We have begun - update with interviews!
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Today's results:
Grandmastergroup AV. Kramnik - L. van Wely ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? T. Radjabov - V. Anand 1-0 S. Mamedyarov - M. Carlsen 0-1 P. Eljanov - P. Leko ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? M. Adams - B. Gelfand ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? L. Aronian - V. Topalov 1-0 V. Ivanchuk - J. Polgar ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Grandmastergroup BP. Harikrishna - N. Short ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? Y. Hou - E. Bacrot 0-1 D. Stellwagen - M. Krasenkow 1-0 W. Spoelman - I. Cheparinov 0-1 S. Movsesian - G. Sargissian ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? J. Smeets - H. Koneru 1-0 I. Nepomniachtchi - E. L'Ami ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Grandmastergroup CS. Li - I. Krush 1-0 A. Ushenina - J. van der Wiel 0-1 F. Nijboer - A. Braun 0-1 P. Negi - P. Carlsson 0-1 Z. Peng - F. Caruana 0-1 M. van der Werf - E. Grivas 1-0 D. Ruijgrok - D. Reinderman 0-1 |
After the three relatively quick draws, Eljanov-Leko also split the point, after both opponents had played too solidly to become really dangerous. But the the round really went off, with Carlsen's victory against Mamedyarov. Magnus invited his opponent to go for the Accelarated Dragon, but it became a Closed Sicilian in which Black soon started some original stuff with ...c4!? and if you haven't seen it already, do have a look at Carlsen's excellent press conference. In a rook ending against Aronian, Topalov resigned in disbelief today, after he had thrown away a very good position. Here we have Levon himself explaining the game:[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"314","attributes":{"class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image","height":"350","width":"425","style":""}}]]Title holder Radjabov started excellently, beating Anand in an impressive game. Strong preparation, wonderful middle game play and a winning endgame technique. Striking detail: Anand could have claimed a three-fold repetition somewhere in the ending. In the B group there weren't any surprises, although the way Stellwagen beat Krasenkow struck me; last year the Dutchman had to wait for six rounds for his first full point. He explains:[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"315","attributes":{"class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image","height":"350","width":"425","style":""}}]]In C, Van der Wiel showed shiny new ambition by starting with a victory for a change, and first seed Caruana immediately won a good game with Black against Peng.The games: