GRENKE Chess Classic 2018

[Chris Rice]

Significant first round pairing tomorrow!

Caruana - Carlsen
Bluebaum - Vitiugov
Meier - Aronian
Naiditsch - Vachier-Lagrave
Anand - Hou, Yifan

[Nick Ivell]

Worrying signs for November. Caruana got nothing from the opening and is being outplayed. No doubt he is tired, but I do worry that he is one of those players who NEEDS to get an advantage from the opening...

A lot of work needed over the next few months!

[Matt Mackenzie]

That first round pairing - not a fix, of course not

[Nick Ivell]

Still possible for Caruana to save a complicated ending but, if I was part of 'team Fabi', I would still be worried about what this game may portend.

[NickFaulks]

Still possible for Caruana to save a complicated ending but, if I was part of 'team Fabi', I would still be worried about what this game may portend.

I don't think it means much, whatever the result. Caruana will be happy to be playing a game where the result doesn't really matter.

[JustinHorton]

Well, he got his draw.

[Simon Brown]

Keith would have won as Black

[Chris Rice]

Round 2 results, Vitiugov the only player on 100% and Carlsen back to winning ways:

Carlsen M. (½) 2843 1 - 0 Hou, Yifan (½) 2654
Vachier-Lagr. (½) 2789 1 - 0 Anand, V. (½) 2776
Caruana, F. (½) 2784 ½ - ½ Bluebaum, M. (0) 2631
Aronian, L. (½) 2794 1 - 0 Naiditsch, A. (½) 2701
Vitiugov, N. (1) 2735 1 - 0 Meier, Georg (½) 2648

[JustinHorton]

Meier-Caruana was a super game.

[Angus French]

Richard Rapport vs. Vincent Keymer in the Open was also a great game, especially as Keymer is aged 13.

[Event "Grenke Chess Open"] [Site "Grenke"] [Date "2018.04.02"] [Round "9"] [White "Rapport, Richard"] [Black "Keymer, Vincent"] [Result "0-1"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. Rc1 Nbd7 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bd3 c6 10. Bg3 Re8 11. h3 Bb4 12. Nf3 Ne4 13. Bf4 c5 14. O-O Bxc3 15. bxc3 Nb6 16. Ne5 f6 17. Ng4 c4 18. Bb1 h5 19. Nh2 g5 20. Qxh5 gxf4 21. f3 Nd6 22. Qh7+ Kf8 23. Qh6+ Ke7 24. Qg7+ Ke6 25. Rfe1 Re7 26. Qg4+ f5 27. Bxf5+ Nxf5 28. Qg6+ Kd7 29. Qxf5+ Kc6 30. Qxf4 Be6 31. e4 Qg8 32. Qh6 Kc7 33. Kh1 Rf8 34. Re2 Rh7 35. Qd2 Kb8 36. Rce1 dxe4 37. fxe4 Bd7 38. Rf2 Re8 39. Qf4+ Ka8 40. Nf3 Rf8 41. Qh2 Na4 42. Re3 a6 43. Qe5 Bxh3 44. Kg1 Rg7 45. Nh4 Rf2 46. Kf2 Rg2 47. Ng2 Qg2 48. Ke1 Bg4

[Carl Hibbard]

Richard Rapport vs. Vincent Keymer in the Open was also a great game, especially given Keymer is aged 13.

He won the open did he bit of a shocker?

[Angus French]

Richard Rapport vs. Vincent Keymer in the Open was also a great game, especially given Keymer is aged 13.

He won the open did he bit of a shocker?

I think so. Leko, who's his coach, was saying it was a 2800-performance.

[Leonard Barden]

Richard Rapport vs. Vincent Keymer in the Open was also a great game, especially given Keymer is aged 13.

He won the open did he bit of a shocker?

That was the most significant result of all today at Karlsruhe. Keymer scored the youngest IM norm ever at 10 years 3 months but also has a career as a musician. There's a Chessbase article where Kasparov met him and praised him very highly. Significant because it's a teenage megatalent from Western Europe as against the Russians, Americans, Indians and the Uzbek Abdusattorov. He was lucky in that both Rapport and his previous opponent spurned perpetual check, but still....

[Mick Norris]

Meier-Caruana was a super game.

Chess Mind analysis

[NickFaulks]

as against the Russians, Americans, Indians

and the Iranians, who may be the best group of the lot. Where have they come from?