Bruadaran a thoirt foirm : An saoghal a rèir I

The italian stalion from the USA : Mr Fabiano Caruana

2 winning game and 2 drawn games in round 13.  Fabiano Caruana takes the lead of the tournament going into the final round. Fabiano Caruana won against Levon Aronian to take the lead once again of the tournament. With Sergey Karjakin drawing with Wesley So. Shakiyar Mamedyarov also won against Alexander Grischuk and Vladimir Kramnik drew with Ding Liren. Leaving the scores before the final round looking like this : Fabiano Caruana 8 Sergey Karjakin 7.5 Shakiyar Mamedyarov 7.5 Ding Liren 7 Alexander Grischuk 6.5 Vladimir Kramnik 6 Wesley So 5.5 Levon Aronian 4

2 winning game and 2 drawn games in round 12.  An amazing turnaround in fortune for the leading players. A closing of the field. Only 0.5 a point seperates the players at the top. With a realistic chance that any of the top 5 could yet challenging Magnus for the World champions crown. It's all to play for going into the last two rounds. Both Caruana and Mamedyarov lost. Fabiano to Sergey Karjakin and Shakiyar to Ding Liren. The other two games between Grischuk and Aronian and between Kamnik and Wesley So were drawn. Leaving the scores after round 12 looking like this : Fabiano Caruana 7 Sergey Karjakin 7 Shakiyar Mamedyarov 6.5 Alexander Grischuk 6.5 Ding Liren 6.5 Vladimir Kramnik 5.5 Wesley So 5 Levon Aronian 4

1 winning game and 3 drawn games in round 11.  The win this time was to Sergey Karjakin and brings him right back into the mix to win the challengers. Won against  against Levon Aronian who is having one disaster of a tournament. The others were all draws.. This makes the scores after round 11 : Fabiano Caruana 7 Shakiyar Mamedyarov 6.5 Alexander Grischuk 6 Sergey Karjakin 6 Ding Liren 5.5 Vladimir Kramnik 5 Wesley So 4.5 Levon Aronian 3.5

1 winning game and 3 drawn games in round 10.  4 rounds to go as the tension begins to mount. The win this time was to the deserving Vladimir Kramnik, for another attacking display this time against Levon Aronian. Vladimir was hoping for a quiet solid game. He didn't get it however as Levon was looking choose to go for complications. All the others were all drawn including the battle at the top of the leader board between Fabiano Caruana and Shakiya Mamedyarov. This makes the scores after round 10 : Fabiano Caruana 6.5 Shakiyar Mamedyarov 6 Alexander Grischuk 5.5 Ding Liren 5 Sergey Karjakin 5 Vladimir Kramnik 4.5 Wesley So 4 Levon Aronian 3.5

1 winning game and 3 drawn games in round 9.  The win was for Sergey Karjakin against Vladimir Kramnik, the later seems to have suffered a slump in form since his win against Levon Aronian, earlier in the tournament. All the others were all drawn. Fabiano Caruana however had an excellent opportunity to take the full point against Ding Liren. After the rest day we have the mouthwatering prospect of the two leaders of the tournament going head to head. That be Fabiano Caruana vs Shakiya Mamedyarov. This makes the scores after round 9 : Fabiano Caruana 6 Shakiyar Mamedyarov 5.5 Alexander Grischuk 5 Ding Liren 4.5 Sergey Karjakin 4.5 Vladimir Kramnik 3.5 Levon Aronian 3.5 Wesley So 3.5

1 winning game and 3 drawn game in round 8.  A draw for Levon Aronian this time, making a change for all the losses, to Ding Liren from china. Shakriyar Mamedyarov drew with Sergey Karjakin. Fabiano Caruana had a superior position against Wesley So according the engines but finished on a draw. Grischuk versus Kramnik went into overtime and finally finished with a victory for Alexander Grischuk. Grischuk priceless answer to the question : "What decision in the game was most difficult?",                                                                   "All decisions are difficult." This makes the scores after round 8 : Fabiano Caruana 5.5 Shakiyar Mamedyarov 5 Alexander Grischuk 4.5 Ding Liren 4 Vladimir Kramnik 3.5 Ser...

2 winning games and 2 drawn game in round 7.  Another defeat by pre-tournament favourite Levon Aronian this time to tournament leader Fabiano Caruana.  Shakriyar Mamedyarov able to quickly find a drawing line against Alexander Grishcuk, Alexander was frustrated at not giving Shakriyar a more complicated game and Shakriyar was happy with a draw and to continue the fight for the chance of winning the tournament. Sergey Karjakin was very happy with his first victory of the tournament against Wesley So. Ding Liren got into an interesting struggle with Vladimir Kramnik computer analysis gives a slight edge to black until about move 65, however Vladimir was convinced if anyone could win it was the player with white pieces throughout. Ding was in doubt and also felt comfortable with his position. Maybe more discussions along such lines in the future? This makes the scores after round 7 : Fabiano Caruana 5 Shakiyar Mamedyarov 4.5 Vla...

2 winning games and 2 drawn game in round 6.  Another defeat by pre-tournament favourite Levon Aronian this time to Wesley So.  Shakriyar Mamedyarov defeated the immortal Vladimir Kramnik bringing him down to earth with a bump once more. Fabiano drew with Grischuk and Ding Liren drew with Sergey Karjakin. This makes the scores after round 6 : Fabiano Caruana 4 Shakiyar Mamedyarov 4 Vladimir Kramnik 3 Ding Liren 3 Alexander Grischuk 3 Levon Aronian 2.5 Wesley So 2.5 Sergey Karjakin 2.0

4 drawn game in round 5.  All draws in round 5 although Levon Aronian missed a great chance of a win against Grischuk. The scores after round 5 are : Fabiano Caruana 3.5 Vladimir Kramnik 3 Shakiyar Mamedyarov 3 Ding Liren 2.5 Alexander Grischuk 2.5 Levon Aronian 2.5 Sergey Karjakin 1.5 Wesley So 1.5

2 decisive games and 2 drawn game in round 4.  Massive turnarounds for two players in round 4. After his masterpiece against Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik lost against Fabiano Caruana. In an opening renowned for its drawing tendancies, the Petrov. Fabiano though found a way to create an advantage. Which according to the machine he then squandered and allowed Vladimir to get an advantage, only for Vladimir to return the favour and hand Fabiano the full point. Levon Aronian also turned things around against Sergey Karjakin winning after the disappointment of the game in round 3. All the others were drawn which leaves the scores after round 3. Fabiano Caruana 3 Vladimir Kramnik 2.5 Shakiyar Mamedyarov 2.5 Levon Aronian 2 Ding Liren 2 Alexander Grischuk 2 Sergey Karjakin 1 Wesley So 1

1 decisive games and 3 drawn game in round 3.  A masterpiece by Vladimir Kramnik with black pieces, against favourite prior to the event, Levon Aronian was the game of the tournament so far. A flawless berlin where Levon was ensnared in prep by Kramnik researched years ago. A beautiful piece of chess. An in-depth analysis of the game by Peter Svidler can be found on chess24: Berlin candidates 3 a kramnik immortal   All the others were drawn which leaves the scores after round 3. Vladimir Kramnik 2.5 Shakiyar Mamedyarov 2 Fabiano Caruana 2 Levon Aronian 2 Ding Liren 1.5 Alexander Grishcuk 1.5 Sergey Karjakin 1 Wesley So 0.5

1 decisive games and 3 drawn game in round 2.  Alexander Grischuk won a fabulous game against Wesley So, winning the opening battle but  relying on the 30 second increment to reach move 40. A not unusual occurrence for Grischuk but exciting none the less. Grischuk went on to win the winning position. Good win for Grischuk but Wesley So all be it with two blacks in the first two rounds with it all to do. All the others were drawn but with interesting games throughout. A Spanish Berlin from Kramnik and Karjakin,  a Catalan from Ding Liren and Fabiano Caruana. The first to draw was Shakriyar Mamedyarov's game agains Levon Aronian in a Nimzo-Indian. So the score after round 2 are  : Shakiyar Mamedyarov 1.5 Vladimir Kramnik 1.5 Fabiano Caruana 1 Levon Aronian 1 Ding Liren 1 Alexander Grischuk 1 Sergey Karjakin 0.5 Wesley So 0

Today in the chess candidates we have : Alexander Grischuk vs Wesley So Both recovering from defeats in round 1. Ding Liren vs Fabiano Caruana Ding Liren the Chinese super gm up who went for a three fold repetition with Levon Aronian, possibly going for the long game. Up against the fabulous Fabiano Caruana from the USA, who won the battle of the USA yesterday against Wesley So. If Fabiano wins here then this might set Fabiano up for an excellent tournament. Mamedyarov vs Aronian . Possibly the game of the day as both had an excellent year in 2017 so expect a tense struggle here.  Kramnik vs Karjakin The battle of Russia, I would predict a draw, with a slight edge to Kramnik after Karjakin's defeat to Mamedyarov in round 1. But a draw, as they say in Russia, is the normal result when Russian's meet. We shall see when round 2 begins.

3 decisive games and 1 drawn game in round 1.  Vladimir Kramnik beat  Alexander Grischuk.  Fabiano Caruana beat  Wesley So  in the team USA clash.  Shakriyar Mamedyarov beat  Sergey Karjakin  and Levon Aronian drew with  Ding Liren. So the scores on the doors after round 1 are  : Shakiyar Mamedyarov 1 Vladimir Kramnik 1 Fabiano Caruana 1 Levon Aronian 0.5 Ding Liren 0.5 Wesley So 0 Alexander Grischuk 0 Sergey Karjakin 0

The Candidates The Candidates to face World Champion Magnus Carlsen in London in 2018 begins  The Candidates to face Chess World Champion Magnus Carlsen in London begin in Berlin. At Kuhlhaus Berlin to be precise:  https://www.kuehlhaus-berlin.com/de/ 1,131 kilometers between Berlin and London. But which one of these candidates will meet Magnus Carlsen in London to try and take the crown off of  World Chess Champion Magnus. All eyes in the chess world are on Berlin from today, the 10th of March, until the 27th of March. The candidates are : Levon Aronian bookies favourite Alexander Grischuk fans favourite Shakriyar Mamedyarov currently ranked number 2 in the world Fabiano Caruana part of the USA dream team Wesley So also part of the USA dream team and previous winner of the Grand Chess Tour Vladimir Kramnik ex-world champion and beater of Garry Kasparov in 2000 Ding Liren chinese super-gm Sergey Karja...

In chess there are lots of opening moves but some sequence of moves in the opening are given names to categorise them and better remember them. They are also catagorised into the Encyclopedia of Chess Games by publishers of the Chess Informant magazine. This magazine is a staple of chess players and began publishing before the production of micro computers and once issued 2 publications every year. Now according to wikipedia since 2012, they publish 4 times a year. They catagorised openings into ECO codes. So for example the opening position below reached by the moves ECO C50: 1.e4 e5, 2.Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 is called the Italian Game. If black plays 3. ... Bc5 in reply then we enter the Guicco Piano or Quiet Game.