FIDE Candidates 2016 - Video Recap Round 2

Opening: E15, C65: Queen's Indian, Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense

Player(s): Karjakin, Nakamura, Caruana, Giri

GM Alex Yermolinsky recaps Round 2. Today two games ended in a fairly quick draws. Svidler wasn't able to get anything going in the anti-Berlin against Topalov, who - probably trying to recover after yesterday bad start - opted for a solid game. Levon Aronian chose a line in the QGD against Anand that is not the most challenging one, and Anand was able to equalize comfortably with black. Caruana and Giri, the youngest participants and for sure among the favorites for the final victory, fought hard over the board. The final draw was not boring shuffling at all. The only decisive game was Karjakin's win over Nakamura. The game was interesting, with opportunities on both sides after the opening. In a very uncharacteristic way, Nakamura blundered at move 29, sacrificing a knight for the attack. The sac was not sound though, and after a few moves the USA hero realized he would have finished the forced variation a piece down, and resigned in a hopeless position. After two rounds Anand and Karjakin lead with 1.5, half a point ahead of the pack with Caruana, Giri, Aronian and Svidler. A full point behind the leaders Nakamura and Topalov. Tomorrow round 3: Nakamura-Svidler, Giri-Karjakin, Anand-Caruana, Topalov-Aronian. Games start at 3PM local time, 8AM EDT (US is switching to Daylight Saving Time tomorrow morning), 12 noon GMT and 1PM CET.

Teacher's library (718) E15 C65 Karjakin Nakamura Caruana Giri recap