5 Things We Learned after 2 rounds of the Candidates.
We are through two rounds of the candidates and while there is plenty of tournaments left, there has been tons of surprises.
1. Ding Liren is struggling
https://cdn.chess24.com/bZXsCKBgT_qTalFpf4LRiA/original/ding-liren.jpg
Going into the tournament Liren was one of the favorites for the event, and that is rightfully so because he is the world number 3. However Liren's first two games have not looked good and he has had two losses. In the first game against his fellow countryman Wang Hao he lost as white and it seemed tat there was holes in his middle game preparation. Liren put himself in an uncomfortable position early and wasn't able to recover.
In the second game Liren missed some strong tactics from white and again failed to defend in a tough position. Liren blundered Nd8 in move 35 and didn't see the idea of b7, Bxb7, and then the knockout blow with Ba5.
2. Fabiano isn't going to lose easily.
After a round 1 draw against Maxime Vachier- Lagrave, Caruana beat Kirill Alekseenko handily in round 2. It is becoming clear that Caruana is still the front runner and might get a rematch against Magnus Carlsen in the world championship.
https://images.theconversation.com/files/212732/original/file-20180330-189801-bcb4db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=926&fit=clip
3. The Russian are playing solidly.
If you look at the standings the Russian players are doing pretty well. Nepo is tied for the lead with 1.5 points after his strong win against Giri in round 1 and then a draw with Alexander Grishuk. Speaking of Grishuk, The 4th ranked in the world has played solidly with two draws, totaling to one point, and is still very much in contention for the tournament win. Finally we have the young 22 year-old Russian wild card who has the worst rating of all the candidates. Despite this he drew round one with Grishuk and has looked strong against other candidates who have higher ratings.
https://www.prochessleague.com/uploads/3/0/5/7/30579463/alekseenko.jpg
4.Wang Hao is no joke.
http://www.scacchierando.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/wang-Hao-world-chess-cup-2017.jpg
If I told you that a player from China was going to be in the lead at the end of day two you probably would have thought it would be Ding Liren. However with Ding Liren's struggles, Wang Hao has risen to the top and unexpectly at that. Many people going into this tournament were not even considering that Hao could win. But after big wins against Liren and Giri we could be seeing Hao in the championship against Carlsen if he keeps up playing at this level.
5. Anish Giri isn't drawing anymore.
https://cdn.chess24.com/Ytsn1VoxSP-nR5RelPBT5g/original/anish-giri-stare.jpg
Last year in the Candidates we saw Giri draw all 14 games, which is a record and has never happened in the candidates before. People came into this tournament thinking that maybe this Candidates draw streak could continue. This has not happened and Giri has yet to draw after 2 rounds, but instead he has lost both games and is of to a bad start. It seems that Giri is struggling to win or even draw and he might need some big wins coming up to save his chances.
Were there other things that surprised you?
Let me know in the comments!!
