Aronian wins!

Aronian now leads 1-0.

Time for a big salad and a mimosa for me

Justin Timberlake wins! :p

no probs. it beat me why he spent so long on move 17, i think the time lost there cost him in the endgame?

Do you really think Kramnik just saw that opening and didn't study it through an engine? Or is he playing mind games?

i don't think Kramnik believes he can win this match, and if that's true, he has no chance. he was an hour down on time after 17.

So why play? Money, practice, something else?

i don't know at all, i just like to watch the game and maybe learn something, simple as that.

Conceit = Me looking at the final position, trying to find a win for White.

Because if Kramnik missed it, I'm bound to find it... 

Yes , it was neat to watch when I could

It was obvious that Aronian was prepared for this variation to the "Queen's Gambit"...while Kramnik was trying to find the best moves "on the fly"...his blunders cost him this game...but the match still has life.

...the reason why he took so long on move 16 was to use up some clock to avoid any rapid game after...he knew then that this was not going to 3 hours...and he was too pissed at himself to play right after.

...in fact members of Aronian's national team played this variation before and would have shared their analysis with him...or so says the commentators...

oh yeah...and Real Madrid did well to hand Barcelona their first home game lost in 55 games...this game was really more exciting than K vs A...as I predicted.

Kramnik's rating went down below 2800 because of this last game

http://www.2700chess.com/

First-blood to Aronian yet long way to go. Temperament & psychology may prove influential in this match & this makes me slightly favour Kramnik over Aronian still.

Have to see how it goes though !  :)

I'm just around 1600 and not really qualified to comment on grandmaster games but I think Kramnik over estimated his chances with his Rooks.

Kramnik said at the press conference that he followed Gunina-Muzychuk from last month while Aronian didn't know about that game. Since Kramnik hadn't looked at the game with an engine but only analysed it himself he missed that Muzychuk's Qd6? that lost her the advantage could be improved on the way Aronian did. The latter found Qe6! quickly and after that Kramnik had to try to save a draw with white but failed, not a good start for him and weak preparation to be Kramnik.

I thought the game was quite exciting, Aronian played excellent chess and I wasn't sitting bored waiting for Barcelona to wake me up while following it. During all the years they played each other Kramnik didn't lose a single game with white against Kasparov, so beating him with black is always an achievement, even if it has started to happen more often the last years. But a great game by Aronian and if the rest will be as exciting this match won't be a disappointment.

Aronian is closer to become #1 in the world!

Thank you for all the comments everyone, it makes the thread very fun to read

I just woke up so the coffee is being brewed. Game two of the Aronian/Kramnik match begins in about an hour and a half. Aronian has the white pieces today. Also, Nadal plays Djokovic in the Monte Carlo final, in about a half hour.

**Wake up, Sharon**