Brilliant first game. I was simply speechless after that. Many twists and turns. White was extremely aggressive and attacking. But somehow Karjakin managed to survive the attack. I love to see these sacrificial attacking games. Has all the excitement of the Fifa World Cup if you look at it. Well played Sergei, you deserved to win!

So far Karjakin is playing quite good. First the World Rapid Cup and now the Poikovsky Tournament. Currently playing well in tournaments. I wonder if he can win his next tournament. Also this tournament was quite close, Karjakin won it in tie-breaks. But still you have to hand it to him, he played well.  Ok, now I am waiting for his next tournament and I wonder if he can keep go with another tournament win.  

riazantsev-karjakin was an amazing game. i saw it with gm yermolinsky during the copper state and played through it repeatedly in disbelief.

another thing we can notice here is how important endurance and perserverance are. both tournament winners, karjakin and bologan won endgames they "should not have" in the final round to win the tournament. (the last two games in this report).

some exciting chess for sure at this tournament. great!

Karjakan is unbelievable. Anyone know why he is not World Champion material?

   I wonder if Riazantsev's 12 Nf5 is a new move in the 10 Qe4 line of the queen's indian. It's not in chess.com's game explorer. GMs Arun and Magesh's article on the queen's indian defense implies that 10 Rd1 is better than 10 Qe4 but I couldn't find any articles that showcased the latter line.

   In the first game I thought 15 Be4 was a winning move for white but 15 ... Bf6 stops it but 15 Bh6, I think, does win for white and would have given Riazantsev a nice little miniature for his knight sacrifice.

Funtastic game!!!

By the way, I have an Idea: how about FIDE make a Tournament only for the 'Young GM's', such as : Karjakakin, Carlson, So, etc. It's gonna be FUN!!

karjakin's endgame is phenomenal

The creativity involved in how Karjakin uses his king in the Riazantsev game is simply breathtaking. A queen, two rooks, and a bishop at his opponents disposal and the king fearlessly leads the charge. Fantastic stuff.

Can you imagine his thought process... "lets see...if I just let my opponent invade on the 7th rank and just run my king up to the third rank then I should be able to ram my pawns down his throat...can I do this? Absolutely. Let's go for it!"

Oboy!!! put in ma Native Pidgin-English, "GrandMaster Na GrandMaster", Karjakin is just off the hook.

Karjakins end game technique is just amazing!! :D

These master's games... They defy everything we amatours have learned.. "worry about king safety m'friend", "don't move pieces twice in the opening" and those things. :P

Agree about Riazantsev vs Karjakin, what a game, look at where the king is at the final position! Besides, I just love it when a sacrifice backfires.

Riazantsev vs. Karjakin was absolutely amazing.

Bravo, Bologan!