Grenke: The power of white

Black scores a mere half point

Round two stands out for a huge margin in favour of the players with the white pieces. In all five games, Black came under heavy pressure, and it didn't help their cause to have the higher-rated player sitting across the board and mercilessly turning the screws.

The first to succumb was Arkadij Naiditsch, who's Kings Indian didn't pan out at all against the calm demeanour of Levon Aronian.

Aronian gets his first win | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Levon Aronian 1-0 Arkadij Naiditsch

The great champion Tigran Petrosian had games such as that in mind when he quipped that the Kings Indian was a great opening that had been feeding his family for 30 years. Of course, the Iron Tigran made that comment in jest, since he'd also been known to play at as Black, although not in the late stages of his career. Anyway, a great win for Aronian, which may signify the beginning of a healing process.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 1-0 Vishy Anand

Vachier-Lagrave and Anand, who both sat out this year's big show at the Candidates, look poised for big fights, as it seemed from their play in the opening round. Today they faced each other, and the Sicilian Defense fit the bill perfectly. First, it was Vishy who tried to surprise Maxime with his choice of the Paulsen Variation, but the hunter soon became the hunted, as MVL showed the depth of his preparation.

Anand tends to lose in this fashion more often than in any other way. It seems that he's willing to concede one game to preserve his energy for future battles when things, hopefully, will go his way out of the opening.

The Sicilian Tajmanov-Scheveningen

The Sicilian has been known for decades as the most reliable way for Black to obtain an unbalanced but good position. Among the most popular Sicilians at the top level the two that certainly stand out are the Najdorf and the Paulsen.

Matthias Bluebaum ½-½ Fabiano Caruana

One guy who buckled down under pressure and refused to lose was the young Matthias Bluebaum, recovering from his ugly defeat in round one. Facing a massive offence directed at his king by the newly appointed World Championship Challenger Fabiano Caruana, the German player stayed calm and found all the best responses.

Matthias Bluebaum showed superb resilience against Fabiano Caruana | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

What a competent save from Bluebaum, particularly coming on the heels of a terrible blunder the day before.

Nikita Vitiugov 1-0 Georg Meier

Nikita Vitiugov made it 2/2 by producing a gem of positional play against another German entrant, Georg Meier, who must have been left wondering why his bishop pair turned out to be no match for the white knights.

The French Defence for the Tournament Player

This French Defence DVD is a complete attacking opening repertoire for black after 1.e4 e6. GM Nick Pert has played the French defence his whole life and provides all his la test and most up to date analysis crammed into 1 DVD.

Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Hou Yifan

And, finally, it was the World Champion's turn to get on the scoreboard. His battle against Hou Yifan took a decisive turn in White's favour just before the time control. Hou Yifan put up good resistance but it was vintage Carlsen.

When the world's best female faces the world's best male | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

I don't think we will see many rounds like this. There has to be more balance in chess than White scoring 90%. In the next round the higher-rated players get to play Black, and we'll see what happens then.

Standings after round two

All games

Links

• Official tournament site
• An exciting start as Carlsen and Caruana face off
• Magnus' next moves