Modern elite chess resembles computer chess – the games are getting longer (the average length from the first 3 rounds is 53 moves), the winning positions are incredibly difficult to win because the level of defence is very high and the defenders keep posing continuous problems, and the number of draws is increasing.

Anand showed his brilliant preparation against Karjakin’s attempt to sharpen things up in the Anti-Berlin with 5 Re1. I would bet his preparation was well until the position became a stale draw. An important theoretical game because Black now showed a clear way how to deal with one of White’s last possible attempts to play more actively in the 5 Re1 line.

In Round 1 against Aronian Caruana played the QGA against 1 d4. Today we saw what he prepared against 1 e4 – the Petroff! Not the most exciting opening, but I think it was still a surprise for Vachier, who probably didn’t take this possibility very seriously in spite of Caruana playing it last year in a rapid game against Anand. Vachier did achieve a small plus after some 20 moves of theory (these guys remember their theory even when surprised) but Caruana didn’t have much trouble neutralising it. It’s notable that he used the line with 6…Bd6 instead of the formerly more popular, but currently under a cloud 6…Nc6.

Aronian and Giri played a wild game in the Ragozin.

Kramnik played 1 e4 and the Giuoco Piano for a second time in this tournament and he got the slightest possible advantage. So didn’t even have to be extremely precise to neutralise it, but this led to the game lasting 71 moves! I already wrote about Kramnik’s troubles after long games. His maximalism is to be lauded, but let’s see if this time he manages these problems better.

The derby of the round didn’t disappoint. I think Nakamura’s choice of the 6…g6 line against 6 h3 in the Najdorf was largely based on psychology – in his only win against Carlsen he also transposed to a Fianchetto Dragon, only there it was via a Closed-Sicilian move-order. But Carlsen isn’t one to be scared away easily, so he boldly went for the Fianchetto Dragon again by choosing 7 g3 himself!

A well-fought game, I admire Nakamura’s courage to go for the sharp and uncertain kingside attack instead of the positionally solid 21…a4. He could have been punished, but in practice his choice was justified. Perhaps he understood that against Carlsen one must go for that kind of openly-aggressive choices? After all, Carlsen didn’t manage to find his way in the complications. An intriguing psychological battle between these two players!

Tomorrow is a rest day and then the battles continue. I am curious if Kramnik will repeat the Arkhangelsk lines against Caruana.

The two former World Champions played their first game in 1989. That’s a long time ago: that same year I finished second in the junior championship of Macedonia. In their most important encounter Anand played perhaps his best chess and won the title in Bonn in 2008. From then until 2013 Anand seemed to be very uncomfortable opponent to Kramnik. And then something changed. Looking at all of their decisive games from 2013 until and including today the score is 10-3 in Kramnik’s favour! Out of these 10 wins only 2 are in classical chess, while of Anand’s 3 wins only 1 is in classical chess.

Today’s game was rather strange. Kramnik varied from his usual Berlin and this seemed to surprise Anand. He went for a very rare line on move 8, probably in an attempt to surprise Kramnik in return. But the objective value of the move wasn’t very high and Black was at least OK after the opening.

The other games were drawn but each one in a different manner. Carlsen used his preparation for the match with Karjakin to defuse Caruana’s Anti-Marshall. Nakamura played openly for a draw against Aronian and ended up worse, but still managed to achieve his objective after ingloriously suffering for 60 moves. I have noticed that he has done this before too – playing for a draw with White from move 1 and then ending up in an unpleasant position which he then goes on to defend well and draw. Surely there are easier ways to draw with White?!

Giri finally ended the 6-game losing streak by drawing Karjakin, although he did his best to eke out that extra half point. But Karjakin has saved even more difficult positions than the one from today’s game. So had the initiative in a symmetrical endgame arising from the Fianchetto Grunfeld, but the bishop pair he won was compensated by the pawn he lost. Vachier couldn’t even dream for more than a draw.

Even though there have been only 2 decisive games so far I think the tournament is very interesting. The games are well-fought and the opening surprises never stop. Tomorrow the derby is Carlsen-Nakamura. Nakamura finally beat Carlsen last year, let’s see if Carlsen manages to get back to his winning ways against the American.

Isn’t it beautiful when you can invite the first 10 players of the rating list and have them play each other? That is exactly what the organisers of this year’s edition of Norway Chess in Stavanger did. To be entirely precise, they contracted the first 10 players of the rating list some time ago; in the meantime Karjakin and Giri fell out of the Top-10, but that doesn’t make the tournament less strong. After all, both Karjakin and Giri are incredibly tough to beat, as proven on many occasions.

Speaking of tough to beat, apparently that doesn’t apply to blitz. If Carlsen was his usual imperial self in the opening blitz (which was used to determine the starting numbers), winning with 7.5/9, Giri managed to lose 5 in a row without winning a single game (and finishing dead last with 1.5/9). Of course, that doesn’t mean anything for the main event. Or perhaps it does?

The subsequent rounds will show whether it does, but in Round 1 the only decisive game involved Giri and he was again on the losing end. Together with the last 5 games in the blitz, this is his 6th loss in a row! Perhaps he is feeling a bit Taimanov-ish now, he even played a line in the Grunfeld which Fischer used in the 5th game of his match with Taimanov. True, Taimanov was White in that game while Giri was on Fischer’s side, but that didn’t help him. Nakamura played a brilliant technical game, in the analysis below I only managed to find one inaccuracy by Giri!

The other games were drawn. Carlsen tried to squeeze water from stone against So but he didn’t come close. The opening was a Giuoco Piano, the same as in Kramnik-Karjakin. Kramnik has started to play 1 e4 more often and what was curious in this game was that Karjakin didn’t go for the most straight-forward drawing line, as already shown in more than one computer game. This gave Kramnik one chance (on move 20), but unfortunately he wasn’t precise.

A new tournament usually means some surprises, especially when these people are playing each other all the time – they need to keep things fresh and keep their opponents guessing. Anand prepared the Caro-Kann for Black (instead of the trusted Berlin) and drew without much trouble against Vachier. Caruana prepared the Queen’s Gambit Accepted for Black and drew with Aronian after coming very close to losing.  I am curious to see what the others have prepared and the next rounds should provide some answers to my curiousity.