Leuven Day 1: Anand leads after nervy first day

The greatest chess tournament ever staged in Belgium, Your Next Move Grand Chess Tour, is taking place in the historic Town Hall of Leuven from Friday 17 June to Monday 20 June. The best chess players in the world at the moment will take part in the tournament: World Champion Magnus Carlsen, former World Champions Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, as well as Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, Aronian Levon, Wesley So and Veselin Topalov.

The players will compete in a Rapid Chess and Blitz Chess tournament during the four days. The prize money for the tournament is $150.000 (€134.100). Chess fans will be able to enjoy the experience of seeing the greatest players compete live in Leuven or watch the streaming broadcast, complete with grandmaster commentary.

Follow the games live on playchess

All photos by Lennart Ootes

Opening

The opening ceremony was a lovely affair with the drawing of lots

This was followed by a relaxed simul against all the players

Each player would play five moves and then let in another player. This
ensured that the players wouldn't be exhausted before the main event.

That said, some of the players were not against a bit of humorous sabotage either as Anand
explained later: he arrived to some boards with slightly unorthodox positions such as a pawn
on g4 instead of a normal fianchetto, or a king that had somehow marched to the middle of the
board in a mad dash for freedom.

Even such advantages are not necessarily enough when facing several world champions

Still, what a great moment to find oneself facing living legends like Vladimir Kramnik one-on-one

When not in the simul the players entertained the children

Video of the opening ceremony

Rapid - Day one

After trampling the field only a week before, it would be natural to expect Hikaru Nakamura to still be running hot, especially when you consider that the top rankings of rapid and blitz are a toss-up between him and Magnus Carlsen. However, day one was a bad day at the office, one where nothing seems to go right, and after losing in round one, then round two and then round three, fans, players and pundits were all scratching their heads.

Vladimir Kramnik was delighted to start the day with a win

There was certainly no shame losing to Vladimir Kramnik, were it not for a blunder in a game headed to a draw that cost him the point (remember rapid games are worth double, thus two points for a win, one for a draw).

Kramnik - Nakamura

Wondering where that Parisian magic went

This wasn't the end of the American's woes as he failed to recover in the next two rounds, but it wouldn't end only in tears as will be seen further down.

On the other hand, one player who quickly showed he had come in form was Vishy Anand. He was fresh from a victory at Leon, which had been the reason for his absence in Paris, and in round one, he outwitted MVL, a renowned tactician, with a hard-to-see trap.

MVL - Anand

Black just played the extra sneaky 25...Qxc7, seemingly giving up on
the g7 pawn. Can you see what happens after 26. Nxg7?

Anish Giri had a mixed event, and although he did enjoy a win over Nakamura in round three, he had to be kicking hismelf for failing to convert a won game in round two.

A topsy-turvy day for Anish who failed to capitalize on all his chances

Giri - Caruana

Anish Giri outplayed Fabiano Caruana and reached this position after
playing 27...Rc5 attacking the queen. How did White reply?

The face of a man who knows just how lucky he was to escape

Topalov himself wasn't having the best day, but others were having
much worse ones. In round three he was struggling in a difficult
endgame against Vladimir Kramnik when the latter blundered a piece.

Kramnik - Topalov

Although balanced in theory, Black is clearly the one fighting to hold.
Or rather 'was' as White now played f6?? and after Rg4+ lost the knight.

Even the day's winner, Vishy Anand was not impervious to the curse
of blunders that marked the day. Look at what happened in round three!

Caruana - Anand

In a dreadful oversight, Black played 8...Bg4?? What had he missed?
White to play and win.

Although it is true Black was dead lost after losing the piece, he was able to create so much trouble for his opponent, Caruana, that he managed to save the game. Lucky? No question, but the saying still holds: 'champions make their luck'.

In the very next round, Caruana was able to get some back when Carlsen, who had been
completely winning until...

Carlsen - Caruana

White has lost control of the position and is now facing threats of his
own. He just played Rf1-f3 to prevent Qxg2 mate. What did he miss?

Still, this was none of these were the shocker of the day. That one came in the final round between none other that Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen.

It was the clash everyone had been waiting for, but no matter what result was predicted,
no one would have guessed how the game would go...

Nakamura - Carlsen

In a state of shock at what he had done, Carlsen went over it in his mind, trying to understand
how this had happened. After a few moves he decided not to let Nakamura torture him for any
longer and resigned.

While this was easily the quickest game of the round, and a rather anti-climatic one, the spectators were treated to a classic confrontation: Topalov - Anand.

Topalov faced a very sharp and merciless Anand in round five

Topalov - Anand (analysis by IM Sagar Shah)

Could the playing hall be any more beautiful?

Replay games of Rapid Rd1-5

Current rapid standings after five rounds

Note: In the overall standings, rapid games are worth 2 points for a win, one point for a draw and zero for a loss.
Thus each score above is worth double. Blitz games are worth the usual one for a win and half a point for a draw.

Links

• Tournament page Grand Chess Tour...
• Dailymotion Grand Chess Tour...
• Grand Chess Tour on Twitter...
• Tournament page Leuven...