Page 2 - Offbeat Opening News Today

Vidit Gujrathi kept the sole lead at the Tata Steel Masters going into the first rest day of the event, as round 4 saw 2 out of 7 games ending decisively. Praggnanandhaa inflicted Nils Grandelius’ third defeat to bounce back to a 50% score, while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov got the better of Jan-Krzysztof Duda with the white pieces. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

World champion Magnus Carlsen joined a three-player leading pack on Sunday by beating Anish Giri with the white pieces. In the only other decisive game of the day in the Masters, Richard Rapport bounced back from his first-round defeat as he took down Jorden van Foreest. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The European Blitz Championship took place on Friday in Katowice. Polish grandmaster and rating favourite Jan-Krzysztof Duda won the event after obtaining an 18/22 score. Duda finished a half point ahead of his compatriot Maciej Klekowski. Eight players scored 16½ points. | Photos: Official site

Azerbaijan and Ukraine are sharing the lead after seven rounds in the open section of the European Team Championships. While Azerbaijan defeated the Netherlands on Friday, Ukraine inflicted Russia’s first loss of the event. The best individual performer in Slovenia, Alireza Firouzja, scored his sixth win of the tournament and is now 1.1 Elo points away from reaching the 2800 rating barrier. In the women’s section, the defending champions of Russia still have a perfect score. | Photos: ECU Pr...

After six rounds, the participants of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss will get a rest day on Tuesday. In the open section, five players are tied atop the standings on 4½/6 points, with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Krishnan Sasikiran (pictured) the latest to have joined the leading pack. Among the women, Lei Tingjie reclaimed sole first place by beating Jolanta Zawadzka. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

There was no stopping Praggnanandhaa in the Finals of the Julius Baer Challengers Tour. The 16-year-old from Chennai scored a dominating 3-0 victory in the final match against Christopher Yoo, which means he was a half point away from getting a perfect score in the event — he got 8½/9 points after knocking out Volodar Murzin and Vincent Keymer in the previous rounds.

Ian Nepomniachtchi With three rounds to go, three players are left in contention to win the Candidates Tournament. Former co-leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave lost to Alexander Grischuk in round 11, and now both he and Grischuk stand 1½ points behind the leader Ian Nepomniachtchi — they both still have “microscopic” (Grischuk) chances to win the event, but would need a number of unlikely results to go their way for that to happen. The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues...

  White was better here, but here Saric made a fatal blunder —  55.Kf5?? With this move, White spoils his winning position not only to a draw but directly to a loss. [Instead, White had 55.Nc3 and the king will go towards the c4-pawn.] 55...Ne7+ 56.Nxe7 c3 57.Ng6+ fxg6+   0-1 Marin Bosiocic compensated for his teammate’s mistake by beating Andreas Diermair. This point for St. Veit came about when Diermair lost the thread in an endgame that actually looked good for him:   Black is ...

€19.95 An unprecedented hiatus The much anticipated 2020 edition of the Candidates Tournament kicked off amid controversies, with Teimour Radjabov declining to participate due to the worldwide health crisis. Although FIDE tried to keep the tournament going until the end, it was inevitable to interrupt the event after seven rounds. Much can be discussed regarding the socio-political circumstances surrounding the tournament, but we should not forget that the main goal of the eve...