The Vugar Gashimov Memorial was off to a rollicking start with former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik (2783) and GM Wesly So (2788) registering convincing victories over GM Micael Adams (2746) and GM Anish Giri (2790) respectively. Kramnik was his usual technical self, slowly building up his advantage to a winning a rook endgame. So on the other hand simply wiped Anish Giri off the board.
Indian ace Vishwanathan Anand landed in an advantageous position versus his arch-nemesis, the current World Champion Magnus Calrsen. Carlsen managed to set up a fortress like position with his queen-side black pawn pinning down white’s b pawn. Anand tried to break thorough and while he did have an advantage, he could not make progress resulting in a draw – an arguably lucky escape for the Norwegian.
Results:
Name Result Name
Kramnik Vladimir 2783 1-0 Adams Michael 2746
So Wesley 2788 1-0 Giri Anish 2790
Mamedov Rauf 2651 ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762
Anand Viswanathan 2791 ½-½ Carlsen Magnus 2863
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754 ½-½ Caruana Fabiano 2802
Round pairings:
Name Name
Adams Michael 2746 – Caruana Fabiano 2802
Carlsen Magnus 2863 – Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2754
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2762 – Anand Viswanathan 2791
Giri Anish 2790 – Mamedov Rauf 2651
Kramnik Vladimir 2783 – So Wesley 2788