
From Karlsruhe, Baden-Baden is about 20 minutes by car or 30 kilometres as the crow flies. It's a picturesque and wealthy town with pretty pedestrian streets, upscale shops and hotels and casinos. It's also a place with a fair bit of chess history, starting with one of the first elite chess tournaments back in 1870, which was won by Adolf Anderssen over Wilhelm Steinitz.
Here in 2018, at the start of the Baden-Baden leg, the day after a rest day looked destined to be a peaceful one. But Fabiano Caruana livened things up with a late attack in the time trouble of Arkad.
Very happy to be in the stunning town of Baden-Baden for the second part of @GRENKEChess! ⛲️ pic.twitter.com/7EuA86QYQs
— Fiona Steil-Antoni (@fionchetta) April 4, 2018
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave offered the World Champion a pawn in the opening, which was declined. Presumably, the Frenchman would have received enough compensation in the form of the initiative — and he would know since no one has played this variation in the past as often as he has.
Magnus Carlsen and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave kept it close to equal throughout | Photo: Georgios Souleidis
The transition from Caro-Kann Defence to French Defence put Anand down a tempo, but it was not a problem, as the Indian managed to confidently keep the co-leader, Vitiugov, from developing any significant initiative:
Nikita Vitiugov and Viswanathan Anand | Photo: Georgios Souleidis
The match between the two German top players was not exactly a barn burner — basically, the draw was foreseeable after only 15 moves. That's a pity, because this result is of no use to either. Both players remain stuck in the lower half of the table.
Matthias Bluebaum took his time against Georg Meier | Photo: Georgios Souleidis
This game too looked at first to be headed for a draw. But with reduced material — an endgame of queen and knight against queen and knight — Caruana suddenly created dangerous threats against his opponent's king position. The basic problem for Naiditsch was perhaps the fact that he had led his knight too far into enemy territory. He grabbed a pawn, but it resulted in nothing but grief. Still, Caruana's play in this phase was enviable, beginning with the precise move 36.Ne3.
Fabiano Caruana: This man is currently in the shape of his life
The game ended before the 40th move, due to a three-fold repetition with queen and bishop versus queen and knight. Hou could have tried to play on for an attack at this point, she probably concluded that she could not pose her opponent any great problems.
Levon Aronian remains unbeaten in this year's tournament, and still has chances to defend his 2017 title if he can post a couple of wins.
Hou Yifan remains at the bottom of the table after today | Photo: Georgios Souleidis
GMs Jan Gustafsson and Peter Leko
Translation from German: Macauley Peterson