Carlsen, Gelfand, Svidler Lead Legends Of Chess

GMs Magnus Carlsen, Boris Gelfand, and Peter Svidler are leading the chess24 Legends of Chess tournament after having won both of their first two matches. GM Ding Liren seems hopelessly out of shape and started with two losses.

Anand – Carlsen 1.5-2.5

It was one of many individual clashes to look forward to: Carlsen playing GM Vishy Anand, his opponent in two world championship matches. The match was close and started with three solid draws but Carlsen then struck in game four, where he hadn't expected it himself.

"I was actually quite dissatisfied with how the game developed, so that I would get a chance like this was much more than I could've hoped for," he told Norwegian TV.

Anand first blundered a simple trick in a position where he was structurally better. Luckily for him, he wasn't even really worse. After tactical mishaps by both players, Anand was checkmated that left him with zero points from two matches where he showed decent and sometimes very good chess.

Gelfand – Ivanchuk 2.5-1.5

GM Boris Gelfand continued strongly. After his excellent win the other day against GM Ding Liren, the Israeli grandmaster also defeated GM Vasyl Ivanchuk. Here's their only decisive game, which was game three:

Ding – Nepomniachtchi 0.5-2.5

The Chinese GM is seriously struggling. Not only did he lose twice, but this time he didn't even make it to the fourth game against GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. In their first encounter, Nepo used an early h2-h4 and Rh1-h3-e3 in a Scotch, and it was surprising to see that this had actually been played before, 32 years ago.

Leko – Svidler 1.5-2.5

The clash between the Peters was arguably the most interesting match from a pure chess perspective. Svidler ended up winning, but the first decisive game went to GM Peter Leko, who developed a wonderful attack:

Svidler struck right back and then also won the fourth game to clinch the match. Here's game three:

Giri – Kramnik 2.5-1.5

Like his friend Anand, GM Vladimir Kramnik is at the bottom of the leaderboard while having shown his class at several moments. Three games with GM Anish Giri ended in a draw, but he had his chances in game four to level the score. Giri's win in game two ended being decisive:

Preliminary Phase | Round 2 Standings

All games round 2

The chess24 Legends of Chess runs July 21-August 5. The preliminary phase is a 10-player round-robin with rounds consisting of four-game rapid matches each day. The knockout phase will have three such matches per round. The prize fund is $150,000 with $45,000 for first place, while the winner also qualifies for the Grand Final of the Magnus Carlsen Tour. The time control is 15 minutes and a 10-second increment.

Earlier post:

• Gelfand Beats Ding In Legends Of Chess Opening Round