Berlin Candidates 2018 - Round 1

What a start! And to make it even more exciting, the wildest game was the only draw of the round!

Caruana surprised So with the Catalan and won seemingly without effort.

Kramnik hired Giri as his second and the latter suggested 3 b3 against Grischuk's attempt to play the Grunfeld. Kramnik won the game.

Karjakin and Mamedyarov worked so hard together when Mamedyarov was Karjakin's second in the match against Carlsen. Hence 3...g6 in the Spanish. Is this time Mamedyarov's turn?

Aronian must have been impressed by Kasparov's 9 h4 in the Qc2 Nimzo last year in St.Louis, so he played the move one move earlier against Ding's English. Then he followed up with 11 Kf1. When things got insanely sharp, he decided to repeat moves. What to say?

Please read the full details and the complete analysis of the Aronian game here.