Caruana Victorious on Day 2 of Candidates

While the world grapples with the depth of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the eight players in Yekaterinburg, Russia soldier on. In Wednesday’s second round of the 2020 Candidates, there were moments of levity, many revolving around the need for “social distancing.” Some avoided handshakes...

...while others – like Ian Nepomniachtchi and Alexander Grischuk in the photo below – found creative ways to greet their opponent. But once the pleasantries were done, the focus returned to the battles over the board.

The Elbow Bump Heard Round the World! (photo Maria Emelianova)

With wins by Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, four players – Caruana, Nepomniachtchi, Vachier-Lagrave and Wang Hao – are tied for first place after two rounds with 1.5/2. And in a surprising twist, Ding Liren, one of the prognosticator’s picks before the event started, is in last place with 0/2 after losing to Vachier-Lagrave today.

Alekseenko (photo Lennart Ootes)

Fabiano Caruana (photo Lennart Ootes)

Caruana-Alekseenko (photo Lennart Ootes)

Fabiano Caruana’s sparking win over Kirill Alekseenko is GM Jacob Aagaard’s “Candidates Game of the Day.” Check out his extensive annotations in a separate post posted shortly; for now, enjoy Caruana’s beautiful attacking prowess.

[pgn] [Event "FIDE Candidates Tournament"] [Date "2020.03.18"] [Round "2.1"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Alekseenko, Kirill"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E20"] [WhiteElo "2842"] [BlackElo "2698"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2020.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "United States"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "USA"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 dxe4 7. fxe4 c5 8. d5 exd5 9. exd5 O-O 10. Be2 Re8 11. Nf3 Bg4 12. O-O Nbd7 13. d6 Bf8 14. h3 Bh5 15. Nb5 Re6 16. Bf4 a6 17. Nc7 Re4 18. Bh2 Rc8 19. g4 Bxg4 20. hxg4 Nxg4 21. Bd3 Nxh2 22. Bxe4 Nxf1 23. Qxf1 Bxd6 24. Nd5 g6 25. Qh3 Kg7 26. Kh1 Ne5 27. Nh4 h5 28. Rg1 Bf8 29. Nf4 Ng4 30. Nxh5+ gxh5 31. Bf5 Be7 32. Bxg4 hxg4 33. Qxg4+ Bg5 34. Qh5 1-0 [/pgn]

Vachier-Lagrave after the game (photo Maria Emelianova)

MVL thinks... (photo Maria Emelianova)

Vachier-Lagrave - Ding Liren (photo Lennart Ootes)

Ding Liren’s early round woes continued on Wednesday. It took just a single slip against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to seal his fate and send him to the bottom of the table. Aagaard’s annotations are brief but to the point:

[pgn] [Event "FIDE Candidates Tournament"] [Site "?"] [Date "2020.03.18"] [Round "2.4"] [White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Black "Ding, Liren"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C88"] [WhiteElo "2767"] [BlackElo "2805"] [Annotator "Aagaard"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2020.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "France"] [BlackTeam "China"] [WhiteTeamCountry "FRA"] [BlackTeamCountry "CHN"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3 Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. a3 Qd7 11. Nc3 Rfe8 12. Bd2 Nd8 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 c5 15. a4 {The game between MVL and Ding Liren was essentially a one move affair. At this point, super solid Ding blundered:} f5 $4 {After} 16. axb5 axb5 17. Rxa8 Bxa8 18. c4 $1 {White wins a pawn.} Nf7 {The only way of regaining the pawn that does not allow Ba4, winning, loses in another way.} (18... Rf8 19. cxb5 Qxb5 20. Nxe5 {and White is trivially winning.}) 19. cxb5 g5 20. Nh2 Kg7 21. Bc4 Kg6 22. g4 Nh6 23. Qf3 Bd8 24. Qg2 f4 25. b4 Bb6 26. Qe4+ Kg7 27. bxc5 dxc5 28. Nf3 Nf7 29. Bc3 Bc7 30. b6 Bb8 31. Qf5 Qxf5 32. gxf5 Kf6 33. Nd2 Rd8 34. d6 Rxd6 35. Rb1 Nd8 36. b7 Bxb7 37. Ba5 1-0 [/pgn]

The path back into the tournament is narrow for Ding. Tomorrow he faces Caruana with the White pieces, and must surely stop the bleeding here if he is to have any hopes of contending after 14 rounds of play.

Post-game interview (photo Maria Emelianova)

Nepomniachtchi-Grischuk (photo Lennart Ootes)

Despite suffering another bout of crippling time trouble, Alexander Grischuk’s “Berlin Wall” held against Ian Nepomniachtchi, their game resulting in a draw after time control was reached at move 40. At one point Grischuk was down more than an hour on the clock (as was Alekseenko against Caruana), leading one to wonder how much of this temporal tightrope act Grischuk can manage before falling to earth.

[pgn] [Event "FIDE Candidates Tournament"] [Site "?"] [Date "2020.03.18"] [Round "2.2"] [White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Black "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "2774"] [BlackElo "2777"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "2020.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "Russia"] [BlackTeam "Russia"] [WhiteTeamCountry "RUS"] [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. h3 h5 11. Bf4 Be7 12. Rad1 Be6 13. Ng5 Rh6 14. Rfe1 Bb4 15. a3 Bxc3 16. bxc3 h4 17. Kh2 Kf8 18. Rb1 b6 19. Rb4 Re8 20. Ra4 a5 21. Bd2 c5 22. Rf4 Rh5 23. Rf3 Kg8 24. Bc1 Ne7 25. g4 hxg3+ 26. fxg3 Nc6 27. Bf4 Bc8 28. Rfe3 Nd8 29. Kg2 Ne6 30. Nxe6 Bxe6 31. g4 Rh8 32. Bg5 Kh7 33. Kg3 Rb8 34. Rd3 Rhe8 35. Red1 b5 36. Rd8 b4 37. Rxe8 Rxe8 38. cxb4 cxb4 39. axb4 axb4 40. Rd8 Rxd8 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

Anish Giri (photo Lennart Ootes)

"But if I go there..." (photo Lennart Ootes)

Wang Hao (photo Lennart Ootes)

The last game to finish was the draw between Wang Hao and Anish Giri. Wang pressed in a pleasant isolated d-pawn position, with Giri’s pieces lacking activity to compensate for the isolani. But it wasn’t enough to claim the full point, and the game was drawn in 61 moves.

[pgn] [Event "FIDE Candidates Tournament"] [Site "?"] [Date "2020.03.18"] [Round "2.3"] [White "Wang, Hao"] [Black "Giri, Anish"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A37"] [WhiteElo "2762"] [BlackElo "2763"] [PlyCount "121"] [EventDate "2020.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "China"] [BlackTeam "Netherlands"] [WhiteTeamCountry "CHN"] [BlackTeamCountry "NED"] 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. h4 h6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nb5 d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. O-O Nf6 11. Bf4 O-O 12. Qc1 a6 13. Nbxd4 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Kh7 15. Rd1 Re8 16. Qc7 Qxc7 17. Bxc7 Bg4 18. f3 Rac8 19. Ba5 Bd7 20. Kf2 h5 21. Bf1 Ng8 22. Bc3 Bh6 23. Rd3 Ne7 24. Rad1 Bg7 25. e3 Kg8 26. R3d2 Ba4 27. Re1 Bd7 28. Ne2 Rc7 29. Bxg7 Kxg7 30. Nc3 Be6 31. Red1 b5 32. a3 Rb8 33. Ne2 a5 34. Nd4 Bd7 35. b4 axb4 36. axb4 Ra8 37. Rb2 Ra4 38. Rdb1 Rb7 39. Rc1 Rba7 40. Nxb5 Bxb5 41. Bxb5 Ra3 42. Be2 Rb7 43. b5 Rb6 44. Rd1 Kf6 45. Rdd2 Rb7 46. Bd3 Nc8 47. e4 dxe4 48. Bxe4 Rb6 49. Rd7 Rc3 50. Rb7 Rxb7 51. Bxb7 Nb6 52. Be4 Ke5 53. Rd2 Rb3 54. Bc6 Nc4 55. f4+ Kf6 56. Rd8 Rb2+ 57. Kf3 Nd2+ 58. Ke3 Nf1+ 59. Kf3 Nd2+ 60. Ke2 Ne4+ 61. Kf3 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]