Candidates Tournament 2022: Nepo, Fabiano strike in Round 1

New Delhi: Day 1 of the Candidates’ tournament witnessed two draws and two decisive results. Ding Liren and Hikaru Nakamura both landed in bad positions and blundered eventually.

Liren vs. Nepomniachtchi

Ding Liren played the English opening (1.c4), which added to the excitement for the clash between Ding and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Everyone, including the audience watching the live stream, wanted Ding to exchange the knights on move 13, but he decided to push the h-pawn, which eventually weakened his king. Ian landed in a better position after move 21, but Ding had his chances to hold. The Chinese grandmaster then played a series of inaccurate moves and also blundered the game. Nepomniachtchi’s having a mating attack made his opponent resign the game. In the end, the bishop was sacrificed by him and added a feather to the hat.

Caruana vs. Nakamura 

Another decisive game was between the two American grandmasters, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. Fabiano chose the Ruy Lopez opening, to which Nakamura replied with a solid Berlin defence. On move 8, Caruana played Nf6, which was a bit surprising but seems like it is part of the theory now. Fabiano, in the post-match interview, said that he was happy with his position. Nakamura played an exciting game by pushing his king-side pawns. On move 24, Nakamura played d5, to which the world champion Magnus Carlsen tweeted, “Literally does not care about king safety.”

Literally does not care about king safety https://t.co/YWiHeSx825

— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) June 17, 2022

He landed in a worse position, and defending against world number 4 Fabiano is surely not an easy task. Hikaru resigned from the game after Fabiano’s 50. Qg4+.

Radjabov vs. Firouzja

The oldest (Teimour Radjabov) and the youngest (Alireza Firouzja) players in this tournament faced each other in Round 1. It was a Queen’s gambit accepted (by transposition) featuring Alireza’s exchange sacrifice just after the opening. The game transposed into a rook ending, which ended in a draw.

Duda vs. Rapport

The fourth game was between Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Richard Rapport. It was a sideline of the Sicilian, the Taimanov variation, and Duda got a good position out of the opening. But, he was not able to convert his advantage to a win, and Rapport defended well for the game to end in a draw.

The pairings for Round 2:

• Rapport-Firouzja

• Nakamura-Radjabov

• Nepomniachtchi-Caruana

• Duda-Ding