Candidates R2 – Radjabov, Aronian draw first blood

From March 14 to April 1, 2013, FIDE and AGON – the World Chess Federation’s commercial partner – are staging the 2013 Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2013. It will be the strongest tournament of its kind in history. The venue is The IET, 2 Savoy Place, London. The Prize Fund to be shared by the players totals €510,000. The winner of the Candidates will become the Challenger to Viswanathan Anand who has reigned as World Champion since 2007. The main sponsor for the Candidates is State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic SOCAR, which has sponsored elite events chess in the past.

Round two express report

The start of the second round was inauspicious to say the least. In no time at all, Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik had exchanged queens, and pieces were flying off the board in pairs as if there were no tomorrow. The draw at move 30 was no surprise, and after the slew of draws the day before, the phantom of a draw-fest began to weigh on everyone’s mind. In the previous Candidates, 90% of the games had ended in draws; surely there was no way such a thing could happen again, right?

The answer soon became a clear no, much to the relief of the fans. Aside from the tense action on the three boards, Teimour Radjabov held Vassily Ivanchuk in a deathly grip and it seemed impossible he would miss this chance to score first blood.

In the meantime no one seemed to really understand what was going on in the game between Alexander Grischuk (above right) and Peter Svidler, while Levon Aronian and Boris Gelfand seemed like a probable draw.

Except that life had other plans, and despite a fairly balanced endgame, slightly better for Aronian due to his extra doubled pawn, lightning struck. The former World Championship challenger inadvertently stepped in the line of Aronian, and a sniper shot Bh6 was all it took. The commentators were in shock, and with a second pawn the result was no longer in debate. First blood had been drawn.

The second decisive result came shortly after as the young Azeri did his country and sponsor proud by converting his large advantage into the full point to join the Armenian in the lead.

Wrap-up analysis from London by GM Daniel King

You can watch both games develop and reach their climaxes in the following section of the live video commentary by IMs Lawrence Trent and Malcolm Pein. It is really worth watching.

At 14:00 min Aronian and the clearly dejected Gelfand join Anastasiya Karlovich for the press conference, and at 18:00 min the Armenian joins Lawrence Trent to discuss the game on the electronic chessboard. You should definitely watch the section starting from 25:45 into the video, where Levon discusses the deadly 26.Bh6+! slot, which essentially gave him the game and the point. At 29:00 minutes the analysis is over and the commentators turn their attention to the Radjabov-Ivanchuk game.

At 45:50 we catch the press conference with Peter Svidler and Alexander Grischuk. The highlight is at 49:30 min when Grischuk says: "I spoilt Peter's plan because it was clear to me that his plan for the tournament is 2-0 against me and then twelve draws and pray that nobody scores more than plus two, and now this plan is spoilt!" – to which Peter Svidler, well versed in British sitcoms, says: "I have a cunning plan, my lord" (Baldrick's catch phrase to Lord Blackadder).

You can watch the press conference with Teimour Radjabov. who had just beaten Vassily Ivanchuk from 57:30 min. It starts with a sound problem, but don't panic, you can hear Teimour and Anastasiya speaking from 58:28 on.

In spite of dreadful complications that left spectators and pundits bewildered, Grischuk and Svidler eventually drew. Both Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov have taken the early lead in a Candidates tournament that is now heating up.

Pictures by Ray Morris-Hill

Official broadcast

Live commentary provided on the official site by IMs Malcolm Pein and Lawrence Trent

There is also an overview of the playing hall and the boards

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Schedule and results

The games start at 14:00h = 2 p.m. London time = 15:00h European time, 17:00h Moscow, 8 a.m. New York. You can find your regional starting time here. Note that Britain and Europe switch to Summer time on March 31, so that the last two rounds will start an hour earlier for places that do not swich or have already done so (e.g. USA). The commentary on Playchess begins one hour after the start of the games and is free for premium members.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.