" for not having a factor whereAnand is good in these candidate matches.

The live page of Aegon and their behaviour speak for themselves.

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ulyssesganesh 3/11/2016 07:24

Bendyer 3/11/2016 07:34

Gs64 3/11/2016 07:42

emerlion 3/11/2016 07:45

Gs64 3/11/2016 07:46

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why not? the 2nd match was closely faught. Maybe Vishy w ill not w in this torunament, but idefinitely believe he w ill not retire soon and prove all of you wrong by competing at this level.He is a superman!!!

I am a great admirer of Kasparov(master of dynamic play) and he at his best was way betterthan carlsen of today imo, however even he could not cope up w ith the pressure that the age

brings, Vishy year after year has proved otherw ise. Who gives mortal like us right to speak somethingagainst these top players?

It could be good to also show the games i n the report

Caruana could dress himself a little bit better for such a high-class tournament, in fact I wouldimpose a dress code to the players if I would be the organizer. The clothing should representthe class of the event!

Anand has muchos experience un marches ,bit the fight beginning

Thanks for the quick summary. It's funny to read the game reports in pidgin English onworldchess.com. Or sad...

fabiano wore a suit so it is ok.

Why does Anand play so well now, but so lousy in every other tournament?

@emerlion

Remember a simulation is only that, and the results were the percentage of times each won. IfI flip a coin 5 times and heads comes up five of those five times, does that debunk thestatement there is a 50% chance for heads to appear?

Oh god! A Carlsen-Vishy rematch w ill probably have to happen at the Marshall chess club in NY;sponsor w ill offer donuts and coffee for the w inner...

Let nakamura w in....it w ill be the best thing ever

Good opening round. Too soon to draw conclusions about the future w inner, though wesaw some stuff.

Karjakin-Svidler. Svidler seized the initiative early on, but Karjakin's position was solid enough (1/2). Still,a good sign for Peter fans: he wanted to make things happen.

Nakamura Caruana. Hikaru pressed, but his opponent was up to the task. Tense battle (1/2).

Giri-Aronian. Complex game. Aronian had to endure Giri's sustained pressure in a rather passive position, for a long time(1/2). You gotta try something else at the opening stage, Levon, if you wanna w in this thing...

Anand-Topalov. Sharp game; Topalov missed his chance in a razor-sharp position, Anand collected --but not w ithoutdifficulties-- (1-0). It is too early to say how w ill Vishy fare against the rest of the field in the follow ing days,but it is a good start for him anyway. More interesting w ill be the other guys' reaction to this result of his.

.

Vishy missed his chance last match when Carlson blundered...Reading some of these post,makes me want him to w in that much more!!!...He's a great player & a great ambassador of/forchess!!!

digupagal 3/11/2016 07:48

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Krokx 3/11/2016 08:09

jesus Hum Ortega 3/11/2016 08:47

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johnmk 3/11/2016 08:54

Bertman 3/11/2016 10:07

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abunickabhi 3/11/2016 11:14

Resistance 3/12/2016 12:01

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worst possible thing that could happen to chess would be for anand to become the candidate. no one wants to see it and w ill set chess back 5 years....

@Bertman. My comment was a bit sarcastic, not to be taken too seriously. However, in asimulation you can input all the factors you want. Why ignore the fact that Anand is very goodat candidate tournaments? I guess accessing another world championship is something thatmotivates Anand while in regular tournaments he's playing w ithout same motivation. This couldbe factored in. Similarly Aronian has not played well in candidate matches so far, so why notinput that factor in?

@emerlion Alright, but don't forget to take a look at the games. Today, it was mainly a fail byTopalov in a tense position where he, w ith black, had the initiative and a w inning continuation(Bxf2). Sorry, but not an impressive w in by Anand this time.

No offense to Anand, great career, one of the best ever.... BUT PLEASE, ANYBODY BUT HIM !

Pathetic web site coverage by Agon. FIDE shows it's business sense and class yet again.

Kramnik would have been my favorite, but I predicted Anand, Aronian, and Topalov would finishtop 4. We'll see.

sorry brobdi, it is vishy, this time too!

Hopefully, not another Anand vs Carlsen again!

C'mon people. We know Anand is an all-time great player but if you want chess to grow weneed a new match. #anyonebutanand

To Indian fans, I'm not sure if it is good for Anand to face Carlsen the 3rd time. The probabilityof him losing again vs Carlsen is huge due to his fear of Carlsen, and he may then get theunwanted record of losing world championship 3 times to the same guy.

The best bet to have a slightly more balance match would be Caruana, Giri or Aronian.Nakamura may be a good player but doesn't appeal as he is always a customer of Carlsn.

Former World Champion , V. Anand's performance in such very high pressure situations hasbeen a success nearly- always. Just try to see it from 1993 and you w ill know it. Obviously asimulation or a super smart machine learning algorithm has yet to learn some more hiddeninput parameters which only, we humans know it today. The answer is the urge or themotivation to become a World Champion is the deciding factor in candidate matches! .

The w inner of the candidates is the most worthy challenger for the world champion.

I would not be surprised if it is Anand again. It would perhaps be more interesting to seeCarlsen play a WC match against for example Giri, Caruana, or Nakamura, as we have notseen this before. No matter what, Carlsen remains the favorite as his rating is 50 points aboveanyone else, and that is the best objective measure we have.

Hopefully Agon w ill implode after this fiasco and we'll be able to watch the WC match in a civilized manner.

For me that is on chessbase: all the boards on screen, "kibitzers" (engines) I own loaded (Stockfish, Komodoand Houdini in my case) providing analysis w ith a mouse click; and then the best of all: the "cloud feature".My analysis and others are shared on the net, so for example I may see that a position is +1.3 at 17 ply onmy Stockfish, but then I'll see (on the cloud) the eval of some dude in Germany w ith a supercomputer and at34 ply the position is equal! I then try to figure it out, all while watching some live video stream withcommentary in a separate w indow from some other website(s), then try to put things together and think itthrough: this is great fun! Especially when the commentators do not use engines and are discussing lines,you can immediately check if they got it right or not.

I've demo'd this way of watching chess to people w ith some interest in chess and they love it and try it forthemselves.

So I suggest FIDE fires Agon and gets chessbase to take care of the games dissemination as they havesomething which is head and shoulders above anything else. And cheap too! To make money I would notmind if you would throw in some ads (like for the mafia-style BMW cars on the Worldchess.com broadcast).

vincero 3/12/2016 01:47

emerlion 3/12/2016 01:54

Balaor 3/12/2016 02:03

bbrodinsky 3/12/2016 02:29

Truffaut 3/12/2016 03:29

Hawkman 3/12/2016 03:30

ulyssesganesh 3/12/2016 03:45

morphic6 3/12/2016 04:44

Mithrull 3/12/2016 05:35

thlai80 3/12/2016 05:46

okfine90 3/12/2016 05:56

jajalamapratapri 3/12/2016 06:19

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and then there are the idiots who claim Anand fears Carlsen.

If a man challenges someone multiple times, it certainly is not due to fear..

Congratulations Vishy!

@vincero u r not the center of this world, if you are, then you would be a gr8 experiment forthe aliens. Many ppl. would be ok w ith the third match, it is not only your opinion that matters.Having said that, the fact that Anand can compete w ith these kids proves a lot. Its ok even ifhe loses. I am speaking as an Indian and i m biased, as is everyone. If not, Aronian would notbe seen in these candidates (He is there because his countrymen want him to w in the WC fortheir country, same was the case w ith Norway in 2013. It is necessary to love your country. Its

the basic human nature.). So cut this crap about Indians, Chienses, Americans

If Anand ends up playing Carlsen, I am sure it wont be easy for Carlsen at all. The last matchwas far from being one sided, in fact if Anand has noticed Carlsen's blunder in game 6, thechampionship result would have been very different. Unfortunately game 6 turned out to be adouble blunder that resulted in Carlsen's favour. Its hard to see anybody else be able to matchup w ith Carlsen better than Anand, except perhaps Kramnik who is not playing.

we all know how topalov is. he is not solid. he had a good luck in this game and topa missedhis chance Bxf2+. don't be dramatic.

dear dyer....surely yet another anand-carlsen!

dear thlai.....flawed you are!!

Vishy is plaw ing well!!! Keep it up!!!

Excellent! Go Vishy, go for the crown again! :)

Still a a long ways to go. Could be anyone but I think based on past record, the best result forchess fans would an Aronian victory since Aronian has more w ins vs Carlsen than anyone else.But he is very streaky so lets hope he can get it together this time.

I think most people, even some die-hard Anand fans, w ill agree w ith me when I say that we doNOT want another Carlsen - Anand match.

The reasons should be obvious:

- We've already seen 2 matches between those two, and a new challenger w ill be moreinteresting for a change.

- Anand lost both previous matches, and I think he w ill lose once more if he qualifies.

- A younger - preferrably an American player - w ill help to create more interest in the match (media,sponsors, etc.), which w ill be held in the US. I personally hope an American player w ins, at least from atournament and publicity perspective.

I also think that Carlsen - Caruana is often more interesting to watch than Carlsen - Anand. Caruana w illprobably be able to push Carlsen harder than Anand. Carlsen - Nakamura also tend to be quite interesting,but if Nakamura somehow manages to qualify, I don't think he w ill have any chance against Carlsen, givenCarlsens devastating 12-0 score.

Checkravuh 3/12/2016 07:20

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